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A followspot, sometimes known as a spot light, is a powerful stage light
Stage lighting instrument

Stage lighting instruments are used in stage lighting to illuminate theatre productions, rock concerts and other performances taking place in live performance Theater s....
 which can be controlled by a human spotlight operator
Spotlight operator

The Spotlight Operator, Followspot Operator, Followspot or Spot Op is a theatrical technician, defined as a lighting technician, who operates a specialized stage lighting instrument known as a followspot....
 to "follow" actors around the stage. Followspots are commonly used in concerts. Followspots are usually located in the overhead catwalks
Catwalk (theater)

A catwalk is an elevated service platform from which many of the technical functions of a theater, such as lighting and sound, may be manipulated....
, or in theatres, they can also be found commonly in the control booth, in addition to the catwalk.

Characteristics of a typical follow spot include:

Some followspots can be fitted with colourchangers
Color magazine

A color magazine is a fixture attached to a follow spot that places different color filters in the path of the beam. Instead of working with comparatively cumbersome color gel frames, the color magazine allows the spot operator to easily slide color frames in or out of place using a series of levers....
 to colour the beam, and/or gobo
Gobo (lighting)

A gobo is a template or pattern cut into a circular plate used to create patterns of projected light. The name may be derived from go between, or from Goes Before Optics....
 holders to create a variety of effects.






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Follow Spot
A followspot, sometimes known as a spot light, is a powerful stage light
Stage lighting instrument

Stage lighting instruments are used in stage lighting to illuminate theatre productions, rock concerts and other performances taking place in live performance Theater s....
 which can be controlled by a human spotlight operator
Spotlight operator

The Spotlight Operator, Followspot Operator, Followspot or Spot Op is a theatrical technician, defined as a lighting technician, who operates a specialized stage lighting instrument known as a followspot....
 to "follow" actors around the stage. Followspots are commonly used in concerts. Followspots are usually located in the overhead catwalks
Catwalk (theater)

A catwalk is an elevated service platform from which many of the technical functions of a theater, such as lighting and sound, may be manipulated....
, or in theatres, they can also be found commonly in the control booth, in addition to the catwalk.

Characteristics of a typical follow spot include:

  • A strong light source, often a high-intensity discharge lamp
    High-intensity discharge lamp

    A High-intensity discharge lamp is a type of electric light which produces light by means of an electric arc between tungsten electrodes housed inside a translucent or transparent fused quartz or fused alumina arc tube....
     with a high colour temperature
    Color temperature

    Color temperature is a characteristic of visible light that has important applications in lighting, photography, videography, publishing, and other fields....
  • A lens
    Lens (optics)

    A lens is an optics device with perfect or approximate axial symmetry which transmittance and refraction light, converging or diverging the beam....
     which can be manually focused
  • A manual device to change the intensity of the beam, especially when an HID source which can not be electronically dimmed is used
  • An "iris" to adjust the size of the spot/angle of the beam
  • A color magazine
    Color magazine

    A color magazine is a fixture attached to a follow spot that places different color filters in the path of the beam. Instead of working with comparatively cumbersome color gel frames, the color magazine allows the spot operator to easily slide color frames in or out of place using a series of levers....
     or "boomerang" consisting of several gel
    Color gel

    A color gel or color filter , or a lighting gel or simply gel, is a transparency colored material that is used in theatre, event production, photography, videography and cinematography to color light and for color correction....
     frames which can be swung in front of the beam
  • Some sort of physical sight
    Sight (device)

    A sight is an optical device used to assist aim by guiding the eye and aligning it with a weapon or other item to be pointed. Various forms of sights exist, such as iron sights, reflex sights, peep sights, and telescopic sights....
     to assist in aiming is sometimes added onto the lamp by the operator.
Fsboomerang
Some followspots can be fitted with colourchangers
Color magazine

A color magazine is a fixture attached to a follow spot that places different color filters in the path of the beam. Instead of working with comparatively cumbersome color gel frames, the color magazine allows the spot operator to easily slide color frames in or out of place using a series of levers....
 to colour the beam, and/or gobo
Gobo (lighting)

A gobo is a template or pattern cut into a circular plate used to create patterns of projected light. The name may be derived from go between, or from Goes Before Optics....
 holders to create a variety of effects. Most followspots can be fitted with colour gels.

Examples of well known followspots are the Super Trouper
Super Trouper (spotlight)

Super Trouper is the registered trademark of a series of Followspot manufactured by Strong Entertainment Lighting of Omaha . They provided the inspiration for the hit ABBA song of the Super Trouper ....
 by Strong Entertainment Lighting and the Altspot line by Altman Lighting.

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