Stage Lighting vs. Film Lighting For some people, lights are lights. When a production team has lighting to throw on a subject, and can control that light, it seems straightforward to the layperson. But the requirements for film as contrasted with the lighting needs for theatre are a world apart. This paper delves into both kinds of lighting, and explains the uses, advantages, and major differences.

The Literature on Lighting

Rick Shaw of CSI Multimedia as been providing lighting, sound, video and projection since 1986, and he insists that proper "video and stage lighting are, for the most part, mutually incompatible" (Shaw, 2009). Lighting for film and video is "flat" Shaw says, with no shadows, and it has a high color temperature (5600 Kelvin, which is equal to morning sunlight). Stage lighting however is "dimensional," which means there will be shadows, and its color temperature is just 3200 Kelvin -- about the intensity of a quartz bulb (Shaw, p. 1).

Shaw notes that the anchors on cable news programs have "naturally appearing colors, especially flesh tones" and there are never shadows under the eyes or neck. But on the other hand, when a person views his or her own personal videos, "high contrast shadows are everywhere," faces have "a unnatural glow" and "everything has an orange hue to it" (p. 1). The solution to the issues related to home video production is to use professional movie lights, for example, "large Fresnels" with day light filters or banks of focused fluorescent lights. These lights will help produce the flat lighting and high color temperature needed for good video and film production, Shaw continues (p. 2).

Writing on the Web site DVinfo.net Peter Wiley takes the audience "sitting many feet away from the stage." Film lighting, on the other hand, as to produce "a more even pattern of light that will look good in close-up shots" (DVinfo.net).
In the Web site Control Booth technical director Van McQueen explains that there are "HUGE" differences in lighting for theatre and cinema, and he is speaking in technical terms. The "gelling" techniques, the fixture sizes, are all different, he explains. As for power, in a typical theatre production you have "100's of lamps each running at 575 watts" but in film "you might have thee lights running at 5.75 K. each," Van goes on (www.controlbooth.com). When you are comparing the cable needs for each production, in theatre production people can use a "SOCA cable about 1-1/2 inches in diameter and power 8-16 fixtures." But in cinema a production team would run "5 wires of 2/0 to a panel and provide power for fixtures, motors, SPFX, and craft services" (Control Booth).

"Steve B" explains that making movies requires a lot more power as a rule than theatre…