Chapter One: The Basics

Well, you're still reading, so I take it you want to take a plunge and see the full iceberg. 

We'll start with the basics. Err, the advanced basics. The not-simple basics? You get the idea.

Lights

To understand what you can do, you'll need to know the types of lights available to you. They come in all shapes and sizes, with different abilities and limitations. Most of them have light in them, but some spin, some shoot smoke, some do both! Some are tiny, some are large, and some are taller than you are. At the church, we have the basic kind that don't do much of those, and tend to be pretty small. But you can still make a good show with small lights.

The Leko

Say hi to the LekoLight. This type of light can be found at stages across the world, anywhere from live theatre to concerts to churches. This is the industry standard workhorse. While some are LED and have the capability to change colour, most of them are a simple tungsten bulb. To change the colour of those kind, you simply put a piece of coloured plastic (typically called a gel) in front of the fixture. The fins sticking out of the middle can be used to adjust the area of light, being able to cut it down from a circle to a small box. Gobos are used to add patterns to the lights, such as adding a window effect, or creating a logo.

A note about lekos: the newer (LED) kind can be controlled digitally, but the older kinds simply provide a standard plug. To dim the older kind, they must be paired with something known as a "dimmer pack", which takes the digital control signals and converts it into controllable outlets.

ParCans

Meet the ParCan. This light is somewhere between a leko and a par, and it happens to look like a can. Similar to the lekolight, it must be plugged into a dimmer pack to be controlled by a system. Although not used too much, they're excellent at providing light over large areas, however they can't be controlled like a leko can. These are the lights you'll find hanging off the side of our LED wall.

The Par

This is the Par. We have many of these on the stage, and they're great for lighting up everything but people.