1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to tex Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:14,920 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:18,440 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:21,919 Speaker 1: and I love all things tech and this episode is 5 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:26,840 Speaker 1: a continuation of my previous episode about lighting for stage 6 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:30,440 Speaker 1: and screen. These shows are in response to a request 7 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:34,880 Speaker 1: to talk about Kleig lights, which I had just managed 8 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:38,519 Speaker 1: to mention towards the end of my previous episode with 9 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:42,200 Speaker 1: the introduction of the brothers Kleigel, who started a stage 10 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:46,839 Speaker 1: theater lighting company in eight nine six. So for this episode, 11 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:50,200 Speaker 1: we're going to stick with stage lighting and we'll bring 12 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:53,320 Speaker 1: that up to the modern era before we switch gears 13 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:56,360 Speaker 1: to talk about lights that engineers developed specifically for the 14 00:00:56,360 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: purposes of film and television, because they largely built old 15 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 1: upon the lighting technology that was made for the stage. 16 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:08,200 Speaker 1: As a reminder, lighting was always important and that you 17 00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:10,880 Speaker 1: want your audience to be able to see what's going on. 18 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:15,840 Speaker 1: But for centuries, lighting was almost entirely about visibility and 19 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:21,360 Speaker 1: not artistic expression. That really began to change around the 20 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:24,520 Speaker 1: very end of the nineteenth century and into the early 21 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:28,560 Speaker 1: twentieth century. Part of that shift was due to advances 22 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:32,000 Speaker 1: in technology. It was only through the transition to gas 23 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:36,600 Speaker 1: lights and then electricity where directors really had the capability 24 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:40,560 Speaker 1: to make more precise, fine tuned adjustments, to create new 25 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:44,080 Speaker 1: effects and moods, and to really make lighting part of 26 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 1: a scene. By the early twentieth century, many theaters around 27 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:52,360 Speaker 1: the world were embracing electric lights figuratively. If you did 28 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:56,120 Speaker 1: it literally, you would get burned and or electrocuted. Typically, 29 00:01:56,440 --> 00:02:00,520 Speaker 1: these theaters were installing incandescent bulbs in the foot lights 30 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:02,640 Speaker 1: and in the border lights and the strip lights. These 31 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:06,280 Speaker 1: are lights that are all around the stage that project 32 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:09,359 Speaker 1: light onto the stage itself, and that was just for 33 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 1: the general stage lighting. Some would still use the older 34 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:17,840 Speaker 1: electric arc lights, the carbon arc lights for floodlights and spotlights, 35 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:22,359 Speaker 1: while other theaters would switch to extremely bright and very 36 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:26,160 Speaker 1: hot incandescent bulb lights, and these would be in the 37 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:30,400 Speaker 1: one thousand what range or more. Theaters began to phase 38 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:34,400 Speaker 1: out carbon arc lights and then the even older lime lights. 39 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:38,200 Speaker 1: Those were lights that used and oxygen hydrogen gas to 40 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:42,640 Speaker 1: heat up a piece of lime so that it would glow. 41 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:47,279 Speaker 1: They would get rid of those in favor of incandescent spotlights. 42 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:49,639 Speaker 1: And it's hard for us to get a full appreciation 43 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:53,359 Speaker 1: of how these changes allowed for new artistic expression, because 44 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:56,880 Speaker 1: now we live in an era where that is commonplace, 45 00:02:57,520 --> 00:02:59,600 Speaker 1: and it's hard for us to remember that this had 46 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 1: a pro found effect on audiences at the time, because again, 47 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:06,640 Speaker 1: we're used to it. But one example of how transformative 48 00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:10,800 Speaker 1: these techniques would be involves an actor and theater manager 49 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:15,520 Speaker 1: named David Belasco. Like Sir Henry Irving, who I spoke 50 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:18,040 Speaker 1: about in our last episode, he was known for producing 51 00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 1: plays that didn't always meet with critical approval from a 52 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:27,400 Speaker 1: textual standpoint, but they were technically magnificent. Blasco was similarly 53 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:31,000 Speaker 1: known for his theatricality, if not for his contributions to 54 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:36,760 Speaker 1: high drama. Unlike Irving, however, Belasco didn't issue electric lights. 55 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: Irving only wanted gas lights. Belasco went with electric lights. 56 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 1: Belasco would end up producing a staging of the play 57 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:49,280 Speaker 1: Madam Butterfly, and in this production, he used a white 58 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:52,600 Speaker 1: backdrop at the back of the stage and he could 59 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:56,880 Speaker 1: light that in different ways to simulate various effects. In 60 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:02,080 Speaker 1: Madam Butterfly that included a fourteen minute sequence that featured 61 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:05,160 Speaker 1: a simulation of the passing of time by lighting the 62 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:09,160 Speaker 1: backdrop to mimic a sunset the night and then the 63 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:12,360 Speaker 1: subsequent sun rise. And one of the people who saw 64 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:16,760 Speaker 1: this production was the great Giacomo Antonio Domenica Michelle Secondo 65 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:21,440 Speaker 1: Maria Puccini, or Puccini for short. He's an Italian composer 66 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:26,279 Speaker 1: famous for his operas. Puccini didn't understand very much English, 67 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:29,720 Speaker 1: but he was so impressed by the artistic display he 68 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:32,760 Speaker 1: saw in that theater that he decided to adapt the 69 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:37,440 Speaker 1: story into an opera Madama Butterfly. And presumably without the 70 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:41,960 Speaker 1: theatricality to help convey the emotion and intent of those scenes, 71 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:45,920 Speaker 1: that never would have happened, we would not have that opera. 72 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 1: Blasco's fame largely centered on his sense of the theatric 73 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: and he was known for incorporating many complicated technical processes 74 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 1: to create effects in the theater. His name on a 75 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:02,760 Speaker 1: production was enough to sell tickets, even as drama critics 76 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:07,320 Speaker 1: sometimes lamented that the material he chose wasn't necessarily elevated. 77 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:11,520 Speaker 1: But there's no doubt that his work really pushed lighting 78 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:16,120 Speaker 1: into a new level as far as theatrical presentations are concerned. 79 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:19,320 Speaker 1: One thing I mentioned in the previous episode was the 80 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:23,159 Speaker 1: use of gels or color filters to create different effects. 81 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:27,800 Speaker 1: These are transparent sheets of a colored material and they 82 00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:30,520 Speaker 1: fit in front of a lens of a light source. 83 00:05:31,080 --> 00:05:33,880 Speaker 1: So light comes out hits this filter and then you 84 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 1: get uh color of light coming out of the end 85 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:39,840 Speaker 1: of your of your light source. And the colors can 86 00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:42,799 Speaker 1: simulate different types of natural light or they can create 87 00:05:42,839 --> 00:05:45,400 Speaker 1: other effects. And we had come a long way from 88 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:49,360 Speaker 1: using bottles filled with different colors of liquid in front 89 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:53,600 Speaker 1: of candles that had transitioned to pains of stained glass 90 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:58,400 Speaker 1: and then later lacquer gelatine. But what is gelatine. Well, 91 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:02,120 Speaker 1: gelatine is a tasteless protein produced from collagen, which is 92 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:05,159 Speaker 1: a connective tissue found in animals, like in our skin, 93 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:08,640 Speaker 1: the ligaments, all that kind of stuff. There's lots of 94 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:11,920 Speaker 1: collagen there. So this is a structural protein that helps 95 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:16,960 Speaker 1: hold stuff like well, us together. In Star Wars, they 96 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:19,560 Speaker 1: talk about how the force binds us. But when we're 97 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:22,440 Speaker 1: talking about animal bodies, we really shouldn't talk about the forest. 98 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:25,600 Speaker 1: We should talk about collagen, and that collagen is the 99 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:28,719 Speaker 1: base material for gelatin, which we use in all sorts 100 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:33,320 Speaker 1: of stuff, including and primarily in food products. If you've 101 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:37,080 Speaker 1: enjoyed a bowl of jello or a gummy bear, chances 102 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:41,200 Speaker 1: are you were scarfing down gelatin. Frequently, producers will take 103 00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:46,240 Speaker 1: the byproducts from other processes, like from a slaughter house. 104 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:49,159 Speaker 1: So in a way, you can think of gelatine as 105 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:51,720 Speaker 1: a method for us to make sure we use more 106 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:55,080 Speaker 1: of the animals were slaughtering for stuff like you know, 107 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:58,480 Speaker 1: meat production or leather or whatnot, So you can think 108 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:01,960 Speaker 1: of it as avoiding waste. To produce gelatine, you gotta 109 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:05,960 Speaker 1: take animal parts like the bones and skins of stuff 110 00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:08,440 Speaker 1: like pigs and cows. Those tend to be the animals 111 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:11,240 Speaker 1: that we use to make gelatine. And then you've got 112 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:14,080 Speaker 1: to boil this stuff for a really long time, typically 113 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:17,640 Speaker 1: in the presence of a weak acid, and as it boils, 114 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:21,760 Speaker 1: the collagen breaks down into gelatine. There's a lot of 115 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:25,560 Speaker 1: filtration and purification that has to follow before you can 116 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:28,880 Speaker 1: get to the industrial gelatine that we produced today, but 117 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:33,200 Speaker 1: generally speaking, that's the process anyway. One of the other 118 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:36,480 Speaker 1: things people use gelatine for was to make this transparent 119 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:39,840 Speaker 1: film that could be dyed different colors. The film would 120 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:42,760 Speaker 1: be used as the color filter for theatrical lights, and 121 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:45,320 Speaker 1: because they were made from gelatine, the industry began to 122 00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:48,960 Speaker 1: refer to them as gels, and you can find gels 123 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:52,960 Speaker 1: and theater and TV film productions just regular video productions. 124 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:56,280 Speaker 1: But these days they are not made out of gelatine, 125 00:07:56,640 --> 00:08:00,360 Speaker 1: and there's some good reasons for that. Gelatine, while cheap 126 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:05,160 Speaker 1: and relatively easy to produce, isn't the most resilient material. 127 00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:08,920 Speaker 1: It could dissolve if it got wet, and it didn't 128 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:11,680 Speaker 1: stand up to the intense heat generated by lights for 129 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:14,600 Speaker 1: very long, so you would have to replace those gels 130 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:18,360 Speaker 1: fairly frequently. Now it doesn't really melt, but it does 131 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:22,280 Speaker 1: char and it also gets super brittle as it gets heated, 132 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:25,040 Speaker 1: so you would only get a little use out of 133 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:28,160 Speaker 1: one before it would break and require a replacement. Still, 134 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:32,120 Speaker 1: the development of gels gave directors and lighting designers more options, 135 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:34,480 Speaker 1: and they would be used in the industry up through 136 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:39,240 Speaker 1: the mid nineteen seventies, even after engineers developed other solutions. 137 00:08:39,880 --> 00:08:44,120 Speaker 1: Another lighting accessory that emerged was the gobo. A gobo 138 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:47,160 Speaker 1: is a screen that has designs cut into it to 139 00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:50,560 Speaker 1: create a special lighting effect. For example, you might have 140 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:53,760 Speaker 1: a screen that has the shape of leaves cut into 141 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:56,040 Speaker 1: that screen, and when you place that in front of 142 00:08:56,040 --> 00:08:59,160 Speaker 1: a light, the screen allows light to pass through the 143 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:03,280 Speaker 1: cutout shape and that gets projected onto the stage. That 144 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:07,839 Speaker 1: is where Gobo Fraggle's name comes from, the Gobo. By 145 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:10,800 Speaker 1: the nineteen twenties, we started seeing some of the earliest 146 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:15,160 Speaker 1: textbooks dedicated to lighting, such as Theodore Fuchs. Stage lighting 147 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:19,080 Speaker 1: seems pretty straightforward. It was around this time that some 148 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:22,520 Speaker 1: theaters began to incorporate a special kind of lens in 149 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:26,240 Speaker 1: theater lights to provide a more focused beam. The lens 150 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:30,720 Speaker 1: is called the Frenelle lens. That's spelled f r E 151 00:09:31,160 --> 00:09:35,480 Speaker 1: s in e L. But it's named after Augustine Jean Frenell. 152 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:40,160 Speaker 1: Now he didn't actually invent this particular lens. That honor 153 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:44,560 Speaker 1: goes to George Louis le Clerc de Boeufon, who proposed 154 00:09:44,679 --> 00:09:47,800 Speaker 1: this in seventeen forty eight. But what the heck is 155 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:51,360 Speaker 1: a Frenel lens? Well, first, we need to remember that 156 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:55,400 Speaker 1: the purpose of any lens is to redirect light. By 157 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:58,800 Speaker 1: creating a lens with a specific curvature, you can bend 158 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:01,880 Speaker 1: light coming from one side of the lens so that 159 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:04,320 Speaker 1: it exits the other side of the lens in a 160 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:10,319 Speaker 1: specific way. Eyeglasses do this. Eyeglasses bend incoming light, so 161 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:12,920 Speaker 1: that ends up hitting the retina in the back of 162 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:17,160 Speaker 1: the eye correctly to correct for some you know issue 163 00:10:17,559 --> 00:10:20,800 Speaker 1: with the shape of the cornea, and the cornea is 164 00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:23,920 Speaker 1: either directing light too far forward or too far behind 165 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:27,559 Speaker 1: the retina, which messes with our focus and it creates 166 00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:31,840 Speaker 1: either far sidedness or near sightedness. Now, good old Georgie 167 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:34,840 Speaker 1: Boy proposed that you can make a lens by cutting 168 00:10:34,880 --> 00:10:38,760 Speaker 1: concentric rings of grooves on one side of a pane 169 00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:42,600 Speaker 1: of glass, and that would end up using less glass 170 00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:45,680 Speaker 1: than a conventional lens. Lenses tend to be you know, 171 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:50,040 Speaker 1: bulb bus They're actually named after lentils, So if you 172 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:52,160 Speaker 1: think of the shape of a lentil, that's why we 173 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:54,920 Speaker 1: call lenses lens. They were thought they look kind of 174 00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:59,120 Speaker 1: like lentils. But that means that lens is particularly big 175 00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:03,120 Speaker 1: ones for big, big lights get really heavy because you've 176 00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:06,680 Speaker 1: got that thick glass to deal with. Well, George, he thought, 177 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:08,640 Speaker 1: what if we take a pane of glass and we 178 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:11,760 Speaker 1: cut grooves in it to redirect light, and we'll just 179 00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:13,840 Speaker 1: make sure that each groove is positioned in such a 180 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:18,000 Speaker 1: way that as light hits the back of that lens, 181 00:11:18,040 --> 00:11:21,600 Speaker 1: it gets redirected towards the center. And this was a 182 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:27,199 Speaker 1: really clever idea. Of the concentric circles act as refracting surfaces. 183 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:29,960 Speaker 1: They all bend those parallel light rays into a common 184 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:33,480 Speaker 1: focal length, and otherwise that would require a much thicker 185 00:11:33,480 --> 00:11:36,959 Speaker 1: traditional lens. Each ring of this lens focuses the light 186 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:39,920 Speaker 1: hitting that section towards the center, and for Nell's contribution 187 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:44,120 Speaker 1: was to actually take this type of lens and install 188 00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:48,600 Speaker 1: them in lighthouses to produce that powerful focused beam rather 189 00:11:48,679 --> 00:11:51,320 Speaker 1: than a more diffuse one. So if you ever think 190 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:54,320 Speaker 1: about what it looks like when you see the the 191 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:56,920 Speaker 1: beam of light emerging from a lighthouse, that's because the 192 00:11:57,000 --> 00:12:00,760 Speaker 1: light is passing through Fennell lenses. The you of Frenelle 193 00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:04,800 Speaker 1: lenses in theaters was so new in the mid nineteen 194 00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:08,120 Speaker 1: twenties that that stage lighting textbook that I mentioned it 195 00:12:08,240 --> 00:12:11,760 Speaker 1: from nineteen twenty six, it didn't even have an inclusion 196 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:14,880 Speaker 1: of Frenelle lenses in it, although they were starting to 197 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:17,720 Speaker 1: get used around that time, and while a few theaters 198 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:21,040 Speaker 1: were making use of the Frenelle lens. The popularity of 199 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:24,040 Speaker 1: it would really take off in the nineteen thirties. It 200 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:28,040 Speaker 1: significantly reduced the weight of the lights that were being used, 201 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:30,439 Speaker 1: and it also created a more concentrated beam that could 202 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:33,400 Speaker 1: be directed towards the precise location. So this was a 203 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:36,960 Speaker 1: big advancement in lighting now. In the early nineteen thirties, 204 00:12:37,240 --> 00:12:41,360 Speaker 1: a lighting designer named Stanley McCandless published a textbook on 205 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:44,840 Speaker 1: stage lighting, and this would be the beginning of many 206 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:49,080 Speaker 1: of his contributions to the greater knowledge and expertise on 207 00:12:49,280 --> 00:12:53,040 Speaker 1: lighting techniques for the stage, and many referred to McCandless 208 00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:56,480 Speaker 1: as the father of modern stage lighting, though at least 209 00:12:56,559 --> 00:12:59,240 Speaker 1: some of the sources I have encountered also suggests that 210 00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:03,240 Speaker 1: the those techniques really belonged to another era of theater, 211 00:13:03,640 --> 00:13:06,520 Speaker 1: that in the modern era we're starting to see a 212 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:11,320 Speaker 1: move away from those techniques, and that it's probably a 213 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:15,000 Speaker 1: good thing. We always want to see art evolve. McCandless 214 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:22,439 Speaker 1: argued that stage lighting really serves four purposes visibility, form, naturalism, 215 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:26,280 Speaker 1: and mood. That is, any decision made by a lighting 216 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:29,280 Speaker 1: designer should be done with the goal of fulfilling at 217 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:32,720 Speaker 1: least one of those four functions. If the light serves 218 00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:35,959 Speaker 1: no purpose belonging to one of those four categories, then 219 00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:39,640 Speaker 1: it's a distraction it shouldn't be used. On top of that, 220 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:42,960 Speaker 1: McCandless was working on designs that relied on the technology 221 00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:46,440 Speaker 1: of the time, which mostly were all about lights that 222 00:13:46,440 --> 00:13:51,000 Speaker 1: were mounted on rigs that had to remain stationary. Now, 223 00:13:51,040 --> 00:13:54,840 Speaker 1: these lights typically hang from rigs that are above the stage, 224 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:57,600 Speaker 1: often in front of the stage, and they might be 225 00:13:57,679 --> 00:13:59,640 Speaker 1: masked from view of the audience or they might be 226 00:13:59,679 --> 00:14:02,679 Speaker 1: in full view. The lights typically hang from a scaffold 227 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:06,200 Speaker 1: like structure called a box boom, not a boom box 228 00:14:06,720 --> 00:14:09,840 Speaker 1: that's a different thing, and they're mounted in housings that 229 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:13,800 Speaker 1: have points of articulation. So during the rehearsal process, the 230 00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:17,640 Speaker 1: lighting designer's crew will carefully hang and aim each light 231 00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:21,680 Speaker 1: toward the stage per the designer's direction. And because a 232 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:26,040 Speaker 1: production might need to represent many different lighting moods, perhaps 233 00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:29,520 Speaker 1: to simulate different environments and different times of day, the 234 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:32,040 Speaker 1: crew might have to hang lights close to each other 235 00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:35,080 Speaker 1: and then repeat the process of aiming each one at 236 00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:38,800 Speaker 1: this particular point on the stage many many times, and 237 00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:41,720 Speaker 1: once the lights are all in position, they pretty much 238 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:44,360 Speaker 1: stay that way. For decades, there was really no way 239 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:47,480 Speaker 1: to redirect light in the middle of a show, with 240 00:14:47,560 --> 00:14:51,040 Speaker 1: the exception of perhaps follow lights or spotlights, and those 241 00:14:51,080 --> 00:14:54,760 Speaker 1: would require a human being to operate those manually. Instead, 242 00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:57,720 Speaker 1: the tech crew would control which lights were on during 243 00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:01,440 Speaker 1: any given scene using the switchboard, so lighting could change 244 00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:04,040 Speaker 1: from one moment to the next, but the lights themselves 245 00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:07,080 Speaker 1: would remain stuck in whatever position the crew had put 246 00:15:07,120 --> 00:15:10,160 Speaker 1: them in. You wouldn't have lights move from one part 247 00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:12,040 Speaker 1: of the stage to another, they would just be in 248 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:16,040 Speaker 1: that one static angle. By the way, a little side note, 249 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:18,760 Speaker 1: I used to do this for my high school. I 250 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:21,720 Speaker 1: was in a couple of shows back in high school 251 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:24,360 Speaker 1: shortly after the invention of theater, and I was also 252 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:27,160 Speaker 1: a scrawny little kid back in those days. And our 253 00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:31,800 Speaker 1: main light rig our box boom was tucked away in 254 00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:34,640 Speaker 1: a little kind of hidden chamber up above the first 255 00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:37,640 Speaker 1: few rows the audience, and it was just big enough 256 00:15:37,680 --> 00:15:40,280 Speaker 1: for a tiny little person like I was to crawl 257 00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:43,240 Speaker 1: back there and position the lights. And when I was 258 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:45,960 Speaker 1: doing it, the work was really hot, it was stuffy, 259 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:49,360 Speaker 1: it was dusty, and it was hard. Plus I was 260 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:53,000 Speaker 1: perched on a tiny little ledge above a twenty ft 261 00:15:53,080 --> 00:15:55,680 Speaker 1: drop or so down to the floor with no real 262 00:15:55,720 --> 00:16:00,520 Speaker 1: way to secure myself. Good times. Mccannle would go on 263 00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:04,240 Speaker 1: to publish many more textbooks on stage lighting, becoming the 264 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:07,760 Speaker 1: foremost authority in the field for many years. The basic 265 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:10,960 Speaker 1: principle of the McCandless method is to light each area 266 00:16:11,040 --> 00:16:13,600 Speaker 1: of a stage where actors are going to perform with 267 00:16:13,680 --> 00:16:16,800 Speaker 1: two lights from above and each at an angle of 268 00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:20,160 Speaker 1: forty five degrees to the stage and on either side 269 00:16:20,200 --> 00:16:23,280 Speaker 1: of the center of the performance area. This creates an 270 00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:27,040 Speaker 1: effect that makes more shadows and enhances the sense of 271 00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:30,560 Speaker 1: separation of the actors from the background, makes it more 272 00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:34,800 Speaker 1: three dimensional, and that is better than just lighting actors 273 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:38,600 Speaker 1: from the front that tends to create a more flattening effect. Now, 274 00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:41,960 Speaker 1: I promise we're nearly getting done with stage lighting. When 275 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:43,920 Speaker 1: we come back, i'll talk about a few more advances 276 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:47,400 Speaker 1: that would follow, and then we'll transition towards film and television. 277 00:16:47,440 --> 00:16:58,480 Speaker 1: But first, let's take a quick break. Around ninety three, 278 00:16:58,920 --> 00:17:03,280 Speaker 1: stage theaters begin and to use ellipsoidal lights. And this 279 00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:05,080 Speaker 1: is the type of light that I had to work 280 00:17:05,119 --> 00:17:07,080 Speaker 1: with when I was in high school. So what the 281 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:10,199 Speaker 1: heck is an ellipsoidal light. Well, an ellipsoid is a 282 00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:12,359 Speaker 1: type of shape, and it's what you get if you 283 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:15,639 Speaker 1: have a sphere and then you deform that sphere. So 284 00:17:15,840 --> 00:17:19,119 Speaker 1: imagine you've got an inflatable beach ball and you press 285 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:22,080 Speaker 1: down on it, the ball deforms, and now you've got 286 00:17:22,080 --> 00:17:26,040 Speaker 1: yourself a type of ellipsoid. So an ellipsoid light has 287 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:30,199 Speaker 1: a bulb that sits in a reflector, and that reflector 288 00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:33,840 Speaker 1: is ellipsoidal in shape. The reflector typically is made up 289 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:37,680 Speaker 1: of little panels of reflective material, though it can be smooth, 290 00:17:38,359 --> 00:17:40,640 Speaker 1: and the whole purpose of this is to direct light 291 00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:45,720 Speaker 1: out through the lens in a very focused, concentrated beam. 292 00:17:46,119 --> 00:17:48,480 Speaker 1: And this is really effective when it comes to directing 293 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:51,760 Speaker 1: as much light that that bulb can put out as 294 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:55,320 Speaker 1: possible toward the stage. Around this time, the bulbs that 295 00:17:55,359 --> 00:17:58,800 Speaker 1: were in use were largely in the one thousand, fifteen 296 00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:03,160 Speaker 1: hundred and two thousand what range. And again those incandescent 297 00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:05,359 Speaker 1: bulbs that we used to light our houses, those typically 298 00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:08,920 Speaker 1: were in thirty forty five or sixty watts, So this 299 00:18:09,040 --> 00:18:13,400 Speaker 1: is way way way brighter. Now. The Kleigel Brothers produced 300 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:17,720 Speaker 1: an ellipsoidal Cleague light that stage theaters used, and the 301 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:21,520 Speaker 1: Polo Grounds in New York purchased Cleague lights in nineteen 302 00:18:21,640 --> 00:18:25,040 Speaker 1: thirty three for a production of Romance of the People, 303 00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:28,640 Speaker 1: and that is one of the earliest, if not the 304 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:32,080 Speaker 1: earliest use of Cleague lights in the theater. Around the 305 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:35,959 Speaker 1: nineteen forties, another advance would change lighting a bit, and 306 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:38,920 Speaker 1: this was the development of color filters made not out 307 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:44,439 Speaker 1: of gelatin but acetate. Acetate is a synthetic polymer, and 308 00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:48,280 Speaker 1: the polymer is a long chain molecule. Acetate falls into 309 00:18:48,359 --> 00:18:52,320 Speaker 1: the category of thermoplastics and it's used in lots of stuff, 310 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:55,600 Speaker 1: including glue, but it can also be used to make 311 00:18:55,680 --> 00:18:58,879 Speaker 1: thin sheets of transparent material that can then be dyed 312 00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:02,160 Speaker 1: and like jella, and it's super cheap to produce, so 313 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:06,000 Speaker 1: it became a standard in stage lighting around or so. 314 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:09,040 Speaker 1: But next on our list is an invention that would 315 00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:13,960 Speaker 1: necessitate yet another shift in color filters, and that next 316 00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:17,640 Speaker 1: big thing is the halogen light, which really started getting 317 00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:20,000 Speaker 1: its use in the theater and film industries in the 318 00:19:20,119 --> 00:19:23,359 Speaker 1: late nineteen sixties. Now, if you're a bit rusty on 319 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:27,520 Speaker 1: your chemistry, the halogens are a group of chemically related 320 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:31,320 Speaker 1: elements There groups seventeen on the periodic table, and they 321 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:35,159 Speaker 1: include fluorine and chlorine and bromine and iodine and a 322 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:38,080 Speaker 1: couple of others. And the word halogen comes from too 323 00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:43,000 Speaker 1: Greek roots, how which means salt and gen which means 324 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:46,840 Speaker 1: to generate or to produce. And yes, all these elements 325 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:52,080 Speaker 1: produce sodium salts. There's sodium chloride for example, that's table salt. 326 00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:55,560 Speaker 1: They also have another property that makes them really useful 327 00:19:55,680 --> 00:20:00,080 Speaker 1: at high temperatures. They can combine with tungsten vapor, and 328 00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:03,040 Speaker 1: tungsten is the substance of choice to serve as the 329 00:20:03,119 --> 00:20:07,639 Speaker 1: filament in incandescent bulbs. Now, the idea of using a 330 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:11,760 Speaker 1: halogen gas in this case it would be chlorine back 331 00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:13,480 Speaker 1: in lamps that that dated all the way back to 332 00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:16,560 Speaker 1: the eighteen eighties. Chlorine gas very dangerous stuff, by the way, 333 00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:19,760 Speaker 1: But it wasn't until General Electric patented technology in the 334 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:23,520 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties, this time with iodine as the gas, that 335 00:20:23,600 --> 00:20:26,480 Speaker 1: we started seeing these kind of lights go into production. 336 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:30,560 Speaker 1: Halogen bulbs are a bit different from incandescent bulbs in 337 00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:33,840 Speaker 1: a few important ways. First, as we've covered, they contain 338 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:37,960 Speaker 1: a halogen gas rather than the inert gases in incandescent bulbs, 339 00:20:38,560 --> 00:20:42,600 Speaker 1: they are also much smaller and the bulb part the 340 00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:45,720 Speaker 1: what would normally be glass with an incandescent bulb is 341 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:48,800 Speaker 1: actually a little envelope that's made out of quartz, and 342 00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:50,720 Speaker 1: it has to be made out of something other than 343 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:55,880 Speaker 1: glass because halogen lights give off enough heat to melt glass. 344 00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:59,920 Speaker 1: Just as with an incandescent bulb, the tungsten filament inside 345 00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:04,119 Speaker 1: to halogen lamp heats up through resistance and then incandescence, 346 00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:07,600 Speaker 1: and it also begins to vaporize. Bits of tungsten actually 347 00:21:08,359 --> 00:21:12,840 Speaker 1: evaporate off of that filament. But with halogen lights, the 348 00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:16,320 Speaker 1: tungsten vapor combines with the halogen gas and at a 349 00:21:16,359 --> 00:21:19,840 Speaker 1: high enough temperature and interesting reaction begins to occur. The 350 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:24,400 Speaker 1: gas will start to redeposit the vaporized tungsten onto the filament. 351 00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:27,760 Speaker 1: Now with light bulbs incandescent light bulbs, you can actually 352 00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:31,159 Speaker 1: see the deposits of the tungsten on the inside of 353 00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:33,560 Speaker 1: the glass bulb. That's why they get dark after a 354 00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:36,480 Speaker 1: light bulb burns out, like they had a little dark spot. Well, 355 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:39,359 Speaker 1: with halogen lights you actually get a recycling process. The 356 00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:43,280 Speaker 1: vaporized tungsten is returned to the filament that actually extends 357 00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:47,040 Speaker 1: the useful life of the bulb. Halogen lights will last 358 00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:52,040 Speaker 1: much longer than incandescent lights of a you know, equivalent brightness, 359 00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:54,960 Speaker 1: and you can run the lights at a higher wattage 360 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:57,640 Speaker 1: with halogen bulbs, So that also means you can produce 361 00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:00,359 Speaker 1: more light as a result, and that is perfect certain 362 00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:04,359 Speaker 1: applications like a car's headlights, or stage lights, or film 363 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:08,640 Speaker 1: and television production lights. But there was one problem. Halogen 364 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:12,359 Speaker 1: lights get so hot that you couldn't use acetate color 365 00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:15,600 Speaker 1: filters on halogen lights because the acetate would just melt. 366 00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:20,440 Speaker 1: So the industry shifted to more durable polymer based products, 367 00:22:20,480 --> 00:22:25,960 Speaker 1: like a polyester based material or milar polycarbonate. Neither the 368 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:30,200 Speaker 1: acetate sheets nor these newer materials were related to gelatin, 369 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:32,960 Speaker 1: the original stuff that everyone used. But everyone kept on 370 00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:36,399 Speaker 1: using the term gel to describe these color filters, so 371 00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:39,000 Speaker 1: even though it was no longer even remotely gelatin, the 372 00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:42,439 Speaker 1: name gel stuck. Another big innovation that plays an important 373 00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:44,880 Speaker 1: role not just on stage and screen, but in our 374 00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:48,680 Speaker 1: everyday lives is the dimmer switch. Now, for a long time, 375 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:51,080 Speaker 1: you pretty much had two choices when it came to 376 00:22:51,119 --> 00:22:54,040 Speaker 1: your lights, they were either off or they were on, 377 00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:56,880 Speaker 1: and when they were on, they were as bright as 378 00:22:56,880 --> 00:23:00,040 Speaker 1: they could be until they burnt out and that was it. 379 00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:02,480 Speaker 1: But the dimmer switch allows you to control the intensity 380 00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:05,680 Speaker 1: of light, moving from gradations between wow, it sure is 381 00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:09,120 Speaker 1: dark in here to uh, holy cats, that's a bright light. 382 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:12,000 Speaker 1: But how does a dimmer switch work Well, the earliest 383 00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:15,920 Speaker 1: demmer switches worked on the principle of a variable resistor. 384 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:18,960 Speaker 1: So a resistor is an element in a circuit that 385 00:23:19,119 --> 00:23:24,040 Speaker 1: resists the flow of electricity. It doesn't prevent electricity from flowing, 386 00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:27,560 Speaker 1: but it does make it, you know, harder for current 387 00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:31,240 Speaker 1: to flow through. If we think about it in an analogy, 388 00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:33,760 Speaker 1: like in terms of friction. You can imagine something like 389 00:23:34,119 --> 00:23:36,960 Speaker 1: a floor that has a very rough carpet on it, 390 00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:38,640 Speaker 1: and it would be very hard for you to shuffle 391 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:43,440 Speaker 1: your suck footed feet across such a floor. And like friction, 392 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:45,600 Speaker 1: we see some of the energy that used to be 393 00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:49,240 Speaker 1: in one form convert into heat. That heat is lost. 394 00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:53,200 Speaker 1: So a variable resistor is a component that has an 395 00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:57,200 Speaker 1: adjustable electrical resistance. You can change the amount of resistance there. 396 00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:01,960 Speaker 1: Typically you would have a piece of resistive material, and 397 00:24:02,119 --> 00:24:05,639 Speaker 1: you would have a static contact arm. That means it's stationary, 398 00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:08,000 Speaker 1: it's not moving anywhere, and you would also have a 399 00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:12,199 Speaker 1: movable contact arm. Now the stationary contact arm is connected 400 00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:15,960 Speaker 1: to one end of this resistive material, and you know, 401 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:20,040 Speaker 1: because it's stationary can't move. The movable contact arm can 402 00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:23,320 Speaker 1: slide along the length of this resistive material. You can 403 00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:26,600 Speaker 1: make it very close to that first contact or you 404 00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:29,040 Speaker 1: can make it further away. So if you create more 405 00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:33,159 Speaker 1: distance between the two contact arms, that means the electricity 406 00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:36,000 Speaker 1: has to move through this resistive material in order to 407 00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:39,000 Speaker 1: complete the circuit, to go through the full circuit. But 408 00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:41,879 Speaker 1: if you decrease the distance between the two contact arms, 409 00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:44,600 Speaker 1: then the amount of resistance that the current has to 410 00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:48,200 Speaker 1: deal with also decreases. This is a fairly elegant solution, 411 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:52,639 Speaker 1: though primitive. So, since the resistor converts some of the 412 00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:56,000 Speaker 1: electrical energy into heat, we see a voltage drop in 413 00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:58,879 Speaker 1: the circuit, and that means less energy is available to 414 00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:01,879 Speaker 1: power the low on that circuit, which in our case 415 00:25:02,359 --> 00:25:05,280 Speaker 1: is a lamp. So the reduced amount of energy means 416 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:07,520 Speaker 1: the lamp doesn't have the juice to put out a 417 00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:10,880 Speaker 1: full blast of light, and you get less light. As 418 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:15,080 Speaker 1: a result, Modern dimmer switches are a little more complicated 419 00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:18,119 Speaker 1: than this, and that requires a quick explanation of alternating current. 420 00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:20,800 Speaker 1: So direct current is pretty easy to understand. You've got 421 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:23,119 Speaker 1: a circuit that acts kind of like a one way street. 422 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:26,000 Speaker 1: Electricity can go down the street, but it can't go 423 00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:29,000 Speaker 1: back the way it came. One terminal is always negative, 424 00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:32,240 Speaker 1: the other one is always positive. That is easy to understand. 425 00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:36,760 Speaker 1: With alternating current, the positive and negative connections switch many 426 00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:39,640 Speaker 1: times per second, and that means the current flowing through 427 00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:43,800 Speaker 1: the system is reversing direction every single time that happens. Now, 428 00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:47,560 Speaker 1: I've done episodes explaining why the world moved toward alternating current, 429 00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:50,159 Speaker 1: specifically for transmission purposes, so I'm not going to go 430 00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:52,240 Speaker 1: into that here, but it means you can think of 431 00:25:52,359 --> 00:25:55,560 Speaker 1: voltage of an A C circuit as a sign wave. 432 00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:59,520 Speaker 1: The center line represents zero voltage, and the tallest point 433 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:03,719 Speaker 1: above and below the center line represents the peak voltage, 434 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:06,520 Speaker 1: which we would represent with both a positive value for 435 00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:10,520 Speaker 1: the side that's above the line and a negative value 436 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:13,000 Speaker 1: for the site that's below the line. In the US, 437 00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:16,159 Speaker 1: you would have sixty of these sign waves connected to 438 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:20,240 Speaker 1: represent one second of A C transmission because it's a 439 00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:23,880 Speaker 1: it's a one and twenty volt a C that's sixty 440 00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:27,480 Speaker 1: positive and sixty negative. But they don't cancel each other out. 441 00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:31,480 Speaker 1: They're actually additive. It's a little confusing. Modern dimmer switches 442 00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:35,320 Speaker 1: effectively chop up this sign wave and they shut off 443 00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:38,359 Speaker 1: the light circuit every time the current dips below a 444 00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:41,280 Speaker 1: certain voltage in the A C circuit. Then they turn 445 00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:44,040 Speaker 1: on again once the voltage climbs up above the value. 446 00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:46,560 Speaker 1: So if you think of like a a roller coaster hill, 447 00:26:47,119 --> 00:26:50,440 Speaker 1: so every time the roller coaster dips down a certain level, 448 00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:52,680 Speaker 1: the lights go out, and every time the roller coaster 449 00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:55,680 Speaker 1: comes up past that certain level, the lights come on again. 450 00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:59,280 Speaker 1: That's essentially what these dimmer switches are doing in a way. 451 00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:02,320 Speaker 1: So by a see the dimmer, you adjust the voltage 452 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:05,520 Speaker 1: value at which the circuit will turn off or turn 453 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:08,000 Speaker 1: back on again. Now there's a lot more to it 454 00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:11,919 Speaker 1: than that, including a semiconductor device called a trayack, but 455 00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:15,760 Speaker 1: that's a story for another time. Another big invention that 456 00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:18,200 Speaker 1: would end up being important for all sorts of applications, 457 00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:22,080 Speaker 1: not just stage lighting, was the development of multiplexing, and 458 00:27:22,119 --> 00:27:25,160 Speaker 1: this refers to the practice of sending multiple signals over 459 00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:30,359 Speaker 1: the same medium, typically a wire, simultaneously, and the telephone 460 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:33,760 Speaker 1: system does this. If it weren't for multiplexing, only one 461 00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:36,360 Speaker 1: set of signals could go over the same line at 462 00:27:36,359 --> 00:27:38,679 Speaker 1: the same time, which means you would need a whole 463 00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:42,120 Speaker 1: bunch of different cables to handle everything, and as systems 464 00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:44,280 Speaker 1: got more complex, you would have a real mess on 465 00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:46,360 Speaker 1: your hands. Like imagine that you would have to have 466 00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:49,520 Speaker 1: a phone line direct from your house to everyone you 467 00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:52,000 Speaker 1: know in order to be able to have your conversation. 468 00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:53,399 Speaker 1: They would have to have one to use so that 469 00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:55,399 Speaker 1: their signal could come back to you because it couldn't 470 00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:59,280 Speaker 1: be on the same line as the signal going to them. 471 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:02,520 Speaker 1: That's a huge headache. So multiplexing was already a thing 472 00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:04,879 Speaker 1: with a telephone system, but it wasn't until the nineteen 473 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:09,280 Speaker 1: seventies that the Strand Century created a protocol called a 474 00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:12,639 Speaker 1: m X one nine two for stage lighting, and it 475 00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:15,960 Speaker 1: was called a m X because the system allowed for 476 00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:20,479 Speaker 1: the creation of one two different channels of signals across 477 00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:23,440 Speaker 1: the same pair of wires, and that significantly cut down 478 00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:26,119 Speaker 1: on the complexity of circuits that were necessary to control 479 00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:30,080 Speaker 1: multiple stage lights, including the use of demmers, which previously 480 00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:34,399 Speaker 1: required their own dedicated wires. There are lots of different 481 00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:39,160 Speaker 1: methodologies for multiplexing, but it all gets really terribly complicated 482 00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:42,040 Speaker 1: and it would require its own dedicated episode to it. 483 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:46,120 Speaker 1: So I'm going to spare all of us for now. 484 00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:50,400 Speaker 1: I'm skipping over tons of tweaks and fine tuning to 485 00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:54,120 Speaker 1: the various technologies that made up stage lighting because honestly, 486 00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:56,640 Speaker 1: a lot of them, while really important, I don't want 487 00:28:56,640 --> 00:28:59,120 Speaker 1: to diminish them in any way. They're really important from 488 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:01,840 Speaker 1: for the technical opera ration of theaters. However, they represent 489 00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:06,000 Speaker 1: relatively minor changes from a technological point of view. So 490 00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:08,240 Speaker 1: I would argue that the next really big development for 491 00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:10,920 Speaker 1: stage lighting came out in the nineteen eighties with motorized 492 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:14,120 Speaker 1: moving lights. So the mountings for these lights are automated 493 00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:17,719 Speaker 1: and motorized so operators can move them with electronic controls 494 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:22,120 Speaker 1: rather than having to actually manually manipulate the lights so 495 00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:24,720 Speaker 1: that they're pointed wherever you need them to go. Now, 496 00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:28,120 Speaker 1: most theaters don't actually have that set up. It's really expensive, 497 00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:30,880 Speaker 1: it can break down and then you've got to fix everything. 498 00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:32,880 Speaker 1: So this is sort of the type of thing you 499 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:35,320 Speaker 1: might see in a really fancy theater or maybe in 500 00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:38,960 Speaker 1: arena shows, but your typical theater will rely on the 501 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:43,040 Speaker 1: old box boom, scaffolding and hanging lights that have to 502 00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:46,800 Speaker 1: be adjusted manually, and that's all done during the rehearsal process. 503 00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:50,800 Speaker 1: We also saw the emergence of various computer systems that 504 00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:54,040 Speaker 1: would allow crews to program light settings so that the 505 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:57,240 Speaker 1: crew can automatically switch from one queue to the next, 506 00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:00,200 Speaker 1: rather than having to hit a bunch of switches manual lee. 507 00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:03,600 Speaker 1: So during the tech rehearsal, the light crew gets all 508 00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:06,000 Speaker 1: the lights adjusted the way the lighting designer and the 509 00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:08,720 Speaker 1: director want them to be, and that includes where the 510 00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:11,960 Speaker 1: lights are pointed, how bright they are, whatever gels or 511 00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:15,440 Speaker 1: go bos are on them. And once it's all set 512 00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:17,479 Speaker 1: and you know exactly which lights you want for that 513 00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:21,320 Speaker 1: particular queue, the crew will then designate that set up 514 00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:23,600 Speaker 1: on a switchboard like you could think of it as 515 00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:26,440 Speaker 1: Q one, and you press a button and Q one 516 00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:29,400 Speaker 1: comes up and those lights come on at that intensity. 517 00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:32,640 Speaker 1: So when the crew selects that setting, that set up 518 00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:35,320 Speaker 1: lights up, and then when they switch to the next setting, 519 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:39,160 Speaker 1: it goes to a totally different set of lights. You know, 520 00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:43,840 Speaker 1: so very great way to keep things nice and streamlined. 521 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:46,200 Speaker 1: The crew just has to really pay attention to make 522 00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:49,280 Speaker 1: sure that they're activating the correct Q as the show progresses. 523 00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:55,760 Speaker 1: So it's a remarkable innovation. Today it's possible to have 524 00:30:55,800 --> 00:31:00,200 Speaker 1: a fully motorized computer controlled light system, including light that 525 00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:04,640 Speaker 1: have special peripherals that turn into color slide projectors and 526 00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:07,360 Speaker 1: stuff like that. And the industry has also seen advances 527 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:09,680 Speaker 1: and multiplexing, so now it's possible to run more than 528 00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:13,000 Speaker 1: five hundred channels of signals across a group of about 529 00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:16,320 Speaker 1: five wires. And all of this is really impressive, but 530 00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:18,720 Speaker 1: it's really tough for us to pull down the curtain 531 00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:21,160 Speaker 1: on stage lighting so we can switch over the film 532 00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:24,000 Speaker 1: and TV lighting. And we're gonna do that after this 533 00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:34,680 Speaker 1: quick break. Okay, finally we're gonna get into talking about 534 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:37,160 Speaker 1: lighting for film and television, and a lot of what 535 00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:40,040 Speaker 1: I have to cover really just overlaps with stage lighting. 536 00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:42,240 Speaker 1: I'm not gonna double dip. I'm not gonna re explain 537 00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:45,240 Speaker 1: stuff you guys have just heard. Instead, let's build upon 538 00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:48,560 Speaker 1: what has already come before. It does mean that we 539 00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:50,640 Speaker 1: do have to jump back a little bit just before 540 00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:53,680 Speaker 1: the turn of the twentieth century, However, and this also 541 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:56,120 Speaker 1: means that we need to remind ourselves about the nature 542 00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:59,520 Speaker 1: of photographic film. So this is a material that's been 543 00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:03,200 Speaker 1: treated with photoreactive chemicals, and that means that these chemicals 544 00:32:03,280 --> 00:32:07,160 Speaker 1: undergo a reaction when they're exposed to light. Through the 545 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:11,320 Speaker 1: careful exposure of this material to light, you can create 546 00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:14,960 Speaker 1: a record of the light that was present in that environment. 547 00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:18,600 Speaker 1: And since everything we see is really just light reflecting 548 00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:21,320 Speaker 1: off of various objects, that means you can create a 549 00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:24,240 Speaker 1: visual record of what someone would see were they in 550 00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:28,520 Speaker 1: the camera's position at that particular time. Early photographic film 551 00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:32,760 Speaker 1: wasn't terribly good at capturing light, or rather, it was fine, 552 00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:36,480 Speaker 1: but it took time because the chemical process wasn't very 553 00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:39,480 Speaker 1: efficient and it needed to absorb as much light as 554 00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:42,760 Speaker 1: it possibly could before the shutter on the camera closed. 555 00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:45,280 Speaker 1: In the end, the shutter as the way to control 556 00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:48,640 Speaker 1: when the light hits the film and when it's dark, 557 00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:51,800 Speaker 1: because if you just kept the light on all the time, 558 00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:56,480 Speaker 1: you would eventually have an unrecognizable photo. Now, we have 559 00:32:56,600 --> 00:33:00,400 Speaker 1: not developed, no pun intended, the right chemical for this 560 00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:02,800 Speaker 1: process to make it super fast, so you couldn't just 561 00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:05,320 Speaker 1: snap a shot and the shutter would open up in 562 00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:08,600 Speaker 1: the fraction of a second, and the camera lens would 563 00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:11,600 Speaker 1: bring light in expose some film to light, and then 564 00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:14,840 Speaker 1: the shutter snaps closed and again. It all took place 565 00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:16,360 Speaker 1: in the blink of an eye, and you would end 566 00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:18,880 Speaker 1: up with a perfect photograph that was just not possible 567 00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:22,920 Speaker 1: in the old days of photography. Exposure required many seconds 568 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:25,760 Speaker 1: or even minutes, which is why people in those old 569 00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:29,480 Speaker 1: photographs looks so darned dour, because you would have to 570 00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:32,240 Speaker 1: sit for several minutes for a photograph to be taken, 571 00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:36,400 Speaker 1: and holding a smile would get uncomfortable pretty quickly. But 572 00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:40,320 Speaker 1: over time, engineers and chemists created a film that could 573 00:33:40,400 --> 00:33:42,480 Speaker 1: capture an image in a fraction of a second as 574 00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:45,360 Speaker 1: long as there was enough light coming in through the 575 00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:48,920 Speaker 1: camera lens to hit the film with the proper intensity. 576 00:33:49,080 --> 00:33:51,959 Speaker 1: If there wasn't enough light, the image would be dim 577 00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:54,640 Speaker 1: and maybe even impossible to make out, so lighting was 578 00:33:54,680 --> 00:33:58,960 Speaker 1: incredibly important. Many early films were shot outdoors because a 579 00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:01,520 Speaker 1: sunny day provide did the light that was needed for 580 00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:05,560 Speaker 1: film to capture images effectively. They couldn't really managed to 581 00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:09,120 Speaker 1: do that inside. Indoor lighting just wasn't up to snuff. 582 00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:12,720 Speaker 1: One of the early attempts at shooting indoors was Thomas 583 00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:18,719 Speaker 1: Edison's special eighteen two studio called Black Mariah. This was 584 00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:22,000 Speaker 1: a building that was mounted on a rotatble base and 585 00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:24,920 Speaker 1: it had a retractable roof that would allow sunlight to 586 00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:28,160 Speaker 1: come in. The crew could actually rotate the building so 587 00:34:28,200 --> 00:34:31,080 Speaker 1: that it would follow the progress of the sun and 588 00:34:31,160 --> 00:34:33,920 Speaker 1: this would keep the studio lit throughout both the morning 589 00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:37,239 Speaker 1: and the afternoon. Edison could have the roof opened to 590 00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:40,360 Speaker 1: different degrees, and he also used curtains to control the 591 00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:43,399 Speaker 1: lighting so that he could shoot sequences indoors and get 592 00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:46,399 Speaker 1: the effects he wanted. There were crew who would use 593 00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:49,960 Speaker 1: long poles with hooks on the end of those polls, 594 00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:53,560 Speaker 1: and they would hook those curtains to be able to 595 00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:57,440 Speaker 1: pull the curtains further apart or allow them to fall together, 596 00:34:58,239 --> 00:35:00,840 Speaker 1: and they would do this as de erected and those 597 00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:04,400 Speaker 1: polls are known as gaffs. That's a term that comes 598 00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:08,360 Speaker 1: not from the theater, but from sailing. Sailors used gaffs 599 00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:11,200 Speaker 1: to grab hold of a line or rope that might 600 00:35:11,239 --> 00:35:13,400 Speaker 1: be out of reach, like a line has fallen in 601 00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:15,239 Speaker 1: the water. You grab a gaff, you've got a hook 602 00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:16,799 Speaker 1: on the end, you hook the rope, you bring it 603 00:35:16,840 --> 00:35:19,200 Speaker 1: back over so you can do whatever you need to 604 00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:23,000 Speaker 1: do with it. So the crew responsible for manipulating the 605 00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:26,600 Speaker 1: curtains ended up getting called gaffers because they were using 606 00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:30,560 Speaker 1: these gaffs. That term would stick around in the film industry. Today, 607 00:35:30,600 --> 00:35:33,080 Speaker 1: we use it to refer to the chief lighting technician 608 00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:35,920 Speaker 1: on set, and they're also the head of the electrical department. 609 00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:39,879 Speaker 1: It's also important to remember that with film, there's no 610 00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:42,600 Speaker 1: way to know if what you are capturing on that 611 00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:45,640 Speaker 1: film is what you're actually seeing in person until you 612 00:35:45,719 --> 00:35:49,759 Speaker 1: go through the whole process of developing that film. A 613 00:35:49,800 --> 00:35:53,320 Speaker 1: lot of early cinematography was trial and error to determine 614 00:35:53,320 --> 00:35:56,040 Speaker 1: how much light was necessary to get clear images. So 615 00:35:56,080 --> 00:35:58,040 Speaker 1: if you made the wrong call, you would end up 616 00:35:58,080 --> 00:36:00,200 Speaker 1: with a bunch of useless footage, but you wouldn't know 617 00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:04,160 Speaker 1: that what you had was useless until you developed the film. 618 00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:08,759 Speaker 1: In eight a filmmaker named Oscar Mester opened up an 619 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:13,040 Speaker 1: indoor studio in Berlin. He relied on artificial lights, primarily 620 00:36:13,160 --> 00:36:16,360 Speaker 1: carbon arc lights. Just like the stage theaters were the 621 00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:19,200 Speaker 1: lights needed to be powerful, which also meant they were large, 622 00:36:19,640 --> 00:36:22,239 Speaker 1: they were really hot. They were difficult to operate and 623 00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:25,040 Speaker 1: they required a lot of electricity, and this would be 624 00:36:25,040 --> 00:36:28,800 Speaker 1: true for much of the early days of cinematography. Another 625 00:36:28,840 --> 00:36:31,280 Speaker 1: type of light that was used in early cinema, usually 626 00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:36,080 Speaker 1: to complement the carbon arc floodlights, were the mercury vapor lights. 627 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:40,319 Speaker 1: These are kind of similar to fluorescent lights today. So 628 00:36:40,400 --> 00:36:44,359 Speaker 1: you've got an air tight tube inside which are your electrodes, 629 00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:47,560 Speaker 1: and you have a mixture of air and mercury vapor 630 00:36:47,640 --> 00:36:50,120 Speaker 1: and typically are gone and those are all at normal 631 00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:53,719 Speaker 1: atmospheric pressure. In fact, the mercury vapor at normal temperature 632 00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:56,920 Speaker 1: is liquid, it's not gas at all. So you have 633 00:36:56,920 --> 00:37:00,399 Speaker 1: a separate electrode and that ionizes the argon on gas 634 00:37:00,440 --> 00:37:03,440 Speaker 1: when you supply electricity to this bulb, and that creates 635 00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:07,360 Speaker 1: an electrical arc that heats up the mercury and turns 636 00:37:07,400 --> 00:37:11,200 Speaker 1: it into vapor. It evaporates, it also ionizes, and once 637 00:37:11,239 --> 00:37:16,080 Speaker 1: it's ionized, then it's a gas that's capable of conducting electricity. 638 00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:19,000 Speaker 1: So now the arc can travel through the mercury, and 639 00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:21,879 Speaker 1: initially as the bulb starts to heat up, it will 640 00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:25,520 Speaker 1: give off a violet and then a blue glow, and 641 00:37:25,600 --> 00:37:29,000 Speaker 1: if it gets hot enough, the pressure increases enough, it 642 00:37:29,040 --> 00:37:32,279 Speaker 1: will start to give off photons of other colors and 643 00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:36,520 Speaker 1: it will produce a light that's sort of white ish. 644 00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:40,839 Speaker 1: Was also the year that the Klegal brothers founded their 645 00:37:40,880 --> 00:37:44,160 Speaker 1: stage lighting company, and they would play an enormous role 646 00:37:44,239 --> 00:37:46,520 Speaker 1: in the history of film lighting. And I mentioned the 647 00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:49,400 Speaker 1: Kleague light earlier, and that term has been used to 648 00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:53,040 Speaker 1: refer to lots of different lights. In fact, all the 649 00:37:53,160 --> 00:37:57,080 Speaker 1: lights that the Klegel brothers created were called Kleague lights. 650 00:37:57,120 --> 00:37:59,800 Speaker 1: But even more confusing than that, people in the industry 651 00:37:59,800 --> 00:38:03,520 Speaker 1: will use the word Kleague light to refer to any 652 00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:07,880 Speaker 1: major light that are using to light a scene, so 653 00:38:08,239 --> 00:38:10,759 Speaker 1: it could be used for floodlights and spotlights and all 654 00:38:10,800 --> 00:38:15,200 Speaker 1: sorts of stuff, and that gets super confusing. But generally 655 00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:18,800 Speaker 1: we're talking about a light that had an ellipsoidal reflector 656 00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:22,279 Speaker 1: and a frenelle lens to create intense beams of light 657 00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:25,200 Speaker 1: that could be used to light scenes for film. And 658 00:38:25,239 --> 00:38:27,960 Speaker 1: the source of the light in the early Kleague lights 659 00:38:28,120 --> 00:38:32,280 Speaker 1: was a carbon arc light, so that pair of carbon 660 00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:36,919 Speaker 1: electrodes with the electric arc between them. However, later the 661 00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:40,600 Speaker 1: Klegal brothers would move toward incandescent and then halogen lights. 662 00:38:41,160 --> 00:38:44,120 Speaker 1: Uh and again these lights didn't always come from the 663 00:38:44,160 --> 00:38:46,640 Speaker 1: Kleigal brothers, but as I said, the term was used 664 00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:50,640 Speaker 1: to describe more of a form factor than an actual manufacturer, 665 00:38:51,280 --> 00:38:54,640 Speaker 1: kind of like how everyone refers to copy machines as 666 00:38:54,719 --> 00:38:57,080 Speaker 1: Xerox machines even if they're not made by Xerox, or 667 00:38:57,120 --> 00:38:59,680 Speaker 1: everyone refers to tissue paper as Kleenex, even if it 668 00:38:59,719 --> 00:39:02,960 Speaker 1: doesn't come from clean X. The light produced by these 669 00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:05,400 Speaker 1: things was so bright it was bright enough to cause 670 00:39:05,520 --> 00:39:09,160 Speaker 1: damage to your eyesight. There were actually cases of actors 671 00:39:09,200 --> 00:39:12,839 Speaker 1: who suffered damage to their eyes as a result of this. 672 00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:15,799 Speaker 1: They would even call it clee guy in the industry. 673 00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:18,160 Speaker 1: They would have to. If you had to film in 674 00:39:18,239 --> 00:39:20,840 Speaker 1: front of these things for too long, then you had 675 00:39:21,080 --> 00:39:24,200 Speaker 1: really a danger of hurting your eyes as a result. 676 00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:27,759 Speaker 1: The carbon arc lights could provide the brightness needed, but 677 00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:30,840 Speaker 1: they were also really noisy. Now that wasn't a problem 678 00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:34,280 Speaker 1: early on, but they did have to go once talking 679 00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:36,920 Speaker 1: pictures came around. You wouldn't be able to hear anything otherwise, 680 00:39:37,239 --> 00:39:39,800 Speaker 1: So that was when the industry saw a shift towards 681 00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:43,319 Speaker 1: incandescent lights, which could operate at a much quieter level 682 00:39:43,360 --> 00:39:45,719 Speaker 1: than a carbon arc light. And like I said, other 683 00:39:45,760 --> 00:39:48,680 Speaker 1: companies began to manufacture lights for the film industry, but 684 00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:50,920 Speaker 1: on sets, the term cleague light was pretty much used 685 00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:53,680 Speaker 1: universe later refer to big lights used to light sets, 686 00:39:53,680 --> 00:39:56,719 Speaker 1: no matter where they came from. So these lights were 687 00:39:56,760 --> 00:40:00,479 Speaker 1: designed with specific purposes in mind a lot of the time, 688 00:40:00,680 --> 00:40:03,719 Speaker 1: like to mimic sunlight or something. Other lights might just 689 00:40:03,760 --> 00:40:06,840 Speaker 1: be used to illuminate a scene, but they all followed 690 00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:09,440 Speaker 1: similar paths as the stage lights have already talked about 691 00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:11,839 Speaker 1: in the this episode in the previous episodes, so we're 692 00:40:11,880 --> 00:40:16,440 Speaker 1: not gonna go through every variation. Film, TV and video 693 00:40:16,440 --> 00:40:19,200 Speaker 1: production would see other lighting elements come into play, such 694 00:40:19,200 --> 00:40:22,920 Speaker 1: as bounce boards. A bounce board is a reflective surface 695 00:40:22,960 --> 00:40:26,719 Speaker 1: that can bounce light back onto a subject. This is 696 00:40:26,719 --> 00:40:29,400 Speaker 1: helpful when you're working with a limited number of lights, 697 00:40:29,520 --> 00:40:32,800 Speaker 1: or it would be impractical to hang or position more lights, 698 00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:35,520 Speaker 1: like there's just nowhere where you could easily put them 699 00:40:35,520 --> 00:40:38,080 Speaker 1: where they would both be out of the frame of 700 00:40:38,160 --> 00:40:41,879 Speaker 1: the picture and also still get light to where you're going. So, 701 00:40:42,239 --> 00:40:43,919 Speaker 1: as someone who has done a lot of video work, 702 00:40:43,960 --> 00:40:46,359 Speaker 1: I can tell you I hate bounce boards. Typically you've 703 00:40:46,400 --> 00:40:48,680 Speaker 1: got some member of the crew whose job is to 704 00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:52,120 Speaker 1: hold the bounce board and position it in a way 705 00:40:52,120 --> 00:40:54,719 Speaker 1: where it will reflect back on a person and I 706 00:40:54,800 --> 00:40:57,680 Speaker 1: hate that person, not because of who they are, but 707 00:40:57,760 --> 00:40:59,880 Speaker 1: because of what they have to do to me. And 708 00:41:00,719 --> 00:41:03,799 Speaker 1: if you're already in a video, if you've ever done 709 00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:06,160 Speaker 1: this yourself, you know you're already being lit at a 710 00:41:06,239 --> 00:41:09,120 Speaker 1: level that seems ludicrous. It seems like it's way too 711 00:41:09,239 --> 00:41:12,879 Speaker 1: much light, but it's actually all necessary to get good 712 00:41:12,880 --> 00:41:15,759 Speaker 1: effect on film or video because the light captured by 713 00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:20,480 Speaker 1: cameras is only a fraction of what light is actually there. 714 00:41:21,320 --> 00:41:25,640 Speaker 1: It's not necessarily super dark compared to what reality is, 715 00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:29,120 Speaker 1: but it's definitely darker. So if you want a well 716 00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:31,560 Speaker 1: lit scene in the final product, you're gonna need to 717 00:41:31,640 --> 00:41:34,040 Speaker 1: light the heck out of it when you're actually shooting it. 718 00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:37,440 Speaker 1: This is true even if you're doing something like making 719 00:41:37,520 --> 00:41:40,400 Speaker 1: YouTube videos or live streaming. There are a lot of 720 00:41:40,400 --> 00:41:43,719 Speaker 1: YouTubers and twitch streamers out there who have special lights 721 00:41:43,719 --> 00:41:47,440 Speaker 1: to create nice, even well lit images for their viewers. 722 00:41:47,600 --> 00:41:49,400 Speaker 1: It might be a ring light that goes around the 723 00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:52,000 Speaker 1: cameras of the camera shoots through the ring and that 724 00:41:52,080 --> 00:41:55,279 Speaker 1: way the light isn't affecting the lens directly, but you 725 00:41:55,320 --> 00:41:58,560 Speaker 1: get a nice illumination, or it maybe separate stands of 726 00:41:58,719 --> 00:42:01,680 Speaker 1: L A D lights. It really does make a huge difference. 727 00:42:01,719 --> 00:42:04,200 Speaker 1: If you find someone just starting out who hasn't had 728 00:42:04,239 --> 00:42:08,279 Speaker 1: the chance to invest in lights, you can tell. And 729 00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:10,879 Speaker 1: if you find someone who has the means to light 730 00:42:10,920 --> 00:42:13,960 Speaker 1: their set up, well it really stands out. Now I'm 731 00:42:14,040 --> 00:42:17,160 Speaker 1: running out of time, so I can't really get into 732 00:42:17,160 --> 00:42:21,040 Speaker 1: stuff like LED lights that requires its own separate discussion. 733 00:42:21,080 --> 00:42:24,720 Speaker 1: I'll have to say that for another episode. But cinematography 734 00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:28,040 Speaker 1: and lighting are so entwined that it's impossible to really 735 00:42:28,040 --> 00:42:31,680 Speaker 1: talk about one without mentioning the other. A dramatically lit 736 00:42:31,800 --> 00:42:34,480 Speaker 1: scene is a true work of art. One of my 737 00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:38,560 Speaker 1: favorite scenes that plays with light and darkness comes from 738 00:42:38,600 --> 00:42:41,960 Speaker 1: The Prestige, which is an okay movie, but there's a 739 00:42:42,000 --> 00:42:45,000 Speaker 1: great moment with a Hugh Jackman and Andy Cirkus as 740 00:42:45,040 --> 00:42:48,799 Speaker 1: they're standing out in a field of light bulbs that 741 00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:54,279 Speaker 1: Tesla is supposedly illuminating through wireless power, and it's just 742 00:42:54,600 --> 00:42:59,120 Speaker 1: a really great scene that shows how how effective lighting 743 00:42:59,520 --> 00:43:05,279 Speaker 1: can really punctuate the emotional intent of a scene. I'll 744 00:43:05,320 --> 00:43:08,160 Speaker 1: conclude this episode with a very quick rundown on some 745 00:43:08,400 --> 00:43:11,400 Speaker 1: terms and lighting and filmmaking. But just keep in mind 746 00:43:11,440 --> 00:43:14,920 Speaker 1: that we've pretty much covered the basics of the technology, 747 00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:18,120 Speaker 1: so here we go. We talked about gaffers, but what 748 00:43:18,239 --> 00:43:22,279 Speaker 1: about best boy. So the best boy refers to an assistant, 749 00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:25,279 Speaker 1: and typically it's the assistant to the gaffer or the 750 00:43:25,280 --> 00:43:28,120 Speaker 1: head of lighting. There are also best boy positions that 751 00:43:28,160 --> 00:43:30,959 Speaker 1: can be assistance to the key grip, and the best 752 00:43:30,960 --> 00:43:33,560 Speaker 1: boy is in charge of keeping track of stuff like 753 00:43:33,840 --> 00:43:37,359 Speaker 1: where equipment happens to be, where the crew are. It's 754 00:43:37,360 --> 00:43:40,960 Speaker 1: a lot of paperwork, it's a lot of management and supervision. 755 00:43:41,080 --> 00:43:44,480 Speaker 1: It's logistics, and this frees up the gaffer to light 756 00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:47,560 Speaker 1: the ding dang darn scene. So the gaffers they're doing 757 00:43:47,600 --> 00:43:50,919 Speaker 1: design work and making decisions, and the best boys job 758 00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:53,160 Speaker 1: is to make sure that everything is where it needs 759 00:43:53,200 --> 00:43:55,520 Speaker 1: to be when it needs to be there. As for 760 00:43:55,600 --> 00:43:58,960 Speaker 1: the name itself, well that's something more of a mystery. 761 00:43:59,480 --> 00:44:02,680 Speaker 1: There are explanations, mind you, of where best Boy came from, 762 00:44:02,680 --> 00:44:07,000 Speaker 1: but they might be apocryphal. However, the generally accepted origin 763 00:44:07,400 --> 00:44:10,440 Speaker 1: is that in the old days of filmmaking, when someone 764 00:44:10,600 --> 00:44:13,720 Speaker 1: on crew needed a hand, they would send a message 765 00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:16,400 Speaker 1: over to some other department and they would say send 766 00:44:16,440 --> 00:44:19,600 Speaker 1: over your best boy to lend a hand. The idea 767 00:44:19,680 --> 00:44:22,279 Speaker 1: being that the other department head gets the message and 768 00:44:22,320 --> 00:44:25,520 Speaker 1: picks out somebody who is best suited to do whatever 769 00:44:25,560 --> 00:44:29,080 Speaker 1: the job is that needs doing. Now, Is that true? 770 00:44:30,120 --> 00:44:32,560 Speaker 1: Beats the heck out of me? All right? Some other 771 00:44:32,680 --> 00:44:36,360 Speaker 1: terms three point lighting. This refers to using three separate 772 00:44:36,440 --> 00:44:39,279 Speaker 1: lights to illuminate your subjects so that it or they 773 00:44:39,400 --> 00:44:42,440 Speaker 1: or whatever stands out from the background. It's to give 774 00:44:42,440 --> 00:44:46,160 Speaker 1: it definition so that it doesn't just fade right into 775 00:44:46,200 --> 00:44:49,200 Speaker 1: the background. Key light This is the light that is 776 00:44:49,239 --> 00:44:52,080 Speaker 1: the most prominent in the frame. So if you look 777 00:44:52,120 --> 00:44:54,759 Speaker 1: at a single frame from a film or show, let's 778 00:44:54,760 --> 00:44:57,480 Speaker 1: say it's an interior shot, you should be able to 779 00:44:57,480 --> 00:45:00,200 Speaker 1: tell just by looking at that picture where the key 780 00:45:00,280 --> 00:45:02,879 Speaker 1: light is, because it's going to be the light that's 781 00:45:02,880 --> 00:45:06,879 Speaker 1: providing the brightest spot in that frame. So if it's 782 00:45:06,880 --> 00:45:10,120 Speaker 1: a close up on someone and say the upper right 783 00:45:10,200 --> 00:45:13,399 Speaker 1: side of their face is really really bright compared to 784 00:45:13,440 --> 00:45:15,759 Speaker 1: the rest, you know that that's where the key light 785 00:45:15,920 --> 00:45:19,440 Speaker 1: was pointed. Then you have fil lights. These are lights 786 00:45:19,480 --> 00:45:22,840 Speaker 1: that the name suggests that they're used to help fill 787 00:45:23,040 --> 00:45:25,480 Speaker 1: in the shadows that otherwise would really be in frame. 788 00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:29,120 Speaker 1: So like, if you've ever used a flashlight to do 789 00:45:29,160 --> 00:45:31,440 Speaker 1: the spooky face thing, you know, you hold the flashlight 790 00:45:31,480 --> 00:45:33,400 Speaker 1: directly under your face in the dark and you start 791 00:45:33,480 --> 00:45:36,560 Speaker 1: talking like spooky voice. I know I'm not the only 792 00:45:36,600 --> 00:45:39,799 Speaker 1: one who's done that, right, tell me I'm not that weird. Well, 793 00:45:39,840 --> 00:45:43,480 Speaker 1: if you do that, you get these really really dramatic shadows. Well, obviously, 794 00:45:43,560 --> 00:45:45,520 Speaker 1: you know the lights are using in film and television. 795 00:45:45,560 --> 00:45:48,080 Speaker 1: They're super bright, and the shadows that would be cast 796 00:45:48,120 --> 00:45:51,920 Speaker 1: would be really really sharp. So phil lights help remove 797 00:45:52,239 --> 00:45:55,280 Speaker 1: some of that stark contrast. They're not meant to evenly 798 00:45:55,440 --> 00:45:59,400 Speaker 1: light someone all over necessarily, but they do cut back 799 00:46:00,160 --> 00:46:04,359 Speaker 1: the intensity or the contrast between the light and dark 800 00:46:04,480 --> 00:46:09,239 Speaker 1: sides of a scene. A backlight is typically used to 801 00:46:09,280 --> 00:46:12,080 Speaker 1: help light the rear portion of whatever it is you're filming, 802 00:46:12,320 --> 00:46:16,440 Speaker 1: and these lights are usually elevated and they're usually pointing downward. Uh. 803 00:46:16,560 --> 00:46:18,759 Speaker 1: You might also have a kicker light. Those can be 804 00:46:18,840 --> 00:46:21,640 Speaker 1: used to create a rim of light that can provide 805 00:46:21,640 --> 00:46:24,879 Speaker 1: almost like a halo effect on a subject. You might 806 00:46:24,920 --> 00:46:28,680 Speaker 1: also hear terms like soft lighting versus hard lighting that 807 00:46:28,760 --> 00:46:32,400 Speaker 1: generally refers to how light and shadow appear in the frame. 808 00:46:32,520 --> 00:46:35,839 Speaker 1: So an image with that has subtle shadows would have 809 00:46:35,960 --> 00:46:39,520 Speaker 1: soft lighting. One that has really dramatic shadows, like like 810 00:46:39,600 --> 00:46:43,680 Speaker 1: the band of light that regularly appears across Captain Kirk's 811 00:46:43,719 --> 00:46:47,480 Speaker 1: eyes and old Star Trek episodes. That's hard lighting. And 812 00:46:47,520 --> 00:46:51,680 Speaker 1: those are just a few terms in the lighting world. Now. 813 00:46:51,760 --> 00:46:54,000 Speaker 1: I know I didn't spend a ton of time focusing 814 00:46:54,080 --> 00:46:57,200 Speaker 1: just on film and TV lights, but again, that's because 815 00:46:57,560 --> 00:47:01,200 Speaker 1: those technologies grew out of the world of stage lighting. 816 00:47:01,560 --> 00:47:04,600 Speaker 1: So by understanding stage lighting, we really understand how film 817 00:47:04,640 --> 00:47:07,759 Speaker 1: and TV lights work. Things get a little more complex 818 00:47:07,840 --> 00:47:10,040 Speaker 1: these days. I mean, you've got a lot of very 819 00:47:10,080 --> 00:47:14,480 Speaker 1: specific style lights to create different effects, way more than 820 00:47:14,800 --> 00:47:16,920 Speaker 1: you did back in the old stage days. But they 821 00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:19,560 Speaker 1: all basically do the same thing. They just do it 822 00:47:19,600 --> 00:47:23,319 Speaker 1: in a very specific set of parameters. I hope this 823 00:47:23,600 --> 00:47:26,000 Speaker 1: episode and the previous one we're interesting to you. I 824 00:47:26,080 --> 00:47:30,160 Speaker 1: always love talking about the entertainment industry. It's got a 825 00:47:30,239 --> 00:47:32,880 Speaker 1: place in my heart. I've been an actor and a 826 00:47:32,960 --> 00:47:36,560 Speaker 1: writer for that industry before. Nothing major, like more on 827 00:47:36,600 --> 00:47:38,919 Speaker 1: an amateur level. I don't want to toot my own horn. 828 00:47:38,960 --> 00:47:41,200 Speaker 1: It's not like you're gonna go and find some amazing 829 00:47:41,239 --> 00:47:44,160 Speaker 1: piece of work that I've been in, but I have 830 00:47:44,560 --> 00:47:48,040 Speaker 1: an ongoing fascination with it. If you guys have suggestions 831 00:47:48,040 --> 00:47:50,920 Speaker 1: for future topics I should cover in episodes of tech Stuff, 832 00:47:51,160 --> 00:47:53,000 Speaker 1: get in touch with me and let me know. The 833 00:47:53,080 --> 00:47:56,279 Speaker 1: handle for the show on Twitter is text Stuff H. 834 00:47:56,560 --> 00:47:59,120 Speaker 1: S W. I look forward to hearing from you, so 835 00:47:59,400 --> 00:48:02,040 Speaker 1: please leaves. If you've got a suggestion, shoot it my 836 00:48:02,120 --> 00:48:10,160 Speaker 1: way and I'll talk to you again really soon. Text 837 00:48:10,160 --> 00:48:13,600 Speaker 1: Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts 838 00:48:13,640 --> 00:48:16,400 Speaker 1: from my Heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, 839 00:48:16,520 --> 00:48:19,680 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.