2. Simply stated, a spotlight or "spot" is a device which focuses light in a
narrow beam. Spots use a movable reflector device to make the beam narrow or
wide, although its beam, even at its widest point, is still not as wide an
angle as a floodlight.
a. The fresnel spot light is by far the most common and most widely used
spotlight in the television studio. This type of spotlight uses a glass lens
in front of the housing.
The glass lens consists of concentric grooves or
steps on its front surface which forms the light into a soft-edged beam as
shown in Figure 1-7.
Within the fresnel spotlight, the lamp and reflector
position are adjusted by a crank and screw system. This allows the light beam
to be made broad or narrow as desired.
Figure 1-7.
The fresnel spotlight
b. The second type of spotlight we will discuss is the ellipsoidal
spotlight (fig 1-8).
This lighting instrument produces intense, sharply
defined light beams. The ellipsoidal spotlight is used primarily for special
effects lighting.
For example, if you want to create "pools" of light
reflecting off the studio floor, the ellipsoidal spotlight would be the
instrument to use. Even when the fresnel spotlight is in its focused position,
it cannot emit as sharp an outline as the ellipsoidal.
Figure 1-8.
The ellipsoidal spotlight
11
Previous Page
