Stage Designs

Off and On the Grid

Trevor Hislop from Church at Viera in Viera, FL brings us their take on the popular “app” stage design.

They made their app squares from thin plywood. Each square is 2’x2′ and there’s 6″ of space between each one. They stapled each app square to a grid they hung from their catwalk. They made 3 grids (right, center, and left). To a create a dimensional look, they also added squares to the stage walls halfway back and at the front of the stage.

The 3 grids with squares were hung approximately 6 feet in front of a black theatrical stage curtain at the back of the stage – giving the “black hole” effect.

There were a total of 56 squares incorporated into the stage design. The squares were painted in 2 shades of gray (40 light gray and 16 medium gray) to give an bit of texture when lit.

The squares were down lit by 6 LED “bricks” and 10 LED “cans”. For accent lighting, 2 intelligent fixtures (“movers”) were used to throw out of focus “gobo” patterns to give texture and motion to the backdrop.

The total design cost less than $500.

Stuck in the Corner White Duct Tape

8 responses to “Off and On the Grid”

  1. Pastor Mike McK says:

    Did you guys front light these from the floor or ceiling?

    • Trevor Hislop says:

      Hey Mike,
      We did all of the lighting from the front. Most of the lighting is from the LED “bricks” that are hung from the catwalk about 10 feet in front of and 10 feet above the “app walls”. The additional lighting is from lighting bars out over the congregation that is aimed to the stage. So, to answer your question… we light them from the ceiling.

  2. Mike Fowler says:

    That was my question too. Where are your LED fixtures located?

  3. Jonathan says:

    I love this design. We are finally implementing some color changing ability and we very well may “borrow” this concept. Can you explain how you made your grid? I can’t tell what sort of material that is….but I love the look it gives with the grid lighting up as well.

    • Trevor Hislop says:

      Hey Jonathan,
      Great to hear that you’re wanting to use this stage design concept with your new color changers!!! This “app” design really comes to life with the right lighting.

      About the grid… we constructed it out of wood:
      – 1”x1”s that seam together at the intersections, allowing it all to be flush
      – 3 grids… 1, stage right, 1, center stage, and 1, stage left… lined up to look like 1 grid
      – painted black to disappear into the black curtains behind it
      – the grids were suspended from a truss and anchored to the floor for stability and safety
      – the “app” squares were stapled to the grid at the intersections and corners

      Let me know if you have any more questions and keep me posted on how it all comes together.

      • Jonathan says:

        Excellent…thanks. Sounds pretty straight forward. I’m surprised thought that the grids are black as you can see the grid slightly lit up along with the tiles. A very cool effect. We’ll certainly play around with that a bit. Should be fun. With any luck we’ll be posting something here in due time.

        Thanks again and Merry Christmas.

        Jon

  4. David says:

    Can you explain what make and model of light fixtures you used? We are trying to do something similar to this and not getting very even coverage over the panels.

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