Drama 16 Stage Lighting

1. DATE: 03/17/22
2. TIME: 10:00 pm
3. LOCATION: Hofstra University Dempster studio
4. OBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: When I was in the studio last week, the weather was really dark and rainy/snowy so there was barely some light in the studio plus I did not put the lights on. What I have not noticed before is that usually when you are tired you want some calm and neutral light. The studio really dark and one little spot light coming from the outside was going through the window.
5. SUBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: The feeling that this lighting gave me was a sense of calmness, very serious, neutral, emotionless, and more inward/introverted feeling. I am a very extroverted person but for some reason this lighting was making me feeling very inside my thoughts and I wanted to be alone. It also gave me a sense of reflection about things I had in my head. The light was coming mostly from the left upper windows but it was really light and not heavy at all and the color was white.

1) April 17-1:22am-Lounge Room in Dorm

2) OBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: Two strands of star shaped lights string around on the walls. The lights change individually through a rainbow of colors. There are no other lights on in the room except for these colorful lights.

3) SUBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: This lighting moment made me feel very calm. It was such a soft and pretty arrange of colors it made me feel safe and a little magical. Because of how the colors were not very natural colors, it made the room feel magical. This lighting moment was calming even with all the stress of life.

2. I took this photo on January 4, 2017

3. Sunset

4. This is a photo of a sunset on the ocean in Tortola. As the sun sets, a yellow reflection of light is seen on the water. The light shining through the clouds gives the picture a calming feeling. The soft glow of the setting sun creates a tranquil scene.

2. A still from the movie Catching Fire http://static1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131029050952/thehungergames/images/1/1e/The_Fog_75th.png

3. “Light can be gentle, dangerous, dreamlike, bare, living, dead, misty, clear, hot, dark, violet, springlike, falling, straight, sensual, limited, poisonous, calm and soft.” -Sven Nykvist.

4. To me, this picture was perfect because it personified so many of the adjectives mentioned above. It’s dreamlike, misty, dead, dangerous and gentle, poisonous, calm and soft all at the same time. The way the light is lightly diffused with a blue tint over the image gives it a simultaneously calming and gentle feel, but the highlighting also brings with it a sense of danger and foreboding. The slow and stalking income of the mist pushing in from the left reminds me of a lioness stalking her prey before the attack. The soft but illuminating light upon the hand is full of life, but also full of hesitancy of this eerily calm fog.

1. February 13 2014 at around 5:30. This was in the den of my house on top of an end table.

2. This light was a little flame from a candle. It emitted a large glow around itself that shone on the wall.

3. As I walked into my dark den, a tiny spark emitted a beautiful, warm glow. The flame danced with grace as it lit the blackened room with relaxing shades of red and orange. Our wall was illuminated with bright waves of yellow as the light around the candle swayed around the room. In contrast to the dark, gloomy night, the candle created a calming and serene atmosphere. Although small, this flame evoked an enormous glow that made a huge difference.

1. 1/29/14 at around 10:45 in my den.

2. A bright blaze of reds, oranges and yellows, flickering in a darkened room. It was a warm, soothing glow.

3. As I walked into my den, I felt a sudden change of atmosphere. Suddenly the stresses of the day were gone; not only for me, but for my family as well.  As the warm, red sparks danced around, I felt my worries dance away with them. The orange and yellow flames brought me to a warmer and calmer mindset. The gentle movement of the fire was as graceful as a tree in a soft breeze. The light emitted from the roaring fireplace created a serene and peaceful environment for relaxation.

1)   4/6/12 – 9:32 PM – In airplane, roughly 20,000 feet in altitude somewhere over east coast.

2)   OBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: I was flying from Philadelphia to Dublin for spring break. There was a close to full moon out as we took off. As we ascended above the east coast, I looked out the window on the right side of the plane and noticed the moon. It was shining brightly and was casting a long reflection onto the water. You could tell where the land was because there was no reflection.

3)   SUBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: I was finally given the break I was looking for. After a lot of work at school I could not wait for my flight to take off and take me to Dublin for a nice vacation with my parents. I flew in to Philadelphia airport and met my parents where we then proceeded on to Dublin. As we took off there was a low cloud cover that did not allow us to see any stars or the moon that was above us. As we climbed out of the city, we followed the coast north and broke out of the clouds relatively quickly. As we continued north, the clouds below us began to break and the moon became apparent to my mom and me. It was shining intensely and fully over the Atlantic Ocean. As we looked down to the ground below us we noticed the reflection it was creating on the ocean and all of the inlets below us. The pure, brilliant light was shining down and casting a very long and calming reflection all the way to the coast.

As we climbed higher and traveled further north the image became more and more brilliant and beautiful. The light was able to shine clearly through the air and make a very vivid reflection across the Atlantic. The image of this reflection appeared to be so calm and gentle. the water looked so calm and did not seem like we were looking out on the ocean at all. At most it looked simply like a pond of calm water no giant waves or rough water. Looking at the dark spots that represented the land provided a clear and vivid contrast of land and sea that truly enhanced the picture outside of our plane. I stared out of the window watching the light change and watching the dark areas of the coast fly by beneath us. It was so calm and relaxing… just like I wanted my break to be.

1) 2/8/12 – 9:40 PM – Fields at the corner of campus just past the fitness center

2) OBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: It was a relatively clear sky with a few clouds scattered in sky. It was a full moon and it was casting shadows and lighting up the entire field and short but clear shadows.

3) SUBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: Tuesday was a long day; after working against the clock all morning on the Much Ado set I sat through a pair of hour and a half long classes on pure lecture and was assigned double homework due for thursday. Spanish then followed and by the time 6:00 rolled around I was exhausted and  decided a quick walk would do me some good so that I could clear my head and enjoy some fresh oxygen to the brain (free of sawdust and steel shavings). I grabbed my IPod and left the grounds of the netherlands and headed north east to the fields just beyond the fitness center where I like to walk and enjoy the little grassy sanctuary in the middle of the modernized Long Island I was surrounded by. This spot was a little place that reminded me of home, untouched by buildings and simply serves to house the bunnies and offer a clear place for me to breathe and de-stress.

As I got closer to the fitness center I began to relax and let myself wander in my thoughts. I strolled on to the grass and began walking to the far field. At this point I was in a secluded from the bustle around me and was overtaken by my music and the calmness of the cool air. I began to notice the clarity of the air and the full moon shining above me very high in the sky.

I started looking down the ground and noticed how each blade of grass seemed somewhat shiny in the cool light and each blade cast its own faint shadow just beneath it. Even though the darkness of the grass reflected very low intensities the dark shadows hashed into the deep green created a mess of crooked lines into the ground. As I wandered through the grass noticing the faint resemblance of the bunnies I sat down on the bleachers and looked up. The sky was glowing in a dark blue and only the brightest objects in the sky were visible, Venus, Mars and two other stars. There were three wispy clouds directly above me. The  light from the moon made the edges glow white contrasting with rich blue background. I sat there and took a deep breathe and soaked in the air and the world around me. I looked at the moon and realized how for me it was looking in to the sun. I realized that with a life in the theater, seeing the sun would be a privilege on most days and that for as long as I was going to be in this field of study I was going to have to get used to the shadows and feeling of only the suns reflection.

2. Photography of QT Luong

http://www.terragalleria.com/photo/?id=hale20929&subject=wild-scenics

3. Sunsets or Sunrises

4. With the busy and seemingly endless lives that we all control, it is easy for one to become blind to natural beauty. We live in a world of where anything that we want,we create. Think about your life and all of the artificial elements that surround us. Clothing, appearances, health, and even food, we have grown accustomed to all of this being “man-made” and the list can go on and on. Now throw that out of your mind and concentrate on all of the natural elements in your life. Some may say appearance, but not all. The list seems so much more limited, which is upsetting. I am guilty of this too. But there is one natural element left in all of our lives. It is the two promises or guarentees that exist for everyone, the sun will always rise and the sun will always set.

Sunrises to me are very calming. They mark the beginning of a new day, another chance to leave our mark on this Earth. I spent countless hours on StumbleUpon Tuesday night and Wednesday night trying to find the perfect example of a sunrise (As I write this at 2 in the morning), and I believe I came pretty close with the one above. When I found this picture, I expanded it to cover the whole screen on my laptop. I then sat alone in my room and stared at it for a long time, to reflect and meditate on the blissful image of new light. The perfect yellow as it pushes the clouds away had a hypnotizing effect on me. As I looked closer I noticed the serene waves at the foot of a green covered cliff. All the plant life was reflecting their color from the brightness of the sun. The green was calm and tamed, not too bright to see the full color but not too dark to see barely any. Their was an equilibrium between the two. A sunrise is much more than a ball of fire coming into view, but a gift of emotion and meditation. The feelings one can receive from this picture are immense. I imagine sitting on the cliff overlooking this sunset, the light is shining bright as it first arises above the sea. The white clouds retain some of the yellow color and acts like a border for the sun. The mixture of the two causes one to let go of all their anxiety and stay speechless and thoughtless. These are natural colors with natural feelings. I could only imagine how I could imitate this with stage lighting to get the same emotions that I felt, from an audience.

This sunrise is a perfect example of the theme and not just because it is technically a sunrise. It is a perfect example because of the feelings and emotions that surround it. It deserves the title of a sunrise because of the natural hypnotizing colors. It completes every job a sunrise should have, hypnotizing the spectator by capturing them in raw emotion. When we are in such a state it is much easier to think at a higher level due to our exuberant emotions. Sunrises can be inspiring, soothing, a perfect set to incubate ideas. It can cause one to feel so energized and powerful as the one above did to me. There was a moment of peace, not worrying about a grade or if this description is too long, but a true reflection on my life and all that I have accomplished or tried to accomplish. After meditating on this picture, I believe it let me reach a point of transcendence – going beyond ordinary limits.