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

Stage lighting instrument

Stage lighting instruments are used in stage lighting to illuminate theatrical productions, concerts, and other performances taking place in live performance venues. They are also used to light television studios and sound stages.Many stagecraft terms vary between the United States and the United...

 which projects a bright beam of light onto a performance space. Followspots are controlled by a spotlight operator

Spotlight operator

The Spotlight Operator, Followspot Operator, Followspot, Spot Op, Dome Operator or Domie is a theatrical technician, defined as a lighting technician, who operates a specialized stage lighting instrument known as a followspot. A followspot is designed to move, change size, beam width, and color...

 who follows actors around the stage. Followspots are most commonly used in concerts, musicals and large scale presentations where highlighting a specific, mobile, individual is critical. Followspots are sometimes located overhead on 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.- Function :...

. In some theatres, they may also be located in the control booth or purposely built "spot booths" in addition to the catwalk. Follow spots may be arranged in a variety of patterns for coverage. For example they are aimed at the stage in front of them in theaters, located to the back or rear. This location can become problematic due to fan noise and/or any communication by headset communication from the spot operator speaking into their mic on the headset. In a circus and/or sports followspots may be arranged around the facility covering both sides and the ends. In a concert setting they may be in a position FOH

FOH

FOH is a three-letter acronym which may refer to:*FOH Holdings, parent of Frederick's of Hollywood*Formula One Holdings, a company which nominally controls the commercial aspects of Formula One...

 while other positions may have the follow spot upstage used as back and/or top light. Some concerts use truss spots on a truss down stage but closer than catwalk spots in an amphitheater style catwalk layout. In other places spots are at the mercy of how the architect designed the space.

Characteristics of a typical follow spot include:

• A strong light source, often a high-intensity discharge lamp
  High-intensity discharge lamp
  High-intensity discharge lamps are a type of electrical lamp 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. This tube is filled with both gas and metal salts. The gas facilitates the...
  
   with a high colour temperature
  Color temperature
  Color temperature is a characteristic of visible light that has important applications in lighting, photography, videography, publishing, manufacturing, astrophysics, and other fields. The color temperature of a light source is the temperature of an ideal black-body radiator that radiates light of...
  
  
• A lens
  Lens (optics)
  A lens is an optical device with perfect or approximate axial symmetry which transmits and refracts light, converging or diverging the beam. A simple lens consists of a single optical element...
  
   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 gel frames, the color magazine allows the spot operator to easily slide color frames in or out of place using a series of levers.The...
  
   or "boomerang" consisting of several gel
  Color gel
  A color gel or color filter , also known as lighting gel or simply gel, is a transparent 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 a device used to assist aligning or aim weapons, surveying instruments, or other items by eye. Sights can be a simple set or system of markers that have to be aligned together as well as aligned with the target...
  
   to assist in aiming is sometimes added onto the lamp by the operator.

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 gel frames, the color magazine allows the spot operator to easily slide color frames in or out of place using a series of levers.The...

 to colour the beam, and/or gobo

Gobo (lighting)

A gobo derived from "Go Between" or Goes Before Optics -originally used on film sets, is a physical template slotted inside, or placed in front of, a lighting source, used to control the shape of emitted light....

 holders to create a variety of effects. Most followspots can be fitted with colour gels.

Perhaps the best known brand of followspot is the Super Trouper

Super Trouper (spotlight)

Super Trouper is the registered trademark of a series of follow spotlights manufactured by Strong Entertainment Lighting of Omaha . They provided the inspiration for the hit ABBA song of the same name....

 by Strong Entertainment Lighting, as made famous by the ABBA

ABBA

ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...

 song

Super Trouper (song)

-A-Teens version:"Super Trouper" was A-Teens' second single from their 1st album The ABBA Generation, a cover of ABBA's song. When the single came out in the fall of 1999, it became a hit around the globe, just as its predecessor "Mamma Mia", also an ABBA cover...

 of the same name. Other well known followspots include the Altspot line by Altman Lighting and Aramis and Ivanhoe lines by Robert Juliat.

A partial list of manufactures

• Altman
  Altman Lighting Co.
  The Altman stage lighting company, established in 1953, is one of the leading manufacturers of theatrical lighting instruments. They are located in Yonkers, New York and have been a family run business since the 1950’s...
  
  
• Lycian
• Super Trouper
  Super Trouper (spotlight)
  Super Trouper is the registered trademark of a series of follow spotlights manufactured by Strong Entertainment Lighting of Omaha . They provided the inspiration for the hit ABBA song of the same name....