As Published in Pro Lights and Staging News, January 2003
As our industry has emerged into a technology-rich playground of possibility, shows and events have become more complex in both their presentation and their product. Car shows, computer companies, sports events, tradeshows and theatre have all become a spectacular feast for the eyes. One of the problems now facing lighting designers, programmers and technical directors is finding enough time within budget limitations to program these elaborate events.
Rodd McLaughlin and Kim Grethen of Prelite NY have a solution. Says Kim, "We make time." Prelite Studios, founded by Norm Schwab and Tom Thompson of San Francisco has been so successful they have expanded into New York and are in the process of opening Prelite Paris.
Prelite offers comfortable pre-visualization studios where lighting designers and programmers can run virtual versions of their lighting rigs and sets. Because Prelite is not linked to any one manufacturer, they can accommodate clients with any console and any pre-vis software needed to support the project. Says Rodd McLaughlin, "Sometimes clients choose to come to Prelite to try out a new console on a show. They program here, and if they run into any problems, they have a calm atmosphere to work them out, rather than on-site where the clock is ticking."
Prelite rents out their studios in ten-hour blocks with one-hour increments after that. They supply support staff and amenities for the duration the client is in the studio. Both Rodd and Kim stress the face that the client does not need to be familiar with pre-vis software to use the studio. The Prelite staff can draft or convert into 3D for them. Says Rodd, "what sets up apart is the service in terms of helping our clients setup the file and making sure the file is optimized for what they need. We provide a console, a projector to project your image onto a screen, and room to spread out. There are other computers available for rendering without interrupting your programming, or for printing and plotting, as well as high-speed Internet access. One LD was using instant messaging with his TD at the venue to get changes while he programmed."
So who uses Prelite? "Virtually" everyone! Clients doing one-offs are a major end user. Television events where there is very little time on-site find it extremely valuable. The touring and architectural markets have also found it very useful. With architectural installations, the lighting designer often comes on the project very early. There are invariably construction delays, but the use of a Prelite studio allows a lighting designer to complete his or her work on time, regardless of delays in other areas. Rodd points out another advantage of using Prelite: no matter what the application, the lighting design is able to show the client a range of possibilities, so the client is really able to understand what the lighting is able to do.
Says Kim Grethen, "We say that we're every venue in every city. We had the touring version of The Radio City Christmas Spectacular come through. There are three different legs of the tour, with three different programmers and designers, all handling multiple venues. There all came in and sat together and went through what had been done in the past and what they'd be doing this year. They looked at the video for the show so that anyone who was new could come up to speed with David Agress, the LD and Paul Turner, his programmer. Everyone could see how they laid it out and how they envisioned things. That way, David and Paul not being at every site didn?t matter so much. They went to Indianapolis and Dallas without leaving their chairs. All we had to do was open the next virtual venue. Also, in previous years, they'd done round-the-clock programming to update all of the focus points, so one of the things they wanted to do this year was switch over toe XYZ programming on their Wholehog II. There was just never going to be enough time to do that on site. Paul Turner can in and took the show he had and redid everything into XYZ, and now that show is going to tour more easily."
Rodd and Kim maintain that Prelite can be a cost-saving tool for their clients. Using the Radio City example, while it took Paul Turner some time at the studio to update his first city to XYZ, it took him an hour to do his second city. The time Paul spend at the studio may not have been a normal budget line item, but it evaporated a huge amount of overtime on site. What would normally have taken 12 to 16 hours on site only took 1½ to 2 hours.
Prelite clients regularly come in with time-related issues. Often, there is no time available on-site and the cost of renting the site for preproduction is prohibitive. A client doing a show at the Waldorf Astoria, for example, is unable to book the space in advance, because the Waldorf is booked 365 days a year, and even if the space were available, it is not cost-effective for the producer to rent it. Prelite solves that problem. Kim and Rodd cited an example where Patrick Dierson of Dierson Design was programming the New York Knicks season opener at Madison Square Garden. The producer was concerned that Patrick would not be able to achieve his elaborate lighting proposition in the very limited time available at the Garden. Patrick's solution was to come into Prelite. He was able to actually bring the Kicks City Dancers into Prelite and go through the entire show with them cue by cue to pre-program the entire event before entering the Garden.
LD Michael Stiller, along with programmer Steve Garner, found Prelite very helpful when prepping a Nickelodeon upfront. With load-in at 8 p.m. and doors opening at 10 a.m, Stiller knew there was no way they'd have enough time to put together a decent show. They had a disc with several songs to program, so he booked a day at Prelite and they went through the songs they knew were most important to them. When they got on site, there was a problem during the load-in and they lost a huge amount of what little time they had. When they finally got their rig, they had time to do a few touchups and they were ready to go. If they hadn?t had the Prelite time, they'd have done what they could, but it wouldn't have been something either one of them would have been proud of. The difference in quality overweighed the cost of a day in the studio.
Technical directors in the corporate market have also started recommending Prelite to their lighting designers. They look at their schedule and realize there really isn't enough time to get everything done. After time at Prelite, they know that their show is going to have fewer headaches and they will not be as likely to go into overtime.
In terms of accuracy of programming, the virtual system is as accurate as the drawing the production provides. In San Francisco, a show required multiple truss moves, so the LD determined where the truss was going to move based on what he saw in the pre-vis software. It was all done with the Skjonberg Motion Control System, so he actually told the Motion Control programmer what numbers to put into his system. Everything was extremely accurate and they made almost no changes on-site.
The software for virtual lighting programs is ever evolving. At this point it looks much like a 3D video game, though renderings beside photos of real venues, such as the one Prelite did for the U2 tour, look strikingly realistic (minus the background clutter!).
There are several different software packages on the market. After some discussion with the client, the Prelite staff chooses the one they feel will most benefit the project. Says Rodd, "Obviously if they're using a Virtuoso and they are running VL protocol, we need to go with software that is compatible with that protocol. For our architectural clients we're finding that certain programs deal with custom fixtures better. In the end, it?s a case-by-case basis matching client needs with software options.
Prelite NY is centrally located at 347 Fifth Avenue across from the Empire State Building. Prelite San Francisco boasts a spectacular view of the bay. Prelite can be found on the web at www.prelite.com.
Rodd McLaughlin and Kim Grethen of Prelite NY have a solution. Says Kim, "We make time." Prelite Studios, founded by Norm Schwab and Tom Thompson of San Francisco has been so successful they have expanded into New York and are in the process of opening Prelite Paris.
Prelite offers comfortable pre-visualization studios where lighting designers and programmers can run virtual versions of their lighting rigs and sets. Because Prelite is not linked to any one manufacturer, they can accommodate clients with any console and any pre-vis software needed to support the project. Says Rodd McLaughlin, "Sometimes clients choose to come to Prelite to try out a new console on a show. They program here, and if they run into any problems, they have a calm atmosphere to work them out, rather than on-site where the clock is ticking."
Prelite rents out their studios in ten-hour blocks with one-hour increments after that. They supply support staff and amenities for the duration the client is in the studio. Both Rodd and Kim stress the face that the client does not need to be familiar with pre-vis software to use the studio. The Prelite staff can draft or convert into 3D for them. Says Rodd, "what sets up apart is the service in terms of helping our clients setup the file and making sure the file is optimized for what they need. We provide a console, a projector to project your image onto a screen, and room to spread out. There are other computers available for rendering without interrupting your programming, or for printing and plotting, as well as high-speed Internet access. One LD was using instant messaging with his TD at the venue to get changes while he programmed."
So who uses Prelite? "Virtually" everyone! Clients doing one-offs are a major end user. Television events where there is very little time on-site find it extremely valuable. The touring and architectural markets have also found it very useful. With architectural installations, the lighting designer often comes on the project very early. There are invariably construction delays, but the use of a Prelite studio allows a lighting designer to complete his or her work on time, regardless of delays in other areas. Rodd points out another advantage of using Prelite: no matter what the application, the lighting design is able to show the client a range of possibilities, so the client is really able to understand what the lighting is able to do.
Says Kim Grethen, "We say that we're every venue in every city. We had the touring version of The Radio City Christmas Spectacular come through. There are three different legs of the tour, with three different programmers and designers, all handling multiple venues. There all came in and sat together and went through what had been done in the past and what they'd be doing this year. They looked at the video for the show so that anyone who was new could come up to speed with David Agress, the LD and Paul Turner, his programmer. Everyone could see how they laid it out and how they envisioned things. That way, David and Paul not being at every site didn?t matter so much. They went to Indianapolis and Dallas without leaving their chairs. All we had to do was open the next virtual venue. Also, in previous years, they'd done round-the-clock programming to update all of the focus points, so one of the things they wanted to do this year was switch over toe XYZ programming on their Wholehog II. There was just never going to be enough time to do that on site. Paul Turner can in and took the show he had and redid everything into XYZ, and now that show is going to tour more easily."
Rodd and Kim maintain that Prelite can be a cost-saving tool for their clients. Using the Radio City example, while it took Paul Turner some time at the studio to update his first city to XYZ, it took him an hour to do his second city. The time Paul spend at the studio may not have been a normal budget line item, but it evaporated a huge amount of overtime on site. What would normally have taken 12 to 16 hours on site only took 1½ to 2 hours.
Prelite clients regularly come in with time-related issues. Often, there is no time available on-site and the cost of renting the site for preproduction is prohibitive. A client doing a show at the Waldorf Astoria, for example, is unable to book the space in advance, because the Waldorf is booked 365 days a year, and even if the space were available, it is not cost-effective for the producer to rent it. Prelite solves that problem. Kim and Rodd cited an example where Patrick Dierson of Dierson Design was programming the New York Knicks season opener at Madison Square Garden. The producer was concerned that Patrick would not be able to achieve his elaborate lighting proposition in the very limited time available at the Garden. Patrick's solution was to come into Prelite. He was able to actually bring the Kicks City Dancers into Prelite and go through the entire show with them cue by cue to pre-program the entire event before entering the Garden.
LD Michael Stiller, along with programmer Steve Garner, found Prelite very helpful when prepping a Nickelodeon upfront. With load-in at 8 p.m. and doors opening at 10 a.m, Stiller knew there was no way they'd have enough time to put together a decent show. They had a disc with several songs to program, so he booked a day at Prelite and they went through the songs they knew were most important to them. When they got on site, there was a problem during the load-in and they lost a huge amount of what little time they had. When they finally got their rig, they had time to do a few touchups and they were ready to go. If they hadn?t had the Prelite time, they'd have done what they could, but it wouldn't have been something either one of them would have been proud of. The difference in quality overweighed the cost of a day in the studio.
Technical directors in the corporate market have also started recommending Prelite to their lighting designers. They look at their schedule and realize there really isn't enough time to get everything done. After time at Prelite, they know that their show is going to have fewer headaches and they will not be as likely to go into overtime.
In terms of accuracy of programming, the virtual system is as accurate as the drawing the production provides. In San Francisco, a show required multiple truss moves, so the LD determined where the truss was going to move based on what he saw in the pre-vis software. It was all done with the Skjonberg Motion Control System, so he actually told the Motion Control programmer what numbers to put into his system. Everything was extremely accurate and they made almost no changes on-site.
The software for virtual lighting programs is ever evolving. At this point it looks much like a 3D video game, though renderings beside photos of real venues, such as the one Prelite did for the U2 tour, look strikingly realistic (minus the background clutter!).
There are several different software packages on the market. After some discussion with the client, the Prelite staff chooses the one they feel will most benefit the project. Says Rodd, "Obviously if they're using a Virtuoso and they are running VL protocol, we need to go with software that is compatible with that protocol. For our architectural clients we're finding that certain programs deal with custom fixtures better. In the end, it?s a case-by-case basis matching client needs with software options.
Prelite NY is centrally located at 347 Fifth Avenue across from the Empire State Building. Prelite San Francisco boasts a spectacular view of the bay. Prelite can be found on the web at www.prelite.com.
