Plus I have a fairly good idea of what I would do with "dirty" looks, but without a check in the mail, I dont really want to go further with doing the legwork. Im lazy like that...
Mall perhaps meaning put your lights in the wood shop during the fabrication
stage of construction. Bad for the fixtures and clean the lamp before re-install but could be a concept.
Very dependant on what fixtures you are using and if
gel just won't do it (thinking a light silk
frost but don't know why) but other options.
I referred it to a more grainy look well in the past about how a PC
fixture was still useful in a way that modern lighting is just too as it were linear for a look. Cannot re-capture the look of a PC or old school light say in photos or movies is short of using them to see the difference. Minds eye in looking old is in creating the old which today's lighting style doesn't allow for. Mind's eye for an audience is in having a reference
point before they were born as old. See a movie and remember the good movie and remember the harsh lighting - even if night time scenes were filmed during
daylight and filtered down for night. Very directional lighting even during the day in shadows that modern lighting has designed around in realism. Break from
McCandless and realism in genereal is a way to make it old. Otherwise, concentrate on the shadows but not making it as harsh for modern well lit audiences and perhaps the
effect without loosing
foot candles.
Main problem in realistically using them in looking like old photo lighting more so than modern
stage ligthing can do - about the shadows and stuff... is that hard
edge to the PC spots verses wider less useful focus of the floods. If using them you both have to fight the harsh edges to a PC beam, and fight the lower
intensity of the floods or when designed around covering for them harsh edges of the beam.
In other words, if using PC or flood - they were invented around another era where less lumens on
stage was acceptable. I would think a
base of modern
stage ligthing on a lower setting for fill will
cover for all of this still in retaining a grainy/old look. A
base of
stage ligthing design normal now, but with a punch of specials done in the old school way.
If on a 6x9 say you went old school and removed one of the lenses and reversed the other one to the front, it will narrow the beam spread in compensation but also look a lot different.
Also and perhaps a better concept in retaining your looks but being more grainy... What if you were to install either PC
Leko lenses into your Fresnels in making them into PC fixtures, or if not enough 6x9 lenses available, have a look at removing the lenses all together.
Obviously this would make all the above fixtures into specials and or
gel will be different in results to what you research now. Makes it dependant on inventory available for an act or a scene in making a sufficient amount of even bone yard gear into specials, yet still having enough lighting for a show in other scenes. And the gear available.
Against taking something out of
bench focus. Good for
effect but harsh on lenses and reflectors for doing this
effect in limited results.
Cheapest and easiest in doing the easy first, look into something "Tough Spun" or a harsh "Silk" and see where that leads you with a blend of various
gel.