A question for those lighting designers out there...

[tenor_singer]

Good morning (or afternoon)

I happened to fall into a bunch of new equipment at a new school. One of the pieces was a new spot light.

I have also learned a bad side about large construction projects... equipment that was signed for tends to be misplaced by workers or stolen (my wireless PDA for remote focusing walked). My spot light's gel kit also walked.

The guys from Vincent Lighting (who sold us the spot) told me that the kit was junk anyway and that I probably would have replaced the stock gels with others as they are always "too dark".

My question... what colors do you recommend? I have never owned a spot light and haven't a clue what a good grouping of colors would be for one.

Thanks!

Tenor.

[ManOfLights]

any color that looks good.... something dark will look like instead of being a spot its a positioned light and too light of a color will give the actor a ghost like look... try some out and pick what works best, i know that in our spot lights we have two ambers(so you can adjust the darkness) and one blue. it really depends on the show you are doing

[ship]

What's the spotlight, application and throw distance? There often is some stock colors for a follow spot, than it's also supplemented by the designer's wishes.

[wolf825]

IMO, for a"general use" type of spotlight I toss in the following (in no particular order for priority of position--these are listed off the top of my head, just as long as they are labeled and match other spots):

1 FROST (not a silk--a frost--like a R114 or 100)
2 LITE blue (R63-ish)
3 LITE amber (R01)
4 LITE pink (R33)
5 Primary RED
6 Lite LAVENDER (R51 or 351-ish)
7 Chocolate (R99)

Most spots have only 4-8 slots for gels...use what is priority for your needs if you have less positions available then what is listed. As for a designers point of view--most will be happy with those selections, but many may have specific wants for their gel colors for a certain show or to match their FOH color...

A tip for ya--if you have many designers come in, get yourself a second or replacement "boomerang" or gel mechanism (some are just little mechs that pop in and out of your spot light with all the color booms on them already--so you can pre-load). This way you can have a House set of color pre-loaded in one, and then make one up for your designers or visiting shows, and its less time wasted swapping out your house colors for a desingers colors..you will only have to load and unload one--and leave the other in tact for House use.

JMO...
-w

[tenor_singer]

Originally Posted by wolf825

A tip for ya--if you have many designers come in, get yourself a second or replacement "boomerang" or gel mechanism (some are just little mechs that pop in and out of your spot light with all the color booms on them already--so you can pre-load). This way you can have a House set of color pre-loaded in one, and then make one up for your designers or visiting shows, and its less time wasted swapping out your house colors for a desingers colors..you will only have to load and unload one--and leave the other in tact for House use.

JMO...
-w

That is a great idea! Thank you!

Ship... I think that it is a Comet 360-W.

[Lightingguy32]

I would recommend the following colors from Rosco color for you:
R-02 Bastard Amber- A good skin tone enchancer
R-60 No color Blue- very pale blue that is good for cool area lighting and for keeping the color temperature of the spotlight balanced when it is dimmed
R-34 Flesh Pink- Good strong pink for warm areas
R-35 Light Pink- Lighter pink than R-34, good for skin tone enhancement
R-83 Medium Blue- Good strong primary blue that contains more red and less green than R-80
R-119- Light Hamburg Frost- Good medium strength diffusion filter for softening up the edges of the beam.

[Jezza]

Originally Posted by Lightingguy32

I would recommend the following colors from Rosco color for you:
R-02 Bastard Amber- A good skin tone enchancer
R-60 No color Blue- very pale blue that is good for cool area lighting and for keeping the color temperature of the spotlight balanced when it is dimmed
R-34 Flesh Pink- Good strong pink for warm areas
R-35 Light Pink- Lighter pink than R-34, good for skin tone enhancement
R-83 Medium Blue- Good strong primary blue that contains more red and less green than R-80
R-119- Light Hamburg Frost- Good medium strength diffusion filter for softening up the edges of the beam.

I very much agree except personally I would swap both the R-34 and R-35 for R-33. 33 has always been great at skin tone for me and 34, like you said, is generally too strong. When I've used it it has always looked just a touch too campy.

Also, R-119 is GREAT to have in spots. I can't tell you how much it bothers me to see a sharp edge of spotlight iris during anything other than a concert. Light Hamburg is great at just feathering out the edges but still giving you the definition of a true spot. However, this sometimes makes it more difficult for the operators, especially if you have a lot of FOH blazzing, so if you can afford it get a sight.

[soundlight]

My list:
R02 for amber, R33 for pink, R51 for lavender, R60 for "cool" light, R74 for a good solid blue, R119 for frost, and an R39 or R26 for screwing with faces as necessary. I generally pick a screwing with faces color to fit the show if it's necessary for the show.

I second the idea of having two color boomerangs for the unit - one for stock, and one for visiting shows to fill to their specs, if you'll have many of those.