Tech Theatre Class

Spring 2009

Lighting Design

• Objective of Stage Lighting     
• Qualities (Physical Properties) of Light

1. OBJECTIVE OF STAGE LIGHTING

“Stage lighting may be defined as the use of light to create a sense of VISIBILITY, NATURALISM, COMPOSITION and MOOD, (or ATMOSPHERE)".

-Stanley McCandless

A Syllabus of Stage Lighting, 1933

These are “overlapping” qualities and one does not exist independently of the others.

• VISIBILITY
• Making sure that what you want to be seen is seen
• Can be selective
• Factors that effect visibility
• Contrast
• Size
• Color
• Movement
• Distance
• Age
• Conditions of the eye

"Good visibility is essentially selective. Its purpose is to reveal things selectively in terms of degrees of acuity". - (S. McCandless, 1933).

• NATURALISM (and MOTIVATION)
• NATURALISM provides a sense of TIME and PLACE.
• If time of day is important or the place is realistic, then MOTIVATION is often provided by sunlight, moonlight, firelight, lamplight, or other naturalistic stage sources.
• Style concepts include: (write at least 3) naturalistic, unnaturalistic, realistic, surrealistic, pointillistic, futuristic, minimalistic, impressionistic, expressionistic, expansionistic, abstract, modern, religious, romantic, Victorian, primitive, gothic, Elizabethan, Georgian

• COMPOSITION
• COMPOSITION refers to the overall pictorial aspect of the stage, as influenced by the lighting.
• Must reveal actors, objects and scenery in proportion to their importance, by building a visual PICTURE
• Composition concepts include: (write at least 3) balanced, unbalanced, symmetrical, asymmetrical, simple, complex, abstract, geometric, fragmented, symbolic, dynamic, linear, random, crude, horizontal, vertical, diagonal, and many more.

• MOOD (and ATMOSPHERE)
• MOOD considers the basic psychological reactions of the audience.
• If other lighting elements have been properly applied, the result is a specific MOOD, created by the lighting design.
• ATMOSPHERIC moods, such as sunny, cloudy, rainy, lightning, etc.

2. QUALITIES (PHYSICAL PROPERTIES) OF LIGHT

INTENSITY, FORM, COLOR, DIRECTION and MOVEMENT. These are the lighting designer's tools.

• INTENSITY
• INTENSITY is the strength of the light source
• ILLUMINANCE is the amount of light falling on an object
• BRIGHTNESS is the eye’s perception of the light interacting with the object
• Depends on intensity of light, distance of light source from object, and reflectivity of object
• Example: In theatre when we change the dimmer setting of a lighting fixture, we are changing the output INTENSITY of the source. This results in a change of ILLUMINANCE (light falling on the stage) that is perceived by the eye as a change in BRIGHTNESS.

• FORM and DISTRIBUTION
• FORM is the clarity and recognition of shapes
• The eye is able to recognize objects in terms of shape, size and position.
• DISTRIBUTION is how light strikes a surface and reveals an object
• Effects form

• COLOR
• All light is colored. White light is a mixture of all visible wavelengths (colors)
• Hue- Classification of colors, what you know as “color”
• Primary- These 3 colors can be mixed together to create any other color, including white
• Red, blue, green

• Secondary- 2 primary colors combined
• Magenta (red & blue)
• Cyan (blue & green)
• Yellow (red & green)
• Complementary- any combination of a primary and a secondary color that, mixed together make white light
• Magenta & Green
• Cyan & Red
• Yellow & Blue
• Subtractive filtering
• When white light is passed through a color filter only the wavelengths corresponding to the color are transmitted.
• Additive mixing
• When 2 or more colored beams of light combine to illuminate a surface
• Value
• The lightness or darkness of a color
• Chroma
• the purity or saturation of a color

• DIRECTION
• The relationship between the light source and the object it is illuminating

• MOVEMENT
• any change in INTENSITY, COLOR, FORM or DIRECTION

Resource  http://www.mts.net/~william5/sld/sld-toc.htm