Notes and Lines

Gian Benallo from First Christian Church of Huber Heights in Dayton, Ohio, presents a unique stage design that resembles sheet music.

Gian used 8-foot clear fluorescent light protectors, purchased from Lowe’s, and attached them to a frame made from 1x4s painted flat black. These were screwed to the stage with L brackets. To attach them, he cut a small X in the front with a razor blade, allowing a screw to pass through without significant damage. The protectors were secured to the frame from the back. Inside the tubes, Gian inserted long strips of sketch paper from a roll bought at Hobby Lobby. This paper diffused the Supernight SMD5050 RGB LED strip lights, purchased from Amazon, making the tubes appear like colored fluorescent bulbs.

For another stage element, Gian used two 4×4-foot pieces of hardboard from Lowe’s. He cut out a pattern using a hole saw and painted them flat black. These hardboards were attached to the same type of frame as the light tubes. The insides were also covered with sketch paper. He used 2 Chauvet Color Pallets (LED wash panels) offset from left to right to backlight them. The Color Pallets were effective because they can be divided into 8 different areas with varying colors, creating impressive gradients.

The entire project cost less than $250, excluding the Color Pallets, which were already owned and cost about $150 each. However, other lighting options, such as Par LEDs, could be used to achieve similar results.