Design Issues and Solutions -

[tomthetechie]

My school is doing Fiddler On The Roof and I'm after some lighting ideas. You guys have any? We've thrown together a few but we're a little short.

[rochem]

Originally Posted by tomthetechie

My school is doing Fiddler On The Roof and I'm after some lighting ideas. You guys have any? We've thrown together a few but we're a little short.

Oh, this old question: "My school is doing XXX, can you give me some ideas?" As is the (unwritten) policy of CB, we don't generally design shows for you - but if you're trying achieve a specific effect and aren't sure how to do it, we'll gladly help you figure it out.

How do you define a "lighting idea"? My "lighting idea" for every show I've ever designed has been something along the lines of "provide lighting which is appropriate to the director's wishes and the script," because that's really all you can start out with. We have no knowledge of your inventory, your venue, the vision of your director, the choreography, or anything - and even if we did, without actually being there through production meetings and dress rehearsals, it would be impossible to design a show over the internet.

Stop and think about the show for a moment. Pretend you're back in English class and you have to analyze some old novel for deeper meaning. What kind of themes and subjects does the show hit on? Most shows will have a number of these - Fiddler definitely has a LOT you can play with. Once you have a general idea of what kind of themes you want to reinforce and hit on (and this will most certainly change slightly as you work through the process), start watching some rehearsals. When I first started designing, I would show up to every single rehearsal, from first read-through to final dress, because it gives you more exposure to the show and gives you time to think really hard about what the director's trying to do. Watch the show - notice any key moments or important emotions? Maybe you could reinforce those with a certain color, or a certain angle, or just a really dim, shadowy wash for that moment. Try to figure out what emotions the actors are portraying at every second of the show, and then match your lighting to reinforce that (this is a really generalized way of designing, but it should work out pretty well). For me personally, whenever I design a show, I use what some people call "butter papers" - I go through the script and plot out what I want to see at every light change in the show, eventually making a mini plot showing every instrument for just one cue. Then combine all of these (I usually have 30 or more - you may have around 5-10) and you have your ideal plot. Then just start figuring out what you can combine together and what you can cut to fit it in your inventory, and you're done.

Of course, based on your question, I'm guessing this is high school theatre. Many times, all a director in high school wants to see is some Bastard Amber fronts to light up faces, and other than that they don't really care. Audiences don't go to high school shows to see excellent productions - they go to see their friends up there on stage, so front light is usually used pretty liberally. Sorry, it looks like I've rambled on a bit - I tend to do that a lot. If you go through some of these steps and then have trouble figuring out how to achieve a specific look, go right ahead and post it here and you'll get a bunch of suggestions for how to make it look good.

[Abscynth]

We did Fiddler on the Roof here a few years ago (Many still say it was hands down the best show performed by our theatre company)...And while I find it difficult to say "Aim such and such light at DSR for this Q..." I can put down some general ideas we used during the performance (Not sure how many of these could be used in a High School production though..I know my HS was lacking in technical equipment!)

We had a Cyc, So we projected two "old village" gobos onto it to help "extend" Anatevka (Tough to explain without seeing..)

The prayer song (Can't remember the name..) We used a few sharply focused spotlights to "pick out" groups of people..And used little battery operated candles to help give the actors faces and eerie glow.

"Sunrise, Sunset" was a 20 or 30 minute lighting Q that transitioned the lighting during the song from (You guessed it) Sunrise, To Sunset. Having a Cyc greatly helped with this

The main "wedding scene" was my favorite...Since the men and women were separated (By Sex..I believe this is traditional in a Jewish wedding? Correct me if wrong) we used a soft pink breakup gobo on the women..and a soft blue on the men to help set off the sex seperation..It worked really well.

The dream scene was performed under blacklight, With UV reactive costumes, and smoke (lots of smoke) with a strobe light for added "oomf"

Sorry..Kinda got long winded there (Fiddler is my TOP musical) Not sure if any of these "ideas" will be useful..but they worked very well for us!

**Edit for Cyc!**

[icewolf08]

I would suggest that you take a look at this article in our wiki about lighting concepts and starting out on your lighting designs: http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/g...statement.html

As rochem mentioned, we are happy to help guide you down the path to a design, but we can't design the show for you. You have to make it yours! Trust me, it is more fun and more educational that way.

[Charc]

This is your chance to create art. You can create meaning, spectacle, and aesthetic beauty (among others). It is your chance to use your experiences, filters, and perspective to make something uniquely your own.

As others have said, approach this both as a text from english class, AND a well developed piece in a visual art class. Use both to inform your work.

Besides the fact that no one here wants to intrude on your opportunity to design, every show is inherently unique. Sure, you are connected to other production of Fiddler by the text, but that's where the similarities stop. Every collaborative team takes the show, makes it their own, and runs with it.

As far as making this your own, there are a number of exercises you can use to approach this piece. As icewolf08 suggested, a lighting concept can be extremely useful. It's a launchpad for the rest of your process.

If you're not there yet, may I suggest going back to the text, and analyzing it? Do it just as you have in english class. If you want something more specific: try writing a synopsis of the meaning / critical action of the play in 200 words... now 60 words... now 20 words. You should end up with one sentence which most distills the piece. Use this to frame your future thoughts, and share it with our collaborators!

[Les]

Originally Posted by Abscynth

...We had a Cyk...

...Having a Cyk greatly helped with this...

For future reference (and search purposes), the correct spelling is Cyc, or more formally, Cyclorama.

Great advice though!

[dstowell]

I agree with the "get with your people' sentiment above. Who else is working on your show and what do they want/need? What are they bringing to the table? What were the authors looking for? What about your audience? What scenes is your director most concerned with making beautiful (eg. wonder of wonders) or powerful (eg. Little Havilah), fun (eg. dream sequence)???? talk with them, create a plan and start to prepare the execution of that plan!

[tomthetechie]

Wow.... I need to remind myself that if I post a question on here I check a little more often. Anyways, thanks for the advice I'll try showing up and see what things look like, this was some great advice and I'll probably think a little bit more when I'm asking future questions