Back to the Future

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Ian MuirIan has worked in Technical Sales for Lighting manufacturers, often crossing the divide into fixture R&D for a number of years. His experience spans the pioneering days of LED based lighting in the Naughties to the present.

Written by Ian Muir

The development of lighting used in Film and TV production has a multifaceted history, influenced by technology, as well as the required aesthetic outcome.

Many types and methodologies of lighting utilised for periods in the last 120 years have had their time and fallen into disuse. But could it be that some elements of lighting technique once used extensively, can still be relevant when combined with other more current technologies? The incredibly soft, wrapping illumination of the incandescent Spacelight made it ubiquitous on soundstage around the world for decades. Is it possible to revive the methodology with a high output Gemini 2 1 Hard LED panel?

The History To start with, a history lesson of sorts.

Lighting has predominantly followed the technology of image capture, to complement the spectral constraints of the chosen medium. This can be charted from the use of Orthochromatic Black and White film in the early part of the last century, which is sensitive to the blue end of the spectrum, and reproduces higher wavelengths like red for, example, as black. To get the best result, Orthochromatic film was exposed with sources that provided the most appropriate wavelengths of light in relation to its sensitivity. Initially this was Mercury Vapour, then Carbon Arc as well as good old-fashioned daylight. Etymology note, daylight was often controlled using large sails, which is one possible origin for the term Gaffer as in the nautical Gaff rigged.

1922 saw the introduction by Eastman Kodak of the first motion picture Panchromatic Black and White Stock. Panchromatic film is sensitive to a much broader spectrum of light and therefore, lighting needed the spectral capacity to derive a more complete response (particularity in the mid tones), from the tonal values of the scene captured. This led to a transition to incandescent lighting (often referred to generically as Tungsten ), which offers a broader spectrum. Incandescent fixtures could also be more easily utilised with Fresnel lenses and barn doors which introduced better control, and more creativity into the process.

The introduction of Technicolor in the later part of the 30's (The Wizard of OZ being the first notable example), saw a return to Carbon Arc for reasons relating to the colour sensitivity of the process, however the technology was re-colour balanced in the 50's to improve its response to incandescents because they were more economical to use.

alt=wizzard of Oz 1939 data-nectar-img-srcset=https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/wizzard-of-Oz-1939.png 1160w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/wizzard-of-Oz-1939-300x190.png 300w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/wizzard-of-Oz-1939-1024x647.png 1024w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/wizzard-of-Oz-1939-768x485.png 768w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/wizzard-of-Oz-1939-600x379.png 600w sizes=(max-width: 1160px) 100vw, 1160px title=The Wizard of Oz. Credit: 1939 Warner Home Video />The Wizard of Oz. Credit: 1939 Warner Home Video

Whilst this is all very interesting the question you could still be asking what is your point?

Rock and roll lighting innovations As we move into the 60's things become much more rock n roll' in terms of the technologies available and perhaps most importantly, the protagonists involved. In a nutshell this was the introduction of better colour film emulsions with much better colour rendition and contrast ratios, Colour TV, and full spectrum Tungsten Halogen lamps. And John and Benny Lee.

John and Benny, from modest backgrounds spotted the rapidly expanding opportunities in both Film and TV, founding Lee Lighting in 1961. The shape and foundations of the UK film industry has its roots in the organisation which they evolved through the 60's 70's and 80's. Lee Lighting facilitated the growth that occurred by satisfying the increasing demand for lighting, camera, grip and rigging, as well as studio space.

Importantly Lee Lighting was also responsible for lighting innovations which provided better solutions to the problems that TV and Film production faced:

The Wendy Light. Built at the behest of Cinematographer David Wendy' Watkins, best known for films such as Out of Africa (for which he won an academy award), who wanted a means of filming actors traversing a scene in moonlight with constant illumination, without resorting to hiding lights at points along their travel. The Wendy Light, still widely used today, overcame this issue.

alt= data-nectar-img-srcset=https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/david-watkin-wendy-light-in-use.jpg 1920w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/david-watkin-wendy-light-in-use-300x110.jpg 300w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/david-watkin-wendy-light-in-use-1024x374.jpg 1024w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/david-watkin-wendy-light-in-use-768x281.jpg 768w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/david-watkin-wendy-light-in-use-1536x562.jpg 1536w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/david-watkin-wendy-light-in-use-600x219.jpg 600w sizes=(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px title=Wendy Light. Image Credit: BSC />Wendy Light. Image Credit: BSC

Flicker free ballasts for HMI fixtures. HMI had replaced Carbon Arc as a daylight balanced fixture because of its ease of deployment and economy of use. Early variants however could produce flicker on film. Lee designed and built a balla

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