Light as Scenery and Special Effects page 3 of 4
Truss & Moving Lights
New devices are constantly being introduced to the lighting market – and can add dramatic excitement to the lighting design. Gobo rotators, color changers, effect wheels, and more, make projecting an excellent alternative for effects like rain and fire.
It is certainly an adventurous time for lighting!
| * Some of these “intelligent fixtures” are demonstrated in the Light Sources / Instrumentation segment. |
Trouble viewing the video? Watch it directly on Vimeo.
Snow and confetti can be wonderful, breath-taking effects. Snow (usually small chips of plastic) can be released over the stage by the use of a “snow bag”.
| “Snow bags” are typically one piece of muslin tied to two nearby pipes with slits cut into it. When the cue for snow is called, a stage-hand flies just one of the pipes…going up & down repeatedly once the slits have rotated to the bottom. |
In this clip, as it “snows” on Becca, I rotate the light around her so you may see how various angles affect the look of the snow. Side and back-lights seem more effective than front light, no?
Rain, because it’s water, works almost in reverse. Water droplets act as reflectors and lenses, so front lighting often makes rain effects disappear, while back lighting makes it sparkle.
Often, however, one can not light rain from behind because the source would be visible or blinding to the audience, so we often have to settle for the next best thing, by side-lighting the rain.
 Photo and video from "Singin' in the Rain" design by Kade Mendelowitz |
Slit drape – also known as “rain curtain” shimmers and moves very easily. Made of a lightweight mylar and available in a few colors, with black intermingled, gold or silver (these images and video are all produced with silver drape) it can reflect back sparkles of whatever (especially side light) is exposed to them.
For a production of “King Island Christmas”, only the bottom 8’-0” was exposed of an unevenly hung rain curtain (they typically come in 4’ wide sections) and lit with multiple colors of looping, fading lights to simulate the Norther Lights (Aurora Borealis).
 From "Cabaret". Lighting by Kade Mendelowitz |
 From "Guys and Dolls". Lighting by Kade Mendelowitz |
 From "King Island Christmas". Lighting by Kade Mendelowitz |
| Ice can be very dramatic and exciting to light. Without proper lighting, ice sculptures often look like chunks of unclear plastic. Because ice is water, light from behind bounces off of the structure and creates many sparkles of light. With ice, often it is desired to see the light source through the sculpture because it adds more texture.With rain and ice, more sources will usually bring better results than few intense sources. The more sources you can light the water with, the more sparkles / planes of color you can create. |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
© Multimakers Multimedia