Although running a spot is generally not deemed to be as prestigious as running the lighting board, it is a necessary part of any show. (Personally, I find that running a spot is often more interesting than running the board)
There are 5 main areas to running a spot: Position, Beam Size, Focus, Shutter/Fade and Gel Color.
Position
- The key to running a follow spot is having the light centered on your target at all times
- When following a moving target, try to keep your movements as smooth as possible. If you get lost, fade off, reaquire your target, and then fade back on. Do Not jerk your spot across the stage.
- If you are on a stationary target, try to keep your spot steady
Beam Size
- The main idea with adjusting beam size, is to keep an equal amount of open light around your target.
- The size of your beam should be proportional to the size of your target (If you're on a group of people, then make it wider to cover all of them, if you are on a small object, then shrink it)
Focus
- Focus refers to the edge of your light beam and how hard/defined it is.
- There is no real formula for deciding how hard your beam edge should be
- The more you want your target to be emphasized/stand out, the more focused your spot should be
Shutter/Fade
- On most spots, there is both a shutter and a fader.
- The shutter constricts the light beam from the top and bottom (makes it a square) Use the Shutter to hit an oddly shaped target or to "cut" the light
- The fader is probably the most useful, it allows you to make the light beam darker (dimmer)
- Use the fader when you turn your spot on or off so as not to blind your audience or your target
Gel Color
- Most spots have gels that can be faded on and off
- Use gels to make your spot match the overall lighting mood/color scheme.
- Your lighting crew head will tell you what color to use when.
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