Drama 16 Stage Lighting

4/25/16-10:23am-Outside the Spiegel Theater

The sunlight warmly hits the bright green leaves of this tree that looks sort of like a weeping willow but has branches hanging down with bright green spade-shaped leaves. The shadow cast on its bark reflects the spade-like shape of the leaves and only some direct sunlight comes through in varying amounts to hit the bark. Thus, the bark is illuminated with different intensities of sunlight.

The light colors the bark of the tree and accents the lines of the bark. The bark looks like it might just erupt into circular-like shapes like the shadows that gently fall onto it from the branches above. The movement of the shadows with the gentle swaying of the breeze create a dream-like feeling. The tree bark shimmers like psychedelic orbs that make the tree glow with different shades as the light and shadow change how intense the light is on the bark constantly. As the shadow and sunlight move, there is green, teal, brown, gold, grey, amber, and silver on the bark. The whiteness of the light of the sun has the greenness of the leaves and the shades of the nearby plants reflect onto the bark allowing for this rainbow. It is a creative light with its colors and intensities. Every leaf looks more like a heart than a spade with the shadow that is created by the sunlight hitting it. The lighting is artistic, it is natural, it is soft, and it is dynamic. The overall feeling of the light is one of confusion, fun, and bedazzlement. It changes between these naturalistic colors and is constantly moving like the light cannot make up its mind how to shine on the tree, but it is also fun with the varying spots of intensities and colors reflected back. This movement and change in the amount of light hitting the bark is bedazzling like a disco ball in the night. It is fun though; It’s fun in the confusion and in dazzling qualities.

Photo Cred: http://www.123rf.com/photo_19872044_hiker-with-backpack-standing-on-top-of-a-mountain-and-enjoying-sunrise.html

Theme: Surreal

Description: This picture depicts a woman standing on top of a mountain after a presumably long hike. The view from the top is what I consider to be surreal in this photo. This, along with the feeling one gets when experiencing this instance.

1. 4/26/2016, 7:35pm, L216
2. Objective: Light is being supplied by the florescent lights in the studio and a small amount of light from outside
3. Subjective: The light coming from the studio gives off a bland feel. The light projects itself in pools of bright white light typical to many other classrooms on campus. The light outside is gray and dull due to the weather. It is still considered “light” outside but all natural light is blocked out by the clouds and the artificial lights from the lamps have not been turned on yet. Overall, the lighting feels somber outside yet productive inside.

Time: 9pm on Sunday

Objective Description: Someone bumped a crackled glass light and it spun around, creating an interesting texture on the walls.

Subjective Description: I was enjoying a brownie sundae in Hof USA with a friend when I noticed a peculiar pattern moving around on the wall. It looked very much like the reflection you would see on the ceiling or walls when the sun shines on an indoor swimming pool.

The culprit of this intriguing pattern was a hanging crackled glass light that resembled an upside-down fish bowl with a lightbulb inside. Some tall guy stood up from his table and accidentally jostled the light. It spiraled around, twisted on itself, and unwound, scattering its crackly, watery pattern all over the walls. I pointed it out to my friend, but she didn’t think it was as exciting as I did. I guess I’ve become a certifiable light nerd.

The pattern is present normally, but I guess I never noticed it until the movement caught my attention. This was an interesting example of how important movement is. Something still can hide in plain sight or go completely unnoticed, but when a little motion is added, it can quickly become the focal point. For me, this is a very important thing to keep in mind when designing later on.

Photo Credit: John Poppleton, http://www.ufunk.net/en/photos/body-painting-black-light/ (Check out this link, all of the photographs are really cool.)

Theme: Surreal

Description: The first thing I think of in terms of lighting when I hear surreal is blacklights, or UV lights. UV light looks crazy, like someone took normal light and turned it on its head. It makes the subjects look very strange and almost alien-esque.

This is surreal because the sunset is not something you typically see on a human body, and the human body isn’t usually blue, either. The blacklight cast on the woman’s back makes a sharp contrast between her plain skin and the painting, so it really comes to life. The orange light in front of her mixes with the blue color on her body and mimics the some of the pink and purple colors in the painting in her face and hair. It looks very otherworldly and surreal.

Date:4/24/16  Time: Sometime after 12 Location: Green Flea Market

Objective: Clear blue sky allowing the warmth of the sun to shine through.

Subjective: Sunday was the perfect day to be in the city with my best friend from home. It was warm without being a million degrees and there was not a cloud in the sky. As we walked from the subway station to the Natural History Museum we stumbled upon the Green Flea Market and decided to go in. The whole time we walked around we could not stop talking about how amazingly warm and perfect the day was. The whole time we were in the city the sky was perfectly clear.

Theme: Surreal

Description: This is a photo of a woman sitting in what appears to be a bar or night club of some sort. To one side of her there is a large amount of red light and to the other there is blue. In the room there is also green light and hints yellow light. These mixtures of colors cause the lighting in the photo to give off a surreal effect because the colors blend and mix over the woman in the photo and cast unnatural shadows on her face. The different colors also give the appearance of a dream or intoxicated state. The lighting is not the standard colors we are used to seeing in our daily life.

Date: 4/26/16

Time: 4:15 pm

Location: Axinn Library corner study across from the Reference Desk.

Objective Description: The harsh fluorescents of the Axinn Library are always on during visitor hours, however, as the sun disappeared by the window and clouds covered the natural light streaming in, the library gained an entirely new atmosphere of a much darker and desolate origin.

Subjective Description: The last beams of natural light covered by a mask of grey puffed clouds that bring with it tears of dark exhaustion. The bright and well-populated library darkens even under the harsh effects of the sometimes blinding, bright fluorescent lights. The temperature in the room has undoubtedly remained the same, however, with the disappearance of the sun and its golden shine, the empty air of the library feels much colder and the cool gray and blue tones add to the dark and gloomy atmosphere overcast in the sky and spreading into Axinn. A dark and tired day, as a result of a dark and tired sky.

This is a photo I took during a production of Fuerza Bruta in NYC.

Theme: Surreal

Description: Bodies suspended in mid-air. A curtain of luminous and reflective foil-like material encasing the audience as a whole. The color’s, cools and warms of deep blues and entrancing pinks silhouette the bodies running horizontal to the ground against the backdrop effortlessly hung. The focus is solely on the bodies defying gravity while all other visionary senses seem overwhelmed, and an ethereal atmosphere takes over. Enchanting music relaxes the soul even more as you begin to feel as though you too are floating. The closest experience to a dream-like state while completely awake.

Photo Credit: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/484418503640232257/

Theme: Surreal

Description: This photo immediately made me think of surreal because it very much looks as though it belongs in a dream. This was a lighting design of a production of A Midsummer’s Night Dream and is full of mystical and not realistic lighting. The various colors look as though they belong in a forest that can be full of magical creatures. The cutouts placed over the lights are also a unique technique of achieving a pattern. This looks as though it was straight of Shakespeare’s head as he was imagining up the fantastical land of the forest in Midsummer.