Strip Light to be used for Footlights, Cone Lamp to be used for Spot קופ 1111 Bunch Light FIG. 64-HOMEMADE LIGHT UNITS. set on a square of wood. A tin reflector can be tacked to the back edge of the wooden block. Holes above the bulb will be necessary for ventilation, but it will be necessary to rivet a tin hood over the holes or they will let out light. Of course, this substitute will have no lens, which is the most important single piece of the spot light. But the homemade article will cast a limited spot of light. It will work better if the inner rim of the cone is painted black for a distance of six inches or so this black rim helps to make the light from the cone less diffuse by preventing it from being reflected by the extreme edge of the cone-it prevents the light from "kicking off," in the technical jargon of the stage electrician. 3. Homemade Flood.-For a flood light, a bunch light is the best substitute. When electricity was in its infancy, before the huge powerful bulbs of the present day had been invented, bunch lights were universally used. It consists of nothing more or less than a box arranged to contain a number of small bulbs. It throws a diffuse light over a large area, just as a flood does. If a wooden box is used, it had better be lined with tin. It may be set on a standard, but if it appears at all top-heavy, it should be fastened to the floor whenever it is used. This may best be done with one or two stage screws. The amount of light may be regulated by unscrewing some of the bulbs. The variation possible with a bunch light is, therefore, from a single bulb to the united strength of the total number of bulbs. Color may be introduced by the use of colored bulbs, or by arranging a device at the front of the box to hold gelatine slides. In making homemade electrical devices care must be taken to avoid fire risks: nothing should be done that will invalidate fire insurance policies. Gelatines and Slides Gelatine is one of the most important substances for the securing of modern light effects. It is a transparent medium, which may be purchased from theatrical supply concerns in an infinite number of colors and shades. It comes in sheets, approximately twenty inches square. A supply of these in assorted colors that are commonly used, might well be kept on hand. Frames to hold the gelatines may be purchased at very reasonable prices, or they may be easily made of either wood or tin. Gelatine curls with the heat, and it is easily broken, so that many of the large frames have fine wires stretched across the face (as in illustration on page 228) to help protect the gelatine. It should be the work of a few moments only to change the gelatines in the frames, but it is useful to have several slides for each unit, so that it will not be necessary to make changes during the course of a performance. Colors in Gelatines.-The colors in gelatines that will be found most useful will be ambers, yellows, reds, blues, and greens. With these, almost any effect can be secured. "Frosted" gelatine, which throws a white light, is also essential. The commonest color for the representation of sunlight is amber, but some modern stage artists are beginning to be very much opposed to using this color at all. They point out, quite cor rectly, that it kills many of the other colors commonly used in scenery, costume, and make-up. They recommend that the effect of sunlight be secured by a combination of several gelatines: for instance, straw, steel blue, and light pink. Experimentation with these and other colors is exceedingly valuable. Gelatines may be placed doubled in a frame, so that the light shines through a double medium. If a single sheet allows too much light to shine through, another sheet of the same color may be used. Two different colors may be placed together to create a third color. Many lights have grooves in front to take two slides, so that slides may be placed one before the other, and the two colors mixed by this method. Slides of frosted gelatine are exceedingly useful to cut down the amount of light without changing its color. Frosted gelatine is also of great value to soften the edge of a spotlight. By putting it in a slide with another color, and tearing a jagged hole in the center of the frost (see illustration), a soft edge is secured. Sometimes it is necessary to lessen the light area covered by a spot or flood light. Regular "shutters," similar to those in a camera, are sold by supply manufacturers; but pieces of tin, or even pieces of cardboard, may be used for the same purpose. The Control of Lighting The real problem of theatrical lighting has not yet been mentioned, and that is the problem of control. It is a subject of great difficulty, and cannot be gone into here in much detail. The common method is to |