Saddleback Church Automates Auditorium
(copyright ©2003 by Pro
Lights & Staging News; used by permission)
Saddleback Church's 3,500-seat auditorium is one of the most active
venues in Lake Forest, Calif. In addition to the church's six worship
services each weekend, the auditorium plays host to more than 20
concerts during the summer as well as numerous other special religious
programs, conferences and theatrical presentations. The auditorium is
also used by outside groups, such as local high school theatre troupes.
Lighting the auditorium's 60-by-30-foot stage was a huge rig
consisting of more than 300 conventional fixtures. In the center of the
back wall of the stage are three 12-by-9-foot screens. On the perimeter
is a pair of 20-foot video screens. Although the stage and video system
could easily accommodate the wide range of events at the venue, the
lighting system was not as flexible.
There is no catwalk system at Saddleback Church that would allow
someone to walk along the rafters and adjust, focus or re-gel the
conventional fixtures. The lighting system was accessed from a
single-man automatic lift, which, when it came to changing fixtures,
meant putting four outriggers on the lift, moving it to a specific
location in the worship center, going up in the lift, changing or
refocusing the lamp, lowering the lift, moving it to another position
and repeating the process.
For certain programs, the performance area of the stage would be
widened, calling for a complete refocus of the entire 300-plus fixture
lighting system. The amount of labor it took to maintain the system had
become too time consuming.
The church replaced several dozen of its conventional fixtures with
18 VL2000™ Spot luminaires and eight VL2000™ Wash fixtures. All but
two of the luminaires were ordered custom-colored white from the
Vari-Lite factory to blend in with the auditorium roof. The two black
fixtures are hung in a darkened area of the church, obscured from the
audience's view.
In addition to the moving beams, the rotating gobos allow for a
variety of background texturing, giving the impression of moving clouds,
rippling waters--or flames, should the congregation need that message.
The automated system has also added flexibility to the weekly worship
services and special programs. Each of the six weekly services can have
a preset lighting design that sets a particular mood and
atmosphere--serious on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and possibly upbeat
for the Sunday evening service.
At Christmas and Easter, Saddleback Church regularly presents
"point and play" programs, a combination of scripture and song
where the pastor emphasizes a point from the scripture, which is
followed immediately by a corresponding hymn. The automated fixtures can
allow a spotlight to follow the pastor as he moves to different points
on the stage, and the wash of color bathing the choir can change with
each message.
The control system is a Flying Pig WholeHog III console, installed
just two days before a series of 13 Easter Services was set to begin.
Jon Griffin, the full-time lighting designer and director, had no qualms
about installing a new console before such a string of shows, as he was
already familiar with the console's predecessor, the WholeHog II
console.
"1 knew it would be a success," Griffin says. "1 love
the Hog III. I took a conversion course (a training process of going
from WholeHog II to WholeHog III) with Mike Hanson at HES Los Angeles.
Flying Pig Systems has been extremely helpful resolving issues with new
builds all the time. With both the console and the wings, I have the
flexibility we needed in the venue."
Griffin says he quickly put the WholeHog III control system to the
test. The Hog III--along with a programming wing and a playback
wing---arrived on a Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday, he spent the day
hanging lights and programming and Thursday was the start of 13 Easter
services.
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