Drama 16 Stage Lighting

2/22/17   6:30 PM  Shapiro Family Hall; Hofstra University

Sparks coming off of machinery as someone worked (the sparks were not a danger, they were expected to appear).  Thick sparks flying out in all directions within in the area of a large beach ball.

Small fireworks went off in a never ending succession.  The hot teardrops fled from one another to dissipate into nothing.  The fierce energy exploding as tension within the machinery ground out the fireflies like bees swarming out of their nest as it’s being destroyed.  Then, they are gone.

1. 2/2/17, 5:32 pm, the NAB
2. The sun was setting, casting an orange light on the front of the NAB. The trees behind Lowe had cast a shadow on the NAB.
3. Walking with squinting eyes to rehearsal due to the blinding sun, I look up at the NAB. The shadow that the trees had created on the NAB, cutting through the warm orange glow the sun created, was very settling. The lighting was comforting, giving the impression that the day was almost at an end. The warm, pleasant light was slowly fading and the darkness of night was welcomed.

27 March, 2012
South Campus
Around  12:30 am

Phil and I are walking past the NAB. As we get closer, we see the orange fluorescence of the street lamps lighting up the trees along the walkway. The shadows of the trees are visible against the black of the NAB windows, swaying with the wind.

In general, the scene is rather sad. The spindly trees are haphazardly pitched back and forth from the force of the wind, barely visible at times due to the speed. The orange between the branches makes them look slightly menacing when they’re still, but they’re so thin that they look like they’re trying too hard. Their elongated shadows make them look even more slender, and aren’t always visible in the darkness of the  windows. It’s made even more depressing against the harsh, material, industrial background – the only trees visible in the area and they don’t stand a chance.

13 February, 2012
South Campus
Around  5:00 pm

I’m walking west from work (the Plant Maintenance Facility south of the stadium) towards the NAB, just as the sun is setting over the top of the buildings on South Campus.

It had been one of those days, my busiest, with work and class and work and class and work (in that order). A day of accomplishment, of productivity at work as well as in my classes. The day had been warm and sunny and pretty much the beach weather I was used to. Overall it was a good day, full of things getting done and being happy and hopeful. I was on my way to the NAB to join Lee’s paint call for ‘Cat’, and the way the orangeish beams of sunlight spread away from the roof of the NAB was just so beautiful. It was a picturesque ending to a rather picturesque kind of day, and overall it made me feel really happy, despite the fact that I was on my way to do more work. I didn’t really mind, after having such a day with the easy breezes and warm sunlight. The hopefulness I felt (for whatever reason)  after that view seemed to make it okay that I wouldn’t get to bed for about eleven more hours.

Date: March 10th, 2012 – Noon – In front of the NAB

Objective: The NAB was casting a shadow on the ground in front of me.

Subjective:Athena decided to plan a scavenger hunt for all the production majors to bond with each other. We were told to meet in front of the NAB. It seemed like a good idea at the time, until I got to the NAB. There I was, staring at the NAB, with Meaghan the only one present. After a few phone calls and starting an hour later, we got a few more people to show up and play. Bryan Chess eventually joined us in front of the NAB, waiting for the game to start. We began to talk casually until we both caught ourselves staring at the ground. The NAB was casting a shadow in the shape of a staircase. It was very interesting. Bryan and I both knew that this was a quality lighting moment. I found myself looking at every step, climbing the stairs in my mind. I felt my eyes going around each corner, outlining the stairs as I climbed. I eventually could not climb anymore because the shadow of a nearby trashcan impeded my progress. I then started to work my way back down. I looked up at the NAB, trying to piece together the parts of the building that were creating this distinctive shadow. I want to be cliché and say I was climbing the stairway to heaven, but really let’s be honest, it’s the NAB; quite the opposite.

1) Wednesday February 15, 2012 – 6:00 pm – NAB

2) My lighting moment occurred while I was walking up the stairs in the nab to the second floor to get to the Blackbox Theatre. Because the lighting in the second floor is many rows of cans that each send a beam of light out in every direction, each step was casting about three shadows on the step underneath it. This gave an effect of four greys, each ligher than the previous one.

3)This was a really awesome effect that I was able to notice because of my incapableness of looking up while walking up or down stairs. The top of the stairs looked like on of those strips from the Home Depot with four different color choices, in this case your choices are steel grey, dark steel grey, darker steel grey, and darkest steel grey. I really liked how the shadows looked like steps especially when they were casted in a step.

1. February 8th 2012, 6:00 PM outside the NAB on Hofstra campus.

2. The light from the Halogen lights on the West side of Emily Lowe  fell across the silver wall of the NAB, the bare branches between them casting shadows on the wall.

3. It’s cold today.  The sky is a bluish-grey.  A bit of snow is falling, but not thick enough to alter the light around us.  The sun is nearly set, but without the glowing splendor we’ve come to enjoy at Hofstra—All dusk means tonight is that the lights come on while the sky turns to dark.  The lights have come on, if we were on the other side of the building, the red-orange glow could easily be mistaken for the last rays of sunset.  The shadows of the trees are distinct: sharp, dark and slightly foreboding.  It’s a gobo in a halloween scare-show.  Or maybe Snow White’s nightmare-filled woods.  Perhaps the bare forest in a New England winter as Abigail Williams and her friends dance in the outskirts of Salem.  Hofstra University is not a scary place (gunshots heard from Hempstead notwithstanding).  This single location, this single splash of light and color, however, catches for a moment a classic image of terror.

Date, Time, Location: Monday March 7^th, 2011; 6:59PMish, around the NAB

Objective Description: nighttime with blue artificial lights facing up the NAB walls

Subjective Description: As I left 55 this week, I was reminded of the effect lighting can have on a mood. The angle of the light cats an unnatural shadow in the sense that we are not usually viewing lighting from below. This gives it a spooky and mysterious effect. The shadows and blue color give the NAB a cold but stable feeling.

Date, Time, Location: Wednesday March 2nd , 2011; 10:30AMish, at the NAB

Objective Description: morning sun shining through the wall of glass windows.

Subjective Description: as I was walking up the stairs to the second floor of the NAB, I suddenly got the feeling of warmth. I was actually feeling it due to the intensity of the morning sun, and feeling it through the bright shade of yellow. I also found the spaces in between the glass window shadow interesting, because it appeared to retile the floor with a skewed shape.

1.) Thursday Feb. 24th 2011, 11:10 P.M. J.C. Adams Playhouse stage door.

2.) Various lights reflected in a puddle.

3.) It was raining when rehearsal let out tonight, and it had been for a while, and there were puddles on the ground in the parking lot. In the puddles, reflections of the orange-colored lights from the stage door overhang was mixing with the various whitish lights from car headlights in the parking lot, and even a bit of the fluorescent light from the NAB across the parking lot. The effect of the dancing lights in the puddles felt cool (literally and figuratively) and impassioned, very urban and a little melancholy. I thought it would be a great establishing shot for a film.