Watch the birdie?

[revbobuk]

Folks - just curious. Went to see 'The Audience' yesterday, at the Gielgud. Gteat play, terrific staging. I was seated front and centre in the Grand Circle, and looking over the front edge, I noticed a PAR16, dead centre, which was on throughout. Can't, at that distance, have been illuminating anything - so what's it for? Is it just a light spot for the cast to focus on? Or something else?

[Rigger]

Could it be to add light for a camera in some very minor way?

[Ynot]

I suspect it will be - in the same way as we use one at my own venue - a centre spot.

 

It gives the cast on stage a defined centre stage line without having to look anywhere but at the audience.

[PoppaDom]

99% likely to be an infrared source in a Par 16 housing.

Several rental companies stock them in this format.

 

Dom

[gyro_gearloose]

If you want to do this yourself, but don't the hassle of finding a dedicated IR lamp you can use gel. I've used two pieces of Lee 106 and one piece of Lee 120 to create an IR light source and it works quite well.

[Ynot]

99% likely to be an infrared source in a Par 16 housing.

Really?

 

That surprises me a little - I know IR doesn't NEED to be high powered but birdie size does seem a little on the small size...

[gyro_gearloose]

You can get a surprising amount of IR out of a birdie. If you bear in mind that filament lamps convert most of their energy into heat (the IR end of the spectrum), if you can block the visible light you'll still get quite a lot of IR out of something as small as a birdie.

 

Another thing you could try with several small IR sources is point them out into the audience. If, like me, you get annoyed when most of the audience hold up their phones to film a gig, then pointing some IR at them should stop them. The cameras on many smart phones will detect IR, so pointing some IR sources at the camera should 'dazzle' the camera so they can't see the stage, but won't be detected by the naked eye.

[indyld]

That surprises me a little - I know IR doesn't NEED to be high powered but birdie size does seem a little on the small size...

 

The IR source on our relay cameras (little web enabled, remote controlled CCTV ones) is only a small ring of IR LEDs around the lens and it works great on approx 10m x 12m area.