1960s theatre projector lights (2024)

FAQs

How were theaters lit before electricity? ›

Candles, crude oil lamps, torches and hanging lamps provided light in the theater; the house, where the audience sat, was also illuminated for the entirety of the show.

Lantern: Though you may simply hear them referred to as lights or lighting fixtures, the lighting units or stage lighting fixtures are also commonly called lanterns. In Europe, the more common term is luminaire.

As a rule of thumb, it's a good idea to have at least one light source devoted to each band member or other person on stage, with another two light sources on the left and right of the stage to create the fullest effect for the duration of the event.

Soon, gaslight appeared, then electric lamps, incandescent light bulbs, replaced oil lamps. Limelight, intensely bright and focused beams of light, provided the first spotlight in theaters. These were replaced by the battery-powered carbon arc lamps, then incandescent spotlights.

Incandescent Lamp

Thomas Edison is credited with creating the first incandescent bulb and, by the 1880s, it was being used in theater. Over the next 40 years, gas and limelight were completely replaced by incandescent electric light.

Before gas or electric lighting were invented, the greatest light source indoors usually came from the fixed fire in the grate. Home activities revolved around the hearth, with candlelight or oil lamps providing dim (but mobile) light around the home.

A ghost light is a single bulb left burning whenever a theatre is dark. Some argue that its function is to chase away mischievous spirits; others insist it lights the way for the ghosts that are said to inhabit virtually every theatre, keeping them happy and contented.

The first uses of lighting for theatre can be drawn back to the Greeks and the Romans who strategically built their stages in order to harness the full potential of the sun. These stages were built on hills and faced so that the sun would come from behind the audience.

Some larger fixtures can weigh over 100 lb (45 kg) and are suspended very high above performers heads, and could cause serious injury or death if they fell by accident or due to incorrect attachment.

Front Light – Front of house lighting provides the primary source of illumination, and an overhead angle of 45 degrees ensures the features of the face are lit well, and shadows are eliminated. Side Light – Side lighting is used to accent the side of the face, arms, torso and legs – particularly effective with dancers.

What is the number one requirement of stage lighting? ›

Visibility. Ensuring that you have a good front-light coverage of the stage is the key to being able to see the actors. Front-light (flat front, front 45° or front 45°/ 45°) and side light are good choices here.

It involves using three light sources placed in three different positions. By playing with the size, distance, intensity, and position of these light sources, including their degree angle, it is possible to control how light and shadow fall on a subject, creating different moods.

In the USA, Strand Lighting developed AMX192 (US Standard, introduced around 1975, known as AMX) could control up to 192 channels and used a 4-pin XLR connector. (AMX stands for Analogue Multiplex). Later desks were able to support multiple streams of AMX to increase the number of channels supported.

Control Desks

Most modern lighting desks can operate in three ways; Manual – each dimmer is controlled by a separate fader on the control desk. Very easy, but complex changes are tricky, and mistakes are common. Submasters – each fader can be set to be a whole lighting state.

Stage lighting provides four main functions at events: Visibility, Motivation, Composition, and Mood.

A long, long time ago, before electricity, fire was the only weapon against darkness. Ancient civilizations made use of torches but by 4500 B.C. oil lamps made out of shells or hollow rocks were in use. Candles were introduced some 1500 years later.

Indoors, people used candles and oil lamps, of course. Beeswax candles were the best if you could afford them–although most people couldn't. Ordinary people made do with rush lights or tallow. Tallow — smoky, smelly animal fat — was poured into a reservoir of some sort that contained a textile wick.

The earliest effective motion-picture lighting source was natural daylight, which meant that films at first had to be photographed outdoors, on open-roof stages, or in glass-enclosed studios. After 1903, artificial light was introduced in the form of mercury vapour tubes that produced a rather flat lighting.

“Performances at the Globe began in mid-afternoon, about three o'clock, after a trumpet sounded. Sunlight provided the lighting, although torches were sometimes lit to suggest night scenes. There were no intermissions. All performances had to end before nightfall so that playgoers could return safely home.