More Lighting Magic
After battling it out on my last show with a bunch of lights that were abused like a bunch of stepchildren, the powers that be felt sorry enough that they decided to drop a bunch of money on new fresnels to replace the ellipsoidals we had been using as frontlight.
I have been begging for fresnels for the last few years at my last jobs and now here. Sure the technology is as old as theater itself, but they do EXACTLY what they are supposed to do. Smooth, even, flat lighting. Simple to set up, little to maintain.
So, hot on the heels of the moving light battle of the bands, in which there was NO VICTOR nor resolution (the Robe pretty much did NOT wow us in any way and the Mac 700 was pretty much the Mac 550 with a $2500 higher price tag).
Now, we are having the totally old school, 2000w Fresnel Beatdown of 2008. Of course, we are limiting ourselves, for now, to the first two on the list. Which are not the industry standard, but if they look good, and don’t fall apart, who cares? We both decided that the standard ARRI 2k Studio, was our safety if all else fails. The old Italian Bambino 2k was out when we saw the price and realized we can get Arri fixtures for that price. The DeSisti 2k was also Italian and therefore out as a result. Finally the Mole-Richardson Junior 2k was out because it is orange.
So we begin with the Altman 2000w Studio Fresnel. Altman, the old theatrical lighting standard, who over the years has not so much declined in favor, as they have started to totally fucking suck, making a long series of the shittiest lighting fixtures ever. Most of their stuff is just plain embarrassing, less like a moped and more like a Yugo. Their studio stuff used to be really nice. We shall see. I have SERIOUS doubts.
Then we have the newcomer to the Western Hemisphere, the Selecon Arena 2000w Fresnel which is made in freakin’ New Zealand! They make theater stuff, not studio, so they are all black, like the rest of our junk. Hopefully they will knock the living hell out of the Altman, because I don’t want the Altman equipment. I have used the Selecon Pacific ellipsoidal fixtures many times and they are super nice, but I have no idea as to how well they will hold up under the abuse I will put them through.
Let the destruction begin!
