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Moving Light   There are two main types of moving light, categorised by the way that the light is re-directed. This can be done in one of two ways. Firstly, a static lantern can have a motorised mirror placed in front of the lens to divert the beam. The direction can then be controlled by remotely controlling the motor(s) that position the mirror. The second method is to physically move the entire lantern. This is done by mounting the lantern in a motorised yoke such that the pan and/or tilt can be remotely controlled. The two types of lantern are called ‘moving mirror’ and ‘moving head’ respectively.   Basic Moving lights   The simplest moving light is a ‘pin scan’, which is a PAR 36 pinspot lamp mounted on a motor such that it can scan from one side two the other. Originally the only control over this type of unit was a movable pin that would set the limits on the pan. These days Clay Paky (www.claypaky.it) has a unit that gives full control over pan and tilt. In the mid 1980s Strand Lighting (www.strandlight.com) produced a ‘Parscan’ which was a PAR64 fixture with colour scroller fitted to a motorised yoke. More recently Strand manufactured a 2KW PC Moving Head under the model name ‘Pirouette’. The early moving heads tended to very noisy, with the ‘Pirouette’ being aptly dubbed ‘milk float’ after the similarity to the mooing noise produced the DC motors used on milk floats here in the UK.

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