Cold? Warm? ...G&S mixed up

[stagedoor]

color is the one area of lighting that I will never get right.... so here's a question for those who do.


Iolanthe, by Gilbert and Sullivan, has two acts - one in a fairyland with purple sets and costumes, and act II near the Houses of Parliment designed in golds and maroon.

So it would make sense to light fairyland with cool purples and lavenders to pick up the costumes and sets, with act II in straw tints and warm colors to go with the sets/ costumes. right? BUT (of course there is a but...) the times of day are exactly the opposite - fairyland happens during the DAY, and act II happens at night, so no warm colors would make sense.

HELP! its backwards... I don't know what to do - warm light in act II wouldn't make sense, but how can cool colors look good on gold/ochre/maroon sets and costumes?

-eli

 

[Plonz]

I would suggest you use over-stage / back stage lightning as well as "effects" in your desing...
Now, as for act I:
- I would set up a very light and palish green for
the back 1/3th of the stage/horizona-lighting
- I would light your over-stage (the whole of the stage
with a light yellow, (strongly dimmed*)...
- Now add some effects on the front of you stage, using
purples and blues
As for act II:
- I would use a dark purple/blue on the back 1/2th of
the stage. Use different tints of blue: lighter blues
can accord nice with golden sets, use your
dimmer-packs* to make it look nice...
- I would put up yellowish - white accents on the front
- I think a blue over-stage lightin works well in this
set...

It is just an idea, but it is used and came out nicely in
a show when presenting 'autumn', comming in after 'summer'...
You must pardon me if I am talking 'too many lights' , I am i this luxury-position of being able to use a large set of fixtures...

 

[lights11964]

I dont see this as a huge problem. Although i also am not an expert in colors.. i pesonally would not use purple gells if the costumes and set is purple. i think that might be a little over kill. i would maybe use a red as ur warm and maybe a blue. some examples are R370 which is a blueish green and maybe R24 which is redish purple. I chose these colors because they are fun and not just blue or red. You want to choose colors that will show off your set, not jsut the most saturated colors. When you come to night and day you just use these colors to make the effect you want. As long as you find the right colors, you wont need to many different lights for the diferent acts. i hope this helps

 

[len]

For fairyland I'd go with candy colors, greens, pinks, purples, even orange for some specials. But make it bright. If it's a fantasy look you want then day or night seems secondary.



For the second set, get golds/ambers/yellows and then step it back one or two shades and make it a little darker, or double up on gels.