Light Design CHS Stagecraft
4 Reasons for Lighting VISIBILITY Seeing what needs to be seen
4 Reasons for Lighting ESTABLISHING THE ENVIRONMENT helping the audience figure out what time of day it is, where the play takes place, and other aspects of the physical environment
4 Reasons for Lighting showing the audience where to look on stage PLACING THE ACTION showing the audience where to look on stage
4 Reasons for Lighting CREATING A MOOD lighting the stage to get an emotional response from the audience
Controllable Qualities of Light INTENSITY How bright or dim the lights are
Intensity
Controllable Qualities of Light COLOR Controlled through gels
Color
Controllable Qualities of Light DISTRIBUTION Where the light travels
Types of Lighting FLOODLIGHT produces light that washes the entire stage with light Diffused look/Soft Edge Short throw
Types of Lighting SPOTLIGHT produces a very controlled, or concentrated light Longer throw Hard edge
Modeling – Front Light Front Light is generally used for visibility and color washes. Front light from a low angle can create an eerie feeling. Most often front light is brought in from angles off to one side or the other at approximately 45 degrees from full front.
Front Light
Front Light, Matilda
Front Light, Rock of Ages
Side Lighting Side Lighting is generally for effect lighting and creates more extreme modeling and accents arms and leg movement. Particularly dramatic with bold colors.
Side Lighting
Side Light
Side Light
Side Light
Back Light Back Lighting is for effect lighting creating a halo effect on the performers’ heads and shoulders. Back light also helps to create a sense of depth. Coming from below, back lighting can help create a silhouette. Strong colors often used.
Back Lighting
Back Light
Back Light
Back Light
Back Light
Back Light
Back Light with color
Modeling Down Lights are good for highlighting specials or color fills. Down lights are often used to draw attention to one particular action on stage.
Down Light
Down Light
Background (Cyc) Lighting Background (Cyc) Lighting helps create the picture. Colors are generally chosen to accent the foreground with deeper colors and lower intensities.
Cyc Light
Cyc Light
Cyc Light
Instrument Selection
Instrument Selection
Instrument Selection Front Light Ellipsoidals (front of house and on stage) Fresnels (on stage) PAR’s (on stage) Side Light Ellipsoidals PAR’s
Instrument Selection Back Light PAR’s Fresnels Ellipsoidals (occasionally) Background (Cyc) Light Striplights Scoops Single cell cyc lights (paired together)
Key and Fill lights Key light is the most intense, primary source of light Fill light is the slightly dimmer or more diffused light used to fill the shadows created by the key Helps to manipulate the audience’s focus to a certain area Audience members will invariably focus on the key area and have an emotional response depending on the modeling of the object created by the designer
Key/Fill Light
Key/Fill Light
Review
Review
Lighting Key Drawing indicating the plan angle and color of the various sources of light Used by designers as a primary guide for determining the hanging positions of the lights Effective tool when discussing the design with production team members
Lighting Key
Creating the lighting key Determine lighting source number – one to six Lighting source number will affect the modeling of objects and emotions eluded to audience Determine color to assist mood (should consult all members of production team on color palette)
Lighting Key
Lighting Key
Acting Areas Spaces on stage where specific scenes, or parts of a scene, are played Some settings could have only one acting area while others may have multiple Shape and size of acting areas is determined mostly by the blocking of the actors along with the shape of the setting Cylindrical space whose size is roughly determined by the diameter of the cone of light made by the instruments used to light the area (generally 8-12 feet by 7 feet tall) Acting areas subdivided into lighting areas to create uniform base of lighting
Lighting Areas
Lighting Areas
Creating Lighting Areas Light from adjacent areas is overlapped by about one-third When light is overlapped by approximately one-third, it will nearly equal the intensity of the light from the beam of a single instrument
Lighting Areas
Beam and Field Angles Beam angle is the central cone of light whose outer limit is defined as the point where the light diminishes to 50 percent of its intensity when compared with the center of the beam Field angle is portion of the cone of light outside the beam angle whose outer limit is defined as the point where the light diminishes to 10 percent of the output of the center of the beam Source 4 field angle general twice the beam angle thus creating relatively smooth wash
Beam & Field Angle
Beam & Field Angle
Layering Warm wash can create a general warm feeling in all lighting areas Cool wash can create a general cool feeling in all lighting areas Specials create any specific light source to be illuminated on particular object or actor
Warm Wash
Warm Wash
Warm Wash
Cool Wash
Cool Wash
Cool Wash
Specials
Specials
Specials