From The Horse's Mouth

My 17 year old son’s rock band performed at a high school “Rock Off” at the Cleveland House of Blues recently. I was standing behind the sound and light boards as that is usually the best spot for sound. The light board op had a list of cues for each group’s set when they came on. Imagine my surprise when he brought up the cue list for the lighting that my son wrote (shown below). “Red stuff? Yellow? Blue/Purple things?” Wow, now this is a kid that sat at the kitchen table, eating his Fruit Loops watching me look at and analyze gel colors for the Apollo swatchbook. He has looked at every gel color in most color filter systems as I have them all over the place from answering color recommendation questions.

We may be driving somewhere and I will ask the sons ( there are three), to tell me what colors they see in a sunset or moonrise. These conversations date back to when I taught lighting design and I wanted to push the students to open their eyes and remember details (push the record button) so that they can recreate them as designers someday. I was surprised at his simple lighting request. As I thought about this, I realized that it was very admirable. My son is a bass guitar player. His main function was to play the music (and have a good time). He kept the lighting simple and trusted the board op to do whatever. As long as the crowd could see them and the lighting somewhat matched the music, he was happy. Sometimes I think we need to step back from the complex technology, simplify the cues and not give in to the impulse to strobe, flash, fog, or visually overdrive the background visuals. Yes, music can sometimes be a bit visually boring but running the lights “unplugged” will bring the audiences attention back to what they really came to experience, the music and the artist.

Grab a swatchbook and look at the color, AP3450 Bodacious Blueberry. Anything odd about it? How about AP5430 Green Gello? Holding it up to the light probably won’t help much. Here’s another that should tip it off, AP3850 King Congo Blue. Did you see the common thread? All three colors allowed more of another color through than the main color than that they are named—huh? AP3450 allows more red through than blue wavelengths, AP5430 allows far more red through than green, and finally AP3850 has almost three more times of red in it than blue. Again, I want to repeat… don’t assume the gel name is truly the gel color. Put it into a light and make up your own mind. Apollo recently introduced a new color named “Not What You Pink” (AP3270) and as you look at it in the book, it is definitely a lav or purple but when you drop it into a light, it has a pink tone to it.

Just because a color is named after a designer, doesn’t mean that if you use it, you will design like them. I’m sure if you asked them, they would probably prefer that you find your own colors and develop your own lighting style. If you buy a set of LeBron James basketball products, you will NOT play like him. It’s the talent and skills developed by lots of practice that will get you that Tony Award. Now go look at some colors!

Packaging is an important part of marketing your product. When the Gobo Green marketing campaign was started we looked at our packaging and how it could be “greener” and be used as a tool for storage. Recently we started looking at some gel pieces laying around and began playing with packaging ideas. With the gel packaging you could re-use the gel sheet we sent the gobo in. Our test gel packaging squares were 6 1/4″.  What are your thoughts on this? Would you re-use the sheets of gel? Do you currently use the plastic sleeves as a storage tool? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Guy Rhodes, a previous Apollo Standing O Award winner, wrote a great article about experimenting with gel to make a lighter color. In his blog he generically talks about a light pink and clear frost. When trying out his experiment with Apollo Gel he recommended AP8450 Spanked Pink and AP1650 Light Textured Diffusion.  Read Guy’s blog  for a new design tip to try out.

Things are changing in our industry. The status quo is no longer good enough. Apollo Gel provides the quality and consistency you need at a price that won’t break the bank.

Apollo Gel: $7.40 List

The Other Guy: $8.25 List

And now we are offering a “Cash for Color” rebate program to consumers!

Purchase a minimum of 15 sheets or 1 roll of Apollo Gel color filters from an authorized Apollo U.S. dealer between 09/1/2011 and 11/30/2011 and SAVE $1.00 per sheet or $15.00 per roll on filters in the Apollo Gel color range!

For more details click here.

Occasionally, we are asked if we can match Pantone® colors. First of all, what is a Pantone color? A Pantone color is a set color guide created by Pantone LLC. It sets a color matching standard of colors and the various primary colors that make up that color. Simple enough but here’s the rub, it started out as standardized colors used in printing inks and has expanded to fabric, household items, and plastic colors. Mixing dyes to create color is done on the subtractive color system (primaries are red, yellow, blue and when they are mixed equally create black) as opposed to additive color mixing (red, blue, green and when they are mixed create white) which is what we use in lighting colors and some LED fixtures. Occasionally an event designer or wedding planner will have the client choose a color theme to an event based on the Pantone Color Matching System. When asked if they can match a Pantone color, some lighting companies say that it is a completely different color system and will not do it. At Apollo, we actually have visual matches for our Apollo Color filters and Pantone colors listed on our website .

We can also match many Pantone colors on our custom glass gobos. As with all color matching, ALWAYS get a sample, place it in a light and compare it to the Pantone color. Remember! there can be a wide variety of color temperatures in the source light’s lamp and that can skew the color quite a bit. Avoid the potential last minute stress and get the creative clients together to approve the match as early as possible.
The Pantone color matching system is a wonderful source to choose colors from and should not be intimidating. There are many websites available that give a lot of information on the system. You can also call us at Apollo with any Pantone to Apollo Gel questions.

Please be sure to always try to test colors prior to using them as skin tones, scene paint, and costumes as colors vary dramatically.  The following are suggestions and not absolutes:

Warm Colors

• *AP7050 Yellow/amber family. The standard in warm theater colors.  Good for “tan” look. Can turn orange on thick make-up.
• AP2140 Yellow/amber family. More yellows and less red than AP7050.
• AP7300 Orange/amber family. More reds and oranges, favors pinks and blues. Fairly warm.
• AP7400 Orange/amber family. Good for sunset warms.  Brings out reds and pinks.
• *AP7900 Pink family. A nice warm pink color that is very pale.  Even color. A safe color.
• AP8600 Pink/lavender family. Very pink color. Good on most colors except green. Cheery. Great on white costumes.
• AP7100 Amber/tan family. Great for dark complexions. No blues. Mutes costume and scenic colors.

Cool Colors

Since choosing color is part of the job, this may be a question many LDs never ask themselves or have really thought about. Whether the answer is 50 sheets or 500 sheets, price increases on other brands now make your savings on Apollo Gel even more significant. Our growing sales numbers and the positive feedback we get prove Apollo Gel continues to become the color choice for many. At up to $1 less per sheet, I challenge those who have not given Apollo Gel a try to simply take a moment and calculate what your annual gel savings would be. There is no better time than now!

Hey, I can see everybody on the stage. Why do I need to put any color in the lights? Years ago when I was designing, several dance companies came through the local university road house from NYC. These were not major companies but smaller yet good companies. I noted a trend that no one was using much color and the colors that were being used were rather pale “washed out” colors. After one of the shows, I went backstage to ask what the deal was with the no color look as the dancers looked pale and not at all “ruddy”. I was told that it was a cost thing. The company did not carry much gel and preferred the lighter colors because they lasted longer. They were presenting rep works so the original designers either didn’t care or hadn’t seen the re-designs. I was a bit annoyed by this. Gel is one of the least expensive “frills” that a designer can use. It helps the performers look healthy, scenery look finished, and costumes look better. Even a small company should be able to afford color. Most theatres have a small inventory as well. Yes, the blue may not be the ideal blue or they may not all match but it will add to the “dimensioning” of the stage elements. It may be easy to cut the colors out of the lighting but remember that dancer from the northeast has been rehearsing in a dim studio and hasn’t seen the sun for awhile. Give them a break and “tan them up” with a Fatherless Amber (AP7050) or a Peach My Interest (AP7630).

As you thumb through your Apollo Gel book, you have probably stumbled upon a neutral density filter (AP2310, 2320, 2330) or two and wondered what does this do and why would I need it.  The neutral density filter is a basic light fixture or lamp dimmer that can be used in several different ways. It was originally created for the film industry where the use of dimming for the lighting of a scene was not always practical. Some film lights are discharge type fixtures that require ballasts and cannot be dimmed. The neutral density (usually called an “ND”) can be used to “dim down” the fixture to match the other fixtures or to only add a subtle fill to part of a scene. ND’s block light output without affecting the color temperature of the fixture. In architectural lighting, an ND can be used to drop down the output of harsh fluorescents or discharge lamps to match other sources. In today’s lighting world of brighter is better, the ND is a good tool to remember.  So you are probably thinking, “How does this help me, the theatrical lighting designer?” Well, with the bevy of various lamp wattages and fixture efficiencies out there, an ND can be a godsend. Let’s say that you only have an ETC Source Four with a 750 watt HPL lamp and an Altman 360Q with a 500 watt lamp to project 2 gobos on your cyc and only 1 dimmer left. There will be a big intensity difference between the two fixtures. With the use of an ND, the Source Four can be dimmed to match the 360Q. Cool huh?  So you may not need 100 sheets of the neutral density filters in your gel file but a few of each density will come in handy at around 11:00pm when you are trying to match those fixtures before the director starts screaming.