Purposes of Lighting –

1 – To control what you can and cannot see. Make things visible. Place the focus in the areas that are most important to furthering the plot or emphasizing certain moments.

2 – To create the environment in which the action happens. Ask your self the question; what is the environment that the story is happening in? What does it look like? Create the environment in which a mood or emotion exists. Do not focus on showing the emotion itself.

3 – To control the style in which you are designing the production. Is it supposed to be realistic? When can it be theatrical? What is the intent of the scene you are lighting?

4 – To support what the piece is about in the chosen style. What is the piece about? Is it a piece in which the author has hidden meanings that you are trying to get across? Every show is about something, and you must know what it is and support it.

Always consider these things when designing lights for a scene or show:

1 – Intensity – The actual amount of light coming out of the unit. In simpler terms, how bright and dim can you get it? We can raise and lower the intensity of the light depending on requirements of the scene. Lower intensity means less light is being produced by the lights (20% rather than 80%).

2 – Color – From heavy saturation to delicate tints. The difference really matters. Color is the strongest visual element to the light. Different colors produce different effects. When we see, light bounces off of objects and reflects into our eyes. The wavelength of the light is what determines color, with long wavelengths being red and short ones being violet. Various colors change the way things look on stage – for example, if you shine blue light on a red object, it will look purple. As different colors of light mix, they create different effects. When red and green mix, they make yellow, blue and red are magenta, and blue and green are cyan. As these lights hit colors on stage, they mix and reflect differently in people’s eyes.

Complementary colors turn to grey – if you have a green wall on the set and shine red on it, it will turn a weird grey brown. Not attractive. This can be used to your advantage, however. In a production of Rodger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella at BYU, the lighting designer and costume designer worked together to create an effect that would help Cinderella change from a sad, drab young girl into a vibrant beauty, all with a 20-30 second fade of the lights from a complementary color to an analogous color, bringing out the colors of her costume and makeup. The audience was none the wiser to how she transformed in front of them, on stage. Green is not flattering on people, except for Elphaba in Wicked. The shadow of a light is the complementary color. This means that an amber light will have a blue shadow, which is why it is so effective to use amber and blue as a pair on stage. It gives full light, while supporting what we usually see.

3 – Direction – Where the light comes from (sometimes even more important is where the shadow goes). In our sunset the light had to come from a particular direction. If a light is coming from the table lamp, shouldn’t the highlight be on the side of the face nearest the table lamp? Placement – Depending on where you place lights, different effects are achieved.

Front light: straight on – flattens out the face

Key-fill – two lights from 45° angles, creates the most natural shadows

Back light: pops the actor out from the background

Side light: emphasizes the lines of the actor/dancer’s body. Lengthens the lines.

Top light: Dramatic look. Makes actors look shorter. Eerie look.

Bottom light: Another dramatic look. Heightens actors. Eerie look.

You can have light come from any corner and it combines features of these lights.

4 – Shape – What shape is the light - circle, square, broken line? Sometimes the shape helps keep light off of things that you don’t want lit. Gobos: how would you use a particular gobo in a lighting design. On ellipsoidal fixtures shutter cuts, irises, and specialty gobos all change the shape of the light. On a Fresnel or a PAR can, you can use barn doors to shape the light. TEXTURE: Gobos can change the texture of the light, creating breakup on stage and making things more interesting to look at. Acts like spatter on a set.

5 – Sharpness – Whether the light is in a sharp focus or a soft focus. More importantly, is the shadow crisp or is it fuzzy

Step 1: Fresnel

Housing, lamp, cable, lens, reflector, yoke, c-clamp, and gel clip. The Fresnel is used for wide pools of light; usually in general washes across the stage and top light. Barn doors can be used to cut light off of legs, scenery, and other areas.

Step 2: PAR cans

PAR stands for Parabolic Aluminized Reflector. Point out the differences between the Fresnel and the PAR, namely the style of lamp base, lens and how the light sits in the housing. Lenses are interchangeable on most PARs, specifically on Source Four instruments. They usually range between Extra Wide and Narrow, and the difference lies in the shape of the lens, which changes the light pool shape. You can also use barn doors on PAR lights.

Step 3: Ellipsoidal

Use Source Four ellipsoidal, if available. What are the differences between the ellipsoidal and other lights, namely the shape, shutters, barrel, and focusing abilities. This is due to the shape of the reflector, which is an ellipsis that has a point of focus in the housing. When you move the lens, you move it closer or farther away from that point, bringing it in or out of focus. The different degree of barrel indicates how wide the beam of light coming from the instrument is. This means that a 10° barrel will let out 10° of light, and a 90° barrel will let out a full 90° of light. This is important, because it changes how it is used in the space. Using a light with a 10° barrel in a small space can be impractical if you are trying to creating acting areas, because it will not let out enough light, while using a 90° in a large space would let out too much light that could either a) spill out into the space, or b) become diffused and ineffective. The most common barrels used in the size of spaces we use in schools are 26°, 36° and 50° barrels.

Step 4: Cables

Extension cables – Depending on the space you are in, extension cables are often sold and made in different lengths. Longer cable lengths can be upward of 100’, and can be as small as 6”. Anything smaller than 5’ is called a jumper. Commonly used two types of cables, Edison and twist-lock. If you want to change between the two you need an adapter. There are more connector types, the most important one being stage pin, which looks like a flat box with three cylindrical pins sticking up out of it.

Two-fers and three-fers – Sometimes to conserve dimmers, we will plug two lights into the same outlet. This is accomplished through using a two-fer. It is important to check and make sure that the lights you are using can be two-fered, so you don’t blow a fuse or damage your equipment, but connecting two pars or ellipsoidals usually isn’t a problem. Part of the job of a master electrician is to know the demands of the lights on power and make sure that we don’t put too much electrical load on a system. When lights are two-fered together, they cannot function independently. That means if you bring up that dimmer, two lights will turn on.

Dimmer doubler – The only way to change this is by using a dimmer doubler. Dimmer doublers are able to split the dimmer voltage output and let lights be controlled independently of each other, but they need to use a special 77V lamp in order to do so. We also have to take a couple extra steps while programming at the light board and on the dimmer rack, which controls the intensity, or brightness, of the lights.

Step 5: Gels and Gobos

Gels: These are plastic sheets used to color light. They come in a variety of colors. Some gels are clear, but have texture. These are called frost, and are used to change the quality of the light, usually to make it softer or look out of focus. Frost can also stretch the light in different directions, much like the lens of a PAR. Gels are put into gel frames, then slipped into the light right at the font of the lens. Gel frames should be securely clipped in place. Gels got their name from their original source material, thin sheets of colored gelatin.

Gobos: These are discs of metal that have holes cut in them to let light through. The gobo is inserted first into the gobo holder, then into the gobo slot. Glass gobos should be put into a glass gobo frame, then put into the larger accessory slot. Never put a glass gobo into the gobo slot on a light. It will get stuck.

hannel Hookups and Instrument Schedules. Go through each column of information as listed here:

Unit # — Starting from the left side of the page, each fixture should be numbered starting at one. Each electric has its own set, making a battleship-style setup (i.e. Check 2^nd Electric, Unit 6).

Position — The electric, beam, or boom where the light is hung. (i.e. 4^th Electric, 1^st Beam FOH, SR Boom 1.)

Purpose — Where the light will be focused on stage. Does it go to a specific area? Is it a texture light? Write down a two-three word description of what the light does.

Type –– Write down what kind of light it is. Is it a 19° Source Four Ellipsoidal, or a 6” Fresnel? You can also write what lamp the light needs in this area.

Color — The color identification number, selected from a gel book. (Ex: A2020, R05, L201, etc.)

Gobo — The Gobo identification number, selected from a gobo catalog. (Ex. R79096, A2258, etc.)

Dimmer — The “street address” of the light. Where you have plugged the fixture in.

Channel — A part of an organizational system for designers to help them in programming.