SceneMaster Posted November 30, 2004 Share Posted November 30, 2004 Hi all, I am using a sil follow spot as a follow spot (surprising enough) on Thursday for a dance festival and it would be great to have another follow spot but it is bust and need some TLC but a friend of mine picked up a sil30 and said “hey here’s another one of those follow spot thingies!†to which I laughed but it got me thinking whether you could? (if you were crazy and desperate enough and it was your last resort!) I know it doesn’t have any iris or colour changer facility but it does have a very nice handle on the back :) for angling although you would probably need gloves!!! But the practicality of it if you got a spigot and put it one a stand??? Although the control wouldn’t be good for tilt but if you only wanted a pan? I know before people lecture on how rubbish the end result would be compared to a proper follow spot (not that I consider a proper sil follow spot one anyway) give me a RJ Foxie any day!!! Anyway just a stupid but interesting idea… Scenemaster Edit: TLC is not TLC Direct!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andystone Posted November 30, 2004 Share Posted November 30, 2004 Main problem is going to be the beam angle, I think the Sil follow spot was 10 degree, so the 30 degrees from the Sil 30 is going to give you a third less light, plus it probably has a less powerful lamp than the follow spot, plus unless you have an iris for it you are going to get a very big beam (depending on the throw). Probably not a good idea! Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lightnix Posted November 30, 2004 Share Posted November 30, 2004 Oh I don't know :) I've used a Sil 15s and 30s as follow spots more than once (with gloves after the first time ;) ) and they've done the job pretty well. OK, it's not designed for the job as such and it's not a whole heap of fun either, but it can do a fairly good impression of the real thing, from the audiences point of view. You can put an iris in it BTW and insert colours on an individual basis. Little single dimmer thingy for the operator to run it and off you go :P EDIT: Andy is right, 30° is a tad wide for long throw. I think the Sil 30 beam angle range is 22-40°. And if you think a Sil's bad, my first follow spot was a Patt 23N ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomLyall Posted November 30, 2004 Share Posted November 30, 2004 Although you say the beam angle is a lot larger, I'd be willing to bet, based on the lack of a followspot, that the venue is (very) small, so its likely to be less significant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peternewman Posted November 30, 2004 Share Posted November 30, 2004 I too have used all sorts as followspots including Sil's, a Cantata (IIRC), a Prelude (again IIRC), an obscure ancient ATV followspot, a Solo and a Source Four, which was lovely as someone knocked up a nice handle for it, still had to juggle gel frames though. Also been part of a production where the director chose to use one of those million candle power rechargeable torches to followspot with, tried to convince them otherwise but it was the effect they wanted. ;) Also if you can't get or afford an iris, then you might be able to get, or cut a gobo to about the right size. :) Also probably definitely worth trying to balance it, using some metal of some sort some how bodged onto it, or moving the yoke if this gives enough precision, an unbalanced followspot makes followspotting a horrible job. HTH PN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andystone Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 And if you think a Sil's bad, my first follow spot was a Patt 23N ;)<{POST_SNAPBACK}> Oh dear, you've reminded me. It was a long, long time ago, but my first follow spot was also a 23N, then we got hold of an old Sunset carbon arc follow spot from the Colisseum. It was great fun, but so noisy and smoky we ended up building a scaffold tower at the back of the theatre with the Sunset on the top and shone it through the window! Those were the days!! Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinny baby Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 you can hire follow spots for as little as £20 a day!! ;) vince Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 or £30 a week, if you know where to go. I think that unless the position is very close to the stage, a Sil is going to proove very wide. The other thing you'll find is that as the spot moves upstage, the beam will get larger - it'll be much more noticable with a wide angle beam compared to a narrow one. RJ Foxies (as you mentioned in your original post) work on something like 10 to 22, so even on its widest setting its going to be narrower than the Sil 30. If you've got the time (your post says you're using the spot today) pop to your local Stage Electrics and pick up a Cantata Followspot Kit - 15/28 is much more likely to give you a decent sized beam, plus you get an iris and colour magazine. I think they list at £30/wk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SceneMaster Posted December 3, 2004 Author Share Posted December 3, 2004 Thanks guys, I decided in the end that I would build a scaff tower at the back in the centre (taking out a row of chairs in any case we didn’t need them!) and using one follow spot (the sil proper follow spot). Although two would have been nice I decide that we would only use the follow spot for dances with one dancer and all the rest got nothing (I couldn’t be bothered with the hassle of two). The ones without the followspot just got some P56s in the back ground slowly pulsing instead as well as the standard ceiling full of sils, patt 264s (nasty lights) and two furse pc light (also very nasty) but the sill 30s sort of compensated for the both follow spot and non-follow spot dances. Looked ok, not my best show but I really didn’t have loads of time for design and set up and it was a school event anyway (not that is should mean tackiness as all shows you do should be to your best!). Thanks for your advice, it made for interesting reading anyway!!! Scenemaster ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danyoung Posted December 6, 2004 Share Posted December 6, 2004 We did a show this weekend in the lovely municipal-hall-dom of Budleigh Salterton. We carried it off relatively successfully with a Sil 15 as a followspot from an old projection booth. It was made doubly amusing for the operator, since the hole the spot poked out of was about 40cm x 80cm. The only problem was that my only way of communicating with him (as stage manager) was a two-way walkie talkie. And of course he didn't have a script, and could barely catch enough time between cues to look at his cue sheet. Oh, fun ... it's what you get on a low budget, and a single day for get-in, dress, matinee, evening, pub. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SceneMaster Posted December 6, 2004 Author Share Posted December 6, 2004 We did a show this weekend in the lovely municipal-hall-dom of Budleigh Salterton. We carried it off relatively successfully with a Sil 15 as a followspot from an old projection booth. It was made doubly amusing for the operator, since the hole the spot poked out of was about 40cm x 80cm.<{POST_SNAPBACK}> Man that sounds like a tight fit!!! Well there is nothing wrong with the sil follow spots for low budget events like school events, to me they seem at school like the perfect spot!!! :huh: Until you notice the fussy purple edge and the silhouette (he he he) of the top edge of the lens retain clip (you know what I mean the centre of the clip where you squeeze to release it. Bit like the lamp retaining part of a cheap parcan the only difference it that parcans don’t project a nice clean crisp image of it!!!) I suppose I shouldn’t grumble, that happens only when the iris is opened full and that isn’t often and I suppose we are lucky even to have a follow spot!!! The only problem was that my only way of communicating with him (as stage manager) was a two-way walkie talkie. And of course he didn't have a script, and could barely catch enough time between cues to look at his cue sheet. Oh, fun ... it's what you get on a low budget, and a single day for get-in, dress, matinee, evening, pub. :** laughs out loud **:<{POST_SNAPBACK}> Well seems like you had a busy day!!! There is never enough time for the get-in!!! ;) Scenemaster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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