Lighting Technician

Lighting Technician

Electrical Lighting Technicians (ELT) or simply Lighting Tech., are involved with rigging stage and location sets and controlling artificial, electric lights for art and entertainment venues (theater or live music venues) or in video, television, or film production. In a theater production, lighting technicians work under the lighting designer and master electrician. In video, television, and film productions, lighting technicians work under the direction of the Gaffer or Chief Lighting Technician whom takes their direction from the cinematographer. In live music, lighting technicians work under the Lighting Director. All heads of department report to the production manager.

Lighting technicians are responsible for the movement and set up of various pieces of lighting equipment for separation of light and shadow or contrast, depth of field and/or visual effects. Lighting Technicians may also lay electrical cables, wire fixtures, install color effects or image patterns, focus the lights, and assist in creating effects or programming sequences.

Most lighting technician work as riggers and install portable, temporary, electrical based modular, distribution units and portable cables. These plug or tap into other modular units fed from bigger premade cables and splitters with the CAM-LOK” TM - Trade name which has become a generic vernacular; moulded water resistant SINGLE PIN connector,under the standard IP44 splash or waterproof connectors. Lamps and luminaries are then installed onto the stage or set per the head of the department.

Changing bulbs while the lamps are completely unplugged from power sources and other lamp management keeps the equipment in prime working shape. Most lamps from a 2 kw down use male/dual bladed grounding plugs, or if it's a 5 kw or higher than 20 amps, lamps use either a 60 amp to a 100 amp grounded stage connector generically refereed to as "BATES" due to the original manufacture. Today's modern portable electrical rigging setup is backed up with a grounding system, making portable power for the lighting technician safer than wiring a domestic light or socket in a home where the cable circuits are permanent, hard wired connections to an over amperage protection system.

Rigging safely is of great importance. Cable runs and lamps rigged above cast/artist and crew are as much a concern for safety as much as electrical safety using 'lock out/tag out' protocols.

Chief Rigging Technicians consult the Chief Lighting Technician and the Cinematographer on the amount of electricity needed, and what kind of lighting requirements are needed, and where and what to rig. Any shooting set can have as little as 150 amps 120/208 volts single phase of power to as many as 1200A 480/240/120 volts 3 phase (times infinity) of power depending on the requirements and the budget.

Lighting/Rigging crews mostly consist of young, unqualified, hands on training, non-state certified electrical technicians. Crews are overseen usually by a person who stands in a pecking order within the hierarchy of the department, but has no real power or voice. This person is called the 'pusher'.

Some local unions such as the International Alliance of Television Stage Employees (IATSE) Hollywood chapter local #728, have been qualifying members by certification and recognition through the Entertainment Stage Technologies Association (ESTA)with their Entertainment Technicians Certification Program (ETCP). Basic skill sets are now standardized, and sets and stage are safer through this program.

electricians when using the standard modular cables and lamps, and small location-based television crews have operated this way for 30 years since the 1980s (using standard 13amp 240v domestic circuits to power 2,000W "Blonde" lamps, 2,500W HMI lamps and smaller). Safety glass and safety mesh are very important on lamps in case of exploding bulbs. Bulbs do explode and their safety with a working crew or at a concert is based on how close they are rigged to people and not an electrical issue.

It's very important to use the correct gauge of electrical cable for the power carried in it. Cables will melt if too much power is pulled through too thin a cable. This is not a complicated skill and is easily learnt but very important. It's useful to have an electrician on a lighting team in order to patch power from permanent power distribution boards attached to the national grid and other more complicated electrical tasks. The rest of a lighting technician's work concerns safety of rigging and working with objects which can be very heavy and get very hot. Lamps are getting more efficient so can provide more light output at lower power levels and motion picture cameras are many times more sensitive than in earlier times so big electrical rigs are not so necessary anymore.

Portable, temporary power distribution equipment for events is commonly of the “plug and play” variety which doesn’t require a degree in electrical engineering to connect a system together but it does a good understanding of electrical theory and safety.