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The spot light was first used in 1825 when Thomas Drummond, a Scottish Engineer, burned a block of lime (calcium oxide). The light was known as the Drummond Light and was noted for its bright luminescent quality. Besides being used in the theaters, the Drummond Light was also used in lighthouses to warn sailors of approaching land. The light beam from the Drummond light was so intense that it could been seen at great distances, sometimes as far as 100 miles (160 kilometers) away.
Drummond's light soon became the standard for all theaters in England during the 1860's as a special effect light. The phrase 'In the Limilight' has direct origins from Drummond's invention.
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Cyclorama lights consist of multiple quartz lamps and reflectors. Since cyclorama lights light uniformly, they are often used to give a color wash to a backdrop.
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Ellipsoidals are some of the most useful, and expensive stationary lights available. Ellipsoidals consist of an incandescent lamp, an elliptical reflector, and one or two plano-convex lenses. Ellipsoidals are used for lighting specific parts of a set. They can be shutter cut, softened, focused, and a gobo can be placed inside of them for patterns.
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The fresnel is known for the compound lens used in lighthouses. Fresnels are made up of an incandescent lamp, a mirrored parabolic reflector, and a round fresnel lens. Fresnels give off a soft focused light, good for washes. The most common types are a three, six and eight inch fresnel, which refers to the diameter of the lens.
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Parabolic Aluminized Reflectors are often called PAR cans for short. A PAR can is a metal cylinder with a parabolic reflector lamp at one end, similar to car headlights. PAR cans are often used for brightly lighting large areas.
There are many different sizes of PAR cans. They are denoted by a number such as 16, 38, 46, 56, and 64. Dividing the number by 8 gives you the width of the lamp. The lamps can be either a very narrow spot (VNSP), narrow spot (NSP), medium flood (MFL), or wide flood (WFL). This refers to the beam spread of the lamp.
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A scoop is simply an incandescent lamp mounted inside of a large, parabolic metal reflector. A scoop is used for softly lighting large areas, like cycloramas or sheet music.
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Lighting provides a tool for setting moods and tones of scenes on stage.
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