Author Topic: Award Show  (Read 5873 times)

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bdmovies

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Award Show
« on: Apr 21, 2007, 05:21 pm »
So, my high school has an awards 'show' coming up. Last year this was at Reform Theological Center, very nice and professional. This year, we have to have it in our gym, which sucks. I've got 150 linear feet of pipe & drape, a video screen, some carpet to overlay the gym floor, and about 500 bleacher seats. Any suggestions to make this rather crappy awards venue look nice? Our gym is great, for things a gym should be used for, not for an awards show...
Bobby D.

centaura

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Re: Award Show
« Reply #1 on: Apr 21, 2007, 05:41 pm »
I would say concentrate your pipe and drape into making a backdrop for the place that the awards will be handed out at, and if there's any left over using it to hide the back of any bleacher that might be seen by entering audience.  The other thing that I would do is to figure out how much, if any, control you can get of the lighting.  Being able to dim down or turn off the lighting over the audience will do a lot towards creating a performance space feel.

-Centaura

Mac Calder

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Re: Award Show
« Reply #2 on: Apr 21, 2007, 06:51 pm »
See if you can get some light (flame retardant) white fabric to drape the ceiling with. That will help dampen the reverb (providing you with a nicer sound) as well as 'bouncing' the harsh white of the lights that Gymnasiums tend to have. If you cannot get the required quantites (which would be huge) - if you can get some long lengths and join them from a hoop in the center of the room, to create a sort of "marquee" feel - that can be quite effective.

You have not elluded to budget - because that is a large part of the equation. Things like speaker placement and type are issues governed entirely by budget - as is the issue of lighting.

You will probably want to keep everything dark-ish - but it still needs to be light enough for everyone to see clearly - sort of like dusk.

If it is anything like my old school gym (a metal box with a court etc), then placing some floods shining up the walls will look really nice, and may give you enough light to be able to kill the ceiling lights.

bdmovies

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Re: Award Show
« Reply #3 on: Apr 22, 2007, 04:09 pm »
I think I can talk my director into renting some lighting trees, and I like the idea of shooting some lights on up the wall.
Bobby D.

smsam

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Re: Award Show
« Reply #4 on: Apr 22, 2007, 05:29 pm »
I would say that perhaps the key here, as others have said, is installing some lighting so only the stage area is lit and the auditorium is darkness. This will go a long long way to making the space feel more 'theatrical'/ formal. It will also pull focus to the stage more and give you better effects from your video screen (as there will be less ambient light). Then throw some colour up the walls and wollah, you have a nice venue (ish!).

So for lighting [if you can afford it and if you have any rigging points to hang a bit of truss or scaff OR if you've got anywhere to hang lanterns already] all you'd really need is a few fresnels (how many will depend on how wide or deep your stage area is) and maybe then some par-cans or more fresnels to do some back light, which will do wonders for athestics. If you put the backlight in a more saturated colour then this will give it some more 'glitz'. Keep the frontlight either warm or cold.

Just a few thoughts!

Sam x
Sam x

Wandering Ninja

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Re: Award Show
« Reply #5 on: Apr 23, 2007, 04:50 pm »
I don't know how much effort you can/want to put into this, or what supplies you have access to so here are some of my thoughts.
 
  •   If you have some areas that are full of equipment, supplies, ect... you can use the pipe and drape in front of them to make much less distracting.
  • You could also use some dropcas or flats to section off unused areas to create a smaller space.
  • If you have some plats or staging, it would help could help to elevate the speaking area some.
  • You can put some niceties into the bathrooms, such as potpourri, lotion, soap bars ..
  • Cover your tables with tablecloths
  • use some music to help create an atmosphere
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