You may ask "Why have we spent so much time with halogen lamp-based fixtures that only do one thing, when so much of the industry is going to LEDs and Moving Lights?", and that's a really fair question.
The answer is that the theory behind creating stage compositions is largely the same, no matter what tool you're using to do it. Designing with automated fixtures, at its most basic, isn't all that different than designing with fixed focus instruments. The designer is still working with the elements of design: Intensity, Direction, Color, and Shape. The ability to manipulate these elements within the same fixture simply allows the designer to use one fixture for multiple purposes at different moments in the show. It also allows you to become more specific with your choices- for example, the use of a moving light will allow you to sometimes cut light off of an object, but to allow that light to illuminate that object at another time when it is desired. The workflow is vastly different, but if you know that the moment requires a low-intensity, narrow beam, textured light in a saturated color, you can achieve that whether your inventory has a (working) leko from 1990 or a just-out-of-the-case $15,000 LED Moving Light.
You may have noticed that I passed by the element of Movement in the previous listing of the elements of light. Of course, this is the element that is affected most specifically with automated fixtures. While Movement is a major part of your design even with fixed focus fixtures (see the section on 'apparent movement'), using automated fixtures allows you to add the element of 'actual movement'. Not only can the beam of light physically move through space by using pan and tilt functions, but the designer is able to create dynamic looks by zooming the beam larger or smaller, or adding effects such as rotating gobos or colors. Some fixtures even have a 'shake' function.
This section will spend some energy describing some of the differences in the workflow if you have these tools at your disposal.
The answer is that the theory behind creating stage compositions is largely the same, no matter what tool you're using to do it. Designing with automated fixtures, at its most basic, isn't all that different than designing with fixed focus instruments. The designer is still working with the elements of design: Intensity, Direction, Color, and Shape. The ability to manipulate these elements within the same fixture simply allows the designer to use one fixture for multiple purposes at different moments in the show. It also allows you to become more specific with your choices- for example, the use of a moving light will allow you to sometimes cut light off of an object, but to allow that light to illuminate that object at another time when it is desired. The workflow is vastly different, but if you know that the moment requires a low-intensity, narrow beam, textured light in a saturated color, you can achieve that whether your inventory has a (working) leko from 1990 or a just-out-of-the-case $15,000 LED Moving Light.
You may have noticed that I passed by the element of Movement in the previous listing of the elements of light. Of course, this is the element that is affected most specifically with automated fixtures. While Movement is a major part of your design even with fixed focus fixtures (see the section on 'apparent movement'), using automated fixtures allows you to add the element of 'actual movement'. Not only can the beam of light physically move through space by using pan and tilt functions, but the designer is able to create dynamic looks by zooming the beam larger or smaller, or adding effects such as rotating gobos or colors. Some fixtures even have a 'shake' function.
This section will spend some energy describing some of the differences in the workflow if you have these tools at your disposal.
This section is still under construction. Stay Tuned for lots more!