Bastard Amber, in all it’s glory
Roscolux 01, 02, 03, and 04 are at the heart of many lighting designers’ plots. Light Bastard Amber, Bastard Amber, Dark Bastard Amber, and Medium Bastard Amber are essential to achieving a realistic daytime scene and giving the actors’ bodies dimension. It’s often one half of the warm/cool split used to ensure the actors and set are not washed out by the lighting.
Photo by Ian Peck
Plain incandescent light, with no color filter can leave the actors looking washed out. While makeup can combat the look, it doesn’t offer the best solution. Using ambers, skin tone remains true to life and depth can be seen in expression.
It’s also handy to cover those obnoxious florescent lights in your kitchen (or office). No more green looking people in the morning. Order a swatch book to ensure you get the correct saturation for your purpose.
So why call it Bastard Amber if it’s so great?
Rosco Laboratories published the following story about the name:
One day in 1919, Rosenstein (an originator of Rosco Laboratories) had checked out a run of gel and decided that it was off-color and unsaleable. Louis Hartmann, David Belasco’s electrician, came in and looked at a sheet of this unsaleable, salmon-amber. He asked if he could take a couple of sheets and returned the next day to get some more. No one knew what he was talking about. “It was here yesterday,” he said, “that bastard amber.” Well, it had all been remelted and now Hartmann was rhapsodizing about how wonderful it was on skin tones. Fortunately, he still had a sheet and Mac was able to recreate the accident - Bastard Amber. Over the years, Bastard Amber has become one of Rosco’s largest selling colors… Serendipity.
For all the happy accidents in theatre, don’t let overpaying for expendables be one of them. Contact StageSpot for all your gel needs!
