Design

[Shakspeares suck]

Hey guys, I've been gone for a while and I'm sorry about that. anyways, School started for me and I'm going to be designing my first show. it's a bit nerve racking. especially with a crazy director. I'm wondering if theres anywhere i can go for design tips or anything of the sort, books websites whatever. because i dont know HOW to do certain things.
thank you

[Serendipity]

What don't you know how to do? Specific questions mean more useful answers!

This is something my lighting mentor warned me before I designed my first show. She said that every beginning designer she had worked with never puts anything at full right away and makes timid design choices. While I had vowed to put things at full, a handful of cues in on my first night, I caught myself with most of my illuminated fixtures at 25, and fixed it.
Be wild, be crazy, don't be bland. Confidence is attractive. R54 frontlight makes for happy parents, but is rarely* a statement.

Congrats on your first show, which show is it?

* I can think of ways I could argue it as a statement, but just for example's sake...

[Les]

-When applicable, remember not to max out too early in a show. Save the best tricks for last.

(Serendipity - please elaborate on this "everything at full" thing. I'm not getting why whether you run your lights at full or not makes you an experienced or inexperienced designer. It depends on what the show calls for. Your design should be based on feelings, not numbers).

-Remember, it's not a concert. Believe me, some get confused. ;-)

---

On lighting design resources, search online. I know there are more than a couple places on the internet that give some basic design tips.

Another hint is to ask your crazy director if he/she has any lighting text books. Check the library too, but don't bank on them having anything.

Also, ask questions along the way. Your director took several technical courses as part of receiving their degree I'm almost sure of. They just might know some things. Let them teach you.

And just listen. Listen to everything. The show, your peers, the director... They will all help you in your design choices.

Lastly, light the stage first. Then add the eye candy.

[Sayen]

Originally Posted by Les

Also, ask questions along the way. Your director took several technical courses as part of receiving their degree I'm almost sure of. They just might know some things. Let them teach you.

Frighteningly, I believe the majority of education degrees don't require any degree of technical experience. Mine didn't, and I made sure I either audited college classes or spent extra time working in the field. I was certainly the first teacher at my school in some time to know how to run a light board.

Good tips though. If you know what you want, but don't know how to do it, ask here or find another lighting individual. I teach my students that experimentation is just as important as following any given method. If you want an effect, trying moving some lights around until you get it.

Is this a high school show? Remember that most of the audience just wants to see their friend or student up on stage, so like others have said start with lighting the stage and lighting each scene.

[derekleffew]

Originally Posted by Serendipity

...This is something my lighting mentor warned me before I designed my first show. She said that every beginning designer she had worked with never puts anything at full right away and makes timid design choices. While I had vowed to put things at full, a handful of cues in on my first night, I caught myself with most of my illuminated fixtures at 25, and fixed it. ...

I suspect you're not communicating the mentor's philosophies as intentioned, or I disagree with her. Starting with a channel at FL gives the designer no place to go, except down. I think better advice for a young LD would be to remember that there are more settings than FL and 00%. Les is correct, the numbers on the screen have little to do with how the lighting on stage feels. You make it sound as though you altered levels just because most were at 25%, so how/why did you "fix" it if the stage looked correct?

Shakspeares suck, put aside Lekos and Fresnels and consoles for a moment, and see this entry: http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/g...statement.html. A designer begins with a concept based on script analysis and consultation with the director and other designers.

[icewolf08]

Here is what I tell people who ask me how to go about their designs. You have to go with what you feel. Start by thinking about how the show makes you feel, what emotions it evokes. Then I bet you there is a section of one of your local libraries with books of photos and paintings which you should visit, and browse through, and see what images evoke the same feelings as the show. Look at the lighting in those images and then think about how to create that on stage. When you get to a point like that, it is easy to come back to a forum like this and post a photo and ask how to go about creating an effect like XYZ. One of the other great things about finding images that show what ideas you want to create is that it helps you show the rest of the design team your ideas, since lighting is such an abstract sector of design.

Also think about how to approach the show, is it realistic or surreal? That may effect how you go about your design as well.

While here at CB we try not to tell you how to design your show, we are happy to help you get your ideas into reality. We just want them to be your ideas!

[derekleffew]

Alex's idea reminds me of another design exercise. Find a piece of music, any genre, that conveys the feelings of the play. It's not, necessarily, something you'd use as pre-show or during the show--this is a Lighting Design exercise, really!, but listening to that piece of music can help a designer to get a handle on the emotions and themes the play represents.

[quarterfront]

Originally Posted by Les

Lastly, light the stage first. Then add the eye candy.

What he said, except that IMHO it should be "Firstly" instead of "Lastly".

How I was taught was that your first job is to illuminate the action. Your second job is to provide the director what the director wants. Your third job is to provide what the script asks for. When you have all of those bases covered you get to make it arty.

Of course your goal is to do the first three things in a way that adds up to art. But if your art is getting in the way of the audience seeing what they need to see your art gets cut.

As a beginning designer, keep it simple. Illuminate the stage, cover the directors needs and make the space look like what the script asks for. As for art... don't worry so much about that. Usually it shows up somewhere in the mix. Try to pick a moment in the show that really speaks to you and if you can, make your statement there; but don't get married to any particular artistic idea of your own.

Theatre's a collaborative art form and lighting is as subjective as an art form gets so you're always going to be being asked to do it differently than you'd choose if it were just you. Remember that the audience doesn't know what you pre-visualized. They only know whether it looks professional or not, and if it does, well, that shade of blue that isn't exactly what you imagined... it'll do.

[cdub260]

Lighting design is a combination of art and science. Some designers approach it more from one direction that the other. On those admittedly rare occasions when I do design work, I approach it more from the science side than the art. I do this because with my very ordered and methodical way of thinking, I simply understand the science better than I do the art. Once I've got the mechanics of the design down, then I start getting creative.

You should know better than anybody what your strengths and weaknesses are. Make use of that knowledge to play to your strengths when working on your design.

[Serendipity]

Originally Posted by Les

(Serendipity - please elaborate on this "everything at full" thing. I'm not getting why whether you run your lights at full or not makes you an experienced or inexperienced designer. It depends on what the show calls for. Your design should be based on feelings, not numbers).

-Remember, it's not a concert. Believe me, some get confused. ;-)

Well, the specific example was a number from "Wicked" [Emerald City] in which I had in my opinion a great design basis (key at a good angle, saturated accents, whatnot) except that my key light was at 35, and my accents at 25 for one of the biggest numbers in the entire show, leaving me not a lot of room for slower ballads.

I don't think everything should be at full, because that sounds pretty bad if you chose different colors and angles to create different looks. It's just bad if you're afraid to make a commitment to a cue.

I also really like dark shows, this number however, was not a dark number in my opinion. It was bubbly 8th graders standing on blocks and skipping around the stage.