What the heck am I doin’ writing an article on stage lighting? After all, I’m an audio guy! Well, if you’re on stage, you need lights, so you might need a little help, and while I’m no expert, I do have two good stage lighting resources on which to draw: friends & books. As with the audio articles here at MagicRoadie.com, I won’t recommend brand names, and I’ll spend as little time as possible on the science behind everything. This is intended to be an “applications” guide to effective stage lighting for your magic act. Part 1 will talk about the lighting instruments in common usage, and Part 2 will outline how to build an effective stage lighting design.

The essential goals of stage lighting for magicians, as for most theatrical performers, are;
- to help focus the audience’s attention where you want it, and,
- to help distract the audience’s attention away from where you don’t want it.

The Components Of A Stage Lighting System

Controller
Controllers (sometimes called, boards, consoles or desks) come in two flavours; manual & computerized. Manual controllers consist of rows of sliders, each slider corresponding to a channel on the dimmer. The controller is connected to the dimmer by an electronic cable. Computerized controllers use a software based which can store a massive number of "scenes" which can include every possible parametric variable available in any type of instrument( non-moving and moving.

Dimmer
The dimmer is the large bit which regulates the amount of voltage conducted to the lighting instrument. The dimmer is connected to the instrument by an electrical cable.

Instrument
The “instrument” is what some folks call a fixture, or a lamp, but LDs (lighting designers) are kind of touchy about this, so I suggest calling them instruments.

Standard, Non-Moving Instruments
I won’t cover every type of available instrument … just the ones you’re likely to own or rent, and set up yourself.

	Fresnel A Fresnel (pronounced “freh-nell) has a lamp (sometimes called a bulb, but, once again, keep an eye out for over-sensitive LDs), a spherical reflector, and carriage which can be moved from front to back to increase or decrease the size of the beam from about 15º-70º. The Fresnel’s lens gives it a somewhat “soft edge”. In other words, if you look at the floor, the edge of the beam is not perfectly defined. Frensels are much cheaper than ellipsoidals (qv), but lack some of their features. They’re available with lens diameters of 3”, 6”, 8”, 10” & 12”, and in wattages of 150-5000.
	PAR The PAR’s lamp looks like a car headlight, and includes the reflector and the lens. The size of the beam is determined by the pattern which is visible on the face of the lens: a clear lens produces a very narrow beam of about 10º, a heavily patterned lens produces a wide beam of about 70º, and there are a couple of gradients in between. Available wattages are 500 and 1000. Regardless of beam size a PAR has a soft edge. PARs are not as common in theatre, but are very common on live music stages, TV, and architectural applications.
	Ellipsoidal An ellipsoidal, sometimes called a Leko (lee-koh), has a rear reflector, and its internal shutter system can be used to shape the beam. It’s great for directing a concentrated beam over a substantial distance. You can also adjust the edge to be sharper of softer. With a “zoom ellipsoidal”, you can even change the beam’s size. Available models have beam spreads of 5º-50º, and wattages of 500-2000.
	Striplights Striplights create a smooth band of light, and are often used to light a backdrop or a cyc. They’re generally intended to light something from about 3-8 metres (3’-25’) away, have a bean spread of 70º-100º, and available wattages are 150-1000.
	Cyc Lights are designed to light a backdrop or a “cyc”. A cyc is a smooth backdrop that has some sort of scene or pattern painted on it. A group of them is generally intended to light something from about 3-8 metres (3’-25’) away, have a bean spread of 70º-130º, and available wattages are 500-2000.
	Followspot Basically, they’re a big ellipsoidal which can be moved by hand, and they’re intended to help focus attention, usually on the performer. External, continuously variable controls allow you to change beam size, brightness, and colour. Followspots come in many sizes, available wattages are 500-2500, and each is intended for use at a certain “throw” (maximum distance from the stage), ranging from about 7.5-75 metres (25’-250’).
Accessories • Many ellipsoidals have a slot which allows for the insertion of a manual iris to adjust beam size, or a gobo (also called a “template”) to allow for projection of an image. • A “barndoor” (photo), which attaches to the front of a Fresnel or a PAR, can be used to “cut” the beam to desired angles. • A “donut” (photo) is used to reduce the amount of of light which scatters outside the primary beam, and to sharpen the detail of a gobo pattern. • “Gel” (photo) is a sheet of coloured … er … let’s call it plastic (Remember, watch out for the LD!), which is clamped to the front of the instrument to colour the light. Nowadays, gel can actually be made of several different materials, but the end result is the same. • A “colour scroller” (photo) is a digitally controlled attachment with a string of gels which are assembled into a long strip. Usually, while the light is dimmed, the gel strip is “scrolled” to the desired colour, and then the light is turned back up.

Moving (Intelligent) Instruments
Moving, or “intelligent”, instruments (often referred to as “wiggle lights”) can be programmed to change colour, beam size, beam intensity, edge sharpness, image projection (like a star or any other shape), and even direction, and are controlled by computerized consoles. The drawbacks are that they cost more, that they are more prone to breakdown, and that they produce noise because they use a fan to cool their inner components. In comparison to standard instruments, however, they are tremendously flexible. There are two basic types of moving lights; "moving head" and "moving mirror".

In "moving head" instruments, the fixture moves within the yoke, and the yoke swivels on the base. This can also be hung upside down.	"Moving Mirror" instruments remain stationary, and only the mirror moves. The mirror is in the down-facing gap.

Non-Lighting Effects

Smoke Effects

A fogger (photo) creates a relatively thick, white smoke which is great for obscuring “mystifying” a scene.	A hazer looks very similar to, and is an alternative to, traditional fog machines, and its main use is for enhancing light beams. A hazer produces a thin, translucent haze that fills a room evenly, without a "heavy cloud" anywhere.

“Dry ice” and “liquid nitrogen” machines produce a low-lying, ground-hugging type of smoke, but the dry ice or liquid nitrogen that they consume can be difficult to obtain & store. A “chiller” is a device which collects the “hot” smoke output of a traditional fogger and converts it into cooler, low-lying, ground-hugging smoke, similar to the effect obtained with dry ice or liquid nitrogen.

Pyrotechnics
If I had a lawyer, I’m absolutely certain he’d advise me not to talk about pyro. The stuff can be very dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing, and since I don’t know what I’m doing, I can’t teach you. Anyone who uses pyro should have formal training, as well as any necessary government permits. What I can tell you, is that tastefully applied pyro can be very effective.

There ya go, my friends! Those are many of the basic lighting & effects instruments you can use to build an effective lighting design. I have most certainly learned a great deal about stage lighting as a result of writing this article, and I hope you’ve learned a lot as a result of reading it! Stay tuned for "Stage Lighting, Part 2", on how to create an effective stage lighting design.

Enjoy!

Dan McLean Jr
MagicRoadie.com