Drama 16 Stage Lighting

Date: 03/05/2023

Time: 4:48 pm

Location: The living room of a house in East Hampton

Objective: Soft evening sun coming in from the high windows on the wall in front of me, harsh rays coming from behind over the half wall in the center of the room. A little too cool, except for the yellow hotspots on the walls. They are parallelograms, broken up with the shifting patterns of tree branches in the wind. An orange glow is creeping in from the next room over, the chandelier chock full of hot incandescent bulbs. The coated wooden floorboards are reflective, creating a mirror-like effect with subtle highlights seeming to continue into the ground from my perspective.

Subjective: It is a cool evening, right before sunset. The space feels very homey, soft, natural. The distinct color contrast between the cool glow of the darkening sky against the yellow beams of sunset light and orange glow of the chandelier makes the space feel lived in, not exactly in line with nature but not clashing too harshly. If void of people, it could surely be populated by ghosts. But no vengeful spirits, just the souls of some past resident settling down for their afternoon tea, or getting ready for dinner. Neutral, even a bit welcoming.

Date: Feb. 26th 2023

Time: 5:29pm

Location: outside of Stuyvesant Hall, looking at Netherlands

Objective: The beginning of the sunset behind Nethies is this bright golden color and white in the brightest spots. The trees are silhouetted against the light, and the sky above it is gray.

Subjective: The light is comforting and warm, which is especially unusual for this month.  I was walking back from a fun acappella rehearsal with one of my good friends and the lighting was perfect for the mood I was in – it felt airy and pleasant and really uplifted my already-positive state of mind.

Date: 2/24/23

Time: 5:50pm

Location: outside the Fitness Center

Objective: The sun is setting way off in the distance, and the lower half of the sky is mostly blocked by trees or buildings. The trees are dark silhouettes against a graying sky, which lightens to orange as it nears the horizon. A couple of outdoor lights on the buildings of Colonial Square illuminate the brick with white light. A window is lit from inside by a yellow light.

Subjective: The sky looks pretty, but cold. The colors don’t evoke any kind of warmth. Looking away from the sunset and into the monochrome expanse of the sky, it is vast and quickly darkening. It’s not quite unsettling but it gives the feeling more and more that something is hidden in the silhouettes. The sunset, by contrast, offers a gentle hint of natural light, while the outdoor lights on the buildings feel very industrial.

Feb. 15th, 2023, 5:09pm, dorm in Vander Poel Hall

Objective: The sunlight is coming through my roommate Maggie’s window on the opposite side of the room. She has some burned-out gels taped to her window that Jim Hart once said I could take. Two are dark blue and five are a more cerulean color; she taped them up in the shape of a smiley face, with the dark blue as the eyes and the cerulean as the smile. The sunlight shines through the window, through the gels, and onto her wall, creating crisp shadows where the mullions of the window block the light and a dual-toned blue smiley face.

Subjective: This is a cheerful scene. The gels create a silly, colorful grin on the beige backdrop of our dorm room walls. I was on a video call with my grandparents, and I had to pause on my end just to take a picture of the sunlight on Maggie’s wall. There’s the barest hint of the beginning of golden hour in the glowy tint of the sunlight coming through, and it feels like a happy and comforting room to be in, at this moment. The light-lined shadow of the stacked blinds at the top of this sunny image make me aware of the fact that her blinds aren’t down, and that she has left them open on purpose, to let the light in and uplift the vibe around here. It isn’t hot, but it’s a warm environment.

Feb. 12th 2023, 11:12pm, dorm in Vander Poel Hall

Objective: The white-yellow overhead lights of my dorm room are the only source of light. These overhead lights are both above me and also on my roommate’s side of the room. Mine is centered on the ceiling. On top of that there’s also a small red light on my power strip to indicate that it is on, and some flashes of white street lamp light visible below through the slats in my lowered blinds. Neither of these are illuminating anything in my vicinity but they are visible.

Subjective: The overhead light feels somewhat harsh, not on the eyes but on the colors of everything. It is the only light source, so it rules the room – it’s late and it’s dark outside, meaning without the overhead lights, nothing would be visible. While it does a good job of illuminating everything in the room, all corners and surfaces, it’s unforgiving in its brightness, particularly when held up against the darkness outside, lit intermittently by street lamps I would be able to see if I had my blinds open.

Date: 04/04/22

Time: 8pm

Location: Kings Theater

Objective Observation: There are lights of all colors (mainly blues and reds) shining all around the ornate theater. There are also gobos on some of the lights creating a dispersal effect of the light.

Subjective Observation: The ceiling of the theater is very ornate with a lot of decorations like its taken from the ceiling of a baroque church. This means there is already a lot going on so when the multicolored lights are added that confuses things more and then adding gobos creates a wild texture pattern throughout the space. It is an interesting combination of old and new aesthetics as the lighting is so modern and technologic whereas the ceiling is so stable and old.

Date: 3/20/22

Time: Midnight

Location: Washington DC

Objective Observation: There are lights in a ring around the Washington Monument shining up on it from all directions. It is a no-color looking light which is very apparent as it is very dark.

Subjective Observation: The light makes no sense. The entire obelisk is lit up and visible wit the same level of light on every inch yet the only visible lights are small ones on the ground. It’s as if a fully lit object was photoshopped into a night-time background as there are virtually no shadows. Its like its in a video game that is still being rendered. It seems unnatural and physically impossible.

May 8th, 7:57 pm Sunnyside

On the LIRR coming home from the city and the sun has set behind the buildings but the sky is still lit up and colorful. There are pink and orange fluffy clouds in a deep purple sky. The bottom line of the horizon is a very bright orange from the colors of the last of the day’s sun. The atmosphere feels warm and comforting.

Date/Time/Location: May 6 at 4:44pm in Tennessee

Objective Description: The light coming in the windows to hit my dogs’ fur

Subjective Description: The light coming in the windows doesn’t really have much color to it. It’s pretty bright, but any color from the sun is taken away by the amount of clouds covering the sky from the storm earlier in the day. Regardless of the lack of color, the way it reflects off of my dogs’ fur is interesting. Jessie is a reddish-blondish color, but the light takes the red out of her fur and makes her seem a little more dull. Calvin is a very light blondish color, so the light reflecting off of him makes him look even brighter than he is normally. Jessie becomes more a part of the surroundings, while Calvin seems very removed from it

Date/Time/Location: April 27 at 9:45 in the Netherlands

Objective Description: The purple fairy lights wrapped around the room and the warmth of a single lamp

Subjective Description: The purple fairy lights wrap around the corner of the room. They don’t provide much light given the other light source in the room, but they do give the space a bit of life and liveliness that would otherwise be absent. The fairy lights are changing and flickering, turning on and off every few seconds. The purple, combined with the warmth of the single lamp in the corner, give the room a warm, inviting, and lively feeling, drawing the inhabitants closer and giving a sense of connection