Drama 16 Stage Lighting

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.