LX Guide: Rigging Lanterns and Cable Management

Of prime importance when rigging is ensuring safety; whatever you hang must not fall or be in a position where it could injure someone. That being said, an important consideration when rigging is how easy it is to de-rig. Where used, tape should be applied sparingly and care should be taken not to weave cables together in knots. Again, quick, tidy, secure, but undoable rigging is a skill learned by experience.

Hanging a Lantern

Where possible bars should be brought in so lanterns can be hung on the ground. Where this is not the case they need to be either carried up or hauled up on a line. When hanging lanterns in the air it is much easier if they have been prepared (appropriate accessories such as colour and gobo) on the ground. In venues with less than reliable kit it can be useful to check that all lanterns work before hanging them!. Hanging is simply a matter of:

1. Hook onto the bar
2. Tighten hook clamp
3. Attach safety bond
4. Roughly point and open up barndoors/shutters, else it is hard to see that a lantern is on!
5. Plug-in (into the correct circuit, and ensure it is recorded) and ensure cable is out of the way, but not too tight to prevent lantern being focused later

Try and organise working at height to use access equipment most efficiently to save time and consider that other departments (e.g. set) will want to work in some areas. For instance, you could plan to work on the FOH bars while the set is being built on stage

Cabling

Until someone invents lanterns which do not require power, cabling is an essential part of rigging, with some important 'dos' and 'don'ts':

• Cables should never be tightly wound round bars; excess cable should be coiled and taped on top, or loosely looped over a couple of times at the most
• LX tape (PVC insulation tape) should be used to secure cables to bars. Though the cables should be held securely, the tape should be easy to undo by hand (try and leave the end easy to peel). Where multiple cables run along a bar together try and avoid taping each cable separately under the others or crossing them, so it is easy to remove them singly
• Enough spare flex should be left to allow lanterns to be pointed and focused but ensure cables will not snag on scenery or other objects
• Cables to flown bars should be long enough to allow the bar to be brought in if necessary
• Be aware of running cables on the floor as they are a trip hazard. Where possible run along walls/edges and over doorways
• Gaffa should be used sparingly as it often leaves a sticky residue. It's use should be limited to taping cables down to the floor to prevent a trip hazard. Afterwards, the gaffa must be peeled up first, rather than just pulling the cable up, as otherwise it can stick back on itself around the cable and is very difficult to remove
• Try and cross power cables with signal cables at right angles, and avoid running in parallel in close proximity to reduce interference
• Try to keep cable runs organised and tidy as it can simplify fault finding or any changes later. It may be useful to label plugs and sockets, especially where there are a lot of identical looking plugs at the dimmers!

Focusing

Though it may not be immediately obvious, all types of lanterns require "focusing", even if it just consists of pointing it in the correct direction! In addition:

• Par cans maybe adjusted by twisting the bubble until their elliptically shaped beam is in the correct direction, asymmetric floods should be orientated correctly
• Fresnels and PCs need to have their barn doors set, and their beam adjusted between spot and flood
• Profiles have more adjustments to set – shutters, beam shape (size and edge softness), gobo, iris

Once the designer is satisfied (or as satisfied as designers ever are) with the focus of a lantern, it should be tightened up firmly to prevent slippage, though over tightening should be avoided.

Focusing should consider the height of objects, as the top will be in darkness if a lantern is simply pointed at the position an object will occupy on the floor. This is particularly important on the downstage edge of the stage, as although the whole stage floor appears to be lit, when performers stand on the front of the stage their faces will be dark. When focusing it's often easier to use the real objects if available and if possible insist the real set is used with people standing in their actual positions.

When focusing, care should be taken to avoid spill – light shining in unwanted areas which looks unsightly. In particular beams should be cut off from shining on borders and more importantly in the eyes of the audience. Care should be taken to notice and prevent (blacktack/blackwrap, which is basically thick black tin foil, is often useful) slivers of light escaping from fixtures or around gels.