The inception for this two day conference hosting 1000 VIPs event was put in motion less than three months before the event! Therefore ideation of concept; iteration of prototype, approval of concept; partnership in developing story and production management prepping cast and crew; ordering of materials; leadership of assembly: continuity of brand in every part of stage, room, handout, and communication: coordination of rehearsal; programming of lighting, video, and special effects cues; execution of audio including a last minute live voiceover intro by yours truly. What an exciting project to be part of!

The budget for the scenic and lighting was <$5K so that alone presented constraint that drove creativity. The fact that our timeline was tight was fuel to move fast and actually helped leverage pushing past doubt and leading to excitement about our concepts during ideation. Key elements of this design were built on the request of a large screen that could carry the brand of the organization. The budget required us to create an unique workaround to simulate a properly blended projection mapping rig and "fake it" with some clever finesse and the reminder that guests won’t know the difference if we are strategic in how we craft our graphics and video assets.

The idea of a B-Stage presented multiple challenges that yielded the iteration of multiple special additions to the experience: LEDtape that outlined the stage (and provided uplight - or maybe it was the other way around). Communication banners (that added to the branding and communication - or provided depth in every video shot). Finally, which was better: the excitement of transitions with the additional entrances and focus shifting for the narration, the eye contact and authenticity of new ideas in a town hall segment of the communication, or the up close excitement of key performances that literally break the fourth wall!

The buzz and excitement about the project was useful in leveraging contribution from numerous collaborators. Delegation to key personalities was key in leadership of execution. It was beautiful to see many people leverage their talents and a number of young team members realize new passions as they learned new skills on the fly!

Here are some of my favorite moments.

Intermission between sessions the first night. I love tables and chairs for a conference.

This silhouette moment from the opening medley - I hope Michael Jackson would have been proud. Top image also from the opening medley - covering Hey Ya by Outkast.

From the opening medley - I believe this was Shake It Off.

A shot from house right showing a bit of the room. We really have transformed the old warehouse. I remember doing our walk-through when we first purchased this space. It used to have columns in the middle of the room. Oh, and dirt floor with vile things growing in the puddles...

I like this shot during worship that also shows some of the table decorations that I helped braintrust the design of. Please forgive the odd looking text on the screen due; to the fact that I snapped the photo exactly on the CG transition.

The Kensington founders and their wives on stage together. It’s a beautiful encouragement to see them still be close friends 25 years later.

I love how my friend Michael Duggan programs lights. It’s fun to see my plot come to life!

It was an honor to get to run audio for day two of the event. Here’s the view I had of the keynote speaker teaching from the B-stage in the middle of the room.

A panoramic shot of the room. I wish I had taken a reverse angle of the room in use. The best I can do is the following photo.

My view of the room from above the stage while working on projection. Collaboration and intentional choice was made even to each centerpiece on the tables.

This is day two of our set-up and we're somehow calm in spite of being way behind planned schedule. 24 hours prior all we had was the arch in place and the wrong size fabric. RoseBrand had sent us the wrong width due to a mis-labeling error in their sewing department. They overnighted us the correct size and we were able to work past midnight to get everything ready for doors to open the next morning for another event that was using the room. The team was great as we flexed through the setback and found other useful things to do with our time on day 1 and the first half of day 2. Thankfully we had kept a second day of setup on the schedule; if not, we would not have had a chance for the vision to have turned out as you see in these images.

Early sketch of what it would take to pull off the custom built screen that required no support beams so that the silhouette moment could happen. Leadership, creativity, design - it’s all problem solving!

The inception for this two-day conference hosting 1000 VIPs event was put in motion less than three months before the event! Even with the crazy timeline (and perhaps because of it) it was an honor and a privilege to be asked to design and lead production for this event.

Constraints drive creativity. Moving fast actually helps leverage pushing past doubt and leads to excitement about our concepts during ideation. Leadership, creativity, design - it’s all problem solving! The buzz and excitement about the project was useful in leveraging contribution from numerous collaborators. Delegation to key personalities was key in leadership of execution. It was beautiful to see many people leverage their talents and a number of young team members realize new passions as they learned new skills on the fly!

Feel free to read the full detailed version of this blog post if you’re curious for more of the story.

I've had multiple conversations with worship arts directors in the past few months where I've shared some of my thoughts on this subject. As a designer and live production artist, my personal preference loves to create "live," "Spirit led," and "in the moment." I usually do at least some amount of live busking when I operate; some shows more than others. For theatrical productions that repeat a linear story multiple shows I live in a single fully mapped timeline; a worship concert I am almost fully live. Regardless, I always have a road map sketched out (at least in napkin sketch format - see image below) if not fully built in Excel (see other image below) in some format or another. Even if I audible live, at least I'm making a change from something.

Anyway, the thoughts here were built from a copy/pasted note to one of the artistic producers I was consulting with recently. The thread had included his question of if a cue-to-cue would be something I'd recommend to their process. My answer to these questions are about finding best practices for being one in vision and trusting each other to bring the best thing we each can do to create a moving experience.

A cue-to-cue might prove to be beneficial to your process and your product. However, remember that without the context of the live music being played and the musicians on stage in their light, it’s very difficult for someone besides an experienced lighting designer to accurately know how to interpret what they see. I’ve experienced numerous cue-to-cues with producers where they make changes to what the LD designed and then later they ask for follow up changes during the dress rehearsal that end up very close to what was originally created. If doing a cue-to-cue, make sure you know what you're reviewing.

I suggest what is more beneficial is to spend the time making sure that you’re clear in the vision that you have for each moment of the service. Communicate that to the SM and LD. If they understand your vision, they’ll support/enhance the moment visually. Again, a cue-to-cue walk-through isn’t bad - the dialogue to check in and make sure you’re on the same page is really important. Simply heed my caution to not to make changes out of context. Make sense?

The greater importance is trusting each other to all be on the same page. Have you communicated vision for the story clearly? Does your LD have a plan for how to support and enhance? I suggest a meeting to talk through a cue sheet is the better use of everyone's energy. After knowing that you're on the same page, then you can each work on the tasks that you're best at.

Unless you see a specific vision for mapping out the details of an element, I don’t recommend going into detail of builds and changes in each song. Aside from the potential build (referenced with an ellipse) it simply shows the base cue guide for each moment. Feel in the room can and should lead to adjustment in each nuanced moment. Trust the LD to design beauty and magic that supports and enhances the experience.

At Kensington, we use Planning Center Online as our hub for every production we do. It’s great for scheduling teams and making sure that everyone is on the same page. I can give coaching in another post about how I suggest it might be a useful platform to incorporate into your process. Anyway, it’s a very useful tool for us in laying out the flow of elements in a service. As a PM, I love being able to think through what each discipline (Audio, Lighting, Multimedia, etc.) needs to be doing at each moment of the service.

In each cue the notes in the lighting column give the road map for what lights will be doing in the format of:

"SUBJECT LIGHT | SCENIC LIGHT | HOUSE LIGHT"

Subject - the communicators and artists on stage

Scenic - everything behind and around the people - soft goods, lights through haze, etc.

House - as simple as basic intensity, but often can include environmental lighting

As an LD, I map out the visual story pretty intentionally. Sometimes a show calls for a fully detailed cue sheet with specific intensities and focus patterns for each instrument along with fade times for each transition. A cue sheet can also be as simple as a napkin sketch. Having these notes shared with the Stage Manager is really important as they're the hub for helping everyone stay true to common vision. Again, I suggest using PCO (or another cloud based service) to make sure everyone can stay updated with any changes along the way...

Do these thoughts make sense? Do you have ideas grow in how you might evolve your process? Please let me know!

• Persian Rugs (various sizes and colors from (5’x7.5' all the way to 12’x23')
• Gothic Chandeliers (custom made for Easter’15)
• Gothic Lanterns (custom made for Easter’15) on the floor and atop our Iron Candle Stands (custom made many years ago for a Good Friday)
• ADJ Z7s (LED zoom mover - I love the value of these instruments) atop our custom moving light cages (ask me about these cages sometime)
• Black Tergalet and Silver Batiste (Rosebrand)
• Elation 300s (profile mover) and 60s (LED wash mover)
• And a very generous demo (thank you Advanced Lighting & Sound) of some ADJ beams

Here’s a phone pic of a nice moment near the end of the set. Hopefully I’ll add a few more from my real camera soon.

Whether a photograph, a spreadsheet, performance art, or leadership moment.

• The end goal of the services that happens in the space.
  

• The vibe/feeling you want to help communicate.

• Who is the target demographic?

• Who in the audience will be reached regardless of the branding, environment, and artistry? These are not people to design for. Do not be influenced by them.

• Who might only be opened up to the communication by the environment you present? This is who you must go after.

• How might you use resources you already have available to support your vision?

• What alternative ideas might convey such themes with increased beauty/power/depth?

• What ideas might work well because of how clear the symbolism might be?

• What of those ideas would be so cliché that it would actually turn off the artist in the audience?

• What metaphors can you weave into the design to add depth of beauty (and meaning) ...even if only for you?

• How long do you want to live in the look? A series? A season? A weekend? Indefinitely?

• How will you light the set? How will you light the art and communication? Will the lighting on both feel unified?

• Make sure to design scenic elements that will be enhanced with the lighting tools available. Also, design scenic with consideration of who is designing/operating lights. Try to play to their strengths.

• It needs to look good in the room, to be certain. Are you broadcasting ever - stream, IMAG, record for later release?

• Lighting for video requires thinking beyond what looks good to the naked eye; and lighting for both video and still having everything look good in the room requires some real finesse…

• Think through positioning of each person who will be on stage. Where they stand/sit/dance should feel like it connects with the scenic elements and help visually connect the guests with the communication on stage. Break the 4th wall.

• What scenic and/or lighting might be considered in the room? In the lobby? Before and after the event with advertising, social media, etc. How does the branding transcend the stage experience?

• Think through everything that people might see. Certainly do not let anything be a distraction; also push into every opportunity to help enhance the story...

First, for this set, I went with one of my old favorites - a 60' wide black scrim. It's pretty beat up, but I've learned that if it hangs with texture (5 tie-lines from the grid pulling up bunches of the fabric and letting the rest droop between) it can look pretty good. I went to my go-to bag-of-tricks for the purpose of letting my challenge of operating be my a touch easier:

• Abstract line gobos strafing across the back traveler from SL and across the scrim from SR - used independently at some moments and together for others.
  
• Also for moments of mood setting texture, some gothic window gobos on the back traveler
  
• Saturation from LEDbricks lighting the scrim from the US side
  
• Also for saturation: 5 of our LED movers placed at the base of each bunch, used at points to sconce the scrim bunches, and others to BL band or shine through haze at times with subtle movement to match the build of a song.
  
• Our profile movers were hanging from T-pipes. Most of the night I put the frost-diffusion filter on them and used them as saturation backlight for the band. The final song, I had them switch to a gobo on the build and fan out through haze.

Additional layers light with our Rep Plot:

• Saturated side-light on the band with LEDs.
  
• Gobos back-lighting the band with additional bonus of the look through haze.
  
• Our old 250s still living out the end of their life hanging from our apron grid gave me some additional builds with saturation, texture, and movement through haze

Because I was running all my looks live, I didn't really have the opportunity to snap good photos. Here are phone pics: First, the band reprising the walk-out (which except for taking out front-light is really the same look as the end of the final song). Also, a shot of the teaching look.

Don't ever settle for white functionals when hue and texture can enhance the storytelling. That said, often No Color is the correct choice. My point is, take some time to read the script, talk with your director, emotionally connect with each scene, and generally put thought to your craft.

This weekend, we helped create a scene taking place after school hours in an old elementary classroom. The first photo shows the gels and gobos. Next is a snapshot (I wish I had used my good camera as my phone hardly comes close to what the eye or video camera, for that matter saw) of the scene being rehearsed. Finally (for context) a shot of the whole stage during the teaching.

I love texture in lighting design!

The other day, I saw that our Lighting Director was organizing gobos. I pulled these 9 out onto our cutting board for this photo highlighting a few of my go-to picks. Some are best as texture on scenic; others for people or the floor beneath them; still others through haze. Some work best with nearly hard focus, others work best with the lens pulled or pushed completely soft. Some like to be complimented with a gel, others work best with NC in complement with saturation coming from another light source. A more exhaustive post is probably due at some point (with greater thought behind theory of when to consider using what and some example photos) but for now I'll leave this as an encouragement to start experimenting with what you like.

GAM 251 Spring Branches | Rosco B856 Gothic Window | GAM B709 Glass Block

Rosco 77703 Double Hung Window | Rosco 7903 Reflected Water 1 | Rosco 884 Snow Dots

Rosco 77594 Abstract Lines | Rosco 77785/238-285 Sharp Breakup Medium | Apollo 2133-BR Generic Breakup

Here's a cryptic behind the scenes shot from my DP position behind the camera. It was a fun day spent quickly creating #productiondesign scenes on the fly with only a minimal bag of tricks to pull from; rocking some copy editing for the #teleprompter; shooting with #DSLR; meeting some new friends; and working with an old friend who's quite a good producer. Not shown are shots of and from within a vehicle I don't usually ride in.