Elation Platinum Beam 5Rs Light the Way for the Church on the Rock

Every year, Golden Triangle Church on the Rock (COTR) reaches out to its southeastern Texas community with a city-wide "Night of Worship." Open to the general public, the event features a gathering of local musicians and worship leaders who lead the capacity crowd in a fervent prayer service.

To illuminate this year's event, COTR brought in experienced house of worship, lighting designer Josh Beard. Working with rental company Deep South Productions of Sulphur, Louisiana, Beard chose the Platinum Beam 5R DMX moving head from Elation Professional as his primary fixture for lighting up the stage in the church's 2,000-seat auditorium.

"The whole night was about an hour and a half of just worship for the community," said Beard, who serves as a lighting designer in several area churches. "I was contracted to light the set and enhance the worship experience. I prefer to use Deep South Productions for all my freelance gigs. They have all the gear I need to have a successful show every time."

The gear in this case -- the Elation Platinum Beam 5R -- is a very compact (14.1"L x 13.2"W x 18.5"H) -- yet bright, ACL beam effect. Its ultra-efficient Philips MSD Platinum 5R lamp runs on only 189W, yet its brightness matches that of a much larger, higher-wattage fixture. Featuring a tight beam angle of two-point-five degrees, the Platinum Beam 5R produces a concentrated searchlight-type beam, but also offers the versatility to create a variety of different effects, with 12 dichroic colors, eight rotating replaceable gobos, three-facet rotating prism (with eight-facet option), and a frost filter that allows it to do double duty as a wash effect.

A total of eight Platinum Beam 5Rs were used to light the Night of Worship service. Four of the units were positioned on top of upright truss on the upstage side behind the band. Two additional sections of truss were located on the downstage corners, with one Platinum Beam 5R on top of each of these as well. The remaining two fixtures were placed on the stage itself, on either side of the band. "So there were three different levels, to create a lot of depth in the room," Beard explained.

Beard said that he chose the Platinum Beam 5R for a number of reasons: "We needed a fixture that didn't draw much power, and would also fit into the church's budget," he said. Additionally, the fixture had to be compact enough to fit the church's relatively small 45' wide by 15' deep stage. "I wanted a unit that didn't take up much of the stage, since I had limited space for fixture placement," Beard added.

Beard continued, "I am a huge fan of a light that has some punch. The 5R exceeded that by far! I also needed a fixture that was fast enough to handle some of the quick transitions that I had to make throughout the worship set. The Platinum Beam 5R met all of these needs."