Backstage Bluelights

[hhslights]

In our auditorium, we have two fresnels hung in both our SL and SR backstage wings that are set to illuminate the backstage area. What we use to gel them is Rosco 125 Blue Syc Silk which does a pretty good job of keeping backstage lit but in a darker way. We have had this stockpile of scrap gel from when we had smaller cyc cells, and since we have moved to bigger ones, there is not enough scrap to gel a Fresnel. The stockpile is low and instead of cutting into/buying more cyc silk to re-gel these bluelights I want to know if there are any gels that are good for lighting backstage areas that are not cyc silk. What gels do you use for this application if you have backstage lights?

[Footer]

L119 HT will do it nicely. My wife uses R59.

[BrockTucker]

I have an identical setup to your's (a 6" fresnel in each wing) and we just use R120. Though It does burn through and have to be replaced every month or two. It's on my list to look into a glass filter or something else more perminent.

[SteveB]

I hung a Kindorf bar under an 3rd floor overhang (at +16ft), spanning DS to US in our SR wing, rigged 5 used Par38 cans, with 150watt flood lamps in generic blue, available from Lowes, HD, etc. I have yet to have to replace a lamp, maybe 10 years later.

Note that this is somewhat involved running system, as it also has 5 Altman Micro-Ellipses @ 75w, lighting 5 areas SR in N/C. The blue Pars are in 3 areas. Also controlled are the SL existing rail trough of 10x34watt A lamps, as well as 3 - Altman 360Q 6x12's under hung off the grid to light a cross-over path US of the last BO drop. They are all powered off a used C-Tran 12x2.4 ENR dimmer pack, and controlled off a Leprecon LP612 sitting in a wall box SR. Thus we never have to hang and strike clip lights, which used to get stolenn if we left them out overnight.

[DuckJordan]

gel burnout is a lot less common with our stuff, when we light our backstage with blue we take common household bookshelf lights and put a small piece of gel on them (provides enough light without spill, also saves dimmer slots). Also on our main stage we have a light bar above our fly position so we have all those lights with blue bulbs in them. which illuminates our stage left wing, on our stage right is our shop so we just swap out the normal overhead light with a blue bulb.

[hhslights]

Our setup does not require electric or dimmer space. Our wings both have second story lofts which have railings along the edge, we hang them there and attach an Edison converter at the end of an extension cord that is plugged in backstage by someone (usually me) before shows and unplugged after.

I was just flipping through a rosco swatchbook and noticed a few, R59 and R27 both look like they would be well used in this application. Does color matter in this? I would think that as long as it was a darker color in nature it would be fine.

[DuckJordan]

any blue really should work, as blue is the least likely to spread or be seen by the audience, We have never specified which blues to use and just tend to stick to a medium blue.

[zuixro]

R78 is good for work lights (anything in the high 70's to 80s will work though). My favorite though are blue CFL's in clip lights. They're cheap and take abuse well, just pop the bends and dents out of the reflector when it starts to get rough.

[derekleffew]

If burning/fading is an issue, one might consider Fade•Not® X•Film™ or FX® Outdoor Poly. Less expensive than glass or dicroic, but much longer lasting than standard color media. A color extender and heat shield is also a good option.

See also the threads Running Lights and Backstage lighting - temp and permanent.

[Footer]

My favorite though are blue CFL's in clip lights. They're cheap and take abuse well, just pop the bends and dents out of the reflector when it starts to get rough.

I just bought one of the 13w blue CFL lamps. My feeling is they are actually too bright. I have one set up in a hallway but I don't know how I feel about them onstage. Did you have this issue?

[cprted]

I just bought one of the 13w blue CFL lamps. My feeling is they are actually too bright. I have one set up in a hallway but I don't know how I feel about them onstage. Did you have this issue?

I find the blue CFLs to be too bright as well. I used one in my prompt desk clip light briefly, that thing gave me the mother of all headaches.

[waynehoskins]

In college we used to use 15 watt lamps dipped in blue lamp dip -- somewhere between Rosco 68 and 78 in color -- in standard clip lights. They worked well enough for us at the time. Probably some Lekos with dark blue on the pipe ends would have been nice to have, especially for the upstage crossover, but at the time we had enough of a time lighting the stage. Since then the college has upgraded to a chiefly Source Four inventory, and the old inventory is probably still around, so it would be more practical to do now.

[shiben]

Music Stand lights gelled blue, with a few holes drilled in the back to make them less hot. Works fine for us...

[rsmentele]

We also use the 13w blue CFL lights, and I agree that they are very bright, however the color is very consistant, and we have not had to change one for 2 years. And we have left one on 24x7 as a ghost light for those 2 years, so I can deal with the brightness.

[zuixro]

I just bought one of the 13w blue CFL lamps. My feeling is they are actually too bright. I have one set up in a hallway but I don't know how I feel about them onstage. Did you have this issue?

They are very bright. We angle them away from the stage which usually does a good job of keeping it off the stage. I think we have some 25watt blue incandescents that we use right near the edge, again angled away. Also, we've put them up on these massively tall mic stands that we have, so it spreads out more.

[JBrennan]

R80 is my favorite deep blue but I agree that a dicroic/glass option also makes sense for a more permanent fix. We also use blue lamps in standard light sockets that were installed backstage, but I'm sure you could do the same with clip lights/work lights. I believe the lamps have to be ordered special from Phillips however.

[Studio]

We have these on a dimmer switch
with blue bulbs.

[shiben]

We have these on a dimmer switch
with blue bulbs.

If you did red it would look like you were on a blacked out submarine or something cool like that... Fill them with mineral oil and pop in a bubbler and you have a nautical themed backstage!

[hhslights]

We tried using clip on lights and music stand lights gelled blue for a bit but it just want working. In addition to being too bright and taking away from the pit's stand light (during musical) too much white light escaped through the cracks and just polluted light on stage.

[DrPinto]

We use a set of low power lawn lights that you can buy at the local Home Depot or Lowe's for our backstage lights. It's easy to set up and extremely safe. We start at one wing, go across the back wall behind the cyc, and end up over the prop table at the other wing. You can put the lights wherever they are needed and you just have to run a single 2 conductor wire. They run so cool that we never need to replace gels.

[MSLD]

see if you can get a big enough light that has LED's and put gel over it...

[Tex]

I'm a big fan of rope lights backstage. You can hang them, put them on the floor, make them 30' long, they don't get very hot, they're relatively inexpensive and they come in blue.

[shiben]

I'm a big fan of rope lights backstage. You can hang them, put them on the floor, make them 30' long, they don't get very hot, they're relatively inexpensive and they come in blue.

Rope lights are great for making walkways, but not exactly the best for task lighting, IMO.

[Taffey]

When we have a play with a full set we just use our 5 Altman zipstrips that are focused on the cyc. And up stage we use our color scrollers on par cans.

For our musicals was use scoops.