For years, lighting designers have been matching lumens between the lighting and video elements. The video was always brighter. In the last couple years, much of that has suddenly changed. That’s because we lighting guys now have some powerful weapons in our fight against video dominance. One problem I noticed with the advent of all these new bright lights is that lighting designers have gotten use to focusing lights directly into the crowds’ eyes. In the days of old, this wasn’t so harsh. One could put a gobo in the light beam or soften it up with a diffuser so it wasn’t so blinding. I see shots of people with their hands in front of their face constantly. To me, that’s bad. I can take 40 Sharpys and make amazing “Matrix” style focuses of light beams in an arena. Yet not a single beam will terminate in a spectators face.
—Nook Schoenfeld, from LD-at-Large, PLSN, April 2014
