lighting casablanca

[zac850]

I am doing the show casablanca which is opening May 15th. The lighting plot will be fairly simple, since this is a low-key show with a non-existant. One thing that I was wondering is having a no color front light on high to give a dramatic look to one of the scenes. (i've never seen the movie... I need to rent it) I was told that during the flash backs to Paris it is mostly romantic, so I will have amber on the part of the stage that is 'paris', but that there is one dramatic tense scene. I was thinking that a solo strong, harsh front light would look OK for this... but I'm not sure if it will look great or horrible....

OK, I have no clue if this post makes any sense, cause i'm sorta tired....

anyway, ungeled light from front only, would it look good and dramatic or horrible?

[avkid]

i say dramatic , if done right

[Les]

You want to make sure that the instrument is properly focused. If your focus is too soft, the dramatic effect will be compromised. Also, try to avoid harsh shutter cuts. I would choose the narrowest degree of instrument possible (such as a Source Four 19 degree). If you choose a 26 or 36 degree, you might have to iris it down with a gobo or something. I guess it doesn't matter if the beam of light is square or round. Also, if you put a donut in the fixture, the halation will be reduced. I would add some background color, such as blue to enhance this effect. If you add some pars overhead, you can get a nice moonlight effect. A deep-colored cyc is also nice. To add texture to your scenery, try throwing some softly-focused breakup gobo patterns gelled in no-color blue. This will look like moonlight shining through trees, if they are suggested in your show. Hope this helps some.

[ship]

I would look heavily into the Black and White lighting design debate presented here, on Pro-Sound's old lighting network http://www.prosoundweb.com/community/forum.php?board=4 and the further debate presented on http://forums.delphiforums.com/lightnetwork/start
to see the debate on the subject presented. There was a wealth of ideas presented on the subject already and lots of very interesting concepts for doing it. I would also try to directly contact the origional poster on all three forums who promessed to post his results but never did. Stagecraft will also have further info on ths subject. Very interesting design statement and huge thing to pull off on stage. I did a similar effect once with going incandescent plano convex and got the grainy amber directional image I wished for and was very satisfied.

All this said, my design was unique to my own design image of the show. Since you have not seen the movie yet (what's the world coming to), you might consider waiting to see the movie until your production is done. This will preserve your artistic statement of what you design as opposed to what someone else designed. Sure if doing West Side Story you can watch the movie and view pictures of what others have done with it, but is what you than implement really your design or an abomination of someone else's statement if not art? Are you doing paint by numbers or are you doing art might even be the debate.

In my opinion, you already have a concept and vision for what you want to do, why do you need to muddy up your own artistic statement with what someone else has already done in the production? As a definate design statement, perhaps it might be of interest to skip watching the movie and present what you see as design as opposed to what someone else does. This in the program would even be worth a side note in the production. Yes, your education is so poor you did not see the movie, but it's theater is covering that base - donate to us instead. Than in doing origional art, you have based the design off both your own and the director's artistic concept and it's not trying to recapture what was presented in the movie. If you are successful in design, than it's all you as opposed to if you are successful after having seen the movie, it's part you but a lot you copying what the movie did.

[zac850]

Ok, first, yes, I know its sad that I didn't see the movie. The problem was it went from being the movie that I wasn't old enough to see, and before I had time to see it, it became the movie that everyone had already seen......

second, thanks for the links, i'll check those out.

Also, another question is how, with just lights, do I make the stage look like an airfield? I was looking for an old airport light that I had, but that disappeared. I was thinking some ungeled S4's from my top rail, and have the follow-spots sweep the stage like a search light... any other suggestions.... I have a bunch of S4's and S4-Par's and plenty of dimmers to play with.....

thanks
Zac

[ship]

What does your mental picture say is an airport when you are on the runway/gate area in olden days?

Does it have some type of search light like light house beam revolving around from a high tower, does it have runway lights you can see from the loading area, is it dark in actual fixtures but very ambient in light, what's the set providing for you that you can motivate from etc?

Might do a drive by or stop by to a small reagional airport. Sit as near to the loading area as you can if it's only in the parking lot. How's it lit, what is different about it from any other parking lot, and what's different about it saying this is an airport verses mall parking lot or farmer's field? Where is the light coming or motivating from and what intensity and color is it from each direction? What do those under the light look like in the normal ambient light, much less when that revolving search light hits them? How wide is that beam anyway? Is it more like a clearly disquinguishable beam of light, or more like a wash of everything.

More important in concept yet, that wash of light or spotting every what 15 seconds, is it also washing the audience in annoying them but also bringing them into the show past the third wall in a Brecht sort of way, or do you want to shutter or project off them to prevent this? On the talent washed or spotlighted, how will this relate to their own giving of their lines and motivation? Do they take the script and do pauses or meadiate their giveing important lines in between that search light passing over them - given it's more than just a light in being blinding, or does it have an effect on them? When they are clearly in the light, given others will now be watching them, can they say what they need to, or how does that search light effect the beats and momentum of the script. Does the speed of search light even act as a motivation for having to leave? What changes in the loading area when the plane is ready to go? Perhaps brighter in one direction? What direction and at what angle? How much effect verses the rest of the scene does this have?


Than once you get your image of what an airport runway or terminal is like, how do you represent it in the super realism and compressed space of the stage both to convey that image along with the set in providing it, than even if by stage convention in saying this light might not have been invented or used yet, but it's what we expect to see at an airport thus it's what I will use to help locate the scene. For intstance, you might not expect to see a row of closely spaced blue ground lights from the loading area, such things might not even be realistic, but what about a ground row of transparent blue but dim lights say on 18" centers? That in additon to the scenery and that revolving light might make the effect given you still need ambient light off the terminal or street lights and moon.

More important yet is the feel. How fast is that search light going? Anyone who has been around an airport gets a basic feeling for how fast it travels and instinctively knows that speed is airport search light. Can you match that revolving light speed on stage? If nothing else, such a sub contious detail can make or break your scene. If off you need to put forth much more effort in making it believable.

Hope it's some hints in at least where I would start. Add to that the color vision and modern time you will see verses what you want to convey as black and white and the past. Perhaps that search light is very amber and grainy - hard to describe in other than that term. Perhaps the blue lamps are a little more washed out in the white spectrum, and ambient light chocloate, shadow etc. Once you get the image for a scene, making it practible to the concept is techinque that follows. First get those images and concepts, than wonder and theorize about the how.


I realize this is many more question than advice, but hopefully it's also something you can find useful in designing your scene.

[bdesmond]

Originally Posted by ship

Might do a drive by or stop by to a small reagional airport.

Now some of us can't go to our local regional airport because the mayor took the liberty of bulldozing it one evening.

[ship]

That was one on the founding reasons I no longer take Mr. Mayor on face value including after having worked in his own department. That was a very sad day I I'm for the return. Still there are reagional airports that are not international. Waukeegan or better yet the one on Milwaukee at about Lake Cook is going to have that feel I'm thinking about amongst others in the area. Actually that one on Milwaukee would make a much better third regional airport than any others they are attempting to build for the jobs it would mean as opposed to the usefulness of it. If you build it they will come will not be an effective solution but that's outside the reality of the South Side needing votes for the local congressmen.

Anyway, hopefully this is more than just how to make an airport in concept and more of a design idea for how to design realistically in concept when scaling it down to the stage and scene - especially in making the reality of it become at one with your own design intent and vision for what you want to do. For me that key lighting would be the search light, the rest is just effect or supplemental and motivational. Even after I make the mood and setting there is still the little detail of visibility that's going to be counter productive and hard to implement with the mood and setting lighting without washing it out. Thus another part of the challenge in setting verses the primary goal of visibility.

Fascinating idea in making the black and white with trying to convey a realistic setting. Very difficult to pull off just right especially on a gymatorum stage. Zac, you get half your concepts and visions and you have indeed made magic. You do only 1/4 of that and you have done a darned good job.

[bdesmond]

Definetely would be something that a intelli fixture with a big beam would be good for. Constant rate, so no human influence there once it's programmed. You'd have to rent that, though.

[ship]

Could also just rent a turn table type device similar to a mirror ball motor and mount a Fresnel on it. All a question of budget etc. Even read here or somewhere else about someone that did a turn table as in LP turn table to do the light.

Moving light would probably be easier unless you found a source that has such a thing for rent economically. Some of the larger lighting companies will probably have them with even power transfer to the spinner to run the fixture. Bash should be local to him.

Otherwise given it's Zac, he should shoot for a Coemar Super Cyc and make best use with some 250w wash light he gets. Might hate the Coemar fixtures, but my what a wash of light it would give. In fact given the gymauditorium, it would be more a show centered around the Super Cyc than anything else. Zac I'm sure would take great pride in that as it would be kind of fun to center a show around and take the entire crew to install.

By the way, I have not been back to the airport since about 98 when I was helping to set up the Triathalon on airport grounds. Oh, wait a minute, it's a private airport and normal people can't get onto the grounds, yea that's it, and a little plane is going to take out the Sears tower. Wonder how the Air and Water Show has been getting along without also?

Still, how are the jungle gyms and picnic areas going on the old runway? Lots of shade trees installed yet, or did the city suddenly run out of money and put the project except for midnight X's dug into the runway on hold? You know the real reason for this was it's less than a mile from the Mayor's condo and directly about in line of sight with his view of the lake don't you? He lives just off Roosevelt and Indiana if I remember the street right in that condo area. Used to drive golf carts and fork trucks on the street past the police parked outside the condo frequently. Only in Chicago...