Drama 16 Stage Lighting

4/25/16-10:23am-Outside the Spiegel Theater

The sunlight warmly hits the bright green leaves of this tree that looks sort of like a weeping willow but has branches hanging down with bright green spade-shaped leaves. The shadow cast on its bark reflects the spade-like shape of the leaves and only some direct sunlight comes through in varying amounts to hit the bark. Thus, the bark is illuminated with different intensities of sunlight.

The light colors the bark of the tree and accents the lines of the bark. The bark looks like it might just erupt into circular-like shapes like the shadows that gently fall onto it from the branches above. The movement of the shadows with the gentle swaying of the breeze create a dream-like feeling. The tree bark shimmers like psychedelic orbs that make the tree glow with different shades as the light and shadow change how intense the light is on the bark constantly. As the shadow and sunlight move, there is green, teal, brown, gold, grey, amber, and silver on the bark. The whiteness of the light of the sun has the greenness of the leaves and the shades of the nearby plants reflect onto the bark allowing for this rainbow. It is a creative light with its colors and intensities. Every leaf looks more like a heart than a spade with the shadow that is created by the sunlight hitting it. The lighting is artistic, it is natural, it is soft, and it is dynamic. The overall feeling of the light is one of confusion, fun, and bedazzlement. It changes between these naturalistic colors and is constantly moving like the light cannot make up its mind how to shine on the tree, but it is also fun with the varying spots of intensities and colors reflected back. This movement and change in the amount of light hitting the bark is bedazzling like a disco ball in the night. It is fun though; It’s fun in the confusion and in dazzling qualities.

1. 12/11/13 at around 7:00 p.m. in my living room.

2. A tall green evergreen tree with multi-colored lights, ribbons, ornaments and a star on top.

3. The highlight of the Christmas season is when I see my family’s beautiful Christmas tree shining for the first time. The tree is always covered with twinkling rope lights. The tree sparkles with colors varying from reds, yellows, greens, violets, golds, silvers, and pinks. These colors reflected off the glimmering silver tinsel which is wrapped around the lush branches. The ornaments dangle and complement the vibrant colors of the blinking lights. The star atop the tree is really a sight to see. It glows a wonderful shining gold that truly encompasses the natural beauty of the tree.

1) 4/26/12 – 12:34 – Walking from Lowe to Netherlands. Just outside of Bits under the trees.

2) OBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: I was walking to my room from Lowe one night recently. It was pouring rain and the trees were dripping wet. I looked up at the tree above me and there weren’t that many leaves on the tree. The light was shining through each droplet and being magnified off of each branch.

3) SUBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: I was wondering back to my room after rehearsal one night. Unfortunately it began to rain heavily just before I started walking home and had to simply accept that I was going to be getting soaked. I strolled down the sidewalk outside of bits and looked up at one of the trees outside of memorial. The leaves were just beginning to pop out of their buds on the branches of the tree and the branches were still somewhat naked. The water began to collect on the bottom of al of the little branches and the wood on the tree was soaked to an extremely dark brown. The sky was somewhat of a glowing gray due to all of the reflection from the city lights down below. As I studied the tree branches I began to notice the droplets almost seemed to be capturing all of the ambient light that was surrounding me.

The safety lights that were shining from the top of Hauser Hall were casting down and each water droplet was acting as a tiny magnifying glass for the light. The tree actually reminded me of seeing a tree near christmas being illuminated with decorative lights. Each droplet acted as its own naturally occurring christmas light. Because the water was continuing to fall as I studied the tree, the lights seemed to twinkle as they fell. Studying each branch up close, I could see a repeated bugs eye view of the surrounding area in each droplet. When I took a step out of the moment and looked at the tree as a whole it was a beautiful glowing gold color that was absolutely gorgeous. What truly struck me about this moment walking home is that I could actually see that there was a moment where natural and organic elements such as rain, and a bear naked tree combined together in such a way that made the natural and organic look man made and flashy.

Edgard Garrido/Reuters – http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1PxBd7/www.guardian.co.uk/news/gallery/2012/mar/01/24-hours-in-pictures/

Single Light Source

This dog seems trapped, limited to the space that the light touches. He stands out in his red outfit, while surrounded by the monotonous businessmen at the top. The area is like a spotlight, the dog is the topic of this photo. He may not pick the best outfits, but it is this outfit and this lighting that makes the dog a hot subject. Design Choices. The dog seems confused on where to go, where does he walk to, can he escape? There are so many questions that could be running through this dogs head. I don’t think this dog is sad. The light is natural and the illumination gives a positive tone. The shadows of the business men are reaching out towards the dog, but just barely miss him. The sun is glowing vibrantly behind the businessmen, casting these long shadows. There is a battle between the dogs and the shadows, but the dog, with his vivacious costume, is winning. I guess he is the WIENER! (bad pun, sorry)

2. Photography of QT Luong

http://www.terragalleria.com/photo/?id=hale20929&subject=wild-scenics

3. Sunsets or Sunrises

4. With the busy and seemingly endless lives that we all control, it is easy for one to become blind to natural beauty. We live in a world of where anything that we want,we create. Think about your life and all of the artificial elements that surround us. Clothing, appearances, health, and even food, we have grown accustomed to all of this being “man-made” and the list can go on and on. Now throw that out of your mind and concentrate on all of the natural elements in your life. Some may say appearance, but not all. The list seems so much more limited, which is upsetting. I am guilty of this too. But there is one natural element left in all of our lives. It is the two promises or guarentees that exist for everyone, the sun will always rise and the sun will always set.

Sunrises to me are very calming. They mark the beginning of a new day, another chance to leave our mark on this Earth. I spent countless hours on StumbleUpon Tuesday night and Wednesday night trying to find the perfect example of a sunrise (As I write this at 2 in the morning), and I believe I came pretty close with the one above. When I found this picture, I expanded it to cover the whole screen on my laptop. I then sat alone in my room and stared at it for a long time, to reflect and meditate on the blissful image of new light. The perfect yellow as it pushes the clouds away had a hypnotizing effect on me. As I looked closer I noticed the serene waves at the foot of a green covered cliff. All the plant life was reflecting their color from the brightness of the sun. The green was calm and tamed, not too bright to see the full color but not too dark to see barely any. Their was an equilibrium between the two. A sunrise is much more than a ball of fire coming into view, but a gift of emotion and meditation. The feelings one can receive from this picture are immense. I imagine sitting on the cliff overlooking this sunset, the light is shining bright as it first arises above the sea. The white clouds retain some of the yellow color and acts like a border for the sun. The mixture of the two causes one to let go of all their anxiety and stay speechless and thoughtless. These are natural colors with natural feelings. I could only imagine how I could imitate this with stage lighting to get the same emotions that I felt, from an audience.

This sunrise is a perfect example of the theme and not just because it is technically a sunrise. It is a perfect example because of the feelings and emotions that surround it. It deserves the title of a sunrise because of the natural hypnotizing colors. It completes every job a sunrise should have, hypnotizing the spectator by capturing them in raw emotion. When we are in such a state it is much easier to think at a higher level due to our exuberant emotions. Sunrises can be inspiring, soothing, a perfect set to incubate ideas. It can cause one to feel so energized and powerful as the one above did to me. There was a moment of peace, not worrying about a grade or if this description is too long, but a true reflection on my life and all that I have accomplished or tried to accomplish. After meditating on this picture, I believe it let me reach a point of transcendence – going beyond ordinary limits.