The Lighting Design Process

hi I'm Matt Kozar today I'm going to talk through the process of putting together a lighting design lighting design is about making choices it is about arranging equipment in the performance space so that you are best prepared to create art that supports the performance but start with one after we'll just point one light at her there are a few things we can choose even with just one white front light the light can interface from a low angle or from a high one low angle lighting illuminates faces really well it also overshoots upstage the performers into the space behind them [Music] steep angle lighting creates heavier shadows on faces and bodies it creates tighter areas of lighting on the floor - no matter whether it is a steep angle or a low angle it can also come from the front or from a side angle light from the front is affected I'm thorough it can flatten out features a little light and is from off-center creates shadows on one side this is good for sculpting but I can't create some visibility issues this source direction favours audience on the actors right it might cause problems for people see that more stage left depending on where we can hang it we might need to choose one type of instrument over another let's figure out how to create exactly the look shown here there are lots of different types of lighting instruments this instrument could create the desired look but we can't hang it in empty space this instrument has a more narrow field maybe it will help let's move it upwards it looks like the count of light that it creates is too narrow for our deeds this one however will do just what we want when we hang it on our grid different lighting instruments have different lenses and they shoot light out in differently shaped cones now let's consider how this key looks from a seat over to the side of the playing space if you're sitting over one side you can see her but she's kind of shadowy this isn't necessarily bad the shadows flatter the shape of her face and form but if she turns it this way her face will be dark so it's at a second light to this and spread the two lights apart this reduces the shadows but it also reduces the sculpting light is no longer as dramatic a strong choice to make at this point is to keep light coming from multiple directions but use it to simulate light and shadow by using different colors in this scene we're using pink and blue the pink is coming from stage left and it creates the illusion of a light source a blue is coming from stage right and it creates the illusion of shadow without actually leaving half of her face dark we establish a warm color to emulate the light source we fill in from the other side he's got cool color to emulate shadows a steep angle backlight usually completes the composition when we do this arrangement this method is rooted in a system conceived by a designer named Stanley McCandless McCandless is considered the father of modern lighting design though there are many methods of lighting used today his is considered the foundation of the craft it is worth noting that the use of color to create highlight shadow was also employed by impressionist painters like Claude Monet with our current setup we can only generate one look unless we want to plunge part of the actors face into darkness if we like only one side or the other we ignore our audience to the left or the right of the actor we can add versatility of this arrangement by adding more colors we could have a second set of lights from the front with different colors we can also add lights from other directions with more lights to choose from we can make different looks for different moments settings and time of day by mixing colors from a single direction we can create more colors like Amber's and agendas by surrounding the actors with light we ensure that all of our audience can follow the storytelling no matter where they are sitting so far so good however this little arrangement of lights that we have so far will not let us light an entire stage the lights that we use generally are good for filling an area from 6 feet up to about 12 feet wide when they are shooting too far the field becomes too wide it becomes dimmer and less useful we perform a little magic trick at this point in the process we allow ourselves to take this entire system of lights and duplicate it into other areas [Music] we break up the stage into circles we mark the center of each and we copy our lighting plan consistently to surround each area if we bring up groups of lights with the same color at once it looks like a single source coming from one direction we usually arrange these to conform to a specific set or performance space by covering the entire space with areas we can treat the entire stage like one big consistent performance area here you see all the top light for every area by mixing the colors that we have available we can create combinations of warm and cool the really important thing is to arrange the lights consistently so that the same colors hit each area from the same direction in this design no matter where you go on stage the cyan is coming from downstage left if this actor goes anywhere on stage with these specific lights up her shadow will always point in the same direction here's the same effect Eve's in the red top lights instead notice the consistency of the shadows a group of lights that can work together from one direction like this is called a wash washes are combined to make new colors and new looks they're a building block for cues units within a wash can be brought up in smaller groups or individually they do not have to all come up at once we're gonna keep this simple for this demo though not every instrument in a design is part of a wash this window double at center stage is the only one of these in this entire design and here's a little spotlight on these shutters that Center and here's some light for the stairs up right through that archway these are important lights that are separate from the regular washes these lights are called specials all of these design choices are planned out the beginning of the design might look like this we're going to need something with a lot more information and accuracy though most of our lights are going to be hung on pipes up above the stage some theaters have battens called electrics others have a grid we need to create a light plot that shows every light that needs to be hung the like plot is a drawing that emphasizes all of the places in a theatre venue where lighting instruments can be hung the acting areas are important they are not always shown on the final plot will locate the instruments for one area the same as we did earlier in our planning it's important to consider the distance and the angle to the actors face for each instrument placed the angle of incident to the actors face is a part of the design also the throw distance will strongly influence the type of light that is used determine reasonable positions to place lighting instruments assigned them to the pipe nearest in their ideal position do this for the first area and imitate these positions for all of the other areas what'd he end up with is a drawing that shows all of your lighting instruments with notes the notes might tell us what color is in the instrument where it is focused or how does hung a lighting design might include a lot of instruments keeping track of these on the light board can be complicated in a lot of design instruments are assigned special numbers called channels channels are patched into the lighting console there what the computer uses to control the instruments a good design has a system of channels that's easy to remember writing cues should be casual and fun should not require the designer to constantly look up numbers the end goal for all this process is really simple there will come a time when the line designer is creating visual art to support the show a good design will provide lots of great options for any hue by having lots of good choices available it's easy to work with directors choreographers producers and other designers like any other kind of art it's always done best when it's done from a mindset of rest and fun having a great light plot hung and focused in the venue is the best start having relaxed easy control of it is the next step after that it's all collaboration and art that's all I'm going to include in this video today I hope that this has been useful this video was originally made for my intro to theater design class at Plymouth State University during the corona virus quarantine it's being shared with the community of technical theater educators if you are a high school student considering theater please check us out you you

Channel: Matt Kizer

Views: 138,904

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Id: UN18kSmSNdk

Length: 10min 22sec (622 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 29 2020