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A Follow Spot is a manually operated moving light typically used to highlight a featured actor, often in musicals or other presentational productions. With traditional follow spots, the operator has control over the iris (size of the circle), color (through use of drop in gels) in addition to pan and tilt.
Intensity and edge are attributes that are less controllable by the operator. Most follow spots appropriate for use in large theatres use arc-source lamps which are non-dimmable. The lamp is always lit, and the operator opens a dowser in order for the light to be presented on stage. The edge can be softened by an adjustment of the lenses, but this is not typically something that is easily done during the run of the show- it is a preset that is the same throughout the production. The designer does have the option to use one of the slots in the gel color boomerang to include frost, which allows you to either have a sharp edge (without frost) or soft edge (with frost engaged).
Intensity and edge are attributes that are less controllable by the operator. Most follow spots appropriate for use in large theatres use arc-source lamps which are non-dimmable. The lamp is always lit, and the operator opens a dowser in order for the light to be presented on stage. The edge can be softened by an adjustment of the lenses, but this is not typically something that is easily done during the run of the show- it is a preset that is the same throughout the production. The designer does have the option to use one of the slots in the gel color boomerang to include frost, which allows you to either have a sharp edge (without frost) or soft edge (with frost engaged).
While a follow spot does not have shutters like a traditional ERS fixture, it does have one feature that can cut off some of the light: the chopper. The chopper closes a gate of opposite shutters on the top and bottom of the beam of light. The designer will sometimes use the chopper as a stylized dowser to shut off the light. More often, though, the need arises to follow several people with a single follow spot as in a dance line. In this case, the beam of the light is so large to get the several people in the beam from left to right, that there is lots of wasted light above the head and below the feet of the performers. By chopping off this bit of light, you're able to have a wide and short beam of light.
Follow Spot Cue Sheets
The designer must develop specific cue sheets for the follow spot operators. In most cases, the Stage Manager (or an assistant stage manager on larger shows) will call follow spot cues, but the details of the cue must be executed by the operator. For instance, the SM might call "Spot 1 on Hilda GO", whereas the operator must know that Hilda is entering through the furthest upstage wing SR, the size of the beam is 3/4 body, the color is gel #4 and the spot should fade in smoothly. The Stage Manager is far too busy calling all of the rest of the cues to give those kinds of detail to the Spot Operator.
Some other commands that a SM might give over headset (or 'cans' as the British guy in the video below calls them):
Some other commands that a SM might give over headset (or 'cans' as the British guy in the video below calls them):
- Swap: This means that if Spot One is on character Fred and Spot Two is on character Wilma, when the characters cross on stage, the spots will switch direction so that Spot One is on Wilma and Spot Two is on Fred.
- Color: Sometimes there is a color switch part way through a song. On the GO call, the operator must be ready to snap from one color into another on the color Boomerang.
- Iris: Twisting the iris control to make the beam bigger or smaller.
- Stay with/Include: Similar to a swap, sometimes the spot operator is on a character, when another character joins for a duet. "Include" means to expand the beam to include both characters. "Stay With" usually means that the characters are splitting, and the Operator should continue to follow one or the other. Example: "Spot 1 on Luke GO. Spot 1 Include Yoda GO. Spot 1 Stay With Yoda GO."
Follow Spot Yoke
City Theatrical has built and marketed a product that turns a traditional theatre-style ERS instrument into a dimmable follow spotlight that blends seamlessly into the halogen lighting rig. Here are a couple of videos that show the features of this device.
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The Strong Super Trouper follow spotlight. 70's disco band Abba even wrote a song about it >>>
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