Instead of splicing a
dimmer into the
fixture, I would cut the spotlight
cord short and
plug it’s end, or coil up the extra cable and attach it to the
boom. It is a follow spot we are talking about right? You than do a in-line
dimmer mounted to the
fixture stand.
Next question we need to know is if this is a arc source/
HMI or Zenon follow spot, or
halogen lamp spot light. Beyond that if assumed to be
halogen, is it a 120v lamp or a 360w low
voltage one?
In the past, I have used single
circuit dimmers with C-Clamps mounted to the frame of them. Very simple to just clamp them to the stand and control the light in a simple way. Otherwise as said, if you have spare
dimmer channels, it’s simple enough to control them with the main dimmers.
Spotlights commonly have “boomerangs” full of
gel you can select by way of lever or de-select. They also commonly have dowsers, Irises and black out shutters. There is a simulated way of dimming the spotlight technique that entails using the
iris and
dowser at the same time to reduce the output for a fad to black.
If a 1Kw
halogen 120v lamp, no dimming won’t hurt it, instead it will lengthen the life. This
fade to black as opposed to the
fixture dousing - not turning off is however a common
stage convention to see. That
snap off of the light depending upon the application, can be useful in separating the non-reality part of say a song from when the talent goes back into character.