Lighting an Artwork

One way to not blind the audience:

The sculpture


Light in a box

Other ways to do it is:
1. Dig a hole in the ground to hide the light.
2. Light the work from inside it (where possible).

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Thoughts About Much Ado About Nothing

It was a balmy Friday evening and the queue of audience was waiting outside the Fort Canning Hill gates to be admitted for Singapore Repertory Theatre's (SRT) offering of Shakespeare's well-known comedy Much Ado About Nothing. Armed with picnic baskets filled to the brim, blankets, towels, ground sheets and even low chairs, the queue was buzzing wth excitment and cheer. Afterall, SRT, known for its slick shows peopled by big-billing performers, directors and production designers, promises its audience "A fun-filled frolic in the park".

One cannot help but note that the emphasis here is on having a good time. So what about quality theatre? Well, no one ever said the two cannot co-exist. Especially when it comes to SRT and the fact that normal priced tickets are not that cheap.

Upon entering the performance grounds, I was greeted by the sight of the highly realistic set constructed onto the gentle grassy slope. It looked like a section of a grand estate and had cemented steps complete with big ________________ windows and a swimming pool. (I am still looking for the word to fill in the blank. The windows are made from wood and have wooden slats slanted at 45 degree angles inside the frames instead of glass. I am positive there is a name for this type of window. Vaguely remember reading somewhere about it.)

Before night fell
The set at night

At least 3 lighting towers hung with moving lights, ETC source 4s, fresnels, floods, par cans, follw-spots and their operators. (I'll make my point later about this.)

Let's fast-forward to the performance:    

The show opened with a little boy playing with his war ship model. Good on the brave little boy but I thought that is was a rather weak directorial choice and made little point. That aside, nitpicking is not why I decided to write this so let's move along to broader strokes.

Despite my reservations after the opening bit, I was thoroughly enjoying myself thanks to the excellent Adrian Pang as Benedick and Wendy Kweh as Beatrice as well as the rest of the well-casted actors who gave energetic performances and gave meaning to Shakespeare's poetry and bawdy references.

Nevertheless, I found myself constantly being distracted and annoyed by the follow-spots being turned on at the wrong time, falling on the wrong areas and high-lighting or not high-lighting characters. Spill over effect of the lighting workshop I attended this is not for it is something that a fellow audience member pointed too. Also, for the number and variety of lights they set up for the show, plus the fact that the lighting designer is an award-winning one (he lit "Billy Elliot, the musical"), the design was rather pedestrian. Problems with sound equipment marring the actors' speech also didn't help.

Considering the fact that I watched the show on its second night, SRT, given its reputation, will not allow the technical glitches to carry on for too long.

The show, at the end of the day, is entertaining without dumbing down and one I will not mind watching again.

One last thing: My take-away is that Shakespeare is definitely relevant today but one must not even dream of attempting Shakespeare if one does not have a team of competent actors and director.  
   

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(NEW!) Notes on Lighting Design V: Notes on Lighting a Musical

Points to Consider When Lighting a Musical

• What colours to use?


• Dancing by the performers: Which part of the stage do they dance on? How many dancers? What is the mood? .


• Moving scenery: Where does it move to? Size of scenery?


• Follow spots: Who to illuminate? When to use it? How many to be used? How many are available? (It is absolutely crucial to train the follow-spot operator well!)


• Many compositional lighting changes are likely required: Which lighting areas to lower the lighting intensity of while increasing the intensity of lights in another area to shift focus and attention. (Sorry I can't explain to make it clearer. If only we have Michael's videos!)


• Check out how lighting is designed for Rock concerts and borrow ideas!


• Music: Is there a recurring theme? What is it? What is the mood expressed by the music?


• Story: What is the story to be told? What are the other elements (time, space, mood) of the story?


• Stage and performance areas: Foreground (Floor of the stage), Middle ground (Performers) and Background (Scenery)      

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Notes on Lighting Design IV: Practical Group Assignments

ASSIGNMENTS

• 
  

  Assignment #1 - Using Angles
  Light the space with one table with table cloth draped over it at centrestage to show:

  
  

          a) Sunrise on a lake.
          b) High noon at the desert
          c) Lazy late afternoon in a jungle
          d) A cozily lit room

          Notes about the assignment: Use whatever lights that have already been rigged and focused for this. There are 10 lights forming the various lighting systems (Front, top, side and back lights) rigged and focused. Use as many or as little lights as desired.

• Assignment #2 - Telling a Story
  
  Someone is lonely. See someone else and becomes happy as he/she is a friend. This friend tells of very bad news and the someone becomes very sad.

         Notes about the assignment: Use only ONE light. Use of                gel/coloured filter is optional.

• Assignment #3 - Communicating TIME, PLACE and MOOD.
  
  It is a cold winter morning. People are not out and about yet. The woman is sitting on a stool or chair before a fire, looks out the wondow and enjoys the silence.

         Season: Winter
         Time: Early morning
         Light sources: Fire place, morning light through window, possible incandescent source
         Environment: Interior
         Mood: Peaceful

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(UPDATED!) Notes on Lighting Design III: Creating a Lighting Design

Simple lessons learnt from reviewing Assignment #1:
Light the space with one table with table cloth draped over it at centrestage to show:

a) Sunrise on a lake.
b) High noon at the desert
c) Lazy late afternoon in a jungle
d) A cozily lit room

Notes about the assignment: Use whatever lights that have already been rigged and focused for this. There are 10 lights forming the various lighting systems (Front, top, side and back lights) rigged and focused. Use as many or as little lights as desired.

1. The lesser the contrast between the different lights used, the more pleasant the effect.


2. Create interest with lights. One way to do it is to use contrast or create textures.


3. Always consider the relationship between key and fill lights.


4. Consider the space in the lighting design. A little light on the surrounding walls will highlight and indicate space.


5. Bright is not always good. Sometimes darkness is what is needed to create a certain mood. The question to ask is: "What is the most effective to light whatever one is supposed to light?"


6. When lighting a desert at high noon, remember the sand reflects light onto th esides of the table. Thus, fill lights are needed for the front of the table to lessen the contrast between the top and the sides of the table.


7. The impact differing angles make to the appearance of what is lit e.g. a low side light at a low intensity gives an impression of a sunrise, a footlight that flickers gives an impression of a fireplace in winter.

[Points below are updated ones.]

Tip:

• If a performer is holding onto and reading from a big book, a back light which reflects off the book can be used to illuminate him/her.


• Lighting truism: When using gobos, it is better to soften the edges rather than to use them focused. Why? When softened, images/patterns/designs casted by lights fitted with gobos become much more abstract and fluid in terms of how the audience can read them. The audience gets to exercise their imagination instead of being told exactly what to see. That is the magic of theatre.


• Use follow-spots to pick up performers if colour washes are used for the entire stage. Follow-spots also help focus audience attention onto the characters who are important at a particular point of the performance.


• Katsch Catoy's favourite, fail-proof, 3 colours to for top-down washes: #137 - Lavendar Special, #135 - Golden Amber and #195 - Deep Blue (I might have gotten the name wrong). The combination of warm and cool creates many lighting possibilities. This is especially useful for dance performances where different moods can be heightened by dramatic lighting. These colour washes are probably not be necessary for most drama. Definitely depends on the space being used too.        

Assignment Earth Day Project (Workshop Week 2)

• Part I: "Growing the Tree" on the CCP facade


• Part II: Lighting the stage


• Part III: Lighting the recycled Tree sculptures

 Points to consider:

• Venue: Outdoors


• Equipment: What kind of lights to use? How many of each type of light to use? How much cable is needed? Where is the power to be tapped? How is the power going to be distributed?


• Distances between light and surface and angles of light: How will they affect/alter the appearance of the light source and gobo projected?

Post-Earth Day Reflections:

• Cutting the Gobo: The greater the distance, the smaller the gobo should be. Always start small when cutting as it is definitely easier to enlarge a design then to shrink a big one that is already cut!


• Wet-weather plans: It is always important to consider wet-weather alternatives when lighting outdoor events.


• Lighting a 3-D piece of Art I: Talk to the artist to understand the work and make him/her a collaborator. The light should not be an obtrusion but an enhancement of the work.


• Lighting a 3-D piece of Art II: The lighting has to work for the viewers too. Do consider ways to light the work without having the light glare directly into the viewers' eyes. One way to do it is to dig holes in the ground to hide the light. Another way is to place the light (where possible and effective) inside the work so it illuminates from within. A third way is to attach the light to the work (this is where talking to the artist comes in handy!) and away from the viewers.

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Notes on Lighting Design II: Light Plotting

LIGHTING SYSTEMS to Set Up

• Front lights: These are area lights for visibility


• Back lights: These are to seperate the middle gound (actors) from the background (scenery).


• Side lights: These are to highlight the subject (actors or objects) lit. They can be used as key lights (especially in dance performances).


• Top lights: These can be used as colour washes.

DRAWING UP LIGHTING PLOTS

It is recommended the following views be drawn up:

• Plan view (overall bird's eye view)


• Section view


• Front elevation (3-dimensional frontal view)

In addition,

• Arrow plot - This shows the lighting concept

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Notes on Lighting Design I: An Introduction to Lighting Design

The following is adapted from the lecture by Mr. Michael F. Ramsaur at the ASEAN Design and Technical Theatre Workshop (Phase II)

IMPORTANT VOCABULARY
Key light - The brightest light in the design.
Fill light - Lights supporting the key light. Help sculpt the object/subject being lit.
Area lights - Lights that cover a general area. The stage is typically seperated into 9 performing areas with one set of area lights illuminating each area.

Foreground - Stage floor
Middleground - People on stage
Background - Scenery

GENERAL Design RULES

• Open all shutters when focusing lights.


• The designer focuses the light by standing in it and directs the technicians.


• There should be 3 systems of lights to work with: Front lights. Back lights. Side lights.


• Decide where your KEY LIGHT for each moment is coming from and build your design around it.


• More often than not, the best lighting design is the one that uses the least lighting instruments possible.


• Move around in the space that one is lighting to determine focus of the lights.


• Look for consistency of lights on the floor and on the walls. An actor should not become darker or brighter when he/she moves from one area to another.


• According to Stanley McCandless, apply the double 45 degrees rule for best visibility and sculpting. (diagram will be inserted later)


• Take note of shadows on the background as they more often then not are distracting. Shadows on the ground are often ignored by audience so they don't quite matter. 


• The intensity of lights somehow alters their colours even without gels/coloured filters. At a higher intensity, the lights become "whiter" and cooler while the lower intensity they goes, the more orange and warmer they get.


• It is a good idea to not use extreme intensities when designing lights. Instead of setting the intensity at 100% or at very low levels, go for a level which is in between.


• One of the objectives of the lighting designer is to make the actors and set as attractive a possible, to highlight what the audience are meant to see. The questions to ask here are then: "What is attractive?", "How do you know when something is attractive?"


• Another objective of the designer is to convey the mood of the performance or of the moment e.g. How does one help create a romantic or menacing mood?


• A note to remember when collaborating with the costume designer: White reflects too much light and that makes it difficult for the face of the actor wearing white to be seen.

IMPORTANT NOTES about the HISTORY of Lighting Design

• Women were the first lighting designers as they were initially hired as lighting assistants (cheaper labour) to scene designers who had to also take care of lighting a show.


• The theories of Stanley McCandless formulated in the 1950s are still impacting lighting design today.

VENUES/EVENTS TO BE LIT

• Concerts: Rock & Roll, Classical, Pop, etc.


• Industrial/Corporate events: Launches, Dinner & Dances, etc.


• Theme Parks


• Commercial buildings


• Residential buildings


• Theatre performances: Musicals, operas, dramas, revue, etc.

THE CONCEPTS: Things to note when designing lights

• Story


• Style


• Atmosphere (Mood)


• Language of Space and Time (Where are we? What time of the day/year is it?)


• Theme and variation of theme (Especially when lighting musical pieces.)

GETTING IT RIGHT: The things that make a good lighting designer

• Talk to fellow collaborators e.g. costume and set designers, director and actors.


• Know the piece you are lighting: Read the script. Listen to the music. Watch rehearsals. Research on it.


• Know the logistics: Scenery, budget, time available, venue of show and equipment available.


• Possess enthusiasm and a positve attitude.


• Always make things right/better.


• Effective inter-personal and communication skills.


• BE NICE!

RESPONSIBILITIES OF A LIGHTING DESIGNER

• Design the plot (lighting plan).


• Install the equipment.


• Focus lights.


• Create cues and record them on the cue sheet.


• Set levels.


• Presence at Technical and dress rehearsals.

As on 2nd May 2009

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