1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Text Stuff, a production from my Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:14,880 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:18,440 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:22,239 Speaker 1: and I love all things tech and I received a 5 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:25,799 Speaker 1: request via Twitter, and remember you can reach out to 6 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:29,000 Speaker 1: this show by tweeting two Text Stuff H s W. 7 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:33,519 Speaker 1: And this tweet came from c t B. That is 8 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:38,280 Speaker 1: a Charlie Tango Bravo. The message said, I was recently 9 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:41,640 Speaker 1: looking up league lights and I wondered about lighting for 10 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:45,120 Speaker 1: recording TV and movies. You touched on it some in 11 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:48,800 Speaker 1: your recent Green Screen podcast. Would you have a podcast 12 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:52,000 Speaker 1: about TV movie lighting? You'd get to explain best Boy 13 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:55,760 Speaker 1: in Gaffer. I've actually talked about best Boy and Gaffer 14 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:58,160 Speaker 1: on another episode. I think I did a full episode 15 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:01,480 Speaker 1: about the different roles on a movie set. But we'll 16 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:04,360 Speaker 1: get to those again because they are relevant to this 17 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:09,160 Speaker 1: and CTB. I absolutely will do more than one episode 18 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:12,120 Speaker 1: on this topic. It's actually gonna require us to go 19 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:16,000 Speaker 1: back quite a ways to stagecraft and stage lighting to 20 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:19,720 Speaker 1: really understand how lighting has played a critical role in 21 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:23,959 Speaker 1: the way we present drama, comedy, and various entertainments. And 22 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:28,640 Speaker 1: so this episode, or actually episodes will be a little 23 00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:32,360 Speaker 1: different from my typical episodes. I could just explain how 24 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:35,840 Speaker 1: these lights work from a technological point of view, but 25 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:39,720 Speaker 1: first that wouldn't take a terribly long time. It would 26 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:42,680 Speaker 1: be pretty short and sweet, and moreover, I think it 27 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:47,640 Speaker 1: misses the more interesting point, which is how artists leverage 28 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:51,960 Speaker 1: technology to create specific effects. It's sort of like the 29 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:56,400 Speaker 1: difference between talking about how paint is made and how 30 00:01:56,440 --> 00:01:59,520 Speaker 1: a master artist can take that paint and create a 31 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:02,360 Speaker 1: stunning piece of art. We're going to look at not 32 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:07,800 Speaker 1: just the science, but the art behind lighting. With film, television, 33 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:11,600 Speaker 1: or digital cameras, lighting is absolutely critical if you want 34 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:14,720 Speaker 1: your shot to look good. It's only with the careful 35 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:18,799 Speaker 1: coordination of camera and lighting departments that a shot can 36 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:22,840 Speaker 1: really look great. You could have an Oscar worthy performance 37 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:25,880 Speaker 1: going on, but without good lighting, no one will be 38 00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:30,160 Speaker 1: able to see it. Moreover, lighting is an important component 39 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:33,959 Speaker 1: that contributes to the overall effect a director wishes to create. 40 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:37,920 Speaker 1: Great lighting can make a scene more intimate or harsh, 41 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:43,760 Speaker 1: or mysterious or scary. Precise control over lighting allows storytellers 42 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:46,520 Speaker 1: to shape a scene in a way that can better 43 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:50,440 Speaker 1: evoke the reaction they want out of their audiences. Great 44 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:54,840 Speaker 1: lighting can really enhance a scene, and terrible lighting can 45 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:58,640 Speaker 1: take away from it. Typically, really good lighting is the 46 00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:01,920 Speaker 1: type of effect most of us don't really notice, but 47 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:05,680 Speaker 1: bad lighting can be downright distracting. So there's a lot 48 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:08,560 Speaker 1: of science and art to this, and there always has been. 49 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:13,240 Speaker 1: Now let us remind ourselves why lighting is important in 50 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:15,480 Speaker 1: the first place, which is super obvious, but we have 51 00:03:15,639 --> 00:03:19,200 Speaker 1: to start somewhere. Our sense of vision is dependent upon 52 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:23,480 Speaker 1: receptors in our eyes picking up light that is reflecting 53 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:27,799 Speaker 1: off of various things. When light hits an object, one 54 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 1: of a few things can happen, or a couple or several. 55 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:34,000 Speaker 1: A transparent object will allow much of the light to 56 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 1: pass through it, and this is what we would call transmission. 57 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 1: The object is transmitting light from one side to the other. 58 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 1: So a pane of glass that transmits light an object 59 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:50,400 Speaker 1: might absorb the light, in which case the light energy 60 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 1: will convert to heat. And the darker an object is, 61 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:58,520 Speaker 1: the more light it's absorbing. Something like vanta black that's 62 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:02,520 Speaker 1: a material that's it up of carbon nanotubes can absorb 63 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:06,480 Speaker 1: up to nine nine point nine six percent of light, 64 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 1: or the object might reflect light the light the object 65 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:14,680 Speaker 1: reflects might be across the visible spectrum like a mirror, 66 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:18,520 Speaker 1: so you get all the visible light, or it might 67 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:23,120 Speaker 1: only reflect a bandwidth of frequencies that correspond to particular 68 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:27,080 Speaker 1: colors of light. A red ball is reflecting light that 69 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:30,320 Speaker 1: largely falls in the four point three times ten to 70 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:36,039 Speaker 1: the fourteen power hurts frequency that corresponds to red light. 71 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:40,800 Speaker 1: That's just an example. By manipulating light that hits a scene, 72 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:44,280 Speaker 1: whether that scene is on stage or captured in a camera, 73 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:47,520 Speaker 1: you can affect how that scene looks. Again, that falls 74 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:50,719 Speaker 1: into common sense. But my goal is to explain why 75 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: this works, not just how it works. And we'll do 76 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:57,880 Speaker 1: this by talking a lot about history, because you guys 77 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:01,920 Speaker 1: know I love to tackle topics way, and let's start 78 00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:05,080 Speaker 1: with theater. I'd say that the art form of theater 79 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:09,599 Speaker 1: grew naturally from the older art of storytelling. By the 80 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:12,400 Speaker 1: time we get to the ancient Greeks, we see cities 81 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:17,080 Speaker 1: building structures specifically to act as performance spaces, and these 82 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:21,480 Speaker 1: were all outdoors. So the lighting came from natural sources 83 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:24,720 Speaker 1: that you know, being the sun, and performed in the daytime. 84 00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:27,480 Speaker 1: But it didn't boil down to as simple an idea 85 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:31,440 Speaker 1: as let's build a big old space that people can 86 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:35,000 Speaker 1: sit in and watch their afternoon stories. A lot more 87 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:38,560 Speaker 1: planning went into it than that. The location choice needed 88 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:41,839 Speaker 1: to take into account when performances would take place, as 89 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:43,880 Speaker 1: the sun will be in different parts of the sky, 90 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:47,039 Speaker 1: depending not just on the time of day but the season. 91 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:50,640 Speaker 1: You wouldn't want to build a theater that was designed 92 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 1: for late afternoon performances if the orientation would mean that 93 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:57,640 Speaker 1: the audience is going to be squinting into the setting 94 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:01,520 Speaker 1: sun for the full performance, that wouldn't be ideal. The 95 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:05,080 Speaker 1: typical Greek theater had a stage near the base of 96 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:07,840 Speaker 1: a hill, and the slope of the hill served as 97 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:11,960 Speaker 1: the seating area for the audience with wooden or stone benches, 98 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:15,560 Speaker 1: and then they could look down upon the action of 99 00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:18,760 Speaker 1: the stage. There are some studies that suggest the specific 100 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:21,960 Speaker 1: orientation of theaters took into account not just the angle 101 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:26,320 Speaker 1: of the sunlight, but also astronomical elements. Because the Greeks 102 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:29,880 Speaker 1: would dedicate these theaters to specific gods in their religion, 103 00:06:30,279 --> 00:06:34,120 Speaker 1: and typically they only held performances during times of the 104 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:37,919 Speaker 1: year where they were having holidays devoted to those specific gods. 105 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:41,920 Speaker 1: The Romans followed suit, though they also made some additions, 106 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:45,080 Speaker 1: such as building awnings to cover the audience so that 107 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:47,640 Speaker 1: they didn't get too hot under the sun. As for 108 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:51,840 Speaker 1: the actors, well, they had to suffer for their art. Again, 109 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:54,159 Speaker 1: the choice was usually made to lay out the theater 110 00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:56,400 Speaker 1: in such a way so that the sunlight could illuminate 111 00:06:56,400 --> 00:06:59,080 Speaker 1: the stage while keeping the audience at least somewhat protected. 112 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:02,800 Speaker 1: But there was really no other means of controlling the light, 113 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:05,839 Speaker 1: so you were really just saying I needed to be 114 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:07,880 Speaker 1: bright enough for the audience to see what's going on. 115 00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:10,600 Speaker 1: Everything else is going to be left to their imagination. 116 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:14,520 Speaker 1: During the Middle Ages, most theatrical displays, typically in the 117 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:18,360 Speaker 1: form of stuff like miracle plays, were performed outdoors. It 118 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:20,680 Speaker 1: might be at the entrance of a church or in 119 00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:25,120 Speaker 1: a courtyard. A few plays were performed inside churches, which 120 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:28,680 Speaker 1: typically allowed light in through massive windows and supplemented that 121 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:31,440 Speaker 1: with candles that to provide, you know, more light, but 122 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:34,360 Speaker 1: there's no real record of any sort of special stage 123 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:38,560 Speaker 1: lighting even in Shakespeare's time. In the early Renaissance in England, 124 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:42,960 Speaker 1: most shows were still performed outdoors. The globe theater was 125 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:45,640 Speaker 1: an open air structure that relied on light from the 126 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:49,080 Speaker 1: sun to service stage lighting. The construction of theaters like 127 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:52,240 Speaker 1: the Globe typically meant sunlight would hit the stage while 128 00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:56,240 Speaker 1: keeping those who were seated in the galleries relatively shaded. 129 00:07:56,440 --> 00:08:00,120 Speaker 1: These were seats that were under an awning themselves, and 130 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:03,000 Speaker 1: then you had a large area in the middle where 131 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:07,280 Speaker 1: the groundlings could stand that was uncovered, and so if 132 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:09,640 Speaker 1: you were a groundling, you might be a little exposed 133 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:12,880 Speaker 1: to the sunlight. This meant that the stage crew, again 134 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:15,240 Speaker 1: had no real way of changing the lighting or even 135 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:18,440 Speaker 1: controlling it at all, and that any scenes that referenced 136 00:08:18,440 --> 00:08:22,400 Speaker 1: stuff like the dead of night or massive storms relied 137 00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:25,440 Speaker 1: entirely upon the imagination of the audience. They had to 138 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:27,640 Speaker 1: imagine that the scene they were looking at in full 139 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:30,960 Speaker 1: daylight was taking place at night. It also meant that 140 00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:34,320 Speaker 1: shows had to conclude well before sunset because it would 141 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:37,360 Speaker 1: get too dark to see what was happening. Plus, in 142 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:40,800 Speaker 1: London there was specifically a curfew, and the Globe Theater 143 00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:44,200 Speaker 1: was outside the London City gates at that time, so 144 00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:47,400 Speaker 1: if you were caught out after the gates closed, you'd 145 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:49,959 Speaker 1: be kind of stuck. But there were also a few 146 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:54,520 Speaker 1: indoor theaters around this time, including the Blackfriars Theater, which 147 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:58,520 Speaker 1: was used primarily as a winter theater, since English winters 148 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:01,640 Speaker 1: were a bit too harsh for the outdoor venues. At 149 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:06,360 Speaker 1: one point, historians suspected that the shift to indoor theaters 150 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:10,680 Speaker 1: might be linked to changes in Shakespeare's own style, but 151 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:14,440 Speaker 1: this has since been largely contested, so it's not a 152 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 1: done deal. Also, it took a lot of focus for 153 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:20,120 Speaker 1: me not to turn this into an entire episode of 154 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:24,080 Speaker 1: the technology of Shakespeare's stage, because I focused on Shakespearean 155 00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:26,520 Speaker 1: studies when I was in college and I'm a little 156 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:28,560 Speaker 1: bit obsessed. So I'll try to stay on track. But 157 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:31,240 Speaker 1: if you guys ever want to hear about the full 158 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:35,240 Speaker 1: technical breakdown of what Shakespeare's stage was like, let me know, 159 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:38,960 Speaker 1: because it is kind of cool. Theaters like the Blackfriars 160 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:42,440 Speaker 1: would use candles, and some would also use torches to 161 00:09:42,559 --> 00:09:46,079 Speaker 1: provide stage lighting. A couple of decades before Shakespeare was 162 00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:49,920 Speaker 1: even born, there was an Italian architect named Sebastiano Serlio, 163 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:54,080 Speaker 1: and he proposed that one could put flasks, you know, 164 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:58,840 Speaker 1: glass bottles filled with different colored liquids, like an amber 165 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:01,920 Speaker 1: liquid or a blue liquid, and put that in front 166 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:05,600 Speaker 1: of a candle to produce new effects in lighting. So 167 00:10:05,679 --> 00:10:08,360 Speaker 1: the stage, as you might say, was set, but the 168 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:13,640 Speaker 1: effects were surely modest. In effect. They relied still very 169 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:17,400 Speaker 1: heavily on the audience using their imagination in order to 170 00:10:17,520 --> 00:10:20,920 Speaker 1: affect the brightness of the lights directed at the stage. 171 00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:23,720 Speaker 1: You had special stage crew who had the job of 172 00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:28,160 Speaker 1: going around and cutting back candle wicks to reduce the 173 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:31,680 Speaker 1: amount of flame that could provide light. And it was 174 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:34,800 Speaker 1: said that if you were really, really good at this, 175 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:39,000 Speaker 1: you could sneak on stage without really drawing any focus, 176 00:10:39,679 --> 00:10:43,600 Speaker 1: and you could get there and cut it back, and 177 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:46,120 Speaker 1: just the effect of being able to cut back the 178 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:49,920 Speaker 1: light would be enough to draw applause from the audience. 179 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:54,199 Speaker 1: They were so appreciative of the skill it took, particularly 180 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:56,240 Speaker 1: if your sense of timing was really good, so that 181 00:10:56,320 --> 00:10:59,439 Speaker 1: you were cutting back the wick just as a line 182 00:10:59,520 --> 00:11:03,080 Speaker 1: was coming about a shift in the light. Audiences really 183 00:11:03,080 --> 00:11:07,400 Speaker 1: seemed to appreciate that. These crew members were typically young boys, 184 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:12,880 Speaker 1: and they became known as snuff boys, which sounds pretty terrifying, 185 00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:16,440 Speaker 1: but no, we're talking about snuffing candles, and really we're 186 00:11:16,480 --> 00:11:19,640 Speaker 1: talking about trimming them back. The candles at that time 187 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:24,719 Speaker 1: were made largely from tallow. Tallow candles are made from 188 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:29,319 Speaker 1: animal fat, so these candles were not the cleanest. They 189 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:33,000 Speaker 1: were a bit smelly, they were very smoky. You could 190 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:37,800 Speaker 1: get bees wax candles. They were more rare, they're more expensive, 191 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:41,240 Speaker 1: but they also produced brighter light and much less smoke. 192 00:11:41,840 --> 00:11:46,480 Speaker 1: So gradually, over time theaters began to incorporate more bees 193 00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:49,839 Speaker 1: wax candles. Uh. It was hard to do because they 194 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:55,560 Speaker 1: were so expensive early on, but gradually people got better 195 00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:58,640 Speaker 1: at making them and the price began to go down, 196 00:11:58,679 --> 00:12:01,320 Speaker 1: and that's really when you started to see used in theaters. 197 00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:06,240 Speaker 1: They would also start to create these little mirrored chambers, 198 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:09,600 Speaker 1: these little cubbies in which the candles could sit and 199 00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:13,800 Speaker 1: the mirrors would reflect and redirect light. So rather than 200 00:12:13,880 --> 00:12:18,000 Speaker 1: just having a candle lighting out in all directions, by 201 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:20,840 Speaker 1: using the mirrors, you could redirect all that light into 202 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:26,160 Speaker 1: a more singular direction, and this helped tremendously. The typical 203 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:30,160 Speaker 1: indoor theater would have a row of candles or later 204 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:34,199 Speaker 1: oil lamps at the end of the stage, each housed 205 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:37,800 Speaker 1: in a little structure lined with reflected material like polished metal, 206 00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:41,000 Speaker 1: and that way the audience wouldn't see the flame they're 207 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:44,240 Speaker 1: seeing the back of the chamber, but the light from 208 00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:46,680 Speaker 1: the chamber would be bright enough to illuminate the action 209 00:12:46,760 --> 00:12:50,600 Speaker 1: on stage, and these became known as footlights. They were 210 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:53,320 Speaker 1: at the foot of the stage. They were at the 211 00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:59,000 Speaker 1: level of the actor's feet. That's footlights. It also became 212 00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:03,240 Speaker 1: a common thing to install similar lights off to either 213 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:06,839 Speaker 1: side of the stage, out of the audience's view. This 214 00:13:06,920 --> 00:13:10,200 Speaker 1: is in an area that is called the wings. Some 215 00:13:10,360 --> 00:13:14,120 Speaker 1: theaters would also hide lights behind the proscenium arch. Now 216 00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:18,880 Speaker 1: from the audience perspective, the procenium arch hangs above the 217 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:22,079 Speaker 1: front part of the stage. Typically there's a part of 218 00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:26,280 Speaker 1: the stage that extends beyond the procenium line. This part 219 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:30,280 Speaker 1: is called the apron or sometimes the thrust of the stage, 220 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:32,920 Speaker 1: But then you've got the proscenium. Typically this is as 221 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:36,320 Speaker 1: far down as actors would walk in a in a 222 00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:41,120 Speaker 1: normal production, we call it down stage in theater. Behind 223 00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:44,360 Speaker 1: this is the main part of the stage. Then further 224 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:47,800 Speaker 1: back towards the back wall of the stage that's upstage, 225 00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:51,920 Speaker 1: so the procenium arch lights would provide illumination for more 226 00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:56,640 Speaker 1: of the upstage area. You would have lights mounted behind 227 00:13:56,760 --> 00:14:00,319 Speaker 1: the procenium arch um itself, and that would provide a 228 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:02,640 Speaker 1: little more light so that the upstage area would be 229 00:14:02,679 --> 00:14:06,480 Speaker 1: just as well lit as the downstage area. The transition 230 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:10,960 Speaker 1: from candles to oil lamps was also a really important one, 231 00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:14,040 Speaker 1: So let's talk about candles and oil lamps. I did 232 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:16,600 Speaker 1: an episode not too long ago in which I described 233 00:14:16,679 --> 00:14:20,840 Speaker 1: the wicking effect that candles have. The wick serves as 234 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:23,880 Speaker 1: a place where a flame can consume the fuel, which 235 00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:26,480 Speaker 1: is not the wick. The fuel is actually the wax 236 00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:30,040 Speaker 1: of the candle, or, in the case of a lamp, 237 00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:34,360 Speaker 1: the oil from a lamp. So in tallow candles, the 238 00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:37,560 Speaker 1: flame is feeding off the fuel of animal fat, and 239 00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:40,680 Speaker 1: as it does so, it begins to draw more of 240 00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:44,720 Speaker 1: that melted fat up into the wick, which then burns 241 00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:49,240 Speaker 1: off and continues this effect of wicking away liquid fuel 242 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:53,200 Speaker 1: into the wick itself. With bees wax candles, the fuel 243 00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:57,160 Speaker 1: is wax made from beeswax. With oil lamps, it's oil, 244 00:14:57,520 --> 00:15:00,480 Speaker 1: and as the flame consumes the fuel, it raws moore 245 00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:03,680 Speaker 1: fuel into it into the wick. That is, the wick 246 00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:06,800 Speaker 1: itself also burns, It turns more or less into carbon, 247 00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:09,320 Speaker 1: and it has to be trimmed back on occasion. That's 248 00:15:09,320 --> 00:15:12,760 Speaker 1: when those snuff boys come back into play. A Swiss 249 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:18,520 Speaker 1: chemist named Amy Argonde designed an oil lamp that theaters 250 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:21,800 Speaker 1: would quickly adopt to replace the candles they had been 251 00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:26,840 Speaker 1: relying upon. Oil lamps provide brighter, steadier light, particularly if 252 00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:30,480 Speaker 1: the oil lamps used a glass chimney, which would protect 253 00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:34,320 Speaker 1: the flame from breezes, and stage crew could also use 254 00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:38,560 Speaker 1: different colors of glass for those chimneys. Typically the choices 255 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:42,240 Speaker 1: would fall more or less into clear glass, so just 256 00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:46,480 Speaker 1: transparent glass or green glass. Some theaters out there their 257 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:48,760 Speaker 1: oil lamps with a green glass chimney that could be 258 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:52,080 Speaker 1: lowered onto a lamp with a lever, which would be 259 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:54,400 Speaker 1: in effect of dimming the lights. So let's say you've 260 00:15:54,440 --> 00:15:58,520 Speaker 1: got a scene in your play that goes from daytime tonight. Well, 261 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:03,080 Speaker 1: by moving this lever, you could lower those chimneys into place. 262 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:06,800 Speaker 1: The lamps would remain lit, but that green glass would 263 00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:09,200 Speaker 1: block some of the light, and you could have your 264 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:11,720 Speaker 1: nighttime scene and would still be visible to the audience, 265 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:14,960 Speaker 1: it just wouldn't be as bright. This was used for 266 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:19,560 Speaker 1: transitions between scenes as well, or for really particular dramatic effects. 267 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:22,280 Speaker 1: But this was not a subtle change, right. There wasn't 268 00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:24,960 Speaker 1: like a subtle dimming. It was essentially a move from 269 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:28,440 Speaker 1: light to dark, and for a long time this was 270 00:16:28,480 --> 00:16:32,760 Speaker 1: the pinnacle of lighting effects in theater. Things would change 271 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:36,040 Speaker 1: again in eighteen sixteen with a theater called the Chestnut 272 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:40,200 Speaker 1: Street Theater, which is in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I'll explain more 273 00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:51,440 Speaker 1: after we take this short break. Theaters had begun to 274 00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:54,960 Speaker 1: switch from candles to oil lamps in the late eighteenth 275 00:16:55,120 --> 00:17:00,720 Speaker 1: century around seventy about forty years later, things would change again. 276 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:04,159 Speaker 1: The Chestnut Street Theater in Philadelphia made a switch to 277 00:17:04,359 --> 00:17:08,399 Speaker 1: gas lighting. Now the theater wasn't telling arriving audiences that 278 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:11,400 Speaker 1: they had just seen and really enjoyed a full show. 279 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:15,040 Speaker 1: Not that kind of gas lighting. This was using actual 280 00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:18,760 Speaker 1: gas lights to illuminate a stage. Now, I've never done 281 00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:22,240 Speaker 1: a full episode on gaslights and how they came to be, 282 00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:25,280 Speaker 1: So we'll do a quick rundown here, and I'll have 283 00:17:25,320 --> 00:17:29,520 Speaker 1: to do a full treatment sometime later. Scientists like Yawn 284 00:17:29,640 --> 00:17:33,720 Speaker 1: Baptiste von Helmont had learned how to extract gas from 285 00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:38,119 Speaker 1: coal as early as sixteen o nine, but there wasn't 286 00:17:38,119 --> 00:17:41,399 Speaker 1: really any practical way to make use of it. People 287 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:44,240 Speaker 1: did figure out that the coal gas was flammable and 288 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:46,879 Speaker 1: it became kind of a party trick, but it wasn't 289 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:51,080 Speaker 1: really something that people could harness effectively. Nearly two hundred 290 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:56,520 Speaker 1: years after one yawn described the extraction process of coal gas, 291 00:17:56,880 --> 00:18:01,600 Speaker 1: another yawn, This one yawn, Peter ming Eliers, a professor 292 00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:04,920 Speaker 1: at the University of Louvain, rigged up a lighting system 293 00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:08,160 Speaker 1: that used the gas as fuel. This was in seventeen 294 00:18:08,359 --> 00:18:12,879 Speaker 1: eighty three. In the seventeen nineties, a posh nob named 295 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:18,120 Speaker 1: Archibald Cochrane frequently referred to as being quota unquote eccentric, 296 00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:22,040 Speaker 1: which really just means super duper weird, but rich enough 297 00:18:22,080 --> 00:18:25,439 Speaker 1: so we don't talk about how he's weird anyway. He 298 00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:30,000 Speaker 1: used gas to light his home. Cochrane's fellow countryman, a 299 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:34,640 Speaker 1: Scott named William Murdoch, would truly establish gas lighting as 300 00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:39,199 Speaker 1: a means to illuminate spaces, both indoors and outdoors. William 301 00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:42,760 Speaker 1: Murdoch was an engineer who was working for a foundry 302 00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:46,600 Speaker 1: in England in the seventeen nineties. He reckoned that you 303 00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:50,439 Speaker 1: could transport coal gas through pipes from a center of 304 00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:54,160 Speaker 1: production to wherever you wanted to light a lamp. So 305 00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:58,080 Speaker 1: by building out a network of pipes and lamps. You 306 00:18:58,119 --> 00:19:02,720 Speaker 1: could supply numerous lamp with fuel from a centralized production 307 00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:06,440 Speaker 1: source using coal gas. The lamps would have a nozzle 308 00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:10,760 Speaker 1: through which gas could flow, and igniting the flow of 309 00:19:10,880 --> 00:19:14,159 Speaker 1: gas would provide light. You would have a steady flame, 310 00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:17,840 Speaker 1: or that flame could then be used to heat another 311 00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:21,399 Speaker 1: element called a mantle, which would glow when it reached 312 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:25,000 Speaker 1: a high enough temperature. This is called incandescence, and I'll 313 00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:28,080 Speaker 1: talk about more a little bit later in this episode. 314 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:31,359 Speaker 1: Keeping the gas under pressure would ensure a steady flow 315 00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:34,719 Speaker 1: of fuel to the lamps, and before long, cities like 316 00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:38,359 Speaker 1: Paris and London began to install gas lines and gas 317 00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:43,480 Speaker 1: lamps and gas generators, not a electrical generator running on gas, 318 00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:47,720 Speaker 1: but rather a specific device that extracts coal gas from coal. 319 00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:52,080 Speaker 1: This theater in Philadelphia, the Chestnut Street Theater, chose gas 320 00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:55,280 Speaker 1: lights to illuminate both the interior of the theater in 321 00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:58,879 Speaker 1: general and the stage in particular. The company chose to 322 00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:02,639 Speaker 1: install a as generator in its own building, so it 323 00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:06,879 Speaker 1: wasn't dependent upon some off site source, and the method 324 00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:10,280 Speaker 1: for providing light had changed, but otherwise stuff was still 325 00:20:10,359 --> 00:20:14,680 Speaker 1: pretty similar to the older methods using oil lamps and candles. 326 00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:17,399 Speaker 1: It's just that the gas lamps were replacing the oil 327 00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:20,240 Speaker 1: lamps in footlights and the wings and stuff like that. 328 00:20:20,960 --> 00:20:24,640 Speaker 1: The following year a couple of theaters in London would 329 00:20:24,680 --> 00:20:27,679 Speaker 1: follow suit. Now, one of the big advantages of gas 330 00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:30,919 Speaker 1: lamps was that an operator could control the level of 331 00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:34,000 Speaker 1: lighting from a centralized location. You didn't have to have 332 00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:39,399 Speaker 1: people at each station in order to man specific lights. 333 00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:43,720 Speaker 1: By opening or closing a valve that fed into, say, 334 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:47,120 Speaker 1: all the footlights, for example, an operator could bring lights 335 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:50,400 Speaker 1: up or down smoothly and without having to go near 336 00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:53,320 Speaker 1: the stage and the lights and the auditorium itself could 337 00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:56,159 Speaker 1: be brought down, which would increase the focus on the 338 00:20:56,200 --> 00:20:59,000 Speaker 1: stage and allow the audience to become more immersed in 339 00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:01,520 Speaker 1: the story. This would be the first time where you 340 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:04,879 Speaker 1: could easily control all the lights in the theater and 341 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:10,040 Speaker 1: be able to really direct the focus. Over time, the 342 00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:14,560 Speaker 1: control methods would get more complex, with regulators and valves 343 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:17,680 Speaker 1: that allowed the operator to make more subtle changes to 344 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:22,600 Speaker 1: specific lights or banks of lights. This gave theatrical companies 345 00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:25,320 Speaker 1: the ability to provide just the right amount of light 346 00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:28,600 Speaker 1: to a specific part of the stage. The system of 347 00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:32,240 Speaker 1: valves became a type of circuit, only one that facilitates 348 00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:36,560 Speaker 1: the flow of gas to specific lamps rather than electricity. 349 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:39,639 Speaker 1: The operator would use a gas table to refer to 350 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:44,239 Speaker 1: which valves needed adjusting to produce specific effects, and this 351 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:47,840 Speaker 1: would be a predecessor to the electrical switchboards that you 352 00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:51,480 Speaker 1: would find in operator booths in theaters today. We'll talk 353 00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:54,960 Speaker 1: more about the switchboards in our next episode. But while 354 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:58,679 Speaker 1: this approach allowed for better lighting, it was also hotter 355 00:21:59,040 --> 00:22:01,680 Speaker 1: than candles or oil lamps. You've got a lot more 356 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:04,359 Speaker 1: heat produced by this, and it also burned up a 357 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:07,000 Speaker 1: lot of oxygen, which could be a problem if say 358 00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:09,479 Speaker 1: you're a diva in an opera and you're about to 359 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:13,120 Speaker 1: burst into an aria, you could actually be in danger 360 00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:17,480 Speaker 1: of fainting. So there were some drawbacks. Now we're coming 361 00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:21,919 Speaker 1: up on one of my favorite names in tech history, 362 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:25,479 Speaker 1: not necessarily the person, but the name is phenomenal. That 363 00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:33,399 Speaker 1: name is Sir Goldsworthy Gurney. What a name anyway. Goldie 364 00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:36,520 Speaker 1: was an English scientist. He was an architect, he was 365 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:40,040 Speaker 1: an inventor. You could call him a renaissance man, though 366 00:22:40,359 --> 00:22:43,320 Speaker 1: he was post Renaissance. He was born in seventeen three. 367 00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:46,280 Speaker 1: But among the many things he worked on in his 368 00:22:46,359 --> 00:22:49,119 Speaker 1: life was a device that could supply a stream of 369 00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:52,919 Speaker 1: oxy hydrogen gas. That's just a gas made up of 370 00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:56,920 Speaker 1: oxygen and hydrogen, and he could supply that to a 371 00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:01,640 Speaker 1: nozzle that could support a very high flame, and by 372 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:04,679 Speaker 1: controlling the flow of that gas, he can control how 373 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:08,400 Speaker 1: hot that flame burned, and they could get really hot. 374 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:11,840 Speaker 1: So the gas mixture is really flammable, and it puts 375 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:16,200 Speaker 1: out a tremendous amount of heat, which not only sustains 376 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:18,719 Speaker 1: the burning process. You know, once you've lit it, it 377 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:22,959 Speaker 1: remains lit as long as fuel and oxidizer is going 378 00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:25,879 Speaker 1: to it, but it can also be used to heat 379 00:23:26,119 --> 00:23:29,720 Speaker 1: some other element. Now, in this particular case, we're talking 380 00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:34,560 Speaker 1: about hydrogen being the fuel, oxygen is the oxidizer, and 381 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:37,080 Speaker 1: then you add heat and you've got those three points 382 00:23:37,119 --> 00:23:41,120 Speaker 1: of a triangle you need to support fire. Now. Enter 383 00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:46,680 Speaker 1: Thomas Drummond who paired this oxy hydrogen blowpipe which could 384 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:49,800 Speaker 1: be used for lots of different stuff, and used a 385 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:53,679 Speaker 1: block of material made out of calcium oxide, which is 386 00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:58,359 Speaker 1: also known as lime. When the very hot flame from 387 00:23:58,359 --> 00:24:03,080 Speaker 1: this oxy hydrogen blow hype hit the calcium oxide, this 388 00:24:03,359 --> 00:24:07,560 Speaker 1: calcium oxide or lime would begin to emit an extremely 389 00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:12,320 Speaker 1: bright white light. The chemical reasons for this get complicated 390 00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:16,800 Speaker 1: because it includes both incandescence and possibly cando luminescence. But 391 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:20,840 Speaker 1: let's take a stab at it. I mentioned incandescence earlier. 392 00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:24,600 Speaker 1: What is it, Well, it refers to light produced through heat. 393 00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:28,919 Speaker 1: If you've ever seen a blacksmith working with metal and 394 00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:31,600 Speaker 1: they pull the metal out of a forage and it's glowing, 395 00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:34,000 Speaker 1: you see it's got that kind of reddish orange glow 396 00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:38,359 Speaker 1: to it. Or if you look at the old filament lightbulbs, 397 00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:41,800 Speaker 1: you'll see that there's a little strip that's suspended in 398 00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:43,800 Speaker 1: the middle of that bulb, and that's what's giving off 399 00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:46,440 Speaker 1: the light when you flip a switch. In both cases 400 00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:50,879 Speaker 1: we're looking at incandescence. The key to that light comes 401 00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:55,440 Speaker 1: in at the atomic level. Heat is a form of energy. 402 00:24:55,800 --> 00:24:59,399 Speaker 1: By pouring energy into atoms, you start to push the 403 00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:05,359 Speaker 1: electra ron's that orbit their nuclei out into higher energy shells. 404 00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:09,280 Speaker 1: They're being pushed further out from their area of orbit, 405 00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:13,080 Speaker 1: and this means that they're occupying higher energy states than 406 00:25:13,119 --> 00:25:17,960 Speaker 1: they normally would. Now, the electrons naturally want to gravitate 407 00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:21,720 Speaker 1: back to their home energy states, and when they do 408 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:25,000 Speaker 1: pop back down, they have to release the excess energy 409 00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:29,119 Speaker 1: they've absorbed. They can't occupy those lower energy shells with 410 00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:31,800 Speaker 1: excess energy. They have to get rid of it. They 411 00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:34,879 Speaker 1: do this by releasing energy in the form of heat 412 00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:40,200 Speaker 1: and light. Technically, objects are actually glowing all the time. 413 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:43,200 Speaker 1: We're all in condessing all the time. It's just we're 414 00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:46,399 Speaker 1: doing so at a light frequency that we humans cannot see. 415 00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:51,119 Speaker 1: Any object that is above absolute zero in temperature is 416 00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:55,359 Speaker 1: emitting light in the infrared spectrum. And if we could 417 00:25:55,359 --> 00:25:58,480 Speaker 1: see infrared, everything around us would be glowing at some 418 00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:03,199 Speaker 1: level of intensity. But by pouring energy into atoms, we 419 00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:07,320 Speaker 1: can boost the electrons so that they release photons in 420 00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:11,520 Speaker 1: shorter wavelengths and higher frequencies than you find an infrared light. 421 00:26:12,119 --> 00:26:15,040 Speaker 1: And that's where we get to the visible light spectrum. 422 00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:21,000 Speaker 1: If you remember your roy g BIV, you know red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. 423 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:25,520 Speaker 1: You know that red represents the lowest energy state of 424 00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:29,080 Speaker 1: visible light. So the glowing red orange metal the Blacksmith 425 00:26:29,119 --> 00:26:32,879 Speaker 1: handles represents a relatively low energy state for those atoms 426 00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:35,960 Speaker 1: compared to something that might be glowing with a brilliant 427 00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:41,680 Speaker 1: white light from say limelight incandescence goes from red to 428 00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:45,080 Speaker 1: orange to yellow to white. By the way, you don't 429 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:48,919 Speaker 1: heat something up until it glows blue. But what about 430 00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:53,919 Speaker 1: candle luminescence? An article in issue seven of Proceedings of 431 00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:58,080 Speaker 1: the Society for Analytical Chemistry defines it this way. Quote 432 00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:03,080 Speaker 1: Cando luminescence the term used to describe the luminescent emission 433 00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:06,240 Speaker 1: from certain solid materials placed at the edge of a 434 00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:10,920 Speaker 1: hydrogen diffusion flame. The emission is stimulated in the surface 435 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:15,119 Speaker 1: layers of the solid matrix, such as calcium oxide, only 436 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:19,920 Speaker 1: if they contain small amounts of impurity metal ions activators. 437 00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:25,199 Speaker 1: This phenomenon was observed frequently in early blowpipe analyzes and 438 00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:31,080 Speaker 1: has been studied sporadically since eighteen forty two. End quote. Moreover, 439 00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:35,320 Speaker 1: candle luminescence describes a phenomenon in which a material brought 440 00:27:35,359 --> 00:27:38,080 Speaker 1: to temperature with a flame is going to glow at 441 00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:42,080 Speaker 1: a greater intensity than we would normally expect if it 442 00:27:42,119 --> 00:27:44,959 Speaker 1: were brought to that temperature by other means. So, in 443 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:48,000 Speaker 1: other words, you've got a material that might glow red 444 00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:50,040 Speaker 1: if you were to heat it up, I don't know, 445 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:53,199 Speaker 1: like to seven hundred degrees celsius in a forge, but 446 00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:56,720 Speaker 1: by doing so with a flame rather than with coals 447 00:27:56,880 --> 00:28:02,160 Speaker 1: or something, the object actually glows yell low, not red well. 448 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:05,679 Speaker 1: This would be an example of candle luminescence. The scientific 449 00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:09,639 Speaker 1: explanation for why this happens is still a matter of 450 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:12,919 Speaker 1: some debate, and I should add there are some physicists 451 00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:16,480 Speaker 1: who are skeptical that the lime and lime lights was 452 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:19,320 Speaker 1: an example of candle luminescence at all, and it may 453 00:28:19,320 --> 00:28:24,040 Speaker 1: have just been merely incandescence. What we can definitely say 454 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:27,399 Speaker 1: is that a very hot flame would heat a piece 455 00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:30,200 Speaker 1: of lime to the point that that lime would give 456 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:34,800 Speaker 1: off a brilliant white light. By focusing this light through 457 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:39,280 Speaker 1: a lens, Drummond could create a really powerful spotlight, which 458 00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:42,880 Speaker 1: was useful for stage lighting, sometimes used as a follow light, 459 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:45,640 Speaker 1: where you have a light following a specific actor as 460 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:48,560 Speaker 1: they walk back and forth across the stage. And thus 461 00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:51,880 Speaker 1: we get the term limelight, and that term would become 462 00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:55,320 Speaker 1: a saying to describe being the center of focus or attention. 463 00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:58,920 Speaker 1: You know you're in the limelight. Theaters first began to 464 00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:04,240 Speaker 1: use limelight for spotlights around eighteen thirty seven. Gradually, these 465 00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:07,320 Speaker 1: sorts of lights began to replace footlights and could be 466 00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:11,160 Speaker 1: used for other effects such as simulating sunlight or moonlight 467 00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:15,640 Speaker 1: when paired with colors of panes of glass like think 468 00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:19,080 Speaker 1: of like stained glass, but maybe not so dramatic. Putting 469 00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:21,080 Speaker 1: that in front of a limelight would allow you to 470 00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:24,920 Speaker 1: cast a specific color of light onto the stage, and 471 00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:29,440 Speaker 1: operating a limelight was no small feat. Each light had 472 00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:32,280 Speaker 1: to have its own operator, not just to direct the 473 00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:35,800 Speaker 1: light so that you could follow the action appropriately, but 474 00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:38,840 Speaker 1: also because the operator would need to reposition that block 475 00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:42,760 Speaker 1: of calcium oxide. It would get burned down by that flame, 476 00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:46,120 Speaker 1: and if you just left it there, eventually that light 477 00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:49,360 Speaker 1: would start to dim because too much of the calcium 478 00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:52,120 Speaker 1: oxide would have been burned away. So you would have 479 00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:55,520 Speaker 1: to reposition that block of calcium oxide using you know, 480 00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:59,400 Speaker 1: actual UH tools on the light itself. You didn't have 481 00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:03,400 Speaker 1: to region there, you would have burned your hand off. Also, 482 00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:05,600 Speaker 1: the operator would have to make sure that the tanks 483 00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:09,160 Speaker 1: of hydrogen and oxygen still had gas in them and 484 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:11,680 Speaker 1: then would have to replace those canisters whenever the fuel 485 00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:13,920 Speaker 1: ran out. I imagine it also had to be a 486 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:17,800 Speaker 1: really warm occupation because those lights put out so much heat. 487 00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:22,200 Speaker 1: Gas lights would end up having a relatively short run 488 00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:25,920 Speaker 1: in theaters, however, as engineers were making steps towards the 489 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:30,120 Speaker 1: next big development and lighting, which would be electrical lamps. 490 00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:34,680 Speaker 1: The earliest electrical lights for the theater were carbon arc lamps, 491 00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:37,680 Speaker 1: which I talked about not too long ago on this show. 492 00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:40,720 Speaker 1: The invention of the carbon arc lamp dates back to 493 00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:43,600 Speaker 1: the early eighteen hundreds, but it would take nearly a 494 00:30:43,680 --> 00:30:47,760 Speaker 1: century to really find its use in theaters. A man 495 00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:52,160 Speaker 1: named Sir Humphrey Davy invented the carbon arc lamp, and 496 00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:55,960 Speaker 1: it was the first practical electrical light, but it wasn't 497 00:30:55,960 --> 00:31:00,160 Speaker 1: practical for every kind of use anyway. A carbon arc 498 00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:04,040 Speaker 1: lamp has a pair of carbon electrodes attached to the 499 00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:07,200 Speaker 1: positive and negative terminals of a battery or a dynamo 500 00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:11,160 Speaker 1: or generator, whatever it's connected to. You apply a voltage 501 00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:15,520 Speaker 1: to these electrodes, you create an electrical potential between them. 502 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:19,000 Speaker 1: You have a negative electrode and a positive electrode, and 503 00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:21,080 Speaker 1: you can think of it as creating a build up 504 00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:25,959 Speaker 1: of electrons on the negative electrode side and an absence 505 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:30,080 Speaker 1: of electrons, or rather holes for electrons to inhabit on 506 00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:35,920 Speaker 1: the positive electrode side, and we know that opposite charges attract, 507 00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:38,040 Speaker 1: so you can think of it as the electrons on 508 00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:41,600 Speaker 1: the negative side really want to be on the positive side. 509 00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:45,240 Speaker 1: When you bring these two electrodes into contact with each other, 510 00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:49,320 Speaker 1: you complete a circuit, and that strikes the arc, an 511 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:52,720 Speaker 1: arc of electricity as electrons flow from the negative to 512 00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:55,720 Speaker 1: the positive, although we say that the current flows in 513 00:31:55,760 --> 00:32:00,120 Speaker 1: the opposite direction thanks to Benjamin Franklin. The carbon in 514 00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:03,520 Speaker 1: the electrodes, specifically on the negative side, begins to ionize 515 00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:07,360 Speaker 1: and vaporize, and it becomes a plasma or ionized gas. 516 00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:11,880 Speaker 1: This gas can conduct electricity just as a solid wire would, 517 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:16,320 Speaker 1: so that arc of electricity can be sustained. Pulling the 518 00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:19,480 Speaker 1: electrodes apart slowly creates a space between the two, and 519 00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:23,200 Speaker 1: electricity can still pass through this plasma. The light produced 520 00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:26,280 Speaker 1: is very bright as long as those electrodes are the 521 00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:29,400 Speaker 1: proper distance from each other. If they're too far apart, 522 00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:32,720 Speaker 1: the arc will start to stutter. It can't sustain itself. 523 00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:35,680 Speaker 1: If they're too close together, then the arc won't be 524 00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:38,719 Speaker 1: bright enough. So you have to have that distance just 525 00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:41,840 Speaker 1: right between the two electrodes. But when it is just right, 526 00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:45,760 Speaker 1: that light is incredibly bright. The electrodes do eventually wear 527 00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:49,240 Speaker 1: down as they ionize. The negative electrode specifically, it starts 528 00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:51,520 Speaker 1: to get thinner and thinner, and then the positive one 529 00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:54,080 Speaker 1: starts to get thicker and thicker, so they have to 530 00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:58,840 Speaker 1: be replaced occasionally. There are some other drawbacks to carbon 531 00:32:58,960 --> 00:33:00,960 Speaker 1: arc lamps. That include is the fact that they give 532 00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:04,280 Speaker 1: off ultra violet light as well as visible light, so 533 00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:08,880 Speaker 1: you can actually get a sunburn from a carbon arc lamp. Fortunately, 534 00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:14,120 Speaker 1: putting a glass diffuser mitigates this because glass can transmit 535 00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:18,400 Speaker 1: visible light and also block ultra violet light. Carbon arc 536 00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:21,280 Speaker 1: lamps also create a sort of buzzing sound when they're 537 00:33:21,280 --> 00:33:24,440 Speaker 1: in operation, and if you position the electrodes too far apart, 538 00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:27,440 Speaker 1: they start to sputter. Like I said, So, they're a 539 00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:30,720 Speaker 1: little delicate and they can be loud, but they were 540 00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:34,440 Speaker 1: also brighter and cheaper than operating gas lamps, and by 541 00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:36,480 Speaker 1: the time theaters began to use them in the late 542 00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:41,280 Speaker 1: nineteenth century, they had improved significantly from Sir Humphreys's original design. 543 00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:43,600 Speaker 1: I'll talk a little bit more about that when we 544 00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:54,680 Speaker 1: come back after this quick break. The first theatrical use 545 00:33:54,720 --> 00:33:57,880 Speaker 1: of electrical lighting that I can find dates back to 546 00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:03,880 Speaker 1: eighteen forty six. The Paris Opera installed carbon arc lamps 547 00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:08,240 Speaker 1: for spotlights, but at this stage, nearly forty years after 548 00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:12,239 Speaker 1: their invention, the arc lamps are still too inefficient to 549 00:34:12,239 --> 00:34:16,000 Speaker 1: be considered a solid alternative to the gas powered lime lights. 550 00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:19,560 Speaker 1: It would take another thirty three years before theater started 551 00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:23,279 Speaker 1: to consider the carbon arc light a viable upgrade from 552 00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:27,200 Speaker 1: lime lights. The Paris Opera did continue to pioneer the 553 00:34:27,280 --> 00:34:30,799 Speaker 1: use of electric lighting, however. They installed a rainbow projector, 554 00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:34,480 Speaker 1: and they installed a lighting effect for a fountain as 555 00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:37,560 Speaker 1: well as a carbon arc spotlight with a housing that 556 00:34:37,640 --> 00:34:40,800 Speaker 1: was lined with reflectors and lens that had a shutter 557 00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:43,880 Speaker 1: on it, so the operator could adjust how open the 558 00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:47,239 Speaker 1: shutter was and be able to adjust the amount of 559 00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:50,719 Speaker 1: light coming out to hit the stage to create different effects. 560 00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:54,360 Speaker 1: In the meantime, there was an actor in England named 561 00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:58,520 Speaker 1: Henry Irving who became the manager of the Lyceum theater 562 00:34:58,880 --> 00:35:02,920 Speaker 1: in England, and this was in eighteen seventies, and he 563 00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:07,160 Speaker 1: introduced some concepts that today we considered standard, but they 564 00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:09,920 Speaker 1: were revolutionary at the time that he became manager of 565 00:35:09,920 --> 00:35:14,080 Speaker 1: the Lyceum. There's a term in theater called MSS on scene, 566 00:35:14,120 --> 00:35:17,920 Speaker 1: which refers to the visual arrangement of a scene. Originally 567 00:35:18,239 --> 00:35:20,719 Speaker 1: it was just used for theater, but we also used 568 00:35:20,719 --> 00:35:24,000 Speaker 1: this in television and film, and it's the art of 569 00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:28,800 Speaker 1: arranging all the components, including the actors, the set pieces, 570 00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:33,120 Speaker 1: the props, and the lighting to create the visuals that 571 00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:37,560 Speaker 1: you want the picture the director wants the audience to see. 572 00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:40,880 Speaker 1: And for centuries, lighting was more about just making this 573 00:35:40,920 --> 00:35:44,279 Speaker 1: stuff visible to the audience. It wasn't really part of 574 00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:48,160 Speaker 1: designing the scene itself. Irving was one of the artists 575 00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:52,600 Speaker 1: who would change that. Irving still relied on gas powered lights. 576 00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:55,400 Speaker 1: He thought the electrical lights were vulgar and that they 577 00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:58,520 Speaker 1: couldn't provide the effects he wanted, and he refused to 578 00:35:58,640 --> 00:36:02,080 Speaker 1: use them. He would have stage technicians place pains of 579 00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:06,000 Speaker 1: colored glass in front of limelights to create different lighting effects, 580 00:36:06,040 --> 00:36:08,759 Speaker 1: and he would regularly dim the lights and the audience 581 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:11,600 Speaker 1: before a performance. And while that had been done in 582 00:36:11,640 --> 00:36:13,520 Speaker 1: the past, he was the one who really made it 583 00:36:13,600 --> 00:36:17,480 Speaker 1: a practice, and according to multiple sources, he was the 584 00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:22,279 Speaker 1: first manager to arrange for lighting rehearsals so that the 585 00:36:22,320 --> 00:36:26,480 Speaker 1: technicians would actually learn how to change effects on Q 586 00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:30,759 Speaker 1: This was a rehearsal mainly for the technicians, not for 587 00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:33,840 Speaker 1: the actors. It blows my mind that it took that 588 00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:37,160 Speaker 1: long before this became a common practice. Today, we think 589 00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:40,640 Speaker 1: of this as part of tech week for a show. Typically, 590 00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:44,240 Speaker 1: tech week is torture for actors because it usually involves 591 00:36:44,239 --> 00:36:47,960 Speaker 1: having to stop and restart scenes repeatedly so that the 592 00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:51,240 Speaker 1: tech crew can mark down their cues appropriately in practice 593 00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:55,560 Speaker 1: those those changes. Uh. And for actors this is terrible. 594 00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:58,239 Speaker 1: Also for directors, this is terrible because we actors tend 595 00:36:58,239 --> 00:37:01,719 Speaker 1: to get bored and if we're not paying attention, it 596 00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:06,200 Speaker 1: slows everything down. Uh, it's a nightmare. But that's for 597 00:37:06,239 --> 00:37:10,839 Speaker 1: a totally different podcast. Critics at the time weren't necessarily 598 00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:15,440 Speaker 1: big fans of Irving's textual approach to his material, but 599 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:21,080 Speaker 1: they did have a nearly universal approval for his technical 600 00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:26,080 Speaker 1: process his lighting techniques. In particular, when Irving's theater company 601 00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:28,719 Speaker 1: went on tour in America, he actually brought along all 602 00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:32,640 Speaker 1: his technicians and lighting effects, which they would install in 603 00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:35,920 Speaker 1: the theaters that were hosting them along the tour. He 604 00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:39,840 Speaker 1: didn't want to compromise on his vision. Other artists would 605 00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:44,120 Speaker 1: build upon Irving's dedication to incorporating lighting in scene design. 606 00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:48,960 Speaker 1: In eight there was a Swiss architect named Adolph Appia 607 00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:54,160 Speaker 1: who pioneered important work regarding lighting and performance space. He 608 00:37:54,239 --> 00:37:57,560 Speaker 1: wanted light to be an intrinsic part of creating a scene, 609 00:37:57,640 --> 00:38:00,400 Speaker 1: and he wanted to incorporate a sense of depth in 610 00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:03,920 Speaker 1: the theater. He also wanted to incorporate the manipulation of 611 00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:08,359 Speaker 1: light into scenes, particularly with the operas of Wagner, so 612 00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:12,320 Speaker 1: that the audience would see stuff that aligns with what 613 00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:15,400 Speaker 1: they are hearing. And these are all things that seem 614 00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:19,799 Speaker 1: common sense to us now that through the dynamic manipulation 615 00:38:19,880 --> 00:38:23,120 Speaker 1: of light you can create specific effects and really punctuate 616 00:38:23,200 --> 00:38:26,760 Speaker 1: the overall intent of a scene. But it was only 617 00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:29,920 Speaker 1: towards the turn of the twentieth century and the proliferation 618 00:38:29,960 --> 00:38:34,320 Speaker 1: of electricity that we really gained the fine tuning ability 619 00:38:34,360 --> 00:38:39,440 Speaker 1: to make such quick, precise adjustments. I mentioned a bit 620 00:38:39,480 --> 00:38:42,000 Speaker 1: ago that carbon arc lights would get an upgrade that 621 00:38:42,040 --> 00:38:45,280 Speaker 1: made them more suitable for theatrical applications, and that upgrade 622 00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:48,879 Speaker 1: came in eighteen seventy six, although it wasn't really used 623 00:38:48,880 --> 00:38:51,800 Speaker 1: in theaters for a couple of years. A Russian engineer 624 00:38:51,880 --> 00:38:54,760 Speaker 1: named pavel Ya Blotchkov came up with a neat way 625 00:38:54,800 --> 00:38:58,000 Speaker 1: to build a carbon arc lamp without having to manually 626 00:38:58,120 --> 00:39:01,880 Speaker 1: separate those electrodes to create the arc. Some called it 627 00:39:01,880 --> 00:39:04,959 Speaker 1: the electric candle, and others called it the blutch CoV light, 628 00:39:05,520 --> 00:39:07,480 Speaker 1: and it worked on the same basic principle as a 629 00:39:07,520 --> 00:39:10,160 Speaker 1: standard carbon arc lamp, but in this case, the two 630 00:39:10,160 --> 00:39:14,080 Speaker 1: electrodes would be held apart from each other by a 631 00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:18,280 Speaker 1: mass of something. There be kind of a gap between 632 00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:22,120 Speaker 1: the two that's held there by a solid material, typically 633 00:39:22,239 --> 00:39:27,319 Speaker 1: something like plaster, and then connecting the two electrodes would 634 00:39:27,320 --> 00:39:31,280 Speaker 1: be a very thin conductive wire. So when you supplied 635 00:39:31,280 --> 00:39:34,480 Speaker 1: electricity to this lamp, a current would run from one 636 00:39:34,520 --> 00:39:38,000 Speaker 1: electrode through that thin wire to the other electrode. The 637 00:39:38,080 --> 00:39:41,920 Speaker 1: thin wire would very quickly heat up and break, but 638 00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:45,720 Speaker 1: it would also spark the arc between the two electrodes, 639 00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:48,799 Speaker 1: so the conductive wires gone. It's sort of like a 640 00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:52,799 Speaker 1: filament in an incandescent bulb burning out. The arc would 641 00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:56,160 Speaker 1: stay lit until the electrodes were spent, or the material 642 00:39:56,239 --> 00:39:58,840 Speaker 1: between the electrodes had melted to a point that the 643 00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:02,799 Speaker 1: two electrodes got closer together and they weren't generating enough light. 644 00:40:02,840 --> 00:40:07,000 Speaker 1: As a result, they typically could stay lit for about 645 00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:10,600 Speaker 1: two hours. Once extinguished, you would actually have to replace 646 00:40:10,719 --> 00:40:14,560 Speaker 1: the electrodes in the candle, the plaster and the conductive 647 00:40:14,600 --> 00:40:16,920 Speaker 1: wire would have to be replaced as well, and then 648 00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:19,359 Speaker 1: you could light it again. But it proved to be 649 00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:22,360 Speaker 1: a step up from gas lighting. The first theater to 650 00:40:22,440 --> 00:40:26,000 Speaker 1: install these electric candles was again in Paris, this time 651 00:40:26,040 --> 00:40:29,640 Speaker 1: the Hippodrome. After your Blotchkov had demonstrated the efficiency and 652 00:40:29,719 --> 00:40:33,480 Speaker 1: the power of these electric candles during the Paris Exhibition 653 00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:37,839 Speaker 1: of eight One of the big draws pun intended of 654 00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:41,800 Speaker 1: this particular technology is that it didn't require as much 655 00:40:41,840 --> 00:40:45,400 Speaker 1: electricity as other carbon arc lamps. It was more efficient, 656 00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:49,239 Speaker 1: so you could actually light way more of these candles 657 00:40:49,560 --> 00:40:52,280 Speaker 1: than you would with classic carbon arc lamps, which would 658 00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:56,520 Speaker 1: typically require a generator for every single lamp, and that 659 00:40:56,600 --> 00:41:01,040 Speaker 1: got not just expensive but strategically difficult to handle, like 660 00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:03,200 Speaker 1: where do you put all these things when you're building 661 00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:06,560 Speaker 1: out a theater space, So this was a big improvement. 662 00:41:07,320 --> 00:41:11,000 Speaker 1: In eight eight one, the Savoy Theater in London became 663 00:41:11,040 --> 00:41:14,879 Speaker 1: the first to convert entirely to electricity, no longer using 664 00:41:14,920 --> 00:41:18,480 Speaker 1: gas lighting at all. Some of these theaters were embracing 665 00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:22,160 Speaker 1: carbon arc lamps right as a man named Thomas Edison 666 00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:24,440 Speaker 1: was leading a team to produce what would become the 667 00:41:24,560 --> 00:41:29,240 Speaker 1: arc lamps death sentence, and I'm talking about the incandescent lightbulb. 668 00:41:29,680 --> 00:41:33,160 Speaker 1: This is the old style of light bulb that uses 669 00:41:33,160 --> 00:41:35,799 Speaker 1: electricity to heat up a filament to the point that 670 00:41:35,800 --> 00:41:41,520 Speaker 1: that filament begins to incandesce. Edison did not invent the lightbulb, 671 00:41:42,160 --> 00:41:45,200 Speaker 1: nor did his team invent the light bulb, but his 672 00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:49,160 Speaker 1: team was able to improve upon the earlier invention of 673 00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:51,680 Speaker 1: the lightbulb to create something that was more practical, that 674 00:41:51,719 --> 00:41:57,080 Speaker 1: could burn brighter and longer than earlier attempts. Edison's original 675 00:41:57,160 --> 00:42:02,120 Speaker 1: lightbulbs used a carbon filament, but it incandessed fairly well. 676 00:42:02,160 --> 00:42:05,920 Speaker 1: It just didn't last very long. It burnt through too quickly. 677 00:42:06,120 --> 00:42:09,600 Speaker 1: It would vaporize and break and then your your light 678 00:42:09,719 --> 00:42:14,360 Speaker 1: is dead. And that happens with all incandescent light bulbs. 679 00:42:14,400 --> 00:42:18,719 Speaker 1: The filament heats up, it vaporizes, that vapor deposits on 680 00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:22,879 Speaker 1: the inside of the bulb, and meanwhile the filament gets 681 00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:25,960 Speaker 1: thinner and thinner until it eventually breaks, and then the 682 00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:29,600 Speaker 1: light extinguishes. So in nineteen o four you had a 683 00:42:29,640 --> 00:42:34,280 Speaker 1: pair of engineers named fran Johannemann and Alexander Yost who 684 00:42:34,360 --> 00:42:39,200 Speaker 1: improved on the design by replacing the carbon filament with 685 00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:43,359 Speaker 1: a filament made out of tungsten that required less electricity 686 00:42:43,440 --> 00:42:48,160 Speaker 1: to incandesse, and it also lasted longer. Then others began 687 00:42:48,239 --> 00:42:51,800 Speaker 1: to fill bulbs with an inert gas that further extended 688 00:42:51,920 --> 00:42:55,080 Speaker 1: the life of the bulbs, and other people found improvements 689 00:42:55,200 --> 00:42:58,200 Speaker 1: on the way to weave tungsten so that you've got 690 00:42:58,200 --> 00:43:01,399 Speaker 1: a more efficient burn of a light bulb. But this 691 00:43:01,440 --> 00:43:03,560 Speaker 1: isn't an episode about the evolution of light bulb. I 692 00:43:03,600 --> 00:43:06,040 Speaker 1: actually did an episode about that already, So let's get 693 00:43:06,040 --> 00:43:10,440 Speaker 1: back to theater. In eight two, the Munich Exposition in 694 00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:14,880 Speaker 1: Germany included a theater that was lit entirely by incandescent bulbs. 695 00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:17,680 Speaker 1: The reaction was really positive, and that year saw a 696 00:43:17,760 --> 00:43:20,560 Speaker 1: lot of theaters around the world start to install electrical 697 00:43:20,680 --> 00:43:24,359 Speaker 1: lighting in their buildings and use the incandescent bulbs rather 698 00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:27,400 Speaker 1: than the arc lamps. This transition would also mean that 699 00:43:27,480 --> 00:43:30,680 Speaker 1: the gas tables of the previous century we're making way 700 00:43:30,719 --> 00:43:34,080 Speaker 1: to electric switchboards, and that allowed a single operator to 701 00:43:34,239 --> 00:43:38,480 Speaker 1: turn specific lights on or off with various banks of switches, 702 00:43:39,040 --> 00:43:41,640 Speaker 1: and an entire bank of lights could be wired to 703 00:43:41,719 --> 00:43:44,520 Speaker 1: a master switch, which allowed a single operator to turn 704 00:43:44,600 --> 00:43:48,400 Speaker 1: on numerous lights all at once. So instead of turning 705 00:43:48,440 --> 00:43:52,080 Speaker 1: individual switches on, so that light number one, light number two, 706 00:43:52,160 --> 00:43:54,160 Speaker 1: light number three, light number four, and so on all 707 00:43:54,200 --> 00:43:57,440 Speaker 1: come on, you wire them through a master switch. You 708 00:43:57,480 --> 00:44:00,400 Speaker 1: flip that one on. All the individuals, which is are 709 00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:03,320 Speaker 1: also flipped on. All the lights come on as a result, 710 00:44:03,400 --> 00:44:05,960 Speaker 1: it was a brilliant way to really simplify things. In 711 00:44:06,080 --> 00:44:10,840 Speaker 1: eighteen ninety six, brothers John and Anton Kleigel founded the 712 00:44:10,920 --> 00:44:15,640 Speaker 1: Kleigel Brothers Universal Electric Stage Lighting Company. Now I'm going 713 00:44:15,680 --> 00:44:17,960 Speaker 1: to talk a lot more about them in the next 714 00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:20,959 Speaker 1: episode on this topic because their lights would be used 715 00:44:20,960 --> 00:44:24,760 Speaker 1: not just for the theatrical stage, but also in cinema, 716 00:44:24,960 --> 00:44:27,080 Speaker 1: which was an art form that was just beginning to 717 00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:29,839 Speaker 1: take shape at the end of the nineteenth century. The 718 00:44:29,840 --> 00:44:33,280 Speaker 1: original request for this episode was to talk about Kleague lights, 719 00:44:33,680 --> 00:44:36,880 Speaker 1: and they take their name from this company. The brothers 720 00:44:36,880 --> 00:44:39,239 Speaker 1: were born in Bavaria, but they had immigrated to the 721 00:44:39,360 --> 00:44:42,840 Speaker 1: United States in eighty eight, and then in the following 722 00:44:42,880 --> 00:44:45,560 Speaker 1: decade they founded their company. They were both in their 723 00:44:45,560 --> 00:44:48,160 Speaker 1: twenties when they did this, and they would produce the 724 00:44:48,239 --> 00:44:51,640 Speaker 1: first product they called a Kleague light in nineteen eleven. 725 00:44:51,880 --> 00:44:54,439 Speaker 1: This was a carbon arc flood light and it would 726 00:44:54,440 --> 00:44:57,879 Speaker 1: find its use in indoor filmmaking projects. It is also 727 00:44:57,960 --> 00:45:01,359 Speaker 1: not the only product they made they called a Kleague light, 728 00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:05,120 Speaker 1: and I'll talk more about them in the next episode. 729 00:45:05,680 --> 00:45:10,000 Speaker 1: In nineteen o two, Mariano Fortuny created a new method 730 00:45:10,239 --> 00:45:14,000 Speaker 1: of lighting stages. So rather than aiming lights directly at 731 00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:18,359 Speaker 1: the stage, he set up silks of different colors near 732 00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:21,800 Speaker 1: the stage. He would direct the light at the silks, 733 00:45:21,840 --> 00:45:25,040 Speaker 1: and the silks reflected light back onto the stage different 734 00:45:25,040 --> 00:45:28,799 Speaker 1: colors of light, and reportedly the results created a more 735 00:45:29,200 --> 00:45:35,120 Speaker 1: natural lighting for the stage. Theaters began to install incandescent spotlights. 736 00:45:35,160 --> 00:45:38,480 Speaker 1: They were replacing the limelights and carbon arc lamps with 737 00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:44,840 Speaker 1: one thousand what bulbs, and this started around nineteen thirteen. Wattage, 738 00:45:44,960 --> 00:45:48,640 Speaker 1: by the way, describes the rate of energy transfer, and 739 00:45:48,680 --> 00:45:50,759 Speaker 1: it can be thought of as a way of expressing 740 00:45:51,200 --> 00:45:55,720 Speaker 1: energy per unit of time. Now for incandescent bulbs, higher 741 00:45:55,760 --> 00:46:00,480 Speaker 1: wattages essentially correlate with brighter bulbs, so a sixty what 742 00:46:00,680 --> 00:46:03,759 Speaker 1: bulb is brighter than a forty what bulb? And so on. 743 00:46:04,080 --> 00:46:07,240 Speaker 1: In the theater they were using one thousand what bulbs 744 00:46:08,040 --> 00:46:12,399 Speaker 1: By night, some theaters were beginning to experiment with motorized 745 00:46:12,440 --> 00:46:15,000 Speaker 1: color wheels, and a color wheel is a wheel with 746 00:46:15,040 --> 00:46:19,920 Speaker 1: different panels of different colors of transparent material like glass. 747 00:46:19,960 --> 00:46:21,880 Speaker 1: So think of a wheel kind of like a pie, 748 00:46:22,040 --> 00:46:23,959 Speaker 1: and each slice of the pie is a different color. 749 00:46:24,280 --> 00:46:27,200 Speaker 1: An operator would position the wheel in front of a 750 00:46:27,360 --> 00:46:31,000 Speaker 1: light so that the light is shining through a single panel, 751 00:46:31,400 --> 00:46:33,759 Speaker 1: and then if you rotate the wheel, you move a 752 00:46:33,800 --> 00:46:38,239 Speaker 1: different color of glass or whatever in front of this light. 753 00:46:38,800 --> 00:46:41,160 Speaker 1: Attaching a color wheel to a motor allowed a single 754 00:46:41,200 --> 00:46:43,880 Speaker 1: operator to manipulate the color of light hitting the stage 755 00:46:44,200 --> 00:46:46,560 Speaker 1: and meant you didn't have to swap out pains or 756 00:46:46,840 --> 00:46:50,359 Speaker 1: later gels for specific lights as much. And a gel, 757 00:46:50,600 --> 00:46:52,200 Speaker 1: which i'll talk about a little bit more in our 758 00:46:52,239 --> 00:46:55,799 Speaker 1: next episode, is just a transparent piece of film that 759 00:46:55,920 --> 00:46:59,200 Speaker 1: has a color or sometimes a pattern or sometimes both 760 00:46:59,360 --> 00:47:02,520 Speaker 1: on it, and it fits in front of a light. 761 00:47:02,880 --> 00:47:05,759 Speaker 1: So a lighting technician would outfit a light with a 762 00:47:05,800 --> 00:47:09,560 Speaker 1: specific gel and it would stay there. You typically don't 763 00:47:09,600 --> 00:47:12,600 Speaker 1: swap gels out in the middle of performance, but you're 764 00:47:12,600 --> 00:47:15,520 Speaker 1: doing it to create specific effects. So light designers use 765 00:47:15,560 --> 00:47:19,520 Speaker 1: combinations of colors to create a more natural or dramatic light. 766 00:47:20,040 --> 00:47:23,160 Speaker 1: Some lights might have blue gels to help simulate a 767 00:47:23,280 --> 00:47:26,000 Speaker 1: nighttime scene, for example, So you might have three or 768 00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:28,480 Speaker 1: four lights that have blue gels and you turn those 769 00:47:28,520 --> 00:47:30,600 Speaker 1: on for your nighttime scene and you turn them off 770 00:47:30,640 --> 00:47:33,520 Speaker 1: for all the other ones. Other lights might use orange 771 00:47:33,600 --> 00:47:38,080 Speaker 1: or yellow or red gels to simulate sunlight and so on. Well, 772 00:47:38,120 --> 00:47:41,239 Speaker 1: we still have a ton of stuff to cover on 773 00:47:41,280 --> 00:47:43,879 Speaker 1: this topic, and I think the thing I most want 774 00:47:43,960 --> 00:47:47,160 Speaker 1: to communicate again is that this is a great way 775 00:47:47,200 --> 00:47:49,480 Speaker 1: for us to look at technology and how it plays 776 00:47:49,520 --> 00:47:53,480 Speaker 1: an important part in creativity and expression. So it's not 777 00:47:53,640 --> 00:47:56,880 Speaker 1: enough that we understand how the technology works, but also 778 00:47:57,120 --> 00:48:00,000 Speaker 1: how to best put that technology to use to create 779 00:48:00,000 --> 00:48:04,320 Speaker 1: It's something that's more than just illumination. In our next episode, 780 00:48:04,600 --> 00:48:07,280 Speaker 1: we will continue down the stage lighting path a little 781 00:48:07,320 --> 00:48:09,680 Speaker 1: further so that we can get up to modern day, 782 00:48:09,920 --> 00:48:12,200 Speaker 1: and then we're going to switch over to how lights 783 00:48:12,200 --> 00:48:14,920 Speaker 1: were used in filmmaking, which is gonna mean that we're 784 00:48:14,920 --> 00:48:17,120 Speaker 1: gonna have to backtrack a little bit, because all of 785 00:48:17,160 --> 00:48:19,120 Speaker 1: this is really happening at the same time, but I 786 00:48:19,120 --> 00:48:21,799 Speaker 1: think it's easier to follow if we stick with one 787 00:48:21,840 --> 00:48:25,320 Speaker 1: path before we jump onto the other. In the meantime, 788 00:48:25,560 --> 00:48:28,600 Speaker 1: if you guys have suggestions for future topics of tech stuff, 789 00:48:28,640 --> 00:48:30,840 Speaker 1: you can reach out to me on Twitter like Charlie 790 00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:34,440 Speaker 1: Tango Bravo did, and that handle once again is text 791 00:48:34,480 --> 00:48:39,440 Speaker 1: stuff H s W. I'll talk to you again really soon. 792 00:48:44,520 --> 00:48:47,520 Speaker 1: Text Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. For more 793 00:48:47,600 --> 00:48:51,000 Speaker 1: podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, 794 00:48:51,120 --> 00:48:54,280 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.