Followspot color choices

How have you guys made artistic use of color in followspots? How about frost?

Do you go with more of the traditional, back of the balcony, hard-edged American type followspotting, or the higher-angle, softer European followspoting?

 

Our FS's are at the back of the theater. They have amber, blue, red, green, yellow, purple, and diffussion in them, so we can go hard-edged, or we can have then quite subtle, depending.

 

I have no high angle lighting positions for normal fixtures let alone follow spots. My follow spots are "american type" as you refer to them. In the past I have used white or an amber, but for the upcoming show I plan on putting my own color into it (just as soon as I finish designing the show that is...)

 

We almost always use defusion in our spots. we do this so that it is not as noticable or as big as an impact as with a hard edge. if we are doing a concert or something of that sort, ill have fun and use some of the colors in the spot. other wise all we use is defusion

 

I should add that we do not use diffusion, but our follow spots focus nicely, and if I want a softer beam I just tell the follow spot op to soften the beam and, volia, we have a softer beam.

My schools usual venue is bi-weekly talent shows, and we usually have a hard edge, white spot during that, but for shows we often use the softer edge beam.

 

Most of my uses of follow spots involve video, and different spots every time. For tours I use a generic color correction package: 1/4 CTO, 1/2 CTO, Full CTO, .3ND, 1/4 minus green, 1/2 minus green. For video one-off's I will tape the CTO's and minus green's to the front of the light as needed and then load the light as follows: frost, 1/4 CTO, 1/4 minus green, light lav, light steel blue, .3ND.

If there is no video to be concerned with I'll start with light lav, light blue, bastard amber, and 1/2 CTO. The last two colors I choose based on other needs of the script, etc... or if I don't have anything planned I'll spec a primary red, and dark amber. I may change the other colors loaded based on need.

Artistic uses: (beyond color correction)
Generally if I need a performer lit, but not keyed I'll use the lav. I use CTO, BA, and Light blue as key light colors, depending on the mood. Light blue for cold and isolated, BA for warm, and CTO as a neutral/blend in with the rest of the rig. The Primary red only seems to work well for dimly lit scenes, and is good at creating a dark mood. Sometimes it's good to accent with light blue side lights, back lights or kickers at low intensities. The dark amber makes a nice punch, and gives me a little variety.

Hope this helps

 

Lets see now, last time I replaced the gels I played the "what do we have left"game. I think I ended up with:yellow,blue,green,diffusion gel and some others I can't remember.

 

Standard Colors for a Followspot

Well I have a trouperette II without any gel in the boomerang. If you all had a choice of what 5 colors (one being a diffusion) that would be stock in a followspot what would they be?

 

Here is what is loaded currently in my spots. Its a combination of my colors and colors requested by bands coming in.
1 - Bastard Amber - R02
2 - N/C Pink - R33
3 - Lavender - R57
4 - Sky Blue - R68
5 - Bright Red - R26
6 - Frost - R132

Its an interesting mix. Mainly use frame 1, 2, 6. Haven't had a chance to use 4, or 5. I really like the look 3 (lav) made Linky I have no doubt that bright red will make an interesting look (either good or horribly bad), I have yet to have an opportunity in which I thought it appropriate.

 

Any thoughts on what six gels to stock our new followspots with? Color temp is about 5500, I think. The lamp is a 200watt arc. Obviously, the situation dictates colors, but are there a few that are "more standard" than others that would keep us from having to change in ad out a lot?
The followspot is the new Lycian miniarc. The levers on the boomerang are actually color-coded (from the operator going forward: white, yellow, violet, green, blue, red, and douser). Assuming these are "standard" in Lycian's opinion, are there particular gel numbers of those colors that you like better than the rest? I would assume the white is a hint for a frosted look, and the yellow for a flesh-colored/warmer temp look?

 

Personally I would either take of those colors on the boomerang off or cover them up, because I wouldn't keep any shades of green in the spot as a standard. As far as what I like to keep in the spot are general colors (I don't have specific number in my head) but something along the lines of a Rose color, a Sepia tone, a lavender, and a blue tint. For the most part all of these colors will work on the skin tone and wont be a glaring error if accidently used. You COULD use a frost but Personally I would just use the focus knob to achieve that soft edge, this also eliminates the need to try to use to color frames at one time which can be difficult.

 

I would use a flesh pink or something in that range, pale blue, dark blue, amber, lavender, and straw. Anything else you can add as needed. I never pay any attention to a colored handle on a followspot.

 

derekleffew,
I will be happy to. Our spring musical is about a month away, and so I will put it through its paces and then give a report. First reaction is I believe I will love it. Sturdy, easy to use. Bear in mind, however, that I have worked with few followspots, so questions of "how does it compare to..." will likely be unanswerable for me. I have two trouperette III's and from a footcandle standpoint, it is not even close.
One point of interest will be that it has no fan. Will be interesting to see what it will feel like after being on a few hours.

Thanks for everyone's input!

 

Thank you for the inclusion of Apollo gel transmissions Derek, mighty kind of you. :wink:

As stated, Minus Green has yet to accompany the other 150 colors/corrections within the swatchbook, but as film, photo and cinematography requests come in- we'll remedy this situation.

Congrats on your new followspot NHStech, and thanks again Derek!

 

Most small spots use colored handles. My running joke was always, I hope the gels don't match the handles.

 

followpost gels

I have a followspot that is about 5000k, so kind of a blueish. I ordered this kind so as to have the spot stand out compared to the regular 3200k lighting produced by the various fixtures (fresnels, par cans, etc). Well, I received an email from our music director asking if our new spots normally produce such an "unnatural" color (irony), and if he would have to get used to it. To each his own, I suppose.
Trying to be the accommodating stage manager, I told him if he wanted to have more of a match between the stage lighting and the followspots, I could mess around with gels. So, my question: any thoughts on gel numbers that might be a good start? I was thinking bastard amber, but I wanted to check with you folks before hunting and pecking, to see if anything kind of stood out.

The new followspots I have, if this will help, is the Lycian Mini-arc 1233. I will be posting a review of it sometime before summer. But, if you want to look up the specs so as to help answer my question, that is the brand and model. It uses a 200w hmi lamp.

 

Re: followpost gels

Normally, I don't think of the F/S has having a different CRI. I would think of it as being able to produce extra foot candles at the focus point (the actor) than the standard lighting.

For instance, My 360Q's are all around 500W and gel down typically in a R01(or R02) and a R62 for a basic Mcandless at roughly a 25ft throw - rarely ever at full intensity. My F/S is a 1000W FEL lamp at a 60 foot throw (small space). In my F/S, for warms, I normally use R05 - it is just a bit pinker than R01, and for cools I like R60. They have the appearance of being just a bit brighter and help to separate the actor(s) from the background. My next is my stadard is R52 NC Lavender - blends well with the cools and the warms and helps the actors to pop just enough. The rest of the color boomerang I change at will.

Just my humble opinion.