Technical Vocab

• Fresnel: Fresnels are very commonly used lanterns. They provide a short edged beam of light, which you can adjust by moving the lamp.
• Profile: Profiles provide a very direct beam of light. You control the light in a profile by moving the lens. You can further control the light with gobos and iris's.
• Spotlight: A spot light is a lantern which focuses its beam of light on one thing, and is usually used to highlight a particular person on the stage.
• Flood: A flood is a long light which can cover quite a big area of space, which when used with other floods can provide a basic cover.
• Moving lights: These are lights which you can personalize with gels and gobos and control using pan and tilt. You can have profiles and fresnels as moving lights.
• Iris: An accessory which can alter the size of a beam of light.
• Gobos: Gobos are accessories which can be added to a light to project a particular pattern or shape.
• Barn Doors: These are an attachment added to the front of a Fresnel light.
• Scrollers: A scroller changes the colour gels on a light.
• Gels: A gel is a sheet of colour which is put in a lantern to change the colour of the beam.
• DMX: DMX is what connects the light to the lighting board, and allows them to communicate with each other. Some lights need to be able to talk more using DMX than others do.
• Congo Board: The Congo Board is the panel you use to control the lighting in a theatre.
• Safety Chain: A safety chain is an accessory on a lantern, which is attached to the g-clamp, used to secure it on a lighting bar.
• G clamp: This is a small clamp used to screw in a lantern onto a lighting bar.