Category: Stagecraft S2

Lighting Big Ideas

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In this lightning design lab, I focused mainly on shadow and how it interacts with light, the video gives off a scary but warm feeling as lightning strikes outside what is supposedly a cabin. In the short video, my scene is draped with a white piece of cloth acting as a cyclorama, using flashlights as a source of light I used tape and colored sharpies to create a color gel for the light. A paper cut out of a human figure was used to cast a shadow onto the cyclorama when the flashlight was flickering. I also experienced using different lighting angles during the shoot especially when I wanted to achieve the lightning effect.

Before I knew much about lighting I never considered how the angles of which light is shining could affect the overall emotion of the scene, I used to think that lighting was always light coming from the top. But now that I had experience with lighting angles and set up my own small stage I feel like I’ve understood more about the process of lighting up a stage.

Lighting Design – Key Terms

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Lighting design – The concept that a designer creates to provide light onstage to support the mood or atmosphere of the play

Light Plot – The map that shows where all of your lighting instruments are placed and where they will be lighting

Lighting grid – Up above the stage, it is a system of bars and electricity that powers the lights

Lighting Board – The control panel that powers the lights; when they turn on and off and at what intensity

Cyclorama – The large white ‘sheet’ at the back of the stage that can be lit or projected on

Back light – Lighting from the back

Side light – Lighting from the side

Top light – Lighting from above

Front light – Lighting from the front

Foot light – Lighting that is placed on the floor in the front

Spotlight – A single source of light focused on a single subject

Fill light – Light sources that add lighting in and around the set/scenery/stage – they ‘fill in’

Wash – A large group of lighting that can ‘wash’ the stage in light that can bring up at once together

Lighting angle – The angle of the lighting instrument in relation to the subject; usually 45%

Gobo (or patter) – A pattern ( in olden days it was a circle of metal) that blocks light to give you a shape onstage

Gel (or color gel) – The color that you want the instrument to throw onstage (or light onstage)

 

Behind the Scenes: Julie Taymor

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PART A

You are to assume the role of a director or designer. You have been presented with the following…challenges. Imagine how you might solve these direction and design problems.

  1. You have to show or create a shipwreck on stage. How might you do that?

First consider where the shipwreck is, what the current mood of the scene is, and the weather condition. Then add elements such as where the water is, where the ship is, what kind of lighting best matches the mood etc.

2. One character in your play is a spirit. How might you have a character as a spirit onstage?

A spirit can be represented as an emotion, it’s like a soul. You could use masks to represent spirits or just use some sort of fabric or piece of cloth if the spirit is small.

3. Another character is imprisoned in a rock. How would you show a character imprisoned in a rock?

there could be a hollow dome/rock-shaped sculpture where the character can go inside from the back. The rock can be covered with a piece of fabric, light could shine from the back of the rock to cast a shadow of the character imprisoned in a rock

 

PART B

  1. “Inspiration” comes from many sources. Describe one source of inspiration for Julie Taymor when she was setting the scene for the play.When creating the character Caliban, Taymor was inspired by the Mud Men of New Guinea. She liked the clay masks that they wore over their head because in one of Caliban’s lines he states that he is imprisoned in a rock, so to represent Caliban, Taymor was inspired by the masks and decided to use this element to this character.

2. Describe one moment where you went “a-ha!” or “that is brilliant!” or “I never would of thought of that!” and describe how or why that moment stood out to you.

It was very interesting where the play uses shadows and different lighting to tell part of the story, I found it interesting because it gave an ancient feeling