Year 8 Technical Theatre: Lighting Types of Lanterns

The lanterns The lights used in Theatre are known as Lanterns. Light bulbs in your house are generally 60-100 watts or even less now if they are energy efficient bulbs. Bulbs used in lanterns are 500-1000 watts and sometimes stronger. These bulbs are very expensive and great care must be taken not to knock the lantern or bulb. There different types of Lanterns depending on what they are used for.

The Flood Floods give general light. They flood the acting area with light. Like other lanterns, they will hang from the lighting bar and can be shone from various angles.

The Profile Spotlight The profile spotlight creates a hard edge to the circle of light on the stage.

The Fresnel Spotlight The fresnel spotlight lights a particular area but the edge is soft, not hard. They often use Barn doors to focus the light on one area of the performance space.

Barn doors Barn doors are four metal hinged flaps on a small frame that slots into the front of the lantern. They can be opened or closed to help control or shape the beam from the lantern. They stop the light spilling out and focus it on a particular area, they are often used with the Fresnels.

The Follow Spot The ‘follow spot’ is a hard-edged spotlight that can be manoeuvred from the back of the auditorium to follow the actor’s movement on stage. This has to be manually moved by the technical team.

Par Can A Parcan light is a sealed beam unit that consists of a lamp, reflector and lens. Often referred to as PAR (Parabolic Aluminised Reflector) lights, a Parcan lantern produces a very intense light quality. Therefore, they are particularly suited to producing deep colours or special lighting effects often used in concerts.

Safety chain and ‘G’ clamp As well as a clamp (usually called a ‘G’ clamp) to secure the lantern to the lighting bar, each lantern should have a safety chain. The chain links through the lantern support and round the lighting bar

Watch this Basic Lighting Video for further illustration: https://youtu.be/e7Pd0nqkDsc

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2 Questions 1. Why is Stage Lighting important in theatre? 2. Can you identify the 3 types of Spotlights. 3. Explain the differences in the spotlights named above? 4. What are barn doors and what are they used for? 5. Why is it important to use a Safety chain and ‘G’ clamp when installing lighting? 6. Give an example of a scenario where you would need to use Par Can lighting. 7. What is a flood light? 8. What light is usually placed at the back of the auditorium and why? 9. Draw a symbol that you would use in your notes to represent each of the lanterns 10. Why are bulbs used on lanterns expensive?

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