Lighting project – Natasha Wilkinson
What are Generic Lights and what are their uses?
A Fresnel light or Fresnel lantern are types of generic light which is commonly used in theatre or concert settings.
Augustin-Jean Fresnel, was a French engineer and physicist in which created the Fresnel lens. He was a slow learner, but decided to study the ways in which light changes its path; and in this, he calculated a number of formulas – which helped him with a huge breakthrough for lighthouses. He created the lens so the light could be seen further out in sea.
The front of the light has barn doors, two long and two short which spin. These allow you to shape the beam, and you are able to move them into whatever size you want.
The Fresnel has a circular bulb, with a Fresnel lens in front. The light has a soft beam, and has a locking knob on the bottom which means when it is undone, the reflector and lamp inside move closer and further away from the lens – meaning the beam can be focused larger or smaller. The bulb inside of the Fresnel light is a 500W bulb, whereas a Fresnel lantern (often made by Robert Juliet) is a 1KW version of the Fresnel light meaning both are very powerful, but the lantern is double the strength of the light. A standard household light is 60W, showing just how powerful the Fresnel’s are. An advantage of the lantern over the light is that the barn doors go in angles.
A zoom profile light is another type of generic light, and is often used for stage lighting. The light itself is manufactured by a few different companies, but the main company is Selecom.
A zoom profile light has a spread of 360 degrees, which comes out of the front of the light, the lamp is fixed inside of these lights. The size cannot be changed on a zoom profile light, but the edge of the light that comes out can be made sharp or soft.
They have a distinctive feature, which is the shutters, these allow the shape of the beam to be changed, for example it can be made into a semi-circle, but since the light is reflected inside you must use the shutters the opposite way to how you want the light to come out.
A Parcan light is another type of generic light, and was first introduced around the 1960’s, for Rock’n’Roll concerts.
The light sits inside, and there is a big tube on the front of it. It is around 1KW which is extremely powerful, the front becomes extremely hot, so at the back is a parsafe – this stays cool and means you can stick your hand in the back of the light which allows you to spin the light.
The light is manual, and can be panned from left to right and tilted up and down.
Parcan’s stopped being used and replaced by more high end lights, but are now being used more frequently. For example, this year at Kanye West’s Glastonbury performance, he had around 1,700 Parcans above him.
A flood light is another type of generic light. This light is quite simple, as there is not much you can do with it.
The flood light “floods the room with light” and the light is spread quite wide. These lights are often seen outside of buildings. Floods are linear because of the way the lens is.
You can change the colour of a flood, and pan and tilt it to the position you would like, therefore it is a manual light. The light is 500W which is quite powerful, and the heat can go up to 138 degrees centigrade.
There is a variety of manufacturers of lights. Selecon, Strand and Robert Juliat are all examples of theatre and entertainment lighting manufacturers.
Selecon was created in 1969 by a man named Walter Coleman, who developed a 6” Fresnel with a P28 based lamp. Selecons product are always original and unique to their brand, and have never tried to copy or improve another companies products.
Strand has been around much longer than Selecon, being created in 1914 to serve London’s theatres. In 1926, Strand expanded over to New York’s Broadway shows. In 2008, Strand lighting and Phillips lighting teamed up to make a larger and more profitable company.
Robert Juliat lighting started in 1919, by a man named Robert Juliat who was manufacturing lighting for cinemas. The company expanded and eventually Robert Juliat lighting moved over to theatres to broaden the company’s horizons.
The colour of lighting is a very important part of theatre and entertainment. The colour sets the mood, and makes the audience feel a certain way. For example, Red lighting makes the audience feel a sense of danger or anger, whereas blue lighting makes them feel calm, or a sense of mystery.
We change the colour of lighting with gels, which cost around £10 per sheet. The brighter/whiter the lamp inside the light is, the stronger the colour will come across.
All lights have a gel frame and somewhere to fit the gel inside, this is necessary for theatre lights as colours are used often and are an essential part in making a good show.
Angles of lights are extremely important for shows. This is because where the light is placed, it lights up an area or creates shapes and shadows which are relevant to the show. For example, for dance shows, lighting from the back and sides is usually good as it lights the outline of the figure.
There are many types of angles that can be used, here are a few examples.
Lighting from below. This lighting projects a large shadow on the cyclorama, and makes the actor seem more powerful. Usually creates shadows on the face, so you are unable to see full facial emotions, but can look quite spooky.
A vertical beam is used often in theatre shows, and never has to be wider than the actor their self. Although with this lighting, the nose is highlighted which shadows the mouth, and the eyes are not visible – therefore emotion cannot be seen very well. Also flattens the actors features.
Upstage lighting from the side gives the actors face light, so all emotion can be seen, but the light is further upstage meaning the actors shadow will cover part of the scenery.
A light source coming from upstage and behind the actor creates a haze on the actors head and shoulders, and the front of them is not visible, usually good for dance shows or scary scenes with a red gel.
Lighting coming just forward from the actor, lights up their whole face and body, although the shadow of the actor extends.
A light source coming from one side of the actor, means that one side of the actor is lit up, but the shadow extends to the opposite side down the stage.
Two upstage lights coming from both sides of the actor. Both sides of the actor will be lit up so they are completely visible, but two shadows will come from each side of the actor which can ruin a lot of scenery.
Spotlights are often used on an actor, this is so when they are moving on the stage, the light is surrounding them and the audience are still able to see the actor without them moving away from fixed lights.
Follow-spots are often used on an actor, when there are limited lights on the stage and the actor is moving around. This is so the actor stands out the most and when they are moving around on the stage the audience still get the see them, instead of them moving around away from the fixed lighting.
