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Television lighting requirements
Everybody knows that the lighting requirements in early television were extraordinary, and the horror stories are legion--actors' hair catching on fire, etc--but in Television in America: Local Station History From Across the Nation the author Michael D. Murray makes a statement that sounds unlikely. In discussing KSD-TV in St. Louis, Missouri, he says "...working conditions were quite demanding. Early television required a lot of lighting, and these programs routinely employed five banks of spotlights, each with 1,000 650-watt bulbs..." [p. 217] By my reckoning, this means they were drawing three-and-a-quarter million watts for lighting alone, which seems excessive. Unfortunately he doesn't cite a reference so I can't check it. How does this figure strike everyone here?
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One Ruthie At A Time |
#2
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What's a 650-watt bulb look like? I actually have a 750-watt bulb around here somewhere. It's very roughly equivalent in size to an 8BP4. Just imagine how big a bank of 1000 would be. I don't know what that person was thinking of but just one of the thing they describe would be gargantuan.
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tvontheporch.com Last edited by David Roper; 03-04-2012 at 07:34 PM. |
#3
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"...five banks of spotlights, each with 1,000 650-watt bulbs.."
Something is garbled there. First of all, "spotlights" would not be used in "banks." Reflector flood lamps were used in banks - I have seen pictures (movies?) of a studio with such banks on rotatable supports - have to go searching... |
#4
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See this at 1:53 - I am looking for a better shot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV0Ra...eature=related |
#5
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See this one at ~14:06-14:10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A7MN4TjC2Q Looks like the banks contained 6 reflector floods each in these cases. |
Audiokarma |
#6
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Yes, that's the other thing that made me skeptical; I didn't think that spotlights were arranged in banks. (Actually, according to Louis Sposa, who was the chief broadcast engineer at WABD at the time (1947), the high light levels required by Iconoscope cameras pretty much ruled out the use of any kind of modeling lighting.)
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One Ruthie At A Time |
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this should help - description of the lighting at Radio City studio (which is probably what is seen in the Youtube clips), per Zworykin and Morton, "Television" 1940.
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#8
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I'm skeptical about the number of lights the article claims are used. KSD was the first station to go on the air with Image Orthicon cameras as opposed to the Iconoscope. The amount of light needed was a fraction of the 1000+ footcandles required for the Iconoscope. I've got a photo somewhere of their studio and the lights appear to be mostly 1000 watt and 650 watt instruments.
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#9
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Quote:
The NAB Handbook 5th Edition (1960) recommends feeder capacity for monochrome of 25 watts per square foot, with on average 50% of that capacity being used. For color, four times the above figures are recommended. This is to provide base light of 75 foot-candles, base plus key of 100 foot candles. Again, the numbers are multiplied by four for color. So, the 2000 foot-candle level suggested for good iconoscope results with the iris stopped down would imply 250 watts per square foot actually in use. Whew! |
#10
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By the way, the Television Engineering Handbook (1992) says that modern cameras can use much less light than the image orthicons, but that the trend towards brighter interior lighting in most places means that anything less than 100 foot-candles is "a depressing and abnormal environment for the talent."
In other words, the talent should feel that there is no stinting on lighting even if the cameras don't need it! |
Audiokarma |
#11
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when i last saw a taping of a television show, i was amazed at how dimly lit the studio and sets were, and how orangey the light was because they were dimmed so low.
I know even in the 90's when we upgraded to CCD cameras in the studio that they saved on light bulbs because they lasted much longer being run at about 60% brightness |
#12
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Thanks for the input, everyone. I've written to the author of the book and asked him for a clarification. BTW, is there any fairly straightforward way of calculating how many lamps you'll need of a given wattage if you know what the amount of illumination required is in foot-candles?
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One Ruthie At A Time |
#13
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Quote:
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#14
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Yes, soap operas have very dark, dramatic lighting, which matches the sets, which are also very dark. Evidently everyone lives in houses that don't have any windows, because from what (little) I've seen, daylight never enters the picture.
When daytime soaps first came to television around 1950, the budgets were farcically small, even by the standards of the day; they didn't run to building full sets, for example. They usually had a black cyclorama as a backdrop, and some props and furniture to suggest the setting: a table with chairs, a refrigerator and a stove would suggest the kitchen. The camera would pull up tight on the actors so that it wouldn't be so obvious, but inevitably the black background would show at least a bit, and it gave the whole thing a spooky look, as though it were being performed at the bottom of a coal mine. I've included a few screen shots from two mid-50's soaps, The Secret Storm and Love of Life. On You Tube Secret Storm clips are dated 1951, but that's a mistake--TSS didn't go on the air until 1954. The secret storm (1951).jpg The secret storm (1951)a.jpg 1953 Love of Life - YouTube.jpg 1953 Love of Life - YouTube2.jpg
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One Ruthie At A Time Last edited by Rinehart; 03-06-2012 at 10:54 PM. Reason: Improving the style |
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By the way, I looked up the old TK-45 3-vidicon color camera that was used for closed circuit televising surgery at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The RCA Color Television Manual for Technical Training says that it required 2500 foot-candles for high quality pictures.
http://www.oldradio.com/archives/har...a-wramc(2).jpg |
Audiokarma |
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