ekul1978 Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 I'm looking for some advice about a street light effect for our upcoming production of Sweeney Todd. I built a light many moons ago and just used a standard house light bulb as it was only needed in a scene for around 8 minutes but need to try and upgrade it now to a more realistic effect. Looking at 1920's era. Does anyone have any suggestions or tips on how to make it look less like a standard house bulb? The link below is a picture of roughly what the light looks like. http://mournelights....et-lighting.jpg Thanks Luke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave m Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 wouldn't it be a gas light? a flicker lamp? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistermorton Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 If it was a gas mantle it wouldn't flicker as such but would be a greenish white light. If it was a gas flame it would have some flicker and be more yellow in colour. You can still see both types in use in London - mantles in Green Park IIRC, gas flames in various locations mainly as decorative lamps on buildings; two examples I know of are in Borough Market and Norton Folgate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 Pygmy lamps are a size more conducive to pretending to be gas mantles. I've used spun diffusion and gel before to create a mantle structure around the lamp. Depends if it needs to make light, or just look lit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkPAman Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 wouldn't it be a gas light?Could be, though some places had been using electric lights for decades by then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistermorton Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 Also worth bearing in mind that right up until the seventies there were still street lamps in use which did indeed use incandescent bulbs rather than mercury or sodium lamps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatman Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 A 25W pygmy lamp and Rosco 388 (Gaslight Green) is very convincing. Unless you have several of them on a dimmer channel you have to have another load for the curve to be right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekul1978 Posted February 1, 2016 Author Share Posted February 1, 2016 Thanks for the replies so far. Will have a look at the pygmy lamps (not a problem with the dimmer can use a spare for just that purpose if necessary). Effect wise it does need to make light J Pearce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Allen Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 If the practical street light has too bright an output, it will affect the audiences sight, which may have an adverse affect on the overall atmosphere of the stage. It may be a better design to use a profile or Fresnel in the rig above the street light, to provide the pool of light that would come from a bright efficient street light, to shine on the ground or actor, so the audience does not have bright light in their eyes. The pigmy bulb is providing the apparent light source. When you think of a Humphrey Bogart type of actor with a hat drawn low over his face, the use of a profile above him will produce a harder shadow over his eyes and a hard circle of light on the ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekul1978 Posted February 2, 2016 Author Share Posted February 2, 2016 Good shout Don, that will probably be the best option. Will have to have a play around to see how that effect works with the gels etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigclive Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 The light linked to doesn't look like a mantled gas lamp internally as it would have the distinctive hook shaped assembly inside. I think it might be too recent for a fishtail burner. How about stylising it by using one of the many big-filament lamps available from places like ASDA these days. they look very retro, and with a tungsten lamp it would also be able to be controlled on a dimmer channel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbjhilton Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 Isn't Sweeney Todd set in Victorian times ie not 1920s? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekul1978 Posted February 8, 2016 Author Share Posted February 8, 2016 Yeah it is but you know what directors are like - wanted to set it a little bit differently Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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