You may not know the name yet, but you’ll probably know the people behind the growing UK lighting rep firm 3LR. Michael Burns looks at how the company hopes to get cinematographers to give the green light to deep red LEDs.

3LR stands for third light receptor, a reference to the third photoreceptor in the human eye that affects body functions like circadian rhythms and behavioural responses to ambient lighting conditions. “It’s lighting by emotion,” says 3LR Lighting director Matthew Lloyd. “LED is a false light so you must manipulate it, and it’s very important to get the emotional connection right.” The company operates under the manufacturer’s representative model, working with US lighting
and rigging giant ETC and complementary brands, advising cinematographers and gaffers as well as studios on the best lighting fixtures and design for their requirements.

“Our job is to make it really easy for the customer to interact with these brands,” says Lloyd.  “We’re not trying to get a purchase order, we don’t have to do a hard sell. We’re saying, ‘look at this product, we really like it, and here’s why’.”

Although in operation for just over a year so far, Lloyd and his team at 3LR represent a wealth of experience. Lloyd has a background in theatre lighting, then rental firms, before co-founding specialist LED lighting manufacturer Global Design Solutions (GDS) in 2004. “We built that company up to just under 50 staff with a distribution network in 38 countries,” says Lloyd, who is also currently vice chairman of PLASA (the Professional Lighting & Sound Association). “We were making the world’s first LED auditorium lighting system (the ArcSystem launched in 2011) and we won 16 Innovation Awards and some sustainability awards. We were a very exciting, dynamic brand.” ETC, keen to get into architectural lighting at the time, requested the rights to manufacture the ArcSystem in North America. GDS, equally keen to break into the US, agreed. The decision proved highly successful. However, in 2018, differences of opinion arose between the GDS co-founders. Lloyd left the company, selling the global manufacturing and distribution for ArcSystem to ETC in the process. Then, after a period of Lloyd consulting for ETC, the company proposed a move to the manufacturer’s representative model, and 3LR was born.

“We’ve had a great time with ETC,” says Lloyd, over a year on. “Their architecture sales have increased significantly. We’re now doing a lot of work on cruise ships and theatres. It’s growing really nicely.” As part of this growth, 3LR hired Sean O’Callaghan, formerly of Rosco, as business development manager for Architectural Lighting & Control in November 2020. 3LR Lighting also became the sole UK and Ireland manufacturer’s representative for Rosco’s architectural lighting range. At the same time, ETC asked 3LR to consider how it could help grow its presence in the film and broadcast market. “They were bringing out some exciting fixtures, but I knew I had to find the right person,” says Lloyd. O’Callaghan recommended Barry Grubb, formerly of Rosco and Rotolight, an industry veteran of 25 years who subsequently became business development manager for ETC Film/Broadcast lighting at 3LR in November. “Taking on Barry, it’s become really apparent that there’s a great camaraderie among the community of cinematographers and the community of gaffers; although it’s a global industry, everyone knows everybody,” says Lloyd. “It was nice to get back on board and talk to the DPs. I’ve loved the film industry ever since I was a kid,” says Grubb. “It’s only been three months, but it’s been a very busy time, and it’s been amazing to have made an impact on the business.” According to Grubb, the lighting market suffers under the weight of a high number of brands and people over-marketing their products – gaffers and DPs don’t believe the hype and just want to cut through to quality. “However ETC are publishing truthful numbers and good figures with their lights,” Grubb says. “ETC is a brand that people can trust; they prove that with their 24-7 support and a ten-year warranty.” The latter point is especially important to Matthew Lloyd, who holds all companies he works with to a high standard of sustainability, while 3LR received Albert Certification in January. “ETC is taking this really seriously, they really make a long-lasting product.

Also, if you’re a rental company or a studio and you’re going to invest in ETC equipment, you can put that as the depreciation of 10 years because the fixture is warrantied for ten years,” he adds. As an extension to ETC’s sales and marketing arm, and its exclusive representative for the whole of the broadcast market and film and TV market in the UK, 3LR works very closely with the manufacturer. “We have access to all their resources,” says Grubb. “From loan stock to their studio in London, to training and education. We consult, educate and inspire and demonstrate ETC fixtures, and then when someone says, ‘I want to buy’, we point them towards an ETC dealer or a rental house. ETC has signed up some UK film/TV rental partners during the pandemic. We know it’s driven by demand. So it’s all about working with the DPs and gaffers, and also working with the new talent coming into the system and educating them about what’s so good about the fixtures.” One such emerging cinematographer was NFTS graduate Lily Grimes, who used two ETC panels (the FoS/4 PL16 and FoS/4 PL8) on the recent artist film Horsepolish. Grubb also reports strong interest from other working DPs.

“There’s no hard sell,” says Grubb. “We believe, and so does ETC, that today’s DP wants something just a little bit different as a quality light source.”

With over a decade of research by ETC behind it, Grubb believes the FoS/4 studio line of fixtures offers that quality. Introduced in 2020, the range of Fresnel and Panel lights are designed specifically for the broadcast and film market, with attributes such as an eight colour LED mix (including a deep red LED) and intense brightness. “We have a six chip fixture for brighter, whiter tuneable whites, whilst the eight-chip fixture will produce lovely warm whites, but also produce rich colours,” says Grubb. “ETC has managed to improve the wider spectral content by stretching that deep red in the fixture. This generates more long-wavelength colours, so you get improved saturation. “It also speeds up time in post-production during colour grading, as you get more natural flesh tones because of the deep red. It just makes the lighting a bit more natural to the eye.” The FoS/4 Fresnel is proving especially popular with cinematographers. “The Fresnel format has been around for years, a very theatrical based fixture, but now it’s becoming loved in a film circles too,” Grubb observes. “It’s a nice way to shape the light. It allows them to be more creative and have more control over the light source itself.” More Fresnel models are on the way in 2021.” It’s still early days for the film/TV side of 3LR, but there’s already been recognition. In December

ITV’s This Morning, one of the longest-running daytime programmes on British TV, featured FoS/4 Panel lights on a number of segments broadcast from London’s Television Centre studios. “We had two 24 x 24 size with the Daylight HDR Array, and two of the 8 x 24 with the Lustr X8 array,” says Matt Carter, head of lighting for ITV Daytime. “I was immediately impressed by their output level, how flattering the softness was on the faces of our presenting talent, and the quality and depth of the colour tones. In the eight-colour LED versions in particular, flesh tones were warm and even, and the even wrap of light was particularly good on camera.” ITV Daytime has now placed an order for three of the 24 x 24-inch and two of the 8 x 24-inch fixtures, all with the Lustr X8 arrays. Before the latest lockdown, 3LR had access to the ETC ‘The Playhouse at Gypsy Corner’ studio demo facility in London, but under Covid restrictions Grubb has been ably demonstrating fixtures remotely over video, as well as lending kit out. “We have a very big demo pool,” he says.

“The ETC rental programme is also starting to roll out, and our partners have access to a lot of products, such as White Light, Black Light, TLX and TLS. In the next few months they’ll all be rolling out FoS/4 Panels and Fresnels. We hope to get some more traditional rental houses online as well, and supply some fixtures into them and grow the business.”