As Blane's design required getting a wide range of colours from his rig, his choice of units was critical. "I selected an assortment of ETC [Source Four LED] Lustr [Series] 1s and Lustr [Series] 2s, because I definitely needed endless colour options, plus it is a rock show, so I knew there was going to be a lot of haze, meaning I needed something that would look great in the air and great on the floor. Also, the director [Leslie McDonel] wanted the entire rig to be able to strobe. The Lustrs strobed beautifully in any colour I wanted. They actually changed my perspective of how I can accomplish colour strobing in the future."
Blane also got an entirely unexpected look that became defining to his design when he used some of the Source Four LED Series 2 Lustr luminaires without barrels. "One of the things that I think is important when I design at Pace is the teaching aspect of giving students the experience of how to be an associate when working with professionals like myself and interacting with the rest of the design team. I often encourage them to offer ideas to the team. Using the barrel-less Lustr was my assistant's [Brittany Trymbulak] suggestion. Taking the barrels out of the Lustrs was an idea that came a bit out of necessity and it became one of the best visuals in the show."
Blane used the barrel-less Lustrs as high-angle backlights that created shafts of colour in the air through the haze, but it was the texture that got people questioning how it was accomplished. "Because it took two or three different colour cells to get the floor colour I wanted for any particular cue, the effect in the air ended up having a lot of wonderful depth," says the designer.
(Jim Evans)
