Back to the Future

Written by Ian Muir

The development of lighting used in Film and TV production has a multifaceted history, influenced by technology, as well as the required aesthetic outcome.   

Many types and methodologies of lighting utilised for periods in the last 120 years have had their time and fallen into disuse. But could it be that some elements of lighting technique once used extensively, can still be relevant when combined with other more current technologies? The incredibly soft, wrapping illumination of the incandescent Spacelight made it ubiquitous on soundstage around the world for decades. Is it possible to revive the methodology with a high output Gemini 2×1 Hard LED panel? 

The History 

To start with, a history lesson of sorts. 

Lighting has predominantly followed the technology of image capture, to complement the spectral constraints of the chosen medium. This can be charted from the use of Orthochromatic Black and White film in the early part of the last century, which is sensitive to the blue end of the spectrum, and reproduces higher wavelengths like red for, example, as black. To get the best result, Orthochromatic film was exposed with sources that provided the most appropriate wavelengths of light in relation to its sensitivity. Initially this was Mercury Vapour, then Carbon Arc as well as good old-fashioned daylight. Etymology note, daylight was often controlled using large sails, which is one possible origin for the term “Gaffer” as in the nautical Gaff rigged.  

1922 saw the introduction by Eastman Kodak of the first motion picture Panchromatic Black and White Stock. Panchromatic film is sensitive to a much broader spectrum of light and therefore, lighting needed the spectral capacity to derive a more complete response (particularity in the mid tones), from the tonal values of the scene captured. This led to a transition to incandescent lighting (often referred to generically as “Tungsten”), which offers a broader spectrum. Incandescent fixtures could also be more easily utilised with Fresnel lenses and barn doors which introduced better control, and more creativity into the process.  

The introduction of Technicolor in the later part of the 30’s (The Wizard of OZ being the first notable example), saw a return to Carbon Arc for reasons relating to the colour sensitivity of the process, however the technology was re-colour balanced in the 50’s to improve its response to incandescents because they were more economical to use. 

Whilst this is all very interesting the question you could still be asking “what is your point?”

Rock and roll lighting innovations

As we move into the 60’s things become much more ‘rock n roll’ in terms of the technologies available and perhaps most importantly, the protagonists involved. In a nutshell this was the introduction of better colour film emulsions with much better colour rendition and contrast ratios, Colour TV, and full spectrum Tungsten Halogen lamps. And John and Benny Lee. 

John and Benny, from modest backgrounds spotted the rapidly expanding opportunities in both Film and TV, founding Lee Lighting in 1961. The shape and foundations of the UK film industry has its roots in the organisation which they evolved through the 60’s 70’s and 80’s. Lee Lighting facilitated the growth that occurred by satisfying the increasing demand for lighting, camera, grip and rigging, as well as studio space.  

Importantly Lee Lighting was also responsible for lighting innovations which provided better solutions to the problems that TV and Film production faced:

The Wendy Light. Built at the behest of Cinematographer David ‘Wendy’ Watkins, best known for films such as Out of Africa (for which he won an academy award), who wanted a means of filming actors traversing a scene in moonlight with constant illumination, without resorting to hiding lights at points along their travel. The Wendy Light, still widely used today, overcame this issue.

Flicker free ballasts for HMI fixtures. HMI had replaced Carbon Arc as a daylight balanced fixture because of its ease of deployment and economy of use. Early variants however could produce flicker on film. Lee designed and built a ballast that was flicker free, even when used at high frame rates.  

Last but not least, the Incandescent Spacelight.  

Perhaps the unsung hero of all their developments, the Spacelight first produced in the mid 70’s consists of a circular metal frame which housed 6 double ended lamps in a star shape. Suspended beneath this was a set of silks cylindrical in shape, to a depth of about 4ft, which could also be sleeved in blacks to restrict output to the base of the silks. 

Central to its development was another important protagonist: Bill Chitty, Lee’s Technical manager.  

Bill had a background in both engineering and film lighting, so was well versed in both styles of lighting and methodology. One of his other claims to fame, was teaching Humphrey Bogart to play cricket on the back lot at Shepperton, whilst filming The African Queen. The spec he was given by John and Benny was for a light that could provide soft, even ambient illumination over a stage. With this they provided some pointers as to how it should be designed and constructed, which were presented to Bill.  

Bills initial response to this was reportedly…”nah, never going to work”. He duly assembled a fixture using lamp holders and other components he found knocking around the workshop.  

Clearly Bill was, for once, completely wrong. The combination of the Tungsten Halogen source and the silks produced an output which was incredibly soft and very flattering in the manner it “wrapped” round that which it illuminates. It became ubiquitous thanks to the beautiful quality of light that it produced and the capacity to hang multiple fixtures at 10ft/12ft centres on ropes over a stage, to provide even illumination over large areas.  

In short it became the de facto standard in ambient lighting over film sets in the UK and the US. On big stages it was not uncommon to see as many as 1500 hanging.  

Its drawbacks were its inefficiencies – each fixture could draw 4.8kw with a chassis temperature of up to 160 degrees C – to say nothing of the substantial infrastructure required, which included heavy gauge (Socapex) cabling, dimming racks for control and often additional generator sets to provide power. As the world moved to more environmentally conscious times at the turn of the century it became clear that alternatives were required.  

LED transition 

Fluorescents provided a partial solution, but it was not until the advent of modern higher output LED fixtures in 2010 that a viable replacement became available.  

The first in this new generation of fixtures was the Ohm produced by LED pioneers, gekko technology.  

 The advantages of the Ohm were its ability to tune colour between 2800k and 6000k (via DMX) and provide a similar uniformity of ambient light when hung in multiples. The world had become so use to the methodology of the Incandescent Spacelight however that the first question often asked was “where are the silk skirts to soften its output?”. It was a cultural and emotional response to the technology, arguably not overcome until the first Arri Skypanels were deployed at Pinewood in 2015, for use as ambient lighting over a stage, all without silk skirts.  

The new methodology of set lighting using 2×1 LED fixtures in truss rigs has now become widely accepted with a transition away from Incandescent Spacelights.  

 Has, however, part of the baby been thrown out with the bath water?  

One of the principle qualities of the Incandescent fixture was the quality of the soft light that it produced, to say nothing of the practicalities of hanging it from a rope so that it can be lowered in and out. A criticism often levelled at LED sources is the “harshness” of the output they produce, a characteristic not present with its incandescent predecessor because of the softness of output the silk skirts provided.  

Why not go back in time and shoot the 2×1 fixture through a set of silks?  

Until now this has not been widely considered because LED fixtures have lacked the raw “horsepower” to properly illuminate through a Silk Skirt without an unacceptable drop in levels of output, to say nothing of even fall off of light on the floor from their centre out.  

That was until the introduction of the Litepanels Gemini 2×1 Hard.

21st century Spacelight test 

Offering a greater volume of output than other comparable 2×1 fixtures, Universal Production Services out of schoolboy curiosity, wondered how the fixture would perform whilst hung on a rope through a set of silks. 

The result of the test was eye opening.  

We know from data gathered during a comparative test, that the output of an Incandescent Spacelight whilst hung at 10ft to the base of the skirt, directly beneath is 42 foot candles. And at 10ft across the floor from this point (i.e. the level of fall off), 10 foot candles.  

The Gemini 2×1 Hard was run at full intensity, with a CCT of 3200K, a light diffusion on the lamp’s front and a full set of silks attached. Suspended at 10ft from the floor to the base of the silks (identical test criteria), it recorded on the floor at its centre, 53 foot candles, and at 10ft, 17 foot candles.  

In short it significantly outperformed the Incandescent Spacelight, recording a higher output with a more even level of fall off.

The light output was also flatteringly, beautifully, silky, soft… 

As a newer generation LED fixture the Litepanels Gemini has a broad spectrum of output. It has the additional benefits of LED, including the capacity to produce tunable CCT between 2700K and 10000K, as well as a wide pallet of both saturated and non-saturated colour, and selection of onboard special effects. All for a diminutive power draw of 425 Watts. At 11.5 kg / 25.3 lb it weighs little more than its historical sibling and hangs easily from a rope to match the methodology. 

Maybe the time has come where we can truly go back to the future, as the old ways are still sometimes the best.