According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, “Ballyhoo” is defined as “a noisy attention-getting demonstration or excited commotion.” Every automated lighting programmer has created ballyhoos for a production at some point in his or her career. In the lighting world, ballyhoos were first invented by asking followspot operators to swing the spots around in a figure eight motion on the stage or house curtain. Now, with automated lighting fixtures and consoles, ballyhoos can be as simple as the press of a button or complex programmed sequences. Although a ballyhoo might seem like a simple task, there are many things a programmer should take into consideration.
Old-School Style
I remember that in the early days of my programming career, I despised creating audience ballyhoos. They were very tedious and time-consuming to make. This was in an age without effect engines, so each and every step of the ballyhoo had to be sculpted by hand. Typically, a ballyhoo was made up of a six or eight step chase that was played back in a random order. The tedious parts were coming up with unique positions for every light in each step while ensuring that the movement between steps was plentiful and organic.
The good thing, though, about this old method of building ballyhoos is that I was aware of the landing point of each and every light throughout the chase. This helped to eliminate unnecessary areas of the venue or stage being illuminated. For instance, I never wanted an audience ballyhoo to enter the stage area, light up the P.A. or trusses, pass through FOH, or glance across projection screens. In fact, I still don’t want these things to happen with an audience ballyhoo!
The Age of Effects
Once lighting consoles begin to integrate built-in effect abilities, a ballyhoo became as easy as pressing a single button on the screen. This sends the fixtures off in a pre-made, mathematically based movement cycle. The programmer can then adjust the rate/speed and size of the movement effect to help match it to the desired feel and general locations. However, all the fixtures tend to move together along the mathematical trajectory, and thus the movement feels stiff and coordinated. So programmers will adjust the offset of the effect in relation to each fixture. This will cause the fixtures to all be in a different point within the movement path and thus creates a better ballyhoo flow.
By properly adjusting the rate/speed, size and offset of a pre-made ballyhoo effect, one can get a reasonably good-looking movement going. However, there is still a great possibility of fixtures moving off into undesired areas of the venue and stage. Further adjustments of the size or base position of individual fixtures may be required to polish a good ballyhoo into a perfect one.
Positions Take Priority
The single most important part of any ballyhoo effect or chase is the base positions. These will determine the point around which all the movement will occur. With effects-based systems, you only need one position, whereas the older chase-based method required several positions. I generally use effects to create ballyhoos and thus only have one base position for each ballyhoo location (stage, audience, blinder). I like to create and store a preset/palette with randomly positioned fixtures in each of these general areas.
For instance, I will position my fixtures in a random audience position where the fixtures are individually positioned in various non-symmetrical orientations throughout the audience area. Then, when I apply a ballyhoo effect starting from this position, I know that the movements will all occur throughout the audience space. If a fixture appears to be going into an undesirable area (FOH, PA speakers, screens), then I can easily update the preset/palette with an adjustment to the base position of the ballyhoo.
Choices Abound
Take a look at the built-in effects in any automated lighting console, and you will find a range of pre-made movements such as circles, figure eights and even ballyhoos. Some of these are great, while others may not be pleasurable to watch. Personally, when creating a ballyhoo, I prefer to build my own style as follows. First, I select my desired fixtures and put them in a suitable preset/palette (random stage or random audience). Then I select half my fixtures and put them into a circle effect moving clockwise. Next, I select the other half and apply a circle effect moving counterclockwise. Now I reselect all fixtures and adjust the rate/speed, size, and offset until the ballyhoo is looking good. Other factors also come into play such as the order of fixture selection and type of fanning/aligning.
This creates the organic movement that I prefer when creating ballyhoos for most productions. I know of different methods used by other programmers that achieve an equally nice look. The important point is to come up with a method that is quick and efficient for you on your desk, and then refine it for the specific production.
Fun with Ballyhoos
Excited movement with automated fixtures is a staple for corporate events, award shows, concerts and more. A ballyhoo can be triggered as a single cue or controlled via a fader where the location of the fader adjusts the speed or size of the movement. I also like to trigger a ballyhoo from a flash key so that I can easily engage and release the movement at any moment. Of course, I configure my playback so that the fixtures smoothly transition in and out of the ballyhoo movement and look.
Ballyhoos can happen in specific locations (stage, audience), or they can be wildly crazy all throughout the venue. Although I have described trying to keep the fixtures from illuminating undesired areas, there are times when a totally chaotic movement that looks out of control is completely acceptable. There are no rules when it comes to how a ballyhoo should look or behave, but it is a good idea to have a little restraint and not use ballyhoos for every moment of your programming!
Keep Calm and Bally On
If you have never put much thought or effort into your ballyhoos and simply pressed the button on the effects, then shame on you. Every programmer should take the time to understand how to finesse effects and tune ballyhoos to the specific production and venue. Remember that ballyhoos are defined as “excited commotion” and as such should evoke this felling with your audience.
The next time you are at a console and a have a spare moment, select some lights and play with ballyhoos. You will probably find some new methods to create or tweak your standard creation method. After all, ballyhoo is the essence of programming moving lights as we get to create movement with light.
