Kids Kamp: Gobos, Bubbles, Fog, Fun
Exciting Lighting For Freedom House Church
Design Dialogue by Jack Kelly
July, 2008 | University Elementary School | University City, NC

At the meeting, Freedom House Church leadership seemed more interested in me than in their Kids Kamp. They loved my ideas and brought several of the staff into the meeting to see what Eye Dialogue could do with different speaking topics. They ask some non-related personal questions, I answered them honestly and directly. By the time we got around to budget, they just threw it out. Through my personal openness with them, they became open with me. Honest client meets honest artist. That’s a match made in heaven.

The best way to maximize a budget is to realize the assets. Using other peoples’ gear can be scary, but nothing demonstrates a budget conscience designer more than using all available in-house equipment. Freedom House already had a hand full of LEDs and moving heads. Integrating them into my design, we created a lighting plot to cover their needs.

The backdrop was a colorful laboratory. “Life Change in Progress” was about the ability to change one’s life through their commitment to Christ. To make the backdrop pop; pink lights lit pink bottles; blue lights lit blue bottles; red lights lit red bottles; etc. For example, Red on red makes the red color vibrant, marginally affecting the other colors. Colored substances absorb all other colors and only reflect their specific wave lengths (red 650nm; green 510nm; blue 475nm). The equal combination of all wave lengths creates white light. With props, traditional lighting will make the colors generally even depending on the type of white. When red lighting is added, only the red surfaces will reflect the light back. The reds comes alive popping off the prop. The other colors will absorb the red light darkening their color with subtractive color mixing. This is most easily demonstrated by shining a color changing fixture on a colorful painting. The image will morph as it seems to change hue. One at a time, each color will become dominate as the color changing fixture explores the primary colors. Transferring this knowledge to a kid’s camp stage, we were able to make the stage dynamic with bold colors.

For the dramatic sketches we needed wow. The fog machine is always a fun effect useful in so many applications. However, the bubble machine provided the most interesting solution. Pastor Troy had an underwater sketch. As he told the story, the bubble machines would switch back and forth pushing a dozen bubbles into the air at a time. For transitions, wacky science sounds were played over the audio, and the lights would momentarily go crazy. Fog, bubbles, movers, color changers, and strobes all seemed to lose control as the symbolic life changes took place. An effective attention grabber, the transition helped direct the children’s attention to the stage.

Everyone feels special when they receive a gift that can only be given to them. If they don’t want the gift, no one else can use it. By creating custom video and gobos, the event becomes the children’s gift. Whether people realize it or not, these custom effects make the event special, empowering the purpose. By taking a chance on an effect that cannot be reused, the greater importance of the message is communicated to the audience. For the custom gobos, we didn’t have good wall space, and no one can see gobos on the floor. Only the ceiling was left. We focused the light to be most easily read from the walkway in the middle of the room. The image was oblong from underneath, but as the viewer approached the middle of the room, the logo became clear.

The final task was to create definitive stages. Two stages were used causing the children to look back and forth. This is an effective technique that minimizes boredom and stimulates the brain. For clarity we needed repetitive signals that would let the audience know where to look so they didn’t get frustrated by missing key events. We framed the main stage with color changing truss that added to the overall effect of the room. As the lights came up on the side stage, the backdrop and the truss would all transition to blue. Also by using powerful framing imagery on the stage corners, it was easier to hide activities beyond the borders. For example, a plain picture stapled to a wall will bring attention to the chipping paint and ragged edges. The same picture in an ornate frame will bring more attention to itself (its purpose) rather than its environment.

Sweeping gobos through the room, strobing through the spectrum of colors, and filling the air with bubbles and smoke helped keep the children’s attention by intentionally distracting them. After the momentary effects, the speaker could bring the children back to focus. Using a winning combination of sketches, music, and technology; hundreds of kids made life changing decisions. By expanding their tool belt with the help of Eye Dialogue, Freedom House effectively reached tomorrow’s leaders today.