Drama 16 Stage Lighting

Date: 3/30/23

Time: 12:41pm

Location: The grid in the Schaeffer Theater

Objective observation: The main light is the one in the process of being focused. It’s a singular circle of off-white light originating from the grid and landing in a circle on the floor of the Black Box and illuminating you, professor, standing right in the center. There is also a light on the opposite end of the catwalk, a lamp on the desk where the gels and gobos live, which is giving off a significantly yellow-er light with green undertones.

Subjective observation: The light has the drama and theatrics of a stage scene, even though it’s only the focus. However, seeing it from above makes it seem a lot more practical and less whimsical, particularly for the light in question which does not yet have a gel in it. It’s a spotlight with zero direction.

Date: 3/30/23

Time: Around 10:50AM

Location: Backstage in the blackbox.

Objective: The class before ours working on focusing lights to the stage.

Subjective: The pitch black creating mystery, suddenly lit up in a new light. Light that moves to just the right spot, light that may not be perfect at first, but can be moved and changed to be precise. As soon as it’s perfect the color changes, and then mystery again.

Date: 3/18/23

Time: Around 4:30 PM

Location: My room

Objective: The LED lights in my room being set to mixtures of blue and yellow shades.

Subjective: All the shades of light working together make the room appear as one might imagine under the sea would from The Little Mermaid scenes. The colors remind me of coral reefs, and the various colors animators chose for the movie, as well as the various lighting instruments in the stage production. It makes me feel like I’m under the water and with peace and calm.

March 15th, 2023 @7:00pm

I was walking to my dorm after class and I noticed two lampposts on campus were lit with different colored bulbs.

Although just 20ft apart, these two different lampposts each had their own characteristics to them. The further one, a warm bulb, appeared to radiate warmth, in turn making the dormitory closer to that source seem friendlier. On the other hand, the closer one, outside my window, was a bright white light. Yes, it was more efficient in lighting the area below, but it gave a harsh and stern tone when entering my dorm.

Date: 03/12/2024

Time: around 6:00pm

Location: Union Tpke subway station

Objective: I am waiting for the train to come. There many people around me waiting for the same thing. The cement I am standing on looks dirty, filled with chewed gum and questionable stains. Yellow strips are painted at the edges of the platforms and the columns are a muted navy. The tracks are littered with the usual trash and roaming rats. The smell of sewer in pungent and the strips of lighting are dim and warm.

Subjective:  Waiting on the platforms for the subway is visually quite grim and muddy-looking. Although I usually prefer warm dim lighting, the lighting just adds on to the uncleanliness and griminess of the station. I usually overlook this because of all the interesting people or performers that also fill up these subway stations, but on a empty day like this one the subway station seems depressing.

Date: 3/17/23

Time: 3:11pm

Location: the Red Line on the DC Metro

Objective observation: The train has yellow lights in strips all along the edges of the ceiling, but they’re not very strong. Most of the light in the car is natural, coming in from the big windows. The sky outside is a monochromatic light gray – it was just raining – so everything is illuminated with fairly plain white light.

Subjective observation: It’s oddly pleasant for a Metro system. The abundance of natural light gives the space a clean feeling that is unusual for a train like this. Conversely, when we go through a tunnel and the ceiling lights are the only source of light, they become a sickly kind of yellow without support from the natural outside light.

Date: 3/16/23

Time: 9:19 P.M.

Location: the Playhouse

Objective: two actors down center stage. there is a dark blue wash over the stage and a spot on each actor

Subjective: it’s a very calming scene. the characters sing a song about falling in love and everything is at ease

From: My camera roll, taken March 4th 2023. Jaden leaning out a window in East Hampton, NY

Theme: Single Source Artificial Light

This photo is actually BTS from a film set I was recently working on. Our schedule was pretty tight and we had to film a daytime interior scene after sunset, and since the room had a window it came down to the lighting team to make it work. I was the Best Boy Electric, so myself and a few extra hands ran the biggest light we had out to the driveway and sent it up on a stand above the height of the window. This shot was taken a few minutes after the light had fully turned on, but before we sealed the windows and added a diffusion layer to the inside. It sure did the trick. It doesn’t quite show on camera, but the immense output from this light (and the lack of adjustment from our eyes at the time) made it seem like Jaden was glowing, and his hair looked especially angelic so we all asked him to pose while we took some pictures.

6:57 pm outside Bits walking towards the Stu

The sun shining on the library building and casting an orange color on the stone.

The orange glow on the building reminded me of the sky during a sunset. The sunlight turned the library into a mirror, reflecting the orange sky to the West of it. The usual tan stone was a calm, beautiful orange.

Attribution: https://www.lighting-essentials.com/08-controlling-presentation-light/

Theme: Single Source Artificial Light

Description: Looking for an image of a single source artificial light reminded me of when I used to to do still life studies, most often with fruit. In this image, the apple is being lit from directly above.