Automated Lighting in the theatre

[frazer]

Hello,

 

Im doing some research into the use of automated lighting in differing types of theatre productions. I am very much aware of musicals making use of automated lighting (I have put this down to larger budgets), but am struggling to find examples of other genres using them.

 

Is this mainly due to budgetting restraints or down to the fact that they are not really necessary?

 

Also, does anyone have any lighting for specs for shows? I would love to provide some examples of the actual equipment that productions use.

 

Thankyou

Frazer

[Andrew C]

Is this mainly due to budgeting restraints or down to the fact that they are not really necessary?

...and noisy and distracting. Distraction due to movement could be avoided by thoughtful programming.

[the kid]

I assume you are asking more about actual drama pieces. But I have seen on several dvd's, defiantly Bill Bailey Part Troll, and possibly on some Peter Kay stuff, they have movers. In Part Troll they are used quite a bit. With Peter Kay I'm not too sure of, but if I remember right, they are nothing more than CYC up lights.

[gareth]

The two biggest repertoire theatre companies in the UK (the National and the RSC) make fairly extensive use of automated lighting in their venues ...

[Screwtape]

Another reason designers avoid moving lights for theatre is that the light source in most movers do not match well with a tungsten source lantern leading to problems with colour matching.

 

On the second point see if you can get some copies of LSI they have a lot of examples for shows that use moving lights.

[gareth]

Another reason designers avoid moving lights for theatre is that the light source in most movers do not match well with a tungsten source lantern leading to problems with colour matching.

Which is why VL1000Ts, VL5s, Autoyokes, Revolutions, etc. are popular in theatre - moving lights with a tungsten source.

[frazer]

Another reason designers avoid moving lights for theatre is that the light source in most movers do not match well with a tungsten source lantern leading to problems with colour matching.

Which is why VL1000Ts, VL5s, Autoyokes, Revolutions, etc. are popular in theatre - moving lights with a tungsten source.

 

Without sounding dumb, whats the difference between a tungsten source and that found in any other automated lighting fixture? Is it something to do with colour temperature?

[Bernie D]

Most moving lights use a discharge source, often MSR, which is a higher colour temperature. They are more efficient than tungsten sources, so more light for the money. However as said before, the colour is often not consistant between fixtures. The reasons for that can be bulb age or even the set-up of the circuits driving the lamp. I once struggled to get two fixtures to match, and after changing the lamp and then the dichroics found that the lamp itself was running at around 14,000 degrees rather than the more normal 5,600 degrees - all caused by the circuit driving it.

 

Most tungsten movers have very small fans, or no fans, and so are much better for noise. The National Theatre have just bought some of the new Martin Pro TW1s which are tungsten washes with a zoom. They beta-tested them and found them very useful around the stage.

[Stu]

Another reason designers avoid moving lights for theatre is that the light source in most movers do not match well with a tungsten source lantern leading to problems with colour matching.

Which is why VL1000Ts, VL5s, Autoyokes, Revolutions, etc. are popular in theatre - moving lights with a tungsten source.

As Gareth says there a few tungsten based options for use in theatre, over the last year or two I have seen quite a few 'theatre' tours use some of the above fixtures as a part of the rig, used maybe as refocussable specials. With some tasteful programming and design, you'd never know they were there... The VL1000Ts certainly seem to be a popular choice (I think they are fantastic fixtures as it goes), very flexible.

 

Another moving light with a tungsten source not mentioned so far is the Strand Pirouette, which is a 2/2.5kw Alto PC (I believe you can put a fresnel lens in) bolted into a yoke which when combined with a colour scroller (so getting exact colours, such as L201) can make a very useful addition to a rig when hung in appriopate places (the zoom is controllable from the desk so you could use it as a tight special or part of a general cover wash).

 

HTH

Stu

[MarcT]

The other issue with a discharge lamp is that you need a mechanical dimmer and shutters and these can vary in quality enormously. Discharge lamps are not great for power consumption and heat generation either, because the lamp is continuously burning, even when the fixture is blacked out.

 

A tungsten source can be dimmed using a conventional dimmer (be it built in to the fixture, or external) and thus "look" and behave like the rest of the generic rig during fades. When the lamp is out, it consumes almost no power.

 

Marc

[frazer]

ok thats great I understand about the different lamp types now, thankyou.

 

What are peoples thoughts on the use of intelligent fixtures in the theatre? Are they being used simply because lighting designers are taking the easy option, or would you say that moving fixtures are the future for most theatrical pieces?

[Modge]

I'd like to go for a third option most of the time: because they bring things to the party that generics don't. Roving specials, fast strobe for odd effects I've even used one in a dramatic context as a sunrise. It moved not very far over about 5 minutes - slowly putting more rays above a solid back drop. I actually quite liked it - not as cheesy as you might think, at least not to my mind. I decided - with the director - not to use one as a special for an eclipse of the sun - irising down smaller and smaller each scene, but that could have worked to.

I wouldn't use them out of laziness - they take way more time and effort to program.

[Stu]

What are peoples thoughts on the use of intelligent fixtures in the theatre? Are they being used simply because lighting designers are taking the easy option

Not always. One example I can think off was a tour a couple of years ago of Dracula, I forget who did it now. Anyway, the set for this prodution was a huge raked, slanted X which started low DSR to high USL and then high MSR to low DSL - if that makes any sense. This took up most of the stage, and the gaps were fitted with platforms at different heights. The way the set was constructed, and the size of it, meant there were very few places you could put a scope to be able to focus the overhead rig. Therefore, other than a variety of S4s on LX1, the rest of the overhead rig was a various collection of moving lights (as I remember it, I might be slightly off) - without these it would have been nigh on possible to light the show satisfactorily IMHO. So in this instance you can see that the use of moving lights greatly eased the running of the show and weren't there purely for the sake of it. Also there was many different places people needed to be lit, so the moving lights I suppose helped cut down the rig even more. There was also so many LX cues (I was on standby for most of the show) that the amount of time it took to relight the show meant it wasn't any easy task.... I might not be 100% on some details but I hope there is enough here to illustrate my point!

 

or would you say that moving fixtures are the future for most theatrical pieces?

Personally I would say they have a future in theatrical pieces, like all technology, but I wouldn't say they are the future. For every show touring with moving lights, there are 10 more touring round the country on tight budgets, limited fitup time and low staffing / multiskilling which means the use of them are simply not suitable. No point spending money on hiring them for a tour (with all the other bits you'll need) if the lack of time and staffing means they don't get used suitably.

 

Stu

[gareth]

Back when someone in the rock'n'roll world stuck a sealed-beam Par lamp into an old coffee tin and thought "Hmmm, I can use that ....", no-one thought that one day the parcan would be such an important part of lighting rigs for 'serious theatre'. But look at us now - a theatre without parcans in its lantern stock is considered lacking in some of the most essential tools of the theatrical lighting designer's trade. Having said that, though, it'd be considered at best radical, and at worst downright crazy, to attempt to light a show with nothing but parcans when there are alternative tools available.

 

In a few years from now, will we be looking at tungsten-source automated lighting in the same way?

[LXbydesign]

That true Gareth, mind you, the lovely Mick Hughs added an entire stage cover wash of Parcans topped with scrollers at Chichester Festival Theatre a few years back for Pickwick because he didnt like the house wash of P223's!!

I was a bit surprised, but it worked fine!!