A Day in the Life of the Setup Crew

September 21, 2008. Early morning at Willard Junior High. An overcast and gloomy day, but the Gracepoint Berkeley setup team’s spirits are high.

Doing out usual daisy-chaining the DMX cables when we discover this bad boy. Turns out someone from the take down crew has been taking off the cables by yanking on them. I suppose he didn’t realize that you need to push the button to pull out the cable. Luckily we had an el-cheapo soldering iron and temporarily fixed the problem. We’ll have to replace it for next time though. Bummer.

Talking a breather for a bit, sitting at the lightboard table.

The ruckus behind me. We have these giant “swamp coolers” we use to cool down the auditorium because the school doesn’t have sufficient ventilation. These coolers cool down the room through a water evaporation cooling method. Someone had the bright idea of filling it up with water before lifting it onto the stand. Super heavy!

The outcome? Uh-oh… spillage. We had a good laugh in the end. Luckily it didn’t spill onto anything electrical.

Sound run-through… rehearsing with the band before service starts. Rehearsing the lighting cues as well, and making last minute adjustments to the lights and curtains.

Service is over. Here is one of the youngest of our take down crew… getting in some practice time while no one was looking. Caught you in the act, kiddo!

Fin. Until next time…

Monday thru Saturday: Week 2

As I was setting up with the SSL crew this past Sunday, it dawned on me that I was emphasizing diagonal lines for this series. I figured that I should continue it with all the fabric I was using. I decided on impulse to switch the trusses around so that the 10 footers would be on the outside, and the 5 footers on the inside, therefore allowing for the diagonal curtains to change diagonal orientations. Then instead of having vertical scrims in the back, I ended up using these oversized triangular fabric (they’re actually cheap canopies I purchased at Ikea a while back… same with those 2 narrow strips of fabric I oriented diagonally… Ikea for like 2 dollars each!). I think it really changed the feel of the stage much more and greater distinguished between our previous message series, Conversations. Thanks to the SSL crew for being so flexible with the last minute changes!

Some more behind the scenes pics of SSL crew and other setup people (and equipment) that made the worship service at Gracepoint Fellowship Church, Berkeley possible!

SWS Message Series – Monday thru Saturday

Our new message series titled, Monday thru Saturday. It stresses living out our Christian values every day of the week… not just on Sundays.

Similar set design to Conversations, with slight mods. We did away with the double diagonal banner action and did only a single, in order for the diagonal nylon ropes to show more. Also added two 5′ trusses on the sides, with the ETC pars standing on top of them. I think as the weeks progress I’ll mix it up a little, maybe change a few more things, as time permits.

I’ve also included some behind the scenes pics of our team in action… just minutes before service was to begin!

Stage Design: Conversation

This is our Gracepoint Fellowship Church’s (Berkeley) Sunday worship service stage design during our 4-part mesage series titled, Conversation, detailing the account and analyzing the event with Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:4-30).

The design itself was not directly related to the content of the message itself. However, if you are observant enough, the general lighting feel and colors change each week, to signify a progression from the dry nagging thrist (red/orange/yellow) that the Samaritan woman was experiencing in her heart, to the discovery of living water offered by Jesus (week 4, denoted by colors that signify life, growth, and water… greens and blues).

Below is an example of the dynamic color changing and movement used during the praise set (week 2).

Hello world!

We’re finally up. This blog is a total work in progress right now, as you can tell. Keep checking back for updates (though I wouldn’t hold my breath).

Stay safe out there.