Lighting

What is the point of lighting design?

  • Location - hint at the place a scene is set

  • Time - refer to the time of day for the audience

  • Focus - suggest where the audience should be looking

  • Atmosphere - creates an atmosphere / feeling for the audience to enhance the meaning

  • Symbolism - designer might use it to highlight a key theme or ideas

  • Mark a moment - used to highlight a moment in the performance

What does the lighting designer do?

  • Collaborating with the creative team to come up with ideas

  • Programming the lighting board to make creative ideas a reality

  • Considering how design works with the director’s concepts / ideas

  • Be aware of health and safety

  • Write a lighting plot / script which can be used when operating in a performance

Types of lighting

  • Parcans - wide angled lanterns that create a wash across the entire stage (useful for for lighting the entire stage)

  • Fresnels - similar to spotlights and a parcan, but they have a softer edge. (used for lighting a small area with a clear focus)

  • Spotlights - usually hard-edged light a very specific point on stage (useful for focusing the audience on a key character / place)

  • Birdies (footlights) - small lights at the foot of the stage (useful for lighting faces from beneath to create interesting shadows)

  • Specials - specialist lights / techniques that are used to highlight key moments.

Parcans and Fresnels

  • Creates a wash across stage

  • Useful in naturalistic performances / scenes

  • Fresnel has a diffuser over the light (creates a more atmospheric design)

  • You can use barn doors to close the range of the light in

Spotlights and Birdies

  • The beam of a spotlight could be wide or narrow and softer or harder / sharper edge

  • Standard spotlights are fixed in 1 position

  • Follow spots are manually moved to follow an actor

  • Pinhole spots are very small spotlights for highlighting a face or prop

  • Birdies can help create shadows

Specials

  • Strobe lights - very quick flashing lights that create a dramatic or jerky effect on stage

  • Gels - colourful sheets of plastic placed in front of a lens to create a colourful wash

  • Gobos - stencil shape placed over a lens that creates an image (useful for adding texture to a scene or hinting a location)

  • AV projection - casts an image or video over the stage or a specific area

Lighting locations

  • Side lighting

  • Front lighting

  • Top lighting

  • Back lighting

  • Up lighting

Colours and Intensity

  • Cold wash - white and pale

  • Warm wash - homely and gentle

  • Intensity - 0% - 100% (brightness)

Fades and Blackouts

  • Fade down - slowly turn down to a blackout (in seconds)

  • Fade up - slowly fade up (marks a moment / creates tension)

  • Cross-fade - slowly fade into the next lighting state

  • Cut - quickly change from 1 state to the next / blackout

  • Blackout - lights are completely off