Editor's blog

Next time you go to the movies, take a look around at the number of lights you see. It might be more than you first expect! Lights are used not just to keep the room from being dark, but its signage, such as the candy bar or restrooms, to mark certain points throughout the building, such as seat numbers, or simply as decoration. Increasingly, movie theaters are using LED lighting instead of the traditional lighting technology. In this article, we’re going to take a look at the reasons why.

LED (light emitting diode) lights often come in the form of “strips”, rows of little lights that are easy to maneuver. When you consider this, it’s easy to see why they’re used in big signs that are designed to grab attention.

But that’s not the only way they can be used. Consider when you’ve needed to use the restroom during a film. Remember when you walk down the stairs, there’ll sometimes be strips of lights marking where the steps are? These are usually in the form of LED lighting.

Alternatively, you might see the older style small lamps that are attached to the seats. But as you can imagine, these are not as easy to navigate with, and they also create much more heat than you would find in LED lights. As the years go on, it may soon be impossible to find theaters using the old school lamps for this purpose.

Along with the design benefits, the biggest plus when it comes to LED lighting is in the way it can save money. LED lights have a high level of light output, while using a much smaller level of power than the traditional light sources. If you’re considering creating a sign or set of markers, you’ll save money if you go with LEDs instead of halogen or high-density discharge lamps.