LED stage lights - technical benefits

Using LED light As Stage light Can Help the whole Process

LED stage lights benefit from the design improvements stage lighting can receive from LED lights. We consider the artistic process as well as some interesting technical details that may motivate you to swap.

(Continued from spiritual and artistic benefits of LED in stage lighting.)

The Technical benefits

To a stage light designer Or an Aspiring Director

Rainbow LED stage light effect.

A good performance is a team play. EVERY rehearsal is important to the outcome. So light it to the extent needed and keep perfecting as you go.

With LED lights you won't feel guilty doing it, because you use fraction of the power, and you won't abuse them by wearing out too soon.

Rehearsals

There is nothing more powerful and simple then creating atmoshpere with light or the lack of it. Try use soft LED stage lights as early as you can. Record the settings in a controller for later reuse.

Invocation
Rehearsals
Hear the light
Motion lighting
Stage strobing
Related Articles, Resources

In this, I imagine you will paint with light much like a painter does with starting out with the lighter and darker patches in generic tones and earthy colors.

And when you get to dressed rehearsals - dresses not only show less skin, they also fundamentally alter the effect of lights. And props don't just create character and frame the scene. They fundamentally alter the reflection and coloration of the stage.

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Hear the light and see the sound

“Theatre is being best performed in a few inch space -- Between the ears ...

The best stage-lighting use lighting to break away from the single heavy focus on the centre-stage and immaterialise it to make it become virtually anything -- anything that is in the audience's mind.

Take the rhythmic component of the performance one step further and you could mix various media. Or pass on inspiration for selecting sound-score from lighting design or vice versa. You won't be the first one and there are great masters to learn from.

One great example of course is Kevin Bartlett. He was an acclaimed stage light designer too. Among others he collaborated on set lighting for Johnny Cage and the mighty Led Zeppelin.

Get inspired by Kevin Bartlett who combined music with stage light design

Motion lighting with LED

To light the music and the action, you need to follow motion. With LED lights you can combine that with all kinds of color mixing.

This and other things are extremely well explained by Mats Karlsson

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LED Stage Strobing

Strobing can harden practically any stage effect, but it should never become the focus in itself. Otherwise, it tends to become just repetitive terribly boring.

And with LED strobe lights that are so extremely fast and mesmerizing, it is very easy to get carried away and a bit overdo things.

So consider the age-old rules of visual focus. A stark glare is offputting and plain dull when you compare it to the fluidity of multiple soft glances.

Video rate strobing

LED video screens typically run their LEDs at rates of 1,000 to 2,000Hz. And because some control consoles and media servers enable video content to be translated into DMX data for distribution to LED lights, this can turn the lights into very bright pixels. Pixel mapping for media servers is now very popular so these kind of distributed displays are becoming increasingly common.

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