Stage Designs

Heavier Rain

Terrence O’Briant from East Coast Believers Church in Casselberry, FL brings us this great stage redesign. (Originally posted October 2012)

They have a small stage and shallow/wide auditorium. So they needed a fairly flat design that would be easy to change up. So they painted the stage walls black and hung a black velvet curtain against the wall across the whole back of the stage. They bought remnants from Dazian to decrease the cost of the curtain.

They got the column idea from So Fresh and So Clean. So they built columns out of poplar 1X1’s and painted them black. They lined them with diffusion gel material that they got in 25′ rolls, and lit them from within with two UltraLED MR16 warm white LED fixtures from Techni-Lux for each column.

They had a cloth banner printed with their logo and cityscape image that hangs center stage.

Between the columns, they hung Diamond Crystal Beaded Curtains that they bought from ShopWildThings.com. The beaded curtains and banner were downlit with 4 DL-BAR10TC24 tricolor bars from Techni-lux. They hung a valance in order to hide the light fixtures and rigging and give a much cleaner look.

Total cost for just the design elements was about $2000. And it took 15 people a day and a night to install (this included fixtures and a new lighting control system).

Portable Reflections Throwback: Ninja Turtles?

22 responses to “Heavier Rain”

  1. Steven Hall says:

    Terrance,

    Amazing work! Keep up your amazingly creative work for the Lord.

    ,Steven

    • Terrence O'Briant says:

      Thanks, I’m glad you like it. It was definitely a labor of love. Also, I had a great team around me who contributed many of the ideas and a lot of work!

  2. Bob Owens says:

    Very Cool Terry. It’s a great design and looks very Professional. Im glad we could be a part of it for ECBC.
    Blessings to you all
    Bob Owens
    Owens AV Design – Orlando

  3. Greg says:

    The DL-BAR10TC24 light is quite expensive. Is there a cheaper alternative you can recommend?

    • Bob Owens says:

      Greg,
      I know of 2 – Demo (full warranty) units that I can sell you for $475.00 plus freight. I hope that helps, contact me at 407-947-4088. New units I can sell you for $535 plus freight.

    • Terrence O'Briant says:

      They are more expensive than some others, but they are very definitely worth it. If you can’t swing the cost, there are lots of options out there , although you’ll have to sacrifice something for the lower cost. I’d recommend finding a good AV consultant to help find what you need that’s also within your budget. We use Bob Owens, with Owens AV, here in Orlando. Even if your church doesn’t have a large budget, it’s good to start a relationship with someone like that early on. Bob has helped us save money and helped us find great equipment that we wouldn’t have known of otherwise, and it doesn’t always cost us something to get advice from him. Good news for him is, when we have a really big purchase, he’s the first guy we go to. I hope that helps!

      • Greg says:

        Thanks Terrence,

        How did you hang the lights? On the curtain or ceiling? Will it work if we put the lights on the floor it lots up instead? Could you call me on 2247171504 or give a number to call you if you don’t mind . We have a few questions to run by you.

        Greg

        • Terrence O'Briant says:

          lighting up can work as well, you’ll just get a different spread pattern. We hung a grid from the ceiling that we hung the lights from. There would be no way to hang them from the curtain, since they are quite heavy.

          I’ll try to call next week.

          Thanks,
          Terry.

  4. Deb says:

    I really like your stage design. It’s simple and has a clean look. We’re working on implementing this design in our church. What are the dimensions of you banner in the center? Can I reach you by email if I have more questions?

  5. Mike says:

    Nice work. Like the columns. Planning on “upgrading” ours with a look like this soon.

    Also, I am looking for this exact same Podium that is in the picture. Have searched several “Podium Sales” sites, but have not seen this version. Where was it purchased.

    Thanks

  6. Mike says:

    thanks. we are moving toward something new and this one is on our radar.

  7. This looks like a great idea for churches without a lot of space. The beads add a layer of depth without taking up much space. Very creative idea East Coast Believers Church.

  8. Jason says:

    Terrence, where did you buy the diffusion material for your columns? Love the design!

  9. Michael Hurley says:

    Terrence:

    How often do you change your set backgrounds?

    • Terrence O'Briant says:

      We’ve had this up for about a year. We changed it out for Easter with a different banner to fit the sermon series. We are set to make a change now, just need to schedule some time to get it done.

  10. Tabbetha says:

    Which Diffuser material did you use? There are so many on their site.

    • Terrence O'Briant says:

      The way we did it was very difficult, and ends up being somewhat fragile. I would recommend doing this with Coroplast, because it would be a lot easier to work with. I haven’t bought any myself, but you should be able to find some at Home Depot or at a sign store. Good Luck!

  11. Arron Archer says:

    Glad to see that someone had a reasonably easy time with these curtains! lol – We purchased 18ft bead curtains from ShopWildThings.com as well for our current set design and it took my team and me about 5 days to correct the fact that they came straight out of the box in an ungodly, tangled mess! :( – They do reflect the light exceptionally well though. Great look, guys.

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