Drama 16 Stage Lighting

Date: 3/11/16 Time: 4:20 pm Location: Fire Island

Objective: The light is the vibrant sunset shining right past the houses, along the water.

Subjective: On such a beautiful day, my roommate and I decided to go to the beach.. but we instead headed towards Fire Island to see what was up. We arrived at this small dock, right by these houses and gazed out into the horizon. There was a moment of relief for just a brief second as I look at the seagulls accompany tiny patches of island and take off soaring into the sky. For a brief moment, it didn’t feel like any of my worries mattered.

Date: 3/9/2016 Time: 2:20 pm Location: By the stadium

Objective: In its basic sense, I was watching the sunlight from the oddly summer-like afternoon bounce off the gates of the stadium and the lions.

Subjective: As it was my first time ever being in front of the stadium I couldn’t help but feel dream about one of Hofstra’s many sport teams having a game at the stadium and a large amount of students all come out to support then at the end there’s a massive flood of bodies pouring out through the 3 gates on they’re way back home. The stadium in that amber glow makes me wish the students had more school spirit.

Date: 3/4/16 Time: 1 am  Location: Will Ketter’s house

Objective: Will owns these ornamental Christmas-type lights which he hung on 3/4 of his room.

Subjective: As regular lights, at first glance didn’t seem like much but as I noticed the particles as they try to puncture through the heavily-thick smoke that was filling up the room I noticed the light bend and refract to which I thought was really cool. Also, by this time the sources began to fade away so it looked like round pockets of energy… probably should’ve taken a picture, next time.

Time: 5:45 on Wednesday evening

Objective Description: The sun was setting over Manhattan, and the skyscrapers made tall silhouettes that contrasted sharply with the pretty pastel sky.

Subjective Description: I feel lacking in creativity because this isn’t the first time that I’ve written at a sunset, but it was so beautiful, I couldn’t resist. Besides, sunsets are like snowflakes – every one is unique. I have never actually seen a proper New York City sunset, so when I finally had the privilege Wednesday night, I was amazed. I imagine that it is hard to see when you are actually inside the city due to the sheer amount of tall buildings, but I was able to witness a perfect sunset on the train into the city.

I looked out the train window to see one of the most breathtaking sunsets I’ve ever seen. The sky was painted in pastel colors, a soft blue fading into pink and orange. The tall buildings of Manhattan rose up in front of it, silhouetted in front of the glorious sunset. My friend remarked that it looked like a computer wallpaper. I agreed. Sunsets change so quickly, within a matter of minutes, or seconds, even, but that moment was picture-perfect and I felt thankful for having been able to witness it at the best time possible.

Date: 2/25 Time: 8 pm Location: My room

Objective: The light I am referring to is the many amber street lights that line the streets, from my window.

Subjective: As I was randomly dancing in my room to different songs, I happened to glance outside my window. I first felt startled as the street lights were reflecting off the underside of my blinds and repeating itself in an arch shape. To me, seeing six different arch-shaped lines grabbed my attention because it looked as if Hempstead was under attack and the arches were either bombs deployed from a mothership of sorts or the flames of destroyed homes raging into the night. Reminds me of a pretty cool scene for an alien movie.

Date: 2/18/2016 Time: 6:55 pm Location: Black Box Theater

Objective: The lighting moment happened backstage of As You Like It, minutes before the show opened. It was one of the bulbs used to light the pathway backstage so the cast and crew can walk freely to and fro.

Subjective: When I stumbled across this lighting I was like “O.O” It happened when Sean Moran who plays Duke Frederick stood in front of me as we were talking, and the light casting over him accented his outfit to make him look even more evil. Yet, he  has members of his evil court to which I tested to see how other members of the court would look, and so with Noah Smith playing Lebeaux, Andrew Salzano playing Touchstone and myself as Charles, the lighting looked like a movie poster of a movie, with one of our lines as the quote on the bottom. I forgot to take pictures yesterday, so I shall definitely tonight!

1. Tuesday, February 16th, 2016 – Constitution Hall
2. After days of snow and one day of rain, the sun is setting on the fog-shrouded trees of campus, and what would normally be a not-very-vibrant winter sunset is instead bright and colorful.
3. As though it were verification that though global warming might kill us all, but at least we’ll still have a few pretty things, the sun refracted through the water left in the air after rain melted the snow from yet another blizzard days before, casting rays of light and hope through the fog rising from among the trees.

Time: Sunday, 8pm

Objective Description: A cloud of smoke coming out of a tall smokestack was lit up by the obstruction lights on the smokestack, creating a lightning-like effect.

Subjective Description: As I was returning to Hofstra from New York City, I saw a flash of lighting out of the corner of my eye – but that couldn’t possibly be, it was February and freezing, which aren’t exactly ideal conditions for lighting. I looked to see what could have caused this, and it turned out to be the obstruction lights on a smokestack. A thick, nearly opaque cloud of smoke was billowing out of the smokestack, silhouetted briefly by flashing white-blue lights. It looked extremely reminiscent of lightning flashing in the clouds during a storm. I watched the lights flash several more times before driving away, trying to pretend that it was summer and this was actually a thunderstorm and it wasn’t less than zero degrees outside. Seeing the imposter lightning made me marvel that something man-made could so easily recreate one of nature’s most amazing and awesome lighting phenomenons.

2/12/16 – 6:27pm – Hammer Lab

The fluorescent lights are reflected through the glass to appear to be a double set on the other side of the glass despite there not being any fluorescents there in those exact locations over there. There are some fluorescents on that side of the glass. The reflected lights seem to be faded slightly and float in a way.

Stale, ghostly, and ominous, the mirrored fluorescent lights feel oppressive like an army of evil jellyfish that has started flying across the land on a campaign of terror. Jellyfish would be more pleasant than these glowing boxes of off-white though. Two eyes can be seen to creep forth from the bulbs of the light and to beat down upon you. It is a scrutinizing gaze and an unforgiving one. Harsh and inhuman, the ghost lights are so many in number that they seem to be following or haunting people. They bleach the world; they engulf it in an intense brightness that is unvarying and plain. The nightmare of a futuristic society where people have lost their own individuality and creativity is felt in the glow of these lights. The lighting is bland, unnatural, and dead.

Date: 11/1/2015 Time: 5:30 pm Location: SUNY Albany

Objective: The light identified is the overhead street lights on one of the walkways leading to one of the residential buildings, as well as the sun setting.

Subjective: I thought this lighting moment was pretty dope because the sun was setting and it was getting dark so the street lights came up yet I noticed that one of them was defective as it kept flickering on and off. Still, the part that amazed me was that the sun setting was perfectly lined up with the end of the walkway, giving the appearance as if one was running off into the horizon directly towards the sun. The defective light added character to the moment as if it was too perfect, it may have seemed unreal. Though the faultiness of the light oddly brings realism in my opinion as nothing truly is perfect.