Lighting Flashcards
Function
Making expression + emotions clearly visible
Creating mood + atmosphere
Complement/highlight set + costume
Show time + location
Communicate a message/ theme (abstract/symbolically)
Direct audience focus
Front lighting
Well lit face
Not interesting, flat
Side lighting
Leaves 1/2 the face in shadow
Dramatic yet naturalistic
Backlighting
Create silhouettes
DS high angle
Good angle for lighting the face + eyes
Less flat > front light
Side backlight ~ high/low
Gives faces contours + a halo effect around the hair
High angle = longer shadow
Downlighting
Obscure the face in shadow Dramatic
Uplighting
Cast shadows under eyes + onto the backdrop (dramatic)
High intensity
Bright/harsh/intense
Pale coloured set = light reflects off it
Too many/powerful = glare & details = bleached out
Low intensity
Low/soft/subdued
White stands out the most when lit ( why flats+ drapes = black)
Key light
One light source = brighter than the others
Colour ~ additive mixing
Two or more different coloured lights are aimed at the same surface
Primary colours aimed at the same spot theoretically = white light
Red + blue = magenta
Red + green = yellow
Blue + green = cyan
Gels
Light colours preserve the naturalism of pictures ~ hues + tints are usually used — NOT DARK COLOURS
Colour symbolism
Warm colours = red yellow orange ~ e.g warmth hostility
Cold colour = blue purple green ~ calm, indifference
Warm/cold light can indicate time + location
Subtractive mixing
Single light source is shone through differently-coloured FILTERS
Primary colours are created by evenly mixing two secondary colours ( yellow cyan magenta
Magenta + yellow = red
Magenta + cyan =blue
Yellow + cyan = green
Mixed together = black
Gels = a form
Coloured Gels
LED lights emit coloured light ~ additive mixing
Gels + par-cans —> coloured light ~ subtractive mixing
Complementary colours
Are opposite on the colour wheel + when adjacent to each other make each appear more vibrant
Go well together:
Red & cyan
Magenta & green
Blue & yellow
Spotlight
Lights single characters or objects onstage
Highlights the importance of that person or object at that moment
• Fresnel spot – softer edge
• Profile spot – hard edge (sharply defined light)
• Follow spot – moving spotlight
Floods
Clear, wide angled light
Can be used with gels
Used to provide large washes of light over the stage
The beam cannot be shape
Strobes
Flashing light ~ used for special effects
Often used to give the effect of an old movie
Jerky effect on the movement of actors when used on its own
Gobos
Inserted in front of a profile spot with a design cut into it.
This filters the light, creating a picture effect on the stage.
e.g.
• a window silhouette
• cut in strips = prison bars.
• used to create a dappled lighting effect = lighting shining through the leaves of a forest
Par-cans
Produces an intense beam of light
Specials
Stage features – light producing objects onstage (practicals)
Fires, car headlights, TVs – all of these can house lanterns and be dressed to seem real
Light switches onstage
Cyclorama
large curtain or wall, normally concave, at the back of the stage
Floods used to light. Slow changes in colour over a scene can create atmosphere
Gauze
Lightweight backcloth. When lit from the front = opaque
Lit from behind = transparent – actors and set magically appear
Shadows
use lights to project shadows onto a backcloth or screen behind the actors
Timings
Crossfade (one lighting stage fades down, as another fades up)
• Snap fade – very quick (less than a second)
• Quick fade (1 – 3 secs)
• Slow fade (4 – 10 secs)
• Long fades can be as long as 30 minutes over a scene! (e.g. the light slowly fading at dusk)
• Blackouts
Naturalist vs abstract
naturalistic design (as close to real life as possible)
abstract design (to communicate meaning symbolically)
House lights
lights that illuminate the auditorium before + after the performance + during intermission
Types of lantern
Profile spot + fresnel spot + floods
Types of effects
Gobos strobed + specials
- Lantern
- Rig
- stage light
- where the lanterns are hung
- Dry ice
- Haze
- Smoke on stage
- thinner than dry ice creates a ‘smokey/hazy’ effect in the lights
Profile
adjustable spotlight giving a diffused light
Concentric circles
Spotlight (hard edge)
Fresnel
produce hard or soft light.
Used with barn doors. (soft edge)
Wash
general ‘fill’ of light and colour across the stage. White or coloured
Strobe
Flashing light
