My kind of fun
So this past weekend we had our Christmas Services at church. As a result I got a chance to have my kind of fun last week. I got to do the lighting for the services. I don't mean running them either (although I did do that for the first two services), but designing the lighting for the services.
That is something I enjoy doing. Being on top of a ladder 20' in the air. Having to roughly guess peoples height by memory, and luckily guessing pretty close. Well it was all fun. My two favorite portions were at the beginning and the end. We opened with the song "The Glory Of It All" sung by Scott (song is By DC*B). I wish I had a video of it, but I don't. Throughout the song the choir people got up from seats in the audience while it was dark. They had candles and would filter up to the stage. After the first Chorus two choir people had readings, then the same after the second chorus. Throughout the song the lighting is building up from being dark on stage as the song builds. I wish I could describe it better. At the end it winds down quickly so it went back to dim light on only the band. From there on the opposite side of the stage was a reading done by Rachel. That lighting gave me the most trouble. I had two lights on her. One on the stage left side which was where she was, the other stage right. The stage left light was my more intense light because it was essential almost over her head. Which made a nice effect. During the 11:00 service Sunday morning. That light decided it wanted to turn on and off by itself while it was being used. I needed it for all of two minutes and it was being a jerkface. However during our break I decided that I was going to give it another chance. It worked perfectly for the next service at 3. Then during the 5 o'clock service it starts doing it's thing again. I was doing the video in the building next door, so I had to run into the service (I was quiet about it) and make sure I got the light out of the cue. I called it names like meaniehead and called it out on twitter. ( 19 anyone?) So sorry people in the 11 and 5 o'clock services on Sunday. Wasn't planned.
However what was planned was probably my favorite light sequence. Which was in the final number "angels we have heard on high." It featured 3 drummers set on the stage. Oh in case you don't know. On our stage we have a 10' high by about 20' ? wide screen on the floor. The song starts out with the drummers playing silhouetted on the background. Then band and singers join in and the lights come up. At the end there is a big drum solo type thing. So the end in the silhouette again. I will post the video below. You may have seen it because it has gotten spread around on FB pretty good.
That last number also brought on the biggest party of the night. Location: Sound Booth, Time: the last service of the weekend, Guests: only about half the church staff. Everybody in the booth was dancing, singing, clapping, laughing, cheering (especially when Scott M. brought out the Cowbell). That is not something I normally do, but it was fun. Now I wasn't moving as much as some of the people back there, but I was clapping, singing, cheering just as loud. It was a great time.
Christmas Eve Service Finale 12-19-2009 from Paula McElrath on Vimeo.
