Of Gels and Such

In my main video class last quarter, students were divided into groups to practice 3-point lighting for interviews. I felt super confident, because I'd done it so many times before. I set up the hairlight, clipping a folded gel to the barn doors. Soon after, the teacher walked in to check our set up and make suggestions.

"One thing," he commented as he unclipped the gel that I had laboriously placed, "be careful that gels don't get too close to the light. They melt. Like this." He held up the gel, displaying a lovely stickiness where the corner of the sheet used to be. "Yup. That's all." He walked off to take care of what used to be a gel and check on the next group.
What a relief- he didn't ask who did it.
Eh heh heh. Good times.