I don't think there are any classic setups out there. We all do have a showfile that we start any show with. How you lay out your showfile is up to you. But everything depends on the light package you can work with. Bar / Club / Consert-venues / Festivals / Stadiums don't work the same way. Some places you bring your own gear, some venues have some lights, but not complete. Some have low ceilings, some high. Some stages are really small, like 3 x 2m (9 x 6ft) and others are huge.
So I can only speak on behalf of my self.
1. I can only use what I have in the inventory (
Word of wisdom: Use what you have, not what you want)
2. Grouping fixtures on the floor/truss gives less effect than having them spread out (unless your doing BIG rigs)
With those 2 in mind, I normally start with
stage wash.
They need to be positioned evenly side to side, front to back to get the best coverage.
Sidenote. I only want wash ON the stage, not outside. On a low budget, I tend to light up surfaces that reflect light, getting more out of one or more fixtures.
Color presets. Red, green, blue, cyan, magenta/pink, purple. If fixtures are RGBW, I also create Light red, light green... and so on.
Moving on to
beams.
Don't! To little output, to little effect. A spot light fixture is way better. Where beams fixtures normally have a light barrel at about 12-18cm (5-7 inches) and what 2-6 degrees spread, a spot fixture can usually do 18-40 degrees without prism, giving a lot more aerial effect. A way bigger barrel of light doing visual stuff.
Color presets. Bright colors. Yellow, cyan, light green and so on.. Color matched with the wash fixtures if possible.
Beam presets. The standard stuff really. X's, W's, II's, audiens blinding, fan out and fan inn, and so on..
Movement. Std here as well. Cartwheel left & right w/o Shift. Circle left & right w/o Shift. Up/down w/o Shift. - All linked to Master speed slider
Effects. Rainbow, color swap w/o beat sync, strobing (s,m,fast), pulse, ramp, sinus.
Shutter/Dimmers. On/off w/o beat sync, puls, ramp, sinus.
When it comes to your Subject question, I tend to get inspired by the big names you can find anywhere on Insta, Youtube, TikTok... But when it comes to learning, I've gotten the most out of
EventElevator on
YouTube (external link). They interview the leading tech's out there, and most of the time, you get fair insight into how they work, and with what.
And I do like the comment Kiss's lighting engineer used; "
Just because a movinghead can move, doesn't mean it has to". It all depends on what your lighting.
But my 2 cents are: You're hired to highlight the talent, NOT show everyone what a good programmer you are.