Light Desing colors?!!!!

[btfilms]

So our next show is Dreamgirls! And i am designing lights for this show. I have made a light plot so i know where i am putting the lights but i have no clue what colors to use. this isn't a big budget show but we are renting units. like par 64, S4 19 degrees, S4 36 degree and S4 50 degrees. I am really stuck on colors for this show. its really hard. i do have a Rosco book of gels and i have been trough them many times. I know i want some red, blue, and pink in the show. and of course purple but u can just mix blue and red together to make that. Can anyone help me figure out how to pick good colors for the show? or if any light designers out there want to tell me how you pick colors for shows that would help as well. Thanks

BT

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Originally Posted by btfilms

So our next show is Dreamgirls! And i am designing lights for this show. I have made a light plot so i know where i am putting the lights but i have no clue what colors to use. this isn't a big budget show but we are renting units. like par 64, S4 19 degrees, S4 36 degree and S4 50 degrees. I am really stuck on colors for this show. its really hard. i do have a Rosco book of gels and i have been trough them many times. I know i want some red, blue, and pink in the show. and of course purple but u can just mix blue and red together to make that. Can anyone help me figure out how to pick good colors for the show? or if any light designers out there want to tell me how you pick colors for shows that would help as well. Thanks
BT

It depends on what you are doing with each instrument, ie direction, intensity, all that good stuff. Try out some stuff, no one can tell you how to design.

[zac850]

I don't know the show, so I can just give general advice.

Sit down with a script, or even better go and watch a full run through of the show (with music, if applicable for the show). As you go through the show, think about how you want the stage to look. Is it bright white, outside, basic lighting? Is it drab, dark, foreboding light? Is it strip club lighting?

Don't get too caught up with the different shades. If you have a Rosco swatch book, say "i want a red". Then go and look through their reds and find a nice one that you like. You don't need to spend hours upon hours debating the minor subtle shifts of one vs. the other.

You can download the demo of Virtural Light Lab and try out some colors and see how they mix, both on the cyc and on a person.

Just think of basic color theory (basic, as in is red a warm or a cool color, is blue a warm or cool color) and build from there.

Good luck, and most importantly, have fun