Please copy into your notebook what is underlined.

SILV 2011

Lighting Technology 101

A basic explanation of the principles of illumination, similarities and differences of LED

and conventional lamp based technology, as well as an understanding of the use of color filters, color mixing and color temperature.

Notes I

A brief history of automated lighting

3

The desire for creating & controlling lighting has always been present, it

has been limited only by available technology.

POP QUIZ:

What was the first moving light?

THE SUN!

Old schoolremote dimming

c. 1650

U. S. Patent1928

Pani Moving Fixtures

VARI-LITE TIMELINE – 70’s

1970

Showco Inc. begins operations from a garage in Dallas, providing sound reinforcement for touring bands such as Led Zeppelin and Three Dog Night.

Typical Lighting Rig in 70’s

Van Halen – 1300 + Fixtures

VARI-LITE TIMELINE – 80’s

An Idea is Born- 1980

Bench Model of Dichroic Color Changer.

A team of Showco production professionals develops a new concept in stage lighting - a total system approach to automation.

The legend is born:

VL1 September 25, 1981 Premieres at a Genesis

concert in Barcelona, Spain. With this system, for the first

time ever, lighting designers are able to control all the variable parameters of light including color, pan, tilt, beam size and patterns.

The Bull Ring

Genesis Abacab TourBarcelona, Spain September 25, 1981

Genesis

Genesis

Rush

VARI-LITE TIMELINE – 90’s

Pink Floyd

U2

© 2005 Copyright Genlyte Group LLC. All rights reserved. 31

Z Z Top

Academy Awards

Other award shows

Grammy Awards

Tommy

In what professional

areas are lighting

technicians needed?

Theatre

Lion King Chicago A Christmas Carol Beauty and the Beast Hairspray Aida Spamalot

Television

Grammy® Awards Oscar® Awards Super Bowl VH-1 Divas Deal or No Deal Victoria’s Secret

Fashion Show Olympics

Houses of Worship

Branch Community Church Manassas Assembly of God Evangel Cathedral Saddleback Church Lakewood Church – Houston Willow Creek Community

Church

Industrials

Mary Kay Mars Candies General Motors Glamour Women of the

Year Miss China Pageant

© 2005 Copyright Genlyte Group LLC. All rights reserved. 45

America West Arena wanted an architectural update that would add to the facility’s character and solidify its place as a downtown cornerstone and visitor’s attraction.

They wanted the area to be entertainment focused with a sports bar look and a dynamic feel.

By utilizing a perforated steel canopy for a projection surface, they chose the VL3000™ Spot and VL1000™ Arc luminaires.

"I went with the VARI*LITE fixtures because I think they are the best moving fixtures on the market," said Jim Jorgensen. “The combination of zoom and gobo wheels made it the right choice for this application.”

Architectural

LAMP TYPE, COLOR TEMPERATURE

AND COLOR MIXING THEORY

EXPRESS YOURSELF

Advantages:

•Inexpensive to manufacture

•Widely available

•3200k Warm tone rendering preferred by

lighting designers

Disadvantages

•Horribly inefficient use of electricity

at best 35% percent efficient

Filament based lamp -electromechanical

EXPRESS YOURSELF

Advantages:

•High lumen output

•Extremely efficient 90% +

•Small size

Disadvantages

•More costly to produce

•Potentially dangerous when failing

•Higher color temp – less pleasing 6000k + tones

•Extremely hot!

Discharge lamp - Chemical

Advantages:

•Similar lumen output to 1200 watt Tungsten

•Pleasing color temp – +/- 3200k range

•High CRI of 95+

•Extremely efficient 90% +

•Same form factor as tungsten lamp

•Uses on average 75% less energy for comparable output (315 watt)

•Lower wattage consumption = cooler temperature

•Lamp life of 8,000 hours

49

Ceramic Discharge Metal Halide (CDM) lamp - Chemical

Disadvantages

•Potentially dangerous

when failing

EXPRESS YOURSELF

LED - Electronic

Advantages:

•Inexpensive to manufacture

•Extremely long-life

•Extremely energy efficient

•Very cool

•Lightweight

Disadvantages

•Current method used to mix colors via the additive color theory produces poor quality output for stage lighting purposes.

•Very noticeable colorbanding, or color-edges when used as frontlight.

The visible spectrum of light

monochromatic light is light of a single frequency.

The visible spectrum ranges from roughly 700 to 400 nanometers.

Shine light of a single frequency at your eye and dial thewavelength from 700 nm to 400 nm this is roughly what you'd see.

Red orange yellow green blue violet

So how many colors are there in the visible spectrum?

32? 64? 128……

EXPRESS YOURSELF

How about around

16.4 million

Temperature (or Effective Temperature) of Selected Radiant Sources in degrees kelvin

Subtractive color mixing – conventional lamp

The basic rules of subtractive color mixing:

cyan + magenta = blue magenta + yellow = red yellow + cyan = green cyan + magenta + yellow = black 

ALL wavelengths filtered out = no light emission

White light is ALL wavelengths from source - unfiltered

Additive color mixing - LED

The basic rules of additive color mixing:

red + green = yellow green + blue = cyan blue + red = magenta red + green + blue = white

White light is ALL wavelengths combined

Primary colors are produced by isolating specific wavelengths

Subtractive Color- Day III

Red, Blue and Green in light create WHITE.

Lighting Primary Colors:1. Red

2. Blue

3. Green

Lighting Secondary Colors1. Magenta

2. Cyan

3. Yellow

Incandescent Lamps (which we use at our school) are made up of: 60% Red energy 25% Green

energy 15% Blue energy

(Draw diagram on board)

R------

B------G------

If you want Red light-

The red gel filters OUT Blue and Green

SO when you make a red light, you lose blue and green, which is 40% of the light! Red gets very hot Takes more blue lights because they are very weak

However, if use a blue gel, you are losing 85% of the light!! Magenta and Cyan can look blue, so you may want to

use secondary colors instead of blue or green at times, because those gels burn up quickly They are eating up all the red light.

Wash walls with color, to bring faces forward. Especially good for talking scenes, to bring attention to faces.

Color is effected by what it reflects off of.

The costume color will change with lighting A red santa outfit with a green light on it

will look black!

The light and the costume have to have the same color in common for the color to reflect.

Red light onto a Magenta shirt- what color will the shirt appear?

The goal is to not make your costumer HATE YOU!

RED! Both colors have red in them, so the red will

show.

Copy this color wheel Copy the chart on the board.

Using this color wheel, figure out what color will appear when you shine the color light on the color costume.

When you are finished, turn your journal into the basket, and do the hokey pokey. :D

Light Plots

Lighting is about CONTROL

A “LAMP” is over 500 watts.

A “BULB” is under 500 watts.

Lamps project in a sphere

Trap the light in a box with an open end on one side but loose the light in the cabin

Reflectors: so you can point the light and not loose any power

SPREAD How much area the light covers

Think of a spotlight as opposed to a floodlight

INVERSE SQUARE LAW: If you double the distance, you get ¼ of the

power. The higher or further away the light is, the wider the

spread, but the weaker the light

True to lighting and sound

Ellipsoidal (or Leko) Narrow spread Internal shutters Far Throw Hard edge

Fresnel (FER-NELL) Wide spread Attachable shutters Short throw Soft Edge

How to design without color: Use Gobos Create Shadows Use angles

When creating a light plot, remember…

1. Don’t light the floor- light the person’s head!

2. When a circle hits an angle, it’s no longer a circle

3. 8’ X 10’ is the maximum amount of coverage to expect from one light. If the proscenium is 40’, it will take at least 4

lights

4. Contrast is Important Across a football field at night with one match lit, you probably can tell

who it is. It all the lights are lit, you could not Don’t just keep adding more and more light- you will end up washing

people out

5. MODELING: Creating 3 dimensionality- requires SHADOWS

1. If you only light from the front, you will get no shadow

2. THE SHADOW IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS THE LIGHT

6. Use the Electrics (lights above stage) rather than FOH (lights on Catwalk) as much as possible

7. DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT TO DO FIRST, THEN DO IT.1. Want to make a character look like an awful person, do it!

2. THEEEEENNNNN….

8. Create your light plot!

1. Divide the stage into areas1. Usually want at least 12

2. Think of where events in the play take place, set pieces, etc.

2. Start from the sides or the back first.

When writing cues for a show…

Come to rehearsals first Watch the actors Watch the blocking Use what you find

Alternative Silence If you don’t use something for the whole play, then suddenly use it,

it draws attention

Always write the cue from Black, not from the last cue Finnesse your cues

If going from 30% to 100%, give the audience time to adjust

Watch- There’s always more you can do You can never finish a show.

Time for some more cool pictures and videos:

Tristan & Isolde