Have you ever imagined how cool it would be to have the most modern high tech lighting equipment installed in your church? You see it everywhere; in concerts, television shows, and in some of your neighborhood houses of worship. So why not in your church?
But is high technology right for you? As an independent lighting consultant for houses of worship, I get asked this question all the time. I make sure that I inform my clients of the significant ramifications involved in moving to high technology. What makes this decision complex is not only what technologies to consider, but also what choices must be made that make sense for a particular church. You must make the final decision. Are you ready to make the commitment to high technology?
First, let me explain what I consider to be “high technology.” You may be surprised to learn that moving lights have been around for decades. Vari-Lite developed its first moving light in 1980. Since that time, dozens of automated fixture manufacturers have entered the market. Companies such as Martin Professional, Clay Paky, Elation, Vari-Lite, High End, Coemar, and many others introduce their latest generation of moving lights every year.
The movement in high technology is to develop smaller, more efficient lighting fixtures. LEDs are now being used as a light source for many of these new models. Some moving lights have more color choices, remote framing shutters, strobes, and multiple gobo wheels. Some are very small, and some are relatively large and heavy. But one thing all these fixtures have in common is that they require maintenance. In my experience, this is where the rubber hits the road when it comes to committing to high technology. The important question to ask yourself is: “Do I have the personnel to maintain this technology?”
THINK IT THROUGH
Some of these fixtures have thousands of moving parts, and repairing them can be challenging. You should also plan on purchasing at least one spare for each six moving lights so that a light can be taken down and repaired while the spare takes its place. It is a huge commitment for someone to be properly trained in repairing moving lights. Therefore, the church must be ready to invest in the required training.
There is also the common belief that high technology saves time in the lighting process. As moving to high technology gives the lighting designer more options that can be accessed instantly, the lighting process becomes more efficient. If you wish to change a color in a light, instead of getting out a ladder and changing the gel, all you have to do is turn a dial and the color will change. The same goes for focusing. Most parameters in a moving light can be changed from the lighting desk.
There is no doubt that adding moving lights to your church's lighting system will offer you an increased amount of artistic flexibility. Although the design concepts are the same as when using conventional lighting equipment, with moving lights you need to consider how all the fixtures' attributes change in time. For instance, when you fade a conventional lighting fixture, you are only considering the fade time of the lamp (intensity). When you fade a moving light, you can be fading the intensity in five seconds, the color may change in three seconds, the focus can soften in six seconds, and the shutters can delay one second, and then move into position in two seconds. This amount of variety in movement offers the lighting designer great opportunities for sophisticated cueing. The designer must expand their design process to take advantage of these possibilities and adequately use the inherent flexibility of moving lights.
This is where finding an appropriate lighting desk (light board) is crucial when you move up to this technology. It would not make sense to have these powerful moving lights in your rig if you are unable to efficiently program them. It has been a huge challenge for lighting manufacturers to develop powerful lighting desks that are also easy to learn. Lighting desks have now reached a point where the software is truly “user-friendly.” But it would be naïve to believe that one could just sit down and immediately start programming. Training is needed, even with the simplest lighting desk.
A big consideration when considering any lighting purchase is how much energy you are willing to use for your lighting system. LED fixtures are now readily available for stage and worship systems. Electronic Theatre Controls (ETC) has recently introduced a LED Source Four Ellipsoidal Reflector Spotlight. Although relatively expensive compared to a conventional Source Four, this fixture can change color internally through its LED source, and therefore does not need a color-changing device. Plus the lamp life is around 50,000 hours, compared with the typical 2,000 hours for conventional stage lamps.
LED OPTIONS & BEYOND
Due to their increased lamp life, I have been specifying LED fixtures for some time now. And not only for stage lighting, but for house lighting as well. Long lamp life not only saves money in replacement lamps, it also saves money in personnel costs, because the lamps do not need to be replaced for many years. Plus, LEDs consume much less energy that conventional tungsten halogen lamps, thus saving a considerable amount of electricity.
As I mentioned above, many manufacturers are offering moving lights with LED sources. I believe that these lights are now powerful enough to replace some conventional wash moving lights. Again, you and your consultant would have to decide if LED moving lights are a correct choice for your needs.
Video technology is the present and future of lighting design. In fact, I consider video as an essential part of my lighting designs. My recent productions in Tokyo, Japan, and Oslo, Norway, utilize video as a primary source in creating sophisticated lighting atmospheres. My students here at California State University – Long Beach are also using video as primary lighting sources.
Houses of worship enjoy a head start in this technology since many small and large churches already have the video equipment for image magnification (IMAG). You may already own much of the necessary equipment, including cameras, switchers, video media servers, projectors, and monitors. With relatively low cost commercial video equipment available, you could easily put together a small system that effectively augments your lighting system.
However, the training necessary to edit and create supportive lighting video can be challenging. There may be people in your church who are already trained in home and worship video techniques. But jumping in without training is risky. It usually takes a semester to adequately train my students in video editing and media server techniques. It takes several more semesters to train students in how to artistically integrate video into their designs. But I highly recommend you doing it, as our congregations are already sensitive to video presentations though the Internet and television.
It is very tempting to introduce high technology into your worship experience. These technologies can help make your worship experience more exciting, and at the same time make your service more accessible to younger members of your church. But investing in this technology also means investing in training and maintenance. After learning the true cost of this investment, some churches decide to forgo the latest in high technology and continue to invest in improving upon their current lighting systems by updating their existing lighting fixtures and controllers. This is not a bad decision because conventional lighting technology has been fairly constant for the past 20 years.
But for those who decide to take the leap into high tech, I highly recommend hiring an independent lighting professional to help you make the right decisions. Remember, the independent consultant works for you, and not the manufacturers. They will assure that the equipment that you purchase is appropriate for your needs, and will help set up training for your designers and maintenance staff.
As my former teacher used to say, “Use the K.I.S.S. method”—or “keep it simple.” Use simple ideas with simple communication skills, and your message will be even more powerful … no matter how much technology you have at your fingertips.
