Intelligent Lights – They’re Not Just For Rock ‘n Roll Anymore
By: David Martin Jacques

Copyright © 2004 by David Jacques

To be Published in the November, 2004, issue of Church Production Magazine

When you turn on the television and watch your favorite show you will most surely see examples of intelligent lighting effects. From Who Wants to be a Millionaire to The Olympics, moving lights are everywhere.

Intelligent fixtures were first introduced in the 1980’s for the Rock n’ Roll industry. Legend has it that a concert sound-support company in Dallas, Texas, decided to develop a lighting fixture that could remotely change colors to cut back on the number of lights utilized in a rock concert. When the engineers came back to suggest that with the addition of only two more motors the lights could also move, the first commercial intelligent moving light was designed.

What followed was a series of stadium concert tours whose primary purpose was to out-flash each other. Moving lights were incorporated to “wow” the audience with flashy effects. In this industry, subtlety was not the norm.

It would take several years for this technology to be accepted into the theatre and opera world. In order to introduce this technology into sound-sensitive environments, higher efficient reflectors, fans, and motors had to be developed. In time, a whole series of quiet intelligent lighting fixtures were introduced. This opened the door to a large segment of the market: theatres, operas, film, television, and churches.

Unlike the flashy world of Rock n’ Roll, in church and theatrical environments intelligent lighting is used in much more subtle ways. The lighting fixtures’ movement flexibility is the primary advantage of using intelligent lighting in the worship environment. Intelligent lights effectively replace multiple fixed conventional lighting instruments. They allow you to remotely change focus and color many times during a service. You would need several separately pre-focused conventional lighting fixtures to do this.

We are fortunate as there are now many different types of automated lighting fixtures available to us. Full-featured intelligent lights come in two basic designs: The “Scanner” is a long fixture that projects a beam of light onto a moving mirror, which reflects and redirects the light to the desired focus point. The “Moving Head fixture” uses a moving yoke that pans and tilts the entire light, thus directing the light to its focus point. The main advantage of the scanner is that the light beam can move incredibly fast due to the low mass and weight of the mirror. The advantage of the moving head design is that it has a wider range of movement and beam coverage.

The prices and capabilities of full-featured intelligent lighting instruments vary widely. On the lower end of the chart you have the ETC Revolution and the Vari*lite 1000. Although these models emulate the design of the conventional ellipsoidal reflector spotlight, they also feature CMY color changing, multiple rotating gobos, automated shutters, and adjustable zooms and focus. They both use incandescent lamps which will match the color temperature of the existing conventional lights in your church. These “low-priced” moving head fixtures range from $3,000 to $4,000.

As you climb up the scale you find intelligent lights that range from $4,000 up to $20,000. The main difference between these models and the lower priced fixtures explained above are more powerful lamps (usually arc lamps) and more efficient lenses. Due to these features they can be used for longer throwing distances. These lights may also include some devices not available on the more modest models including film loops and multiple color and gobo wheels.

If you wish to go the modular route, automated accessories are available that attach to your existing conventional lighting instruments. These include color scrollers and Cyan/Magenta/Yellow dichroic color changers (for remote color changing), I-Cues (moving mirror attachment that converts a spotlight to a moving light through the use of a moving mirror), gobo rotators (rotates one or two gobos) and automated yokes (replaces the fixed yoke of the conventional spotlight turning that fixed lighting instrument into a moving light).

Although these accessories are priced lower than full-featured intelligent lighting fixtures, by the time you add a color-changer, auto-yoke, and gobo rotator, you probably have exceeded the cost of well designed all-in-one intelligent fixture.

And don’t forget about control. It takes specialized software to be able to quickly and efficiently program these lights. Remember, unlike a typical conventional lighting fixture that needs only one control channel for intensity, each moving light can require 10 to 30 control channels to program. Depending on the model, a moving light could need separate control channels for intensity, focus, pan, tilt, color wheels, gobo wheels, gobo rotation, each shutter, frost, etc.

Lighting controllers range widely depending on power and versatility. For smaller churches I specify a hybrid controller—one that is designed for conventional lighting but also has good moving light programming package. These controllers are useful for up to 24 moving lights and could be purchased for around $8,000 - $15,000. More than two dozen intelligent fixtures requires you to consider a dedicated moving light console, which will cost from $15,000 on up.

With all these options it’s no wonder that the designer can become overwhelmed with choices. It is essential for the designer to remember that these lighting fixtures and controllers are only sophisticated tools that allows the designer to achieve his/her artistic goals.

I was one of the first designers to use intelligent lighting fixtures in the theatre and remember the powerful temptation to “show off” the lights. However, I quickly remembered some sound advice that I read from the famous mid-20th century theatre director, producer, and designer, Robert Edmund Jones. Mr. Jones insisted that the purpose of design in the theatre is to “support the natural power of the actor”. The actors “tell” the story of the play, and the design of the lighting, set, or costumes should never detract from telling the story.

When designing the lighting for a worship service it is important to remember that the lighting is there to support the service and the message, not distract from it. It is very easy to impress the congregation with intelligent lighting performing visual tricks in the church. This may not be a bad thing when effects are appropriate, but 99% of the time the lighting should be subtle and must play a supportive role to the message being delivered.

During a typical mainstream church service you may never notice an intelligent light move. However, it probably does move several times when presetting to a new position, focus, and/or color. Unlike the flashy rock concert the light moves while “dark” and goes unnoticed by the congregation.

When teaching lighting design for a play or opera, one of the primary exercises I use is to have my students identify and divide the entire play into compositional elements: the up-lifting moments, the quiet moments, and the transitions that connect the atmospheres. Just like a piece of music, the play is an overall composition of various moods and tempos. I call this the “visual and emotional script”—a script that is strictly followed throughout the design process. The designer then designs the lighting following this visual and emotional script--creating atmospheres that support the moods and tempos of the play.

The same is applicable to the typical worship service. There are moments of high passion, and solemn introspection. There are also worship songs, both up-tempo and quiet. A good worship service follows this carefully developed script to achieve the most effective and powerful worship experience.

The variety of lighting parameters in intelligent lighting makes the process of creating lighting atmospheres a bit more complex. Unlike conventional theatrical lighting fixtures that requires only one moving design parameter (intensity), intelligent lighting fixtures and control deal with multiple lighting parameters. Each light can change intensity, color, texture, and focus at different times. The designer must choose which qualities change and at what time.

Dealing with these multiple parameters can sometimes confuse the inexperienced designer, creating cue transitions that seem abrupt. Sometimes in rehearsal I have my design students leave the lighting console periodically to watch the show without being distracted from the lighting console. I show them how the lighting can detract from the moments, and being away from the light board makes it easier for them to see this. They soon return to the console to make the necessary corrections.

Finally, it requires a great deal of training and practice to master this technology. Although it may seem that using intelligent lighting fixtures cuts down on focusing time, the fact is that the time that it used to take to get the ladder out and focus the light has been replaced by extended programming time.

There are several methods of training. First, you could go to workshops sponsored by the major intelligent lighting companies. There are also workshops available at Lighting Dimensions International, the annual lighting trade show. You could also enroll in the numerous intelligent lighting courses offered at universities and colleges.

Introducing intelligent lighting to your church may not be as difficult as you thought. With an open mind, a good deal of sensitivity, and practical and artistic knowledge, you too can be the lighting star of your church.