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Gobos


kalmatthew

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Ok, I'm prepared to be wrong on this one (doesn't happen often...?)

 

I have heard that in days of yold. When a black out was required on stage the DSM would call GO Black Out (or GOBO) and black curtains would be drawn across the windows of the theatre. Over time these drapes would get a bit moth eaten (just like my blacks) and cast light shapes over the stage.

 

Not sure if this is the correct use but I like it.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest lightnix

I'm with the "Go-Between Theory" myself, does anyone have any idea when the term first appeared ? I see that the above link says that...

The word can also be used for a fabric or wood shape placed in front of a light to cast a shadow.
...which is a new one on me :)

 

However, back in my television days I often saw large pieces of heavy duty card, with irregular holes cut in them, mounted on the front of the stand-off colour frames used on the 5Ks, to achieve a coarse, blotchy effect. The name given to these devices by the old-school film chaps on the crew was Ulcers, a term I've never heard used anywhere else (never seen them outside a TV studio either, come to think of it). When I asked why, they said it was, "Because they're perforated." :)

 

Mind you, TV has a language all of its own ;) Minge Clip anyone ? ;)

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The two explainations I've seen are the "go-between" one - apparently the word originally applied to the plywood or cardboard cutouts placed in front of the light (I believe that chap from Cirque De Soleil is fond of those) and eventually applied to the higher-tech, more convenient metal-shape-in-the-gate types too.

 

The other explaination (from Bill Bryson's Mother Tongue...or was it Made In America...I forget) is that gobo was a nonsense word like thingy or doodad or wotsit that finally found an object to attatch itself to.

 

I prefer the Go-between route myself.

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What kind of TV programmes have you been working on Mr Nix?? I hear the adult entertainment business pays quite well...  :)

I did a job not so long ago with a guy whose previous 'assignment' was as a sparky on the shooting of the new "Lovers' Guide" video ... he had some very <ahem> 'interesting' pictures on his camera phone, I can tell you! :)

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