Drama 16 Stage Lighting

1) Fall Sunset on Venus

Lighting: Top Cyc Lights: G930full. Bottom Cyc Lights: Re226 full, Re119  full. People dancing lights: G845 (50%, 45 degrees front light), L007 (25%, 60 degrees front), L085 (Full, Back lighting 80 degrees), Lo26 (50%, Foot lighting 45 degrees stage left), Ap8250 (75%, Foot lighting 90 degrees), Ap7850 (75%, Foot lighting 60 degrees)

I chose these lighting because I think of sunset having a direction coming over the horizon and also I think of fall as having a warm sunset as the sun is soon to reflect red on the moon to create the harvest moon.  I felt that on Venus, the warm atmosphere and romantic nature of sunset could be emphasized to the extreme.

2) Spring Sunrise in New England

Lighting: Top Cyc Lights: G515  50%, G470 full. Bottom Cyc Lights:  G1518 full. People: G1516 (25%, 45 degrees side light), Ap2330 (25%, 50 degrees sidelight), Ap4200 (25%, 50 degrees front), AP2200 (25%, 30 degrees front)

I chose to do the lighting this way because I think of sunrise in spring as misty and mysterious because the the earth is still cold so when the sun begins to warm it up, the mist rises and casts grey tones on everything in the early morning.

3) Noon on a Hot Summer Day on Mars

Lighting: Top Cyc Lights: Re182 full, Re164 full, Red full, Red full. Bottom Cyc Lights: L122 50%, Red full, Re159 50%. Person: L322 (30%, 20 degrees front light), Red (50%, 45 degrees front light), Ap1800 (Full, 50% front light), AP8310 (75%, 90 degrees back light)

I chose to do the lights this way because I thought it would be fun to light as if a sci-fi director was directing a movie on Mars and wanted to emphasize the alien nature of the planet and how it is not normal. The red light is signature of Mars so I wanted it to overpower the world.

4) Winter Afternoon on Saturn

Lighting: Top Cyc Lights: L223 25%, G515 50%, L269 50%. Bottom Cyc Lights:  L299 75%, L257 75%, L345 full, L269 75%. Person: AP3400 (75%, 45 degrees side light), AP2030 (Full, 90 degrees top light)

I chose to do the lighting this way because I thought that the world would be snow capped and therefore reflect the cold blue coming from the atmosphere.  I also wanted it to be isolated and cold so I chose cold blues to light the ground.

1) 4/25/2013, 11:46PM, Outside Republic Hall/the Wellness Center

2) The Health and Wellness Center sign is lit. In two distinct locations on the sign, the lights that are keeping it lit are flickering. One is on the top border slightly to the left (if looking directly at it), and the other is in the bottom right corner.

3) The flickering lights gives the sign a 3-dimensional quality, a waving quality as if it was swaying or moving in the wind. The rhythm of the lights projects this quality on the sign. The timing of the lights blinking on and off and on and off makes the sign seem as though it is moving, creating a simple pattern and beat to the “waving” of the sign. It was almost musical in the way it moved to the flickering of the lights.

Fall Sunset on Venus: For this scene, I decided the audience would be the west, so the sun would be setting by them. This led me to put two footlights approximately 45-degrees off-center, one with the gel R96 and one with the gel R21, both at 50%. Since the sun would still leave behind a little light, there is a backlight on the center line, 45-degrees above the subject with an R124 gel also at 50%. Behind the subject, since upstage is the east, the cyc light has both Red and Blue light on top at about 30% and no bottom strip light. This is because the sun is leaving the sky, and the horizon would be the darkest part. On Venus, since it’s closer to the sun, I figured the light from the sun would be fairly bright and in high contrast with the lack of light when the sun leaves the sky.

Spring Sunrise in New England on Earth: This scenario has almost the opposite feel of the last one. The top of the cyc is only light with Blue at 25%, but the bottom is lit with R163 at 31%, R67 at Full, and Green at 12% to create a bright blue sunrise. The subjects are lit from behind in a typical McCandless method (45-degress up vertically and offset 45-degrees from center). One of the backlights has R366, the other with R302, both at full. Four sidelights were also at full, two on each side, with either R366 or R302. Lastly, there is a single footlight with R302 at full. These lights are meant to emulate how a sun rising on a clear spring day would light the subject’s backs and sides first, but would be clear enough to still light their fronts.

Noon on a Hot Summer Day on Mars: Mars is red. So when I thought noon, I thought it would be clear red in the sky (similarly to how the Earth’s sky is blue because of the reflection of the water in the sky). Then I realized on a hot summer day, the heat waves are visible, making things look wavy, so I wanted a gradient effect again. The cyc is lit on top by R19 at 50%, R313 at 75%, R15 at 50%, R13 at 25% and on the bottom by R19 at 50%, R15 at 20%, R23 at 25%. The subject is lit by top light directly above and then two more offset by 45-degrees horizontally. The two lights offset by 45-degrees are at full with the R19 and R09 gels. The center light has the R08 gel at 50%. Since it’s noon, the sun would be directly overhead, and the redness of Mars would reflect a little onto the subject.

Winter Afternoon on Saturn: Well everyone knows the Spheres of Saturn love being in the spotlight. For this scenario, since winter often has that overcast state in the sky, I lit the sky in a gray manner but gave it a cosmic purple tint on bottom. The cyc lights are on top: R304, R163, and R356 at full. On bottom: R39 at 25%. Then, since it is afternoon and the sun would be closer to setting rather than rising, the sphere is lit by a McCandless method system. Two lights with R47 are placed 45-degrees up and horizontally out both at full. Another light is about 60-degrees vertically above the sphere and on center. It has an R04 and is at 75%. Lastly, its back is lit by an R333 45-degrees up on center at 75%. I imagined the space debris would give the sun a purple-ish tint on Saturn. Why? Because space is cool.