Fabric Truss Decorations

 This set was used for a conference we did a few years back.  The conference was about the life and writing of CS Lewis and was a lot of dialogue and video playback.

It was a very simple set.  I was trying to make a look of eloquence.  Not exactly sure if that's how it came out, but that was the thought none the less.  The 4 pieces consisted of a 10' truss tower, a 6' pipe attached at the top, and a 6 wide piece of Sheer fabric.

I lite the scenic with 2 Mac 2k Perf. each.  A simple set, but I think it worked well.

Scaffolding Set / Battle of the Bands Encore '11

So, here it is, only 2 months late!

This was a recent set we put together for the winners of our Battle of the Bands. We tried to make this the most complex and intricate set and lighting design we have ever done. We maxed out our rigging capacity, power distro, dimming, and control channels. Some of the things that stood out about this design are a versatile set, 40 moving lights, 140 pixels of LED mapping, 100 channels of dimming, dmx controlled front projected imagery (both live and during intermission), 8 universes of DMX control from a MA network, a kabuki drop, and a very intricately cued out show. We got full set lists and mp3s of the 2 winning bands and programmed a fully synchronized lighting show for the entire show. There were over 400 cues for the hour and a half long show.

Specifically on the set, It is compromised of 4' wide by 7' high walk-through scaffolding frames (normally used for construction). They are built into 5 towers that are 3 sections high (21'). The scaffolding had about an inch of concrete on it in most places, when we bought it. We cleaned it with hammers, chisels, wire brushes and scrapers of all sorts. It took about 150 hours total to clean the scaffolding and another 40 hours to paint all of it. We painted the scaffold with to a bright grey (high gloss paint). We then, built the first two levels of scaffolding from the ground and step ladders. The third row was a beast! It required 3 people to set each side. We used a genie lift and a person on each leg to assemble the tops. We used Colorblast 12's to light the actual scaffold frames. Behind the scaffolding we hung a drop made of clear plastic. This is the same drop we used in the Perfectly Plastic Design. It took light well and gave a great dimension tothe set. We used 6 Studio Colors to light the Plastic in the back. 

Mike Walker programmed this amazing look!

We purchased all of the scaffolding used (through craigslist). We purchased 30 frames and 30 cross braces. All of it cost $750 (New cost is over $5000). We have been waiting and looking for a deal to make this set for over a year. Although, it was quite a bit to purchase this set piece and much more in cost of time to get it into the shape we needed, it will be useful for structure for some of our set designs in thefuture. Also, used scaffolding holds its value very well and could be resold at a very small loss. 

It took a dedicated team to clean, paint, and build the scaffolding. This on top of the huge feat of setting up such a complex lighting system. Our crew was amazing and did an outstanding job. This is a list of our team.

Steven Hall (myself) - LD

Mike Walker - LD

Mike Spates, George Jackson, Melissa Lirones - Amazing Lighting Techs and Set crew

Manny Loyoza, Everardo Palacios - Lighting Techs

Spandex Squares

This set is our first custom built set.  Everything before this was fabrics and light placement.  Its a pretty simple set to build and decently cheap.  We used this set first for the 2010 Battle of the Bands.

Essentially it each panel is comprised of 4 outdoor deck spindles, a 2.5' square piece of spandex, 40 or so staples, and 4 eye hooks.  The angle cuts on the deck spindles make it easy.  We built this set in stages, frames, then fabric, then rigging.  This set should only require a screw gun, drill bits, a square, and a heavy duty stapler (Stapler link)

First align all of the deck spindles in a square.  All of the angle cuts should be touching another angle cut.  Once they are laid out, secure them into each other with drywall screws.  We found it was easier to pre-drill a pilot hole, so that the spindles didn't break.  Once you get to the 4th corner, you will want to check square and make sure you are somewhat close.  Once this is done fasten your 4th corner and move on to the next frame.

The fabric is the easiest part.  You should cut a piece of Poly stretch to about 30" x 30".  You then need to staple it to on side of the frame.  I made sure to staple mine behind the frame to keep the staples from reflecting light.  Then stretch the material to the opposite side and staple it.  You then stretch the top and bottom stapling the fabric to keep in nice and tight.  There may be some extra spandex on the edges of the frame.  It can easily be cut off with a razor knife.

Next is rigging.  To start we made a mark on the top and bottoms of the frame.  They were 6" in from each corner. (should have 8 marks per frame 2 at each corner)  These are the marks for the eye bolts.  Once all the frames are marked, the marks should be drilled out with a drill gun.  I think we used an 1/8" bit.  This will make putting the eye hooks in possible.  Next, put 2 eye hooks in the top and 2 eye hooks in the bottom of the frame.  The holes on the side will allow you to hang the set on an angle if you every want to in the future.  Lastly, connect the frames together ,at the desired distance apart, with silver chain and quick links.

We found that front lighting it worked best.  As always, any questions let me know.

,Steven


Materials (for 30 pieces):

120-3ft long Deck Spindles (Spindle link)  {$106.80}
8 - Yards of Poly Stretch 120" wide (Spandex Link) {$204.96}
2 - boxes of eye hooks (Eye hook link) {$15.00}
100 - feet of silver chain
30 - quick links (Quick link link)
1 - Box of staples
1 - Box of 2" drywall screws