Intro to Lighting Design

1. Intro to Lighting Design Club Soda October 1, 2003 Rob Siemborski

2. Overview • Intro to Lighting Design • Basics of Light • The Lighting Design Process • Interaction with other Design Staff • Interaction with your Master Electrician • Building a Plot • Designing for Scotch ’n’ Soda

3. What are we not covering? • How to be a Master Electrician • Cable Plots • Crew Management • How to physically Hang / Focus an Instrument • Specifics of particular types of instruments • Specifics of using a Light Board

4. In Short…. • Today is all theoretical • Please accept the lighting BS • There’s a lot of territory to cover • All of these “rules” can be broken • Some of these photos are old, sorry!

5. What is Lighting Design?

6. Goals of Lighting Design • Enabling the Actors to be Seen! • Directing Focus • Setting • Location • Season / Time of Day • Set Creation “On the Cheap” • Creating Mood and Atmosphere

7. What does the LD Do? (OK, This isn’t quite what is in the SnS Responsibilities Document) • Reads the Script / Score (if any!) • Attends Rehearsals • Coordinates with the Director and Production Staff • Performs necessary research • Generates / Communicates Design Ideas • Creates a Light Plot • Determines / Writes Cues for the Show • Coordinates implementation through Master Electrician

8. Basics of Light • The Lighting Designer has Many Tools! • Focus • Angle • Intensity • Quality • Color • Movement

9. Basics of Light (Focus) • Focus: What gets lit • If it can’t be seen – It’s not on stage! • Lighting is as much about shadow as it is about light! • Strongly influences instrument choice • Washes vs Spots

10. Basics of Light (Focus) • Think About • Highlighting the set but keeping the actors dark • Having one actor well-lit but the other in the shadows • When is a followspot appropriate? • Using tools to draw focus in different ways

11. Basics of Light (Angle) • Angle: Where is the light coming from? • The type of performance can affect angle choice • Dance prefers sidelight • Rock concert prefers backlight • Think about: • How do lights from multiple angles interact? • Silhouette • How “interesting” is a given angle?

12. “Normal” Lighting Angles • 45 degrees is the typical “magic number” • Both vertical and horizontal

13. Basics of Light (Intensity) • Intensity: How bright is the light? • Think About • Directing focus using varying intensity

14. Basics of Light (Quality) • What is quality? • Soft/Hard Light? • Textured Light? (Gobos!) • Dependent on Instrument Choice • Also strongly affected by Diffusion

15. Basics of Light (Color) • One of the hardest tools to master • Additive Mixing • Primaries: • Red • Blue • Green • Think About: • Color Mixing and Angle interaction

16. Using Color • Warm Side / Cool Side • “Coloring the Shadows” • Warnings • Avoid Complimentary Color Mixing • Colors to be careful with • No Color (a.k.a. N/C) • Yellow (somewhat) • Green (always!) Note: This is a pigment color wheel.

17. Choosing Colors • What is the source? (more on that later) • How will that color mix with others on stage? • Gel books are your friend • Hue • Transmission Percentage • Spectrum

18. Basics of Light (Movement) • Not just “Intelligent Lighting” • Primarily Timing of Cues • Heavily affected by type of show • Musicals – Follow the Music • Fast light changes need motivation • Think About: • Split Fades, Part Cues, and More

19. What is a Light Source? • Something that motivates a light in a scene • Moonlight • Car Headlight • Sunset • Reflection off water • No correspondence to lighting instruments • Sometimes multiple instruments are a single source. • Sometimes one instrument can represent different sources in different scenes.

20. Key and Fill Sources • Key Source • Primary source of light • The Sun • Indoor Lighting • Lamps • Windows • Fill Sources • Coloring the shadows • Reflections off of walls • Can have multiple Key or Fill Sources

21. Realistic and Unrealistic Sources • Realistic • Directly from setting/time of day • E.g. Sun, Lamp, etc • Mood still applies! • Unrealistic • Primarily by mood

22. Design Process

23. The Early Design Process • Read the Script • Talk to the Director • Re-Read the Script • Read the script looking for lighting “clues” • If there is music, listen to the music • Talk to the Director again • Repeat

24. How to Read the Script • Read it at least once in its entirety • Go through and highlight lighting “clues” • Explicit stage directions • Time of day/Seasonal references • Location references • Think about each scene in detail – where is the lighting coming from? What does it feel like? • You may need to invent a timeline

25. How to Talk to The Director • Often times, Directors don’t know what Lighting can do for them! • Offer them your ideas and see how they respond. • Don’t talk in terms of specifics, but more in terms of general looks / scenes. • Come to the director with interpretation questions.

26. How to Talk to The Director • Pictures that convey your ideas accurately can be very helpful! • When attending rehearsals, talk to the Director afterwards, not during. • Read the script at least once before ever speaking with the director

27. Interaction with otherDesign Staff • One of several unique viewpoints • Collaboration • Colors! • Scene Changes • Space in the venue for lights/set/props • Use design tools to describe your ideas

28. Design Tools • Lighting Concept • Visual Research • Scene Analysis • Color Key

29. Developing a Lighting Concept • Traditionally a short written statement • No need to be formal! • You should be able to answer 3 questions • What does the script say? • What is the director’s interpretation? • How will your lighting convey the above?

30. Lighting Concept for“Peter Pan” • “Peter Pan” takes place mostly in the idylic island world of “Never-Never Land.” This tropical setting is your basic island paradise. • Captain Hook is the source of all evil in the lives of the Boys. This evil slowly encroaches on their world until they have no choice but to feed him to the gator. • The lighting for the play will start out warm and friendly, however as the pirates start to encroach on the world of the boys, parts of the stage will darken and disappear until Hook is finally defeated, when the world will be revealed again.

31. Other Tools • Visual Research • Helpful to get ideas or give examples to the director • Pictures can convey better than words • Color • Angle • Quality • Mood • Not presenting anything is better than presenting the wrong thing!

32. Other Tools • Scene Analysis • One per “scene” • Color, direction, and description of all sources • Brief description of • Setting / Time of Day • Mood • Key and Fill sources • Quality • Other Motivating Factors

33. Other Tools • Color Key • Shows colors/angle of all washes • Useful to have actual gel pieces • Helps to talk about color choice • Cue List • Lets you organize what cues you need in advance • Location, Description, Timing, etc • Useful to mark cues in script

34. The SnS Tech Production Process • Show Approval • “Design Phase” • Budgeting • “Implementation Phase” • Board Preview • Tech Week • Show • Strike

35. Load-in Hang Focus Cueing Rehearsals Cueing / Focus Notes Work Calls Work with the Stage Manager to get timing right Shows Let go of your design when the first curtain goes up Strike Domain of the Master Electrician Brief Overview of Tech Week

36. What about theMaster Electrician? • Master Electrician • Makes the production happen! • Assists with budget and equipment arrangements • Schedules crew calls • Manages all Lighting Equipment during the production • Creates a “cable plot”

37. Working with an ME • Get the ME information early! • Lighting Plot!! • Rough drafts are ok • Instrument / Gel schedules • The ME can generate these • Often easier for LD to do • Concepts for Practicals

38. Working with an ME(Production Process) • You can make the job of the ME easier • Better experience for both of you! • How you can help • Be familiar with the space you are in • Have a rough idea how the design will be pulled off • Pick and choose your focus notes • Don’t needlessly sacrifice your design

39. Working with an ME(Tech Week) • As an LD, stay out of the way at calls • You have creative input • The ME has control over the “practical” issues • The ME Manages Hang • The LD Runs Focus • With the advice of the ME • Keep the ME apprised of Focus Notes

40. Board Preview? • You generally should have an almost-final light plot with you • Don’t go into deep detail • Discuss your design concept • Discuss your color key • Mention any potential problems

41. The End Result • Lighting Plot • Instrument / Gel Schedules • Possibly with assistance from ME • Cue List (including Followspots, if any) • Useful to have cues denoted in script as well • Arrange for Rental Equipment • More important to communicate this information effectively than “do it right”

42. The Production Notebook • Keep a notebook of everything related to show • The Script • The Light Plot (if it fits, otherwise keep it nearby at all times) • Scene Analysis • Color Key • Cue Lists • Instrument / Gel Schedules • Invoices / Rental Orders • Work / Design Notes • Equipment Notes (especially moving lights!) • (etc…)

43. Break Time!

44. The Light Plot • Conveys information from Designer to Master Electrician (and the rest of the Production Staff) • Details information about every instrument • Type • Position • Orientation • Color • Accessories • Circuiting

45. The Light Plot • Overall layout personal to the LD • Drawn by hand or with CAD • Typically drawn to scale • Scale helps with creation of plot as well as hang • Should contain enough information to execute the hang in the absence of the designer.

46. Other Contents of a Light Plot • Sketch of set in relation to hang positions • Trim height of hang positions • Location of other equipment such as foggers • Other lighting equipment related notes • Works in concert with Instrument, Gel, and Dimmer schedules

47. Lighting Instrument Blocks • Instruments drawn by symbol for simplicity • Convey all the applicable information for a given instrument. • Include a key to map symbols to instrument types! Ellipsoidal PAR 64

48. Sample Lighting Block Gel Color(s) Contains a Template Instrument Number Channel Number More?

49. Title Block Production (and Dates) Designer Director What does this plate describe? Legend What do the symbols mean? What is the data for each symbol? Hang Position Names Trim Heights if you care Booms Location in plan Profile view of instruments General Notes Section E.g. “Gel before focus” Key Plot Components

50. Creating a light plot the Right Way • Finish your Color Key and Scene Analysis first • Instrument Research • Look on Manufacturer websites • Sketch Plan View of Set • Decide on acting areas • Lighting Section • Check throw distances and angles • Don’t cut off heads • Draw the Plot