How to aim a spotlight in the dark
April 3, 2012 9:02 PM Subscribe
I'm putting together a presentation at a conference, and want to use a trick where a spotlight, after spinning seemingly randomly for a few minutes, will stop on cue at a particular point in an otherwise dark room. How can I accomplish this?
The spotlight will zigzag the room, possibly one of two spotlights, and then land on a particular person in the audience that we've chosen in advance. After a few moments, the spot/s will zig zag around again for a few more seconds, then land on another predetermined spot. This will repeat a few more times.
Specifically, I'm wondering how the operator will be able to know where to land the spot, even though the rest of the room will be dark. Is there a lighting trick to this?
Or are there spotlight rigs that could be pre-progammed to handle this?
I'm open to cheats, and other options that could achieve a similar effect.
Thoughts?
The spotlight will zigzag the room, possibly one of two spotlights, and then land on a particular person in the audience that we've chosen in advance. After a few moments, the spot/s will zig zag around again for a few more seconds, then land on another predetermined spot. This will repeat a few more times.
Specifically, I'm wondering how the operator will be able to know where to land the spot, even though the rest of the room will be dark. Is there a lighting trick to this?
Or are there spotlight rigs that could be pre-progammed to handle this?
I'm open to cheats, and other options that could achieve a similar effect.
Thoughts?
Go to the theatre lighting hire shop and ask them what they can do for you?
posted by emilyw at 1:29 AM on April 4, 2012
posted by emilyw at 1:29 AM on April 4, 2012
(not an expert. Spent way to much time in the light booth in high school though) This is absolutely doable by a theatre lighting professional. It might actually be cheaper to have a person swinging the spot around than a servo, but servo powered spots are available. I have no idea how much this might set you back, it depends on a lot of factors.(power supply, what to hang the lights on, etc)
posted by rockindata at 4:25 AM on April 4, 2012
posted by rockindata at 4:25 AM on April 4, 2012
Electronically this is pretty easy, if you have the right equipment. The DMX protocol which sends signals to the lighting dimmers to control brightness can also control movement in lights which are equipped for it (and also color change and other fun stuff like that). This is not the type of thing you rent for a single event unless you've got lots of money to put towards it, since for the type of thing you want, you'll also need to pay for a trained person to operate it, and depending on how exact the lighting needs to be, program things in advance. Not a difficult thing, but it's just a lot of specialized equipment that you won't find outside of an AV rental house that has a decent lighting department.
Some manual spotlights have a small dot of light which shines down for the operator when the front shutter is closed. The operator can have marks on a piece of paper which is set ahead of time, and they move the spotlight so that the little dot of light lines up with one of the marks on the paper. When they open the shutter, the spotlight will then come on in the exact right place. So, if you have someone operating the light, this might be a possibility, but you'd have to make sure that whatever you rent has this feature, and that the person who is going to be operating it has enough time beforehand to make a little "map" and practice hitting the cues. It's fairly simple to do, but requires doing it a couple of times to get comfortable with it.
posted by markblasco at 7:37 AM on April 4, 2012 [1 favorite]
Some manual spotlights have a small dot of light which shines down for the operator when the front shutter is closed. The operator can have marks on a piece of paper which is set ahead of time, and they move the spotlight so that the little dot of light lines up with one of the marks on the paper. When they open the shutter, the spotlight will then come on in the exact right place. So, if you have someone operating the light, this might be a possibility, but you'd have to make sure that whatever you rent has this feature, and that the person who is going to be operating it has enough time beforehand to make a little "map" and practice hitting the cues. It's fairly simple to do, but requires doing it a couple of times to get comfortable with it.
posted by markblasco at 7:37 AM on April 4, 2012 [1 favorite]
Expanding on the above posts -
There's an entire class of theatrical/rock show lighting products called "Intelligent Lights" where the beam of light can be programmed to move around in all sorts of directions, stop in a certain spot, stop at a certain time, change colors, change the pattern of the beam of light, etc. etc. etc. They need to be controlled by a fairly high-tech piece of equipment called a "lighting console" or "desk" like this or a version of that software running on a laptop or desktop.
This is the equipment they're referring to. Depending on the capabilities of the specific light fixture, the console, and the operator, what you want can be entirely pre-programmed, or run live in real time by the operator, or some combination of the two. IMO, because of how the programming of these kind of lights functions, it's much more practical for them to be programmed to stop on a specific place (i.e. seat 13A) rather than try to follow a specific person, so you would want to make sure your "target" is in the right place at the right time.
As you can imagine, this gear is Not Cheap, and takes a fair amount of skill and experience to use. You're not going to trot down to the nearest Big Box Electronic SuperStore and pick up an "EZ DIY" solution for a couple hundred bucks. The gear and an operator can be rented/hired for the day - how much this costs will depend greatly on your location. Here in rust-belt economically depressed Cleveland, my seat-of-the-pants cost guesstimate would be at least $250, more probably $400 to $500. In other locations with better economic conditions it could cost much more.
rockindata & markblasco raise the idea that it might be simpler or (slightly) cheaper to go the low-tech route using an ordinary hand-controlled theatrical spotlight (a.k.a. "followspot") - something like this - and someone to operate it. Again, costs can vary greatly depending on location, and again I'd bet you're talking at least a couple of hundred.
You say that this is for a presentation for a conference, and it's possible that the venue hosting the conference (hotel, conference center, event center) may actually have this equipment & a technician on site. More likely, they either have a list of "preferred" outside companies who can provide this, or they have an exclusive contract with a single company whom you must use. Unfortunately, arranging this through the venue usually means that you will pay top dollar.
One possible way to save on the cost is to see if an outside audio/visual/lighting company is already going to be providing for other events at the conference (sound system & lights for the end-of-conference party, one presenter needs a HUGE video screen, etc. etc.) If they're already going to be there, they might cut you a price break.
Otherwise, you'll want to Google for providers in the area. Use search terms like, "A/V rental", "sound company", "lighting rental", "event production", "staging rental" - maybe add the word "live" to your search terms. And yes, companies that call themselves "sound" or "stage" companies may very well own this kind of gear and have people who know how to operate it - it's very very common for a business like this to expand in directions not anticipated when they first came up with the company name.
You will almost certainly need to get on the phone and talk to people at these companies in person at some point. Given the highly highly highly variable nature of the events they provide for and the equipment provided for these events, it's very tough for production companies to provide a "set price" kind of thing, where you just click a button on a website.
You will definitely want to get quotes from several companies - prices can vary a lot depending on the size of the company and the market they're targeting.
posted by soundguy99 at 9:29 AM on April 4, 2012
There's an entire class of theatrical/rock show lighting products called "Intelligent Lights" where the beam of light can be programmed to move around in all sorts of directions, stop in a certain spot, stop at a certain time, change colors, change the pattern of the beam of light, etc. etc. etc. They need to be controlled by a fairly high-tech piece of equipment called a "lighting console" or "desk" like this or a version of that software running on a laptop or desktop.
This is the equipment they're referring to. Depending on the capabilities of the specific light fixture, the console, and the operator, what you want can be entirely pre-programmed, or run live in real time by the operator, or some combination of the two. IMO, because of how the programming of these kind of lights functions, it's much more practical for them to be programmed to stop on a specific place (i.e. seat 13A) rather than try to follow a specific person, so you would want to make sure your "target" is in the right place at the right time.
As you can imagine, this gear is Not Cheap, and takes a fair amount of skill and experience to use. You're not going to trot down to the nearest Big Box Electronic SuperStore and pick up an "EZ DIY" solution for a couple hundred bucks. The gear and an operator can be rented/hired for the day - how much this costs will depend greatly on your location. Here in rust-belt economically depressed Cleveland, my seat-of-the-pants cost guesstimate would be at least $250, more probably $400 to $500. In other locations with better economic conditions it could cost much more.
rockindata & markblasco raise the idea that it might be simpler or (slightly) cheaper to go the low-tech route using an ordinary hand-controlled theatrical spotlight (a.k.a. "followspot") - something like this - and someone to operate it. Again, costs can vary greatly depending on location, and again I'd bet you're talking at least a couple of hundred.
You say that this is for a presentation for a conference, and it's possible that the venue hosting the conference (hotel, conference center, event center) may actually have this equipment & a technician on site. More likely, they either have a list of "preferred" outside companies who can provide this, or they have an exclusive contract with a single company whom you must use. Unfortunately, arranging this through the venue usually means that you will pay top dollar.
One possible way to save on the cost is to see if an outside audio/visual/lighting company is already going to be providing for other events at the conference (sound system & lights for the end-of-conference party, one presenter needs a HUGE video screen, etc. etc.) If they're already going to be there, they might cut you a price break.
Otherwise, you'll want to Google for providers in the area. Use search terms like, "A/V rental", "sound company", "lighting rental", "event production", "staging rental" - maybe add the word "live" to your search terms. And yes, companies that call themselves "sound" or "stage" companies may very well own this kind of gear and have people who know how to operate it - it's very very common for a business like this to expand in directions not anticipated when they first came up with the company name.
You will almost certainly need to get on the phone and talk to people at these companies in person at some point. Given the highly highly highly variable nature of the events they provide for and the equipment provided for these events, it's very tough for production companies to provide a "set price" kind of thing, where you just click a button on a website.
You will definitely want to get quotes from several companies - prices can vary a lot depending on the size of the company and the market they're targeting.
posted by soundguy99 at 9:29 AM on April 4, 2012
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posted by hattifattener at 10:42 PM on April 3, 2012