Spotlights or Followspots?

[AlexCircus]

Hi guys - and thanks for this forum, just started buying stuff for my employers the last few months and don't know much about lighting - hey, I'm a musician! We're a pretty stupid breed you know!

 

So my question is - I need to buy a "spotlight" for a circus - you know, the type that is controlled by a human, usually at the back of a theatre, that follows someone around. but I've got so confused into buying this! there seems to be 2 different categories - Spotlights and FollowSpots - !

 

I've tried looking at the pictures of the "spotlights" - but they only look like stationary things - not like they can be manually controlled. Am I wrong?

 

And there's a different category for "follow-spots" (which are twice as much expensive!)

 

Is it definitely a "Follow Spot" that I need???

 

It's a vague and confusing question I know - but I would appreciate any help! http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif

 

Alex

[jonathanhill]

A follow spot is really what you need. You can follow a person with any kind of light, David Hersey used to favour a beam light, and I have seen a PAR can used as well, but a follow spot will give you a tightly focused beam that is easily moveable, correctly counterweighted, and can change colour and size at the flick of a lever.

 

There is a reason that they are more expensive, and that is because they have a load of extra stuff like handles, dimmers, colour magazines, irises and the like.

[vinntec]

A follow spot is really what you need. You can follow a person with any kind of light, David Hersey used to favour a beam light, and I have seen a PAR can used as well, but a follow spot will give you a tightly focused beam that is easily moveable, correctly counterweighted, and can change colour and size at the flick of a lever.

 

There is a reason that they are more expensive, and that is because they have a load of extra stuff like handles, dimmers, colour magazines, irises and the like.

Alex - as Jonathan says. Now you need to ask yourself lots of questions: How far away are the performers from the place the follow spot will be as different models are designed for different distances (long, medium and short throw plus a useful range usually)? Is it a conventional in-the-round circus (audience all round a central ring), in which case you will need more than one - possibly three minimum? Are you generating your own power or reliant on power from each location you visit? What other lighting is used at the same time (which will give a suggestion on how "bright" it will have to be)? How often will it/they be used - if a short season then you might be better off hiring? Are you looking for new or used? What is your budget for just the follow spot(s)?

 

You will need to get the right follow spot(s) for your particular venue(s) together with everything else you will need to take them touring (I guess this is the case as you say your location is "Europe"). Do you have a normal supplier of lighting you can talk to - if not in which country are you based to see if anyone here can point you in the right direction? If you can fill fill in some more details of your venue(s) and requirements then there will be lots of people on here with the knowledge to help steer you in the right direction.

 

Peter

[GridGirl]

It depends on your venue. I have used a spotlight (usually a Pacific or a Source 4) mounted on a stand with an iris as a followspot - for a small venue, this is absolutely fine. If you add a single-unit dimmer with fader built in, or a douser mounted in the gel holder, you can be independent of the lighting desk in terms of fading in and out. Whether this will work does depend on the venue, and how much other lighting there is - in a big rig, a spot mounted like this just won't cut through the rest of the rig and you need a gruntier "real" followspot. You can get bigger, higher-powered spotlights, but they get rather warm and are a bit big to manage comfortably as a followspot - a real followspot uses a different type of lamp which is brighter in terms of wattage to light output. So, there's no "right" answer in your case - if you give us a bit more info we may be able to help more?

[paulears]

I have a question and a comment. You say circus. Are we talking traditional circus, with a ring and the audience on all sides? If so, then you need more than one! Two as an absolute minimum, but ideally three or four. I'd add one other crucial feature to buying a followspot or followspots. Communications. Whoever is running the normal lighting needs to be able to talk to the followspot operator. Nothing looks worse than the bit where the main lights snap out, followed by the followspot a moment later - Blackout .......... GO! is essential. So headsets are a must! The worst thing ever has to be lighting a show with an idiot on a followspot. They can wreck the look of a show so quickly. In holiday centres (where the followspot might be manned by the only member of the ents team, who is spare at that moment) it's quite common to see an operator who is too 'tired' to stand up, trying to follow the singer by pulling on the power cable, or even poking it with a stick! The one thing that is so important is good operators. Basics are easy to pick up, but good ones are almost transparent - you just don't seem to even notice them. What you do spot are the rubbish ones who cut off heads, go too wide because it's easier and seem to use the iris knob randomly going big, small, big at totally inappropriate moments. Two ops who work together well will match their beam with the other, and in a circus space this often means constant iris work as the person being lit goes to and from you in the ring.

 

Check your operator is not left handed. Some brands can be modified to have the controls on the other side - but not all. Follow spots need to be bright - so discharge lamped ones are favourite - but expensive. If the distance matches the beam angle, the follow spots based on the old Golden Scan moving mirror scanners can be a useful alternative to the usual types - where the operator can stand/sit at the back, have colour, iris and dimmer on a panel. They have the small disadvantage of a slight delay on the iris, but you get used to this fairly quickly. They use a 1200W discharge lamp and are nice to use. Equally, any old spot, as mentioned above can be used with an iris and a dimmer - BUT slot in iris mechanisms usually slot in the top, and are at the hottest part of the light - and that is where your hand has to live continuously - so gloves, heatproof cloths and other things get used to make operating easier. On a proper followspot, operator comfort is taken into consideration. Nobody has mentioned stands yet - you need a proper, solid followspot stand, with a decent brake so you can lock off the beam pan. A wobbly stand is horrible to use.

[Gareth A]

Interesting. Im left handed and spent years using the same followspot as every other right handed operator. I never even realised you could adjust some!

 

The things you learn!

[gareth]

Can't think of many followspots which could be 'reversed' for left-handed operation. The only ones that spring to mind are Troupers, with the controls on top. Pretty much any others I can think of have everything (handles, controls, colour mag handles, etc.) mounted on the right-hand side of the unit.

 

I'm left-handed too, but I've never even thought about using a follow-spot the 'other way around' - I've always just taken it as read that that's the way they are and got on with it. For the same reason, from the outset I've learned to play a drum kit the 'correct' way around (hi-hat to the left, etc.) - I used to do a lot of playing in brass bands where you'd be sharing the kit with other people, and it's basically anti-social to be the one who needs to have the kit set up the opposite way around from everyone else!

[alistermorton]

I'd second what Paul said about the operators - I recently tried my hand at follow spot (on a Super Trouper and with a source 4), and while it was easy enough to learn the basics, it was fairly obvious to anyone that I was inexperienced; initial aim was sometimes a bit off and moving follows weren't particularly smooth (although both got better with time) and iris operation and beam matching was less than perfect. It's definitely a skill that requires polishing.

[paulears]

Robert Juliat were the only brand I found when I had the problem - and not all of the range. When our old ones died, it never occurred to me that the strange stick arrangement the op had conjured up so he could work it from the rear was because he was left-handed. We hired in for a couple of months while getting the new ones, and was constantly nagged for being a bit 'slack' - that's when we found out he found using the hired ones tricky. The other snag is that although they can swap some functions to the other side, many then work 'the wrong way around' - so still takes a bit of getting used to.

[Junior8]

Circus can be, and regularly is, lit with only two follows, though in the old days Mills used more when tenting. These are rigged opposite the artists entrance above the audience entrance at about 4-5m lens height and about 3m apart. The EEC touring shows are usually rigged this way and it is perfectly satisfactory if the audience is, in effect, sat on only three sides of the ring. If this will work for you really depends on the show. In many cases these follows are really only needed as main lighting for aerial acts which work above the main rig in a tent. As for the equipment what has been said already is good advice and I'd merely support the warning to get the most substantial stands you can find and make sure they are on a platform that is completely rigid too. As for control I think ideally that the operator should have a local dimmer to back-up the iris with a blackout shutter. headset communication is vital as is proper time for rehearsal - following is not something you can pick up on the fly. Gridgirl is spot on in saying that the kind of power you want is relative to the ambient lighting in the scene - that being said I found for most purposes a 2.5Kw CCT Sil was perfectly adequate and they come with a range of accessories for following too.