Drama 16 Stage Lighting

Photo by Harold Ross, found here.

Surreal.

Searching for surreal lighting, or lighting that evokes some kind of un-reality or dream-reality, as opposed to simply finding a surrealist painting proved quite challenging…the white light highlighting the sides of the trees contrasts the pitch black background, while the shadows of the trees fall forward into the viewer’s space creates a haunting world in which things are not always as they appear. Light seems to emanate from below to illuminate the underside of the leaves & branches, and yet also appears to come from above as wide swaths of the grass surrounding the trees are also illuminated. I imagine this image in something like a Tim Burton film, or maybe in Alice in Wonderland (using colored lights). It also would work quite well in moments of The Devil and Daniel Webster.

I got this photo from a blog about Epcot called Epcot Explorer: https://epcotexplorer.wordpress.com/2015/09/22/illuminations-reflecting-on-15-years/ .

The theme is surreal.

The lighting is unreal in its color, its angle, its vibrancy. The sky is lit up by lasers like the end of the world or like a mystical portal is opening. The colorful lights are reflected in the water making it resemble a magical river that one might dream up as a child. All of the lighting is fantastical even the bright projected white on the Earth. The water shows the hidden mysteries of lights that are far off and also the pink and green of the globe. The various angles are unusual as the light from the water fountains illustrates since it goes straight up with the water. There are neons, bright magentas, oranges, blues, greens, and white in the color palette of the lights. There are hints of red, yellow, and purple as well. It is like a rainbow but brighter; the lights have a similar feeling of joy in their colors as fireworks and glow sticks. They are spectacular and delightful like a magician show. Clearly, the lights are magical not realistic. Even the sky with the green and blue fading into one another repeatedly in a pattern is mostly intense and vibrant in color and brightness. This brightness is like the pages of children’s picture books and children’s toys in general. Consequently, the lighting is surreal and creates an atmosphere that is playful, reflexive, and dream-like.

Photo Cred: http://www.123rf.com/photo_19872044_hiker-with-backpack-standing-on-top-of-a-mountain-and-enjoying-sunrise.html

Theme: Surreal

Description: This picture depicts a woman standing on top of a mountain after a presumably long hike. The view from the top is what I consider to be surreal in this photo. This, along with the feeling one gets when experiencing this instance.

Photo Credit: John Poppleton, http://www.ufunk.net/en/photos/body-painting-black-light/ (Check out this link, all of the photographs are really cool.)

Theme: Surreal

Description: The first thing I think of in terms of lighting when I hear surreal is blacklights, or UV lights. UV light looks crazy, like someone took normal light and turned it on its head. It makes the subjects look very strange and almost alien-esque.

This is surreal because the sunset is not something you typically see on a human body, and the human body isn’t usually blue, either. The blacklight cast on the woman’s back makes a sharp contrast between her plain skin and the painting, so it really comes to life. The orange light in front of her mixes with the blue color on her body and mimics the some of the pink and purple colors in the painting in her face and hair. It looks very otherworldly and surreal.

Theme: Surreal

Description: This is a photo of a woman sitting in what appears to be a bar or night club of some sort. To one side of her there is a large amount of red light and to the other there is blue. In the room there is also green light and hints yellow light. These mixtures of colors cause the lighting in the photo to give off a surreal effect because the colors blend and mix over the woman in the photo and cast unnatural shadows on her face. The different colors also give the appearance of a dream or intoxicated state. The lighting is not the standard colors we are used to seeing in our daily life.

This is a photo I took during a production of Fuerza Bruta in NYC.

Theme: Surreal

Description: Bodies suspended in mid-air. A curtain of luminous and reflective foil-like material encasing the audience as a whole. The color’s, cools and warms of deep blues and entrancing pinks silhouette the bodies running horizontal to the ground against the backdrop effortlessly hung. The focus is solely on the bodies defying gravity while all other visionary senses seem overwhelmed, and an ethereal atmosphere takes over. Enchanting music relaxes the soul even more as you begin to feel as though you too are floating. The closest experience to a dream-like state while completely awake.

Photo Credit: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/484418503640232257/

Theme: Surreal

Description: This photo immediately made me think of surreal because it very much looks as though it belongs in a dream. This was a lighting design of a production of A Midsummer’s Night Dream and is full of mystical and not realistic lighting. The various colors look as though they belong in a forest that can be full of magical creatures. The cutouts placed over the lights are also a unique technique of achieving a pattern. This looks as though it was straight of Shakespeare’s head as he was imagining up the fantastical land of the forest in Midsummer. 

4/18/16 – 8:30am – Outside Colonial Square on Path Towards Student Center

The morning sun shines through the temporary black plastic fencing lining the sidewalk. It casts a shadow across the width of the sidewalk making it patterned with oval-ish shapes.

When one stared at the lighting and pathway too much, the shadow and light on the sidewalk had this hypnotic feel. It was mesmerizing and was dizzying to look at it. The lighting that cast this shadow made the path feel like it belonged in Alice in Wonderland since the path looked like it was trying to be an optical illusion. The intensity of the morning light made the shadow dark and the light that shined through to hit the pavement bright; there was a sharp distinction between light and shadow just like the colors had been black and white instead of black and golden lit grey-tan pavement. The lighting moment and mysterious effect on the path would not have been the same without this intensity. The stark contrast created made it seem like this pathway must be leading to some sort of black and white timeless dimension. The shape of the holes in the fence made the spots of bright light on the sidewalk curious ovals. In my mind, the path swirled for some reason due to the pattern cast upon it. It was like a moiré effect. Walking across it was like being on a boat. The mood that the lighting created was surreal.

“You see, I like to be invisible. I don’t want people to know that I’m there taking their picture, because knowing you’re being photographed changes you. That’s a false image, so I like to take portraits where people don’t know I’m there, and that portrait of Joni is a perfect example of that.”

-Graham Nash, 1969,  http://bigread.mojo4music.com/2013/10/graham-nash/

This is one of my favorite photographs ever taken. Graham Nash took this picture of Joni Mitchell through the hole in the back of a kitchen chair. The privacy of this photo is so mesmerizing to me. Joni is listening to her album Clouds for the first time, and you can see how personal the moment that she’s experiencing is. I love the contrast between the dark backside of the chair (what the photographer sees) and the light hitting Joni’s magnificent cheekbones — there’s a dramatic irony in this picture, she’s only aware of her part of the picture, the light.

This photo is surreal to me because of the interesting way the photo is lit. You can clearly see the undersides of the leaves on the tree, lit up by a bright flash. However, the background is in shadow. This provides an unusual focus to the photo. This picture also reminded me of a Magritte painting, The Blank Page. Magritte was a painter known for his surrealistic work.