Using Intensity in House & Stage Lighting

Disclaimer: If your church uses IMAG (Image magnification, aka Cameras on big screens in the room), this article is NOT….repeat…..NOT for you. I am writing this article to the majority of the churches out there, who aren’t using IMAG, either because of budget, or because of the lack of need. If you do have IMAG, and you aren’t happy with how things look, contact me directly.

In my last article, I covered a lot of color theory, with a lot of book-smart information. Hopefully, you have had a chance to experiment with some of those theories….hopefully, with some great results. This article is a bit of a sequel to that article….but the kind of sequel where you didn’t need to see the first one, to get the second one. Here, I would like to continue talking about lighting in worship, and specifically how using intensity (Brightness) can help your overall goal.

House Lighting

House lighting is somewhat of a thorn in my side. During worship, or specials like songs, dramas, videos, etc….I would prefer to have the house lights all the way off. My Fire Marshall disagrees. Every place is different, and some of you may have the blessing of not having to deal with your FM. If that’s the case, good for you….but keep in mind that safety is still our responsibility, even if we don’t have a city official checking over our shoulder. House lights are used for 2 things….to see where we are going, and to see each other. Depending on the quality and coverage of your particular system, these suggestions may vary, so test it out, and see what works for you. I like to live by the rule of lower is better, especially during a particularly worshipful moment. The higher the house lights are, the more you can see (duh)….which means you can see the kid play with his GI Joe…you can see the husband checking football scores on his iPhone….you can see the old man asleep in his wheelchair…..you can see the people scurrying in late. You can see everything while you are ‘trying’ to worship. Lowering the house lights during these times helps to focus people’s attention on the stage, by eliminating the potential distractions around them. At CRCC, we did our walk-in look at 100%. Once the first song started, we bumped down to 90%. With the start of each song after that, we bumped down another 10%, until we were down to 70% or so. This is nice and subtle, and helps keep the way lighted for the stragglers coming from their cars during the first couple songs. House lights are necessary operational lights…not theatrical lights…..so don’t flash them, or other crazy things like that. Nice slow 4-5 second fades look real nice on House Lighting systems. There are some churches that never go above 60%, and that’s when the Pastor is teaching. If that works for you, that’s cool…just remember every system is different. If you look at the picture below carefully, you can see how the crowd is lit up with a deep red, to match the feel of the stage. If the house lights were at full, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve this effect:

House lights don’t have to be house lights

“Huh”, you say? Just as a matter of creativity, remember that house lights exist primarily, to see where you are going, and to see each other. That doesn’t automatically mean you have to use the house chandeliers or cans or whatever your house lighting system is. You CAN be creative with that as well. Check out this picture below from an Easter service I did at CRCC. All of the house lighting was what you see on the wall behind the gentlemen in the picture (yes, he’s wearing a Kilt. No, I don’t know why). Color splash on the walls and a breakup gobo proved to be a great way to light the house, while still keeping a creative mood:

Stage Lighting

Just like your house lighting system, your stage lighting system can become a very effective tool if you use the intensity of those lights in a logical and practical manner.
Not every light has to be on all the time. Likewise, not every light that is on, should be on at 100% intensity. White lights will ALWAYS wash out whatever colors you have on stage. Always. No seriously. They will. So if you are trying to use colors, keep your white lights down. During worship, cover your stage with tons of color. Slap it on as thick and rich as you can. Then, add in the white front light a little at a time, just until you can see the facial features of the people on stage. This method will help you achieve the design you desire….lighting to color, and lighting to see. Also, try only using the white lights to light the specific areas on the stage where people are. If you can shutter off, or focus a light so that it doesn’t splash all over the place, that will help your color saturation stay high. Try using zones on your stage, and setting up your lights to light just those zones. See the picture below for examples of keeping the white light under control.

Also consider that in stage world, a blackout is never a blackout. Typical theater practice is to use a deep blue color to signify a “black” stage. I try to never use a total blackout, unless it is specifically requested or needed for a specific reason.

Intensity can also be used to mood, just like color can. A guy sitting on a bench, lit with a white light at 100%, doesn’t say “A Park, at night”. However, that same bench lit in blue at 100% with 2-3 lights, and then a white light at 20%, does convey that idea much more clearly.

Lastly, keep in mind that some colors are inherently brighter than others. If you were to take a par can, and insert a yellow gel, and then take a second par, and insert a blue gel, the blue would be 2-3 dimmer than the yellow. This means one of two things needs to happen…you either need to add 3-4 extra blue lights to balance the intensity, or lower the intensity of the yellow light. See the balance in intensity between these lights:

There are several emotions or ideas you can convey by using intensity. If you change your thinking about the way you use your lighting, and try some new things, I believe you will find that you can create some great worship environments.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to light me up at adamogden@hotmail.com.

Related posts:

1. Lighting Color Theory
2. 10 Tips for Worship Leaders: How to Enhance On-Stage Presence