Types of Lights and their Uses
“Don’t touch that! It’s worth more than you are.”
Spot Lights
ERS
AKA Ellipsoidal Reflector Spotlight, Ellipsoidal, Leko
Most common brand: ETC Source Four
Other brands in our theatre: Altman Ellipsoidal (“Altman”), Parellisphere (“Shakespeare”)
Uses: Front Lighting (usually hung farther away from the stage). Specials. Spot lighting. Gobos.
Parts of an ERS:
Follow Spots
(AKA ‘Spot Lights’)
Those big ones in the back of the theatre. Manually operated. Several permanent gel options.
Useful for musicals.
In Between
Fresnel
Most common brand: Altman 6” Fresnel
Uses: Front Lighting (usually hung close to the stage), Specials.
Can be set to ‘spot’ mode or ‘flood’ mode. Particularly useful for flood lighting.
Parts of a Fresnel:
Flood Lights
PARs
Types: PAR EA, PARnel, PARcan.
PARcan – small, simple, can-shaped light
PAR EA: Like a fresnel, but simpler. Made by ETC.
PARnel: Looks like a fresnel, still more simple, though. Also made by ETC.
Parts of a PAR:
Scoop Lights
Scoops are large half sphere lights generally used to add washes of color to a stage.
Strip Lights (or Cyc Lights)
Strip lights can light scenery or cycloramas (a large cloth, usually white, that is usually hung at the back of a stage; a backdrop). Traditional cyc lights have ‘cell’ units in that can each be a different color. LED cyc lights can be used to quickly change the color of the backdrop in order to denote a scene change. Cyc lights have a long vertical throw so that they can evenly light the entire cyclorama.
Other Lights
LEDs
LEDs are lights that can change colors via the lighting board. There are many different kinds of LED lights, including LED Source Fours, LED Cycs (as pictured above to the right), and the small MegaLite Baby Colors that are in our (The StageLight) theatre. LEDs usually connect to the board via a DMX cable and usually have several modes.
The Baby Colors have three different modes. The first mode is 3 channels (RGB, or red, green, and blue), the second mode is 4 channels (RGBW, or red, green, blue, and white), and the third mode is 7 channels (RGBW, Strobe, Macro, and Dimmer). For more info, see Practicals: Baby Colors.
Moving Lights/Smart Lights
Smart lights are lighting instruments with specialized little computers inside of them. The most common specialization of a smart light is the ability to move. Some lights achieve this through a moving mirror that deflects the light beam to different places, and other lights achieve this by moving their entire bodies. Smart light controls are typically in the lighting board/lighting program.
Birdies/Inkies
Birdies/Inkies are small can lights typically seen in museums or art exhibits.
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