Gel (Colour Filter)

Rosco Gel Swatch Book

White light may show what is happening on stage but it doesn’t really create a mood and gets a bit boring after a while. Gel is a coloured sheet of plastic which is fixed to the front of a light inside a gel frame and which produces a coloured light beam. Like gobos, there is a vast number of standard gel types made by a number of companies. Here’s a rough guide to their effects:

• Red: angry, dramatic
• Blue: cold, night time
• Pale purple: neutral
• Orange/yellow: warm
• Dark colours are usually used for lighting bands and since they absorb lots of light, they can get very warm and eventually melt.
• Paler colours are more suited to theatre lighting where subtle mood setting is required.