Drama 16 Stage Lighting

1) DATE-TIME-LOCATION: 3/17/21- 3:00 pm- Shapiro Family Hall- Blackbox

2) OBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: When my friend and I walked into the black box because he had forgotten something there, it was completely dark and we needed our flash lights.

3) SUBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: Stepping into a blackness that completely envelopes you. You cannot see your own limbs and who knows where the edge of the floor comes to an abrupt halt. A few lights pulled out to fight the darkness and the white light bounces all around the room and off objects. It feels like a dangerous quest, for something as small as a laptop charger.

Date/Time/Location:4/25/19; Around 3 P.M.; Modern Drama 2 Class

Objective: During one of the student performances, all the lights in the theater were turned off with the exception of a handful of small flashlights to simulate a starry night.

Subjective: With the desired effect being starlight it definitely achieved the goal making me feel alone in the space looking at a sparce night sky.

1) 4/22/12 – 4:16 PM – Black box theater in the NAB

2) OBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: I was in the Black Box with a few people looking at the lighting options for the proscenium. Bryan turned off the lights and there was no light in the space. I handed him my flashlight and he walked around but all I could see was the small white dot floating around in the space.

3) SUBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: I was meeting Bryan Chess in the Black box to look at the possible options that we had for illuminating the proscenium for Spring Awakening. I walked into the Black Box and sat down in the house and waited for Bryan to show me what he had plaid with already. After I sat down he walked over to the light switch and turned off the lights so that we could turn on the strip lights. When he turned off the lights it was pitch black in the theater and I could not see my hand in front of my face. I hardly knew where Byran was other than what I could hear of him.

Being in this absolute dark fog was somewhat disconcerting as I was all of a sudden completely unaware of anything around me. Bryan tripped and stumbled and then finally made it over by me by following my voice. I handed him my flashlight and he began to walk toward the proscenium. As he wandered around all I could see was the tiny floating light all over the black box. The light seemed to take on the personality of Bryan. It zig zagged back and forth and quickly moved about the room, in the same way bryan acts on a daily basis. Finally he found his way behind the proscenium and as soon as he passed behind the muslin I was able to see a faint image of Bryan’s face appear. The light from the flashlight just touched the muslin and reflected just enough to pick up the contours of Bryan’s face and made him look just like he was floating like the wizards head in The Wizard of Oz.

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THEME: Intrigue

When I hear the word ‘intrigue’, I think of it more as a noun than an adjective. Roughly translated, ‘intrigue’ means some combination of secrets and mystery. As far as lighting goes, I picture high contrast, black and white films a la film noir. Naturally, this combination led me to ‘The Thin Man’ series, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy, in which they play a detective and his wife (respectively). Solving mysteries and unearthing secrets in a very effective way, this movie series is the epitome of intrigue for me. The high contrast in this picture really emphasizes their fronts, casting their shadows in sharp relief behind them and making the beam of the flashlight severely accentuated. Despite the shadows that lurk behind and around them, Nick and Nora will continue looking forward and searching for the truth behind the mysteries.