Thursday, 2 May 2013
steps to lighting !
The stages of lighting set-up
"In the meantime, we have focusing. All the sets have been built, all the lights have been rigged and made to work. Focusing is when we go to each light individually, turn it on, and point it to the part of the stage I want it to be.
"Lights can be zoomed so they’re bigger or smaller, with sharp or soft edges, which can be shaped with shutters or barn doors, mechanisms which can square the edges of the beam. The colour I want them to be is put in front of them."
"Then I’ll choose which lights are to be turned on at what intensity, so I’ll be rattling off numbers to someone else who’s controlling the lights on a kind of computer.
"We make a basic look for each scene – without any of the cast there, normally with just people standing in for them – balancing very roughly what each picture is going to look like."
"We then bring in the orchestra and you have orchestra rehearsals. Again, I’m working on the lighting over the top of the orchestra rehearsals.
"Eventually you get to dress rehearsal and then opening night. Hopefully by opening night everything’s fixed, it’s all programmed into the computer, ready to perform in front of an audience.
"And then after opening night I go onto the next one…"
1. Rigging
"The current stage is rigging the lights in the theatre and I’m watching rehearsals. Then we’ll have a rehearsal-room run-through, which I’ll watch. That’s sort of the end of the process in the rehearsal room and rehearsals then move on stage."In the meantime, we have focusing. All the sets have been built, all the lights have been rigged and made to work. Focusing is when we go to each light individually, turn it on, and point it to the part of the stage I want it to be.
"Lights can be zoomed so they’re bigger or smaller, with sharp or soft edges, which can be shaped with shutters or barn doors, mechanisms which can square the edges of the beam. The colour I want them to be is put in front of them."
2. Plotting
"Next is plotting, where I sit in the auditorium, normally with the director, and the set’s arranged as it would be for the first scene."Then I’ll choose which lights are to be turned on at what intensity, so I’ll be rattling off numbers to someone else who’s controlling the lights on a kind of computer.
"We make a basic look for each scene – without any of the cast there, normally with just people standing in for them – balancing very roughly what each picture is going to look like."
3. Lit rehearsals
"Then we have lit rehearsals. In opera it’s slightly different from theatre: we just light over the top of what the rehearsals are doing on stage and then I adjust the lights accordingly."We then bring in the orchestra and you have orchestra rehearsals. Again, I’m working on the lighting over the top of the orchestra rehearsals.
"Eventually you get to dress rehearsal and then opening night. Hopefully by opening night everything’s fixed, it’s all programmed into the computer, ready to perform in front of an audience.
"And then after opening night I go onto the next one…"
lighting facts
Working in lighting design
"As an example of my typical day, this morning I did some work on my laptop, doing some design for a show I’m doing in Athens next month.
"That’s just working on plan drawings: thinking of ideas and working out how to realise them practically and drawing lights on a plan to make that happen. That’s an on-going thing that I’ve got to work on and deliver this week.
"Then I went into the theatre to see what’s essentially the next stage in the process. They’ve got my plan and they’re actually rigging the lights in the theatre at the moment.
"At the moment on stage they’re rigging my lights and also building the set, so there’s an army of technicians there putting the whole thing together.
"This afternoon and this evening I’ll be in the rehearsal room, watching rehearsals with the director, looking at what they’re doing and imagining what they’re going to look like under my lights.
"So I get pictures in my head of what each moment is going to look like, which then hopefully I can create on stage later on next week when we put the whole thing together."
"As an example of my typical day, this morning I did some work on my laptop, doing some design for a show I’m doing in Athens next month.
"That’s just working on plan drawings: thinking of ideas and working out how to realise them practically and drawing lights on a plan to make that happen. That’s an on-going thing that I’ve got to work on and deliver this week.
"Then I went into the theatre to see what’s essentially the next stage in the process. They’ve got my plan and they’re actually rigging the lights in the theatre at the moment.
"You work to create visual stage pictures, which hopefully enhance the storytelling and the audience’s connection to it.""I went along to make sure everything was okay, to see if they had any questions. We wanted to test a particular light to see what it did, so we did that too.
"At the moment on stage they’re rigging my lights and also building the set, so there’s an army of technicians there putting the whole thing together.
"This afternoon and this evening I’ll be in the rehearsal room, watching rehearsals with the director, looking at what they’re doing and imagining what they’re going to look like under my lights.
"So I get pictures in my head of what each moment is going to look like, which then hopefully I can create on stage later on next week when we put the whole thing together."
lighting reasearch
The role of the lighting designer
"The most basic job of the lighting designer is to illuminate the action on the stage so the audience can actually see what’s happening.
"You work with the director and the set designer to create visual stage pictures, which hopefully enhance the storytelling and the audience’s connection to it."
"Lighting design is kind of art for people who can’t draw. You can make fantastic pictures out of lights, and you’re working in exciting theatres on different levels from opera to theatre to dance.
"You’re involved in creative teams and making the whole thing happen, but you’re also involved in the technical side (it’s realised by electrical and mechanical equipment and you have to understand how that works), so I do enjoy the balance of the technical side and the artistic side.
"I have a foot in the camp with the director and the actors, but also with the crew, the technicians, so you’re sort of covering all aspects of theatre, and I enjoy that."
"The most basic job of the lighting designer is to illuminate the action on the stage so the audience can actually see what’s happening.
"You can make fantastic pictures out of lights, and you’re working in exciting theatres.""Beyond that, it’s about helping tell the story, either by focusing on certain people on the stage, or giving an atmosphere or a mood, suggesting a time of day, reacting to the music.
"You work with the director and the set designer to create visual stage pictures, which hopefully enhance the storytelling and the audience’s connection to it."
"Lighting design is kind of art for people who can’t draw. You can make fantastic pictures out of lights, and you’re working in exciting theatres on different levels from opera to theatre to dance.
"You’re involved in creative teams and making the whole thing happen, but you’re also involved in the technical side (it’s realised by electrical and mechanical equipment and you have to understand how that works), so I do enjoy the balance of the technical side and the artistic side.
"I have a foot in the camp with the director and the actors, but also with the crew, the technicians, so you’re sort of covering all aspects of theatre, and I enjoy that."
lighting to the max
yesterday i did lighting for the production of dont feed the animals went realy well , all the charictors were on the ball and me and mat were relyed on as lighting and sound makes or brakes it. i had to help to desghin the lighting for every que and activate them as que'd meaning i had to ceep it inset and in time or there could of been a black out on stage half way thaugh a act and rachel would have my nuts on a spit for that :O
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