As ABBA once famously sang, “Tonight, the super trouper beams are gonna blind me.” In case you didn’t know, in “Super Trouper,” the bouncy 1970s pop band was singing about spotlights.
There are few theatrical tools as well known as the spotlight, and there’s an excellent reason for that! Spotlights have been around for a long time. They are incredibly versatile and can be used in innovative ways.
Spotlights have been a key part of stage lighting for nearly two centuries, evolving from early limelight to today’s advanced LED and automated fixtures. This article explores what spotlights are, how their technology has evolved, the different types used today, and how modern innovations are changing theatrical and live-event lighting.
Resembling small searchlights, these luminaries are designed to project light onto well-defined areas, drawing attention to a character, or emphasizing a crucial part of dialogue, emotion, or action. After all, imagine Lady Macbeth guiltily uttering “Out, damned spot,” without dramatic illumination on an otherwise dark, still stage. It doesn’t have the same impact, right? Not only that, spotlights are versatile and can be used as a system to create a bight, even front light wash, or as a side light to sculpt both performer and scenery.
In addition, spotlights allow certain performers to remain lit while other areas of the stage are dark, drawing the audience’s attention away so they are not distracted when stagehands change the scenery or make other modifications.
Unlike floodlights, they have a concentrated beam that results in sharper shadows. Each spotlight typically includes a high-intensity discharge lamp (for conventional fixtures), a manually focusable lens, a control that allows the operator to change the intensity of the beam, and an iris to adjust its size.
There are two main types of spotlights:
1. The "Fixed" Spotlight (also known as an Ellipsoidal or Leko)
A focusable "conventional" (non-moving) theatrical lighting fixture with either a fixed or zoomable lens system that can have an adjustable hard edge, and generally uses shutters for framing the light's edges. It can also use a gobo or template to shape the beam of light like a stencil.
2. The Manual Spotlight or Follow Spot
A manually moving light with many of the fixed spotlight attributes that is controlled by a Spot Operator who points the light at a lead performer or musician . These fixtures are generally floor-mounted on a heavy stand. They usually have an iris to adjust the beam size and adjustable lens system (like the zoom of a camera) to adjust for a longer or shorter throw to the stage, or to bring the light's edge into or out of sharp focus. They have traditionally had a six-frame manual color changer. Historically, any templates used in a Follow Spot are called a vignette and only affect the edges of the beam. Modern technology is starting to merge the Follow Spot and Moving Lights, where an operator manually points the light, either physically or remotely, while the light board controls other attributes like beam and color. Some companies are even using three dimensional tracking and computers to keep the lights on performers without a human follow spot operator.
Before electric lighting was invented, limelight was used in a similar fashion as spotlights. This was done by creating an oxygen-hydrogen gas flame that would heat up a block of calcium oxide, creating a bright, white light. Thus, the phrase "in the limelight" was born. This was discovered in the 1820s and first used in theater in 1837.
The practical lensed spotlight was invented by Louis Hartmann in 1879, and the first electric spotlight in America was installed on the stage at Boston Bijou's theatre in 1882. In 1904, Hartmann invented a baby lens which was 50 times more powerful than a candle with the added benefit of not causing fires!
Spotlights have come a long way since that 50-watt light first hit the theatre scene!
As discussed earlier, the limelight was first used in theater in 1837 and is comprised of an oxygen-hydrogen gas flame heating up a block of Quicklime, creating an incandescent white light.
Carbon Arc
Historically used for Follow Spots, 35mm Film Projectors, or large military/nautical lighting fixtures like searchlights. These use two Carbon rod electrodes that create an electric arc between them to create light (like a welding rod.) The lights require constant tending to feed the electrodes together as they slowly ablate material. Newer versions do not need tending as the electrodes are sealed in a glass enclosure. Very bright. The newer Arc lamps were frequently used in moving lights before newer LED options became available.
Incandescent Light bulb: A metal filament inside a glass envelope heated to the point of incandescence by electricity. "Incandescence" is the emission of visible light by an object caused by its high temperature. When matter is heated-typically above 525 °C (977 °F), known as the Draper point-its atoms vibrate intensely and release thermal radiation that glows, shifting from a dull red to bright white as the heat increases.
A halogen lamp is a type of incandescent light that uses a tungsten filament inside a small bulb filled with inert gas and a small amount of halogen gas. The halogen helps recycle evaporated tungsten back onto the filament, extending its life and allowing it to burn hotter and brighter than a standard incandescent bulb. Halogen lamps are compact and produce bright, warm light, but they are much less energy-efficient than LEDs and have been phased out or restricted in many places.
HID
HID lamps were developed in the early 1900s, beginning with mercury-vapor lamps. Later versions, including metal-halide and high-pressure sodium lamps, offered better efficiency, color, and brightness. HID lighting became widely used for streets, factories, stadiums, and large outdoor spaces, but has increasingly been replaced by LED technology.
LED technology began developing in the 1960s with early red LEDs. A major breakthrough came in the early 1990s with efficient blue LEDs, which made bright white LED lighting possible. LED spotlights later became a popular replacement for halogen spotlights because they use less energy, last longer, and produce less heat.
Moving lights are automated stage fixtures that can rotate, tilt, and change their beam during a performance. They can control features such as color, intensity, focus, patterns, and beam size. Vari-Lite produced the first modern moving light in 1981. Moving lights are widely used in concerts, theater, live events, and entertainment lighting.
Remote followspots are automated spotlights that allow an operator to track performers from a safe, remote location. Using cameras and digital controls, the operator can adjust the light’s position, intensity, color, and beam size. They are commonly used in concerts, theaters, arenas, and large live events.
Here are some of the many varieties today:
While follow spots are usually controlled manually, the remotely controlled followspots allow spotlight operators to control up to 12 fixtures simultaneously. This removes the need to be in the rafters of a venue or operating heavy, traditional spot fixtures. Thanks to this state-of-the-art technology, lighting technicians have fewer run-ins with operatic phantoms.
A Fresnel spotlight is a soft-edged light that works like a floodlight but with more control over the angle of the beam. Fresnel beams are adjustable, and operators can move the lamp or LED source closer or further away. Thankfully less explosive than its predecessor, but still a lovely way to step into the limelight.
A PAR spotlight (Parabolic Aluminized Reflector) is one of the most commonly used types of spotlights for the stage. Each PAR spotlight includes a filament, reflector, and lens aligned in fixed positions. The reflector helps concentrate the light and gives it an oval shape (parabola). While PARs don’t give you as much control over the size of the beam, they are the go-to lighting for rock concerts because they illuminate a large area with strong light. They are an excellent choice for an energetic performer like the late Freddie Mercury. He couldn’t rock you if you missed some of the action due to a darkened area of the stage.
A PAR Pin spotlight allows a spotlight operator to focus a narrower beam of light to illuminate a small detail, such as an award, the face of a performer, or a wedding cake.
Moving spotlights take all the versatility of a spotlight and add movement. Moving spotlights come with a wide variety of tools (also known as attributes). They can have all or some of the following: Focus - pan & tilt; Color - color mixing via color wheels (CMY), color mixing via LEDs (RGB+), color chips (fixed colors that offer better saturation than color mixing); Beam - gobos, animation wheels, soft/hard edge of beam, zoom, iris, shutters. Moving lights are, needless to say, incredibly versatile. They are essential in the lighting industry, from Broadway to your local theater.
Floodlights
Floodlight is another name for wash fixtures, lighting instruments that create soft-edged beams which are typically used in a system (group of the same type of lighting instrument) to create a wash. Specifically, they are most often used in theater as down/top light and back light. Though traditional rock-n-roll lighting used them from other lighting angles as well, as washing the stage in bold colors is a key component for live music lighting.
Floodlights have come in a variety of instrument types over the years. Conventional fresnels have a spherical reflector and stepped lens, resulting in a circular, soft-edged beam. PARs get their name from their parabolic reflectors. These have a selection of lenses that create either round or rectangular light beams of different beam angles. Today, both instrument types are offered in LED versions.
Spotlights
Spotlights on the other hand, are composed of an ellipsoidal reflector (in conventional fixtures), shutter assembly, and lens tube. The reflector for LEDs is somewhat different. Conventional or LED spotlights can create a sharp-edged beam. This can be softened by moving the lens tube towards or away from the reflector, and/or you can add frost (a type of gel) to the front of the fixture. The shutter assembly allows you to shape the beam, making it a far more precise lighting source than its wash fixture friends. You can also add a gobo to a spotlight fixture, which turns a simple light beam into the pattern of your choosing. The lens tubes are interchangeable, offering different beam angles. Typical "barrels" create beams at 19°, 26°, 36°, and 50°. But they can go as narrow as 5° and wide as 90°.
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