Design Game show lighting with low ceiling

Amy Worrall

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Hi! I'm doing a lighting design for a play that takes place entirely on a game show set. The problem is we're in a venue with a very low ceiling (maybe 3m from stage level), and they have a couple of specific requirements.

I made a sketch above of the set. There are 13 contestants, and they stay on their stools most of the time (but sometimes stand to engage each other). The host is either centre stage, or walking on the raised walkway (about 45cm high) behind the contestants. The backdrop is calico canvas, and will be projected on at times. (I'm not making the visuals for the projection, but am in communication with the person who is.) Note that the backdrop is essentially ceiling height, give or take a few inches.

The bars available for hanging are drawn on the diagram in blue. As well as these, I can ask the venue tech to mount things directly on the ceiling at locations I specify — I guess I'd rather minimise this if possible, as it seems quite a bit of effort, but the company are expecting that we'd at least mount a lantern per contestant (such as a birdie or PAR36) in this manner.

Note that this is amateur theatre and they're not expecting miracles, but I've got a bit of hire budget and would like to do something as awesome as possible.

So here's some of the looks I need:

  • We're in a dystopian future. They want an effect where the candidates are "in their pods" (their words) — they want to draw inspiration from the surrounded-by-lasers type of scifi prison. But I'm not going to use lasers, and I can't possibly mount enough pinspots to actually surround people. So some creative lighting effect for showing "frozen in stasis" would be great.
  • Facelight to illuminate each candidate (so it can get brighter when they're asked a question, etc).
  • I'd like a state where the candidates are not illuminated (like in a game show when the opening credits are happening, before the facelight comes up).
  • The host will need to be lit, when he's either centre-stage or walking on the walkway. For the latter, it'd be great if I could have him illuminated but not the contestants, and also not wash out the projections too much!
  • We'll need some game show type effects, such as between each round, when someone gets a question wrong, and for the 30 seconds duration whenever the audience get to vote.
Any ideas/tips would be welcome!
 
These are just a few quick thoughts. There are many far more experienced people than I here who probably have better ideas.

How tall is the actor or actress playing the host? On the raised walkway, a bit of figuring suggests to me that a reasonably tall actor could be danger of hitting their head on the lights on the pipes as drawn, assuming they are not recessed into the ceiling or something of that sort. The lower this raised walkway could be, the better, in my opinion; perhaps using lower stools for the contestants would allow for a lower platform?

For the "laser prison" effect, you presumably need some haze or similar to make the light beams visible. That of course has implications for the other lighting, where the light beams will likewise be visible. If it's possible to have some sort of a stand or desk or modesty panel or something in front of the contestants, maybe something kind of like you see in big bands, possibly you could put a light or two with an appropriate gobo to project "bars" upwards. Alternately, maybe just having top/back lighting and no or rather dim and strongly colored front lighting (with no haze) might work fairly well; it's not the same effect, to be sure, but could give the same sort of cue to the audience I think.

Do you have a position (and personnel) to allow for a followspot or two? I'm guessing perhaps not given the low ceiling, but if it is doable I think that might work well for the host.
 
These are just a few quick thoughts. There are many far more experienced people than I here who probably have better ideas.

How tall is the actor or actress playing the host? On the raised walkway, a bit of figuring suggests to me that a reasonably tall actor could be danger of hitting their head on the lights on the pipes as drawn, assuming they are not recessed into the ceiling or something of that sort. The lower this raised walkway could be, the better, in my opinion; perhaps using lower stools for the contestants would allow for a lower platform?

I may have slightly underestimated the ceiling height, thinking about it. I saw a stagger-run of the show yesterday, and the host was able to walk under the lights that were there (currently some 1kw fresnels). I won't say there was _much_ clearance, but he wasn't in danger of hitting his head.

For the "laser prison" effect, you presumably need some haze or similar to make the light beams visible. That of course has implications for the other lighting, where the light beams will likewise be visible. If it's possible to have some sort of a stand or desk or modesty panel or something in front of the contestants, maybe something kind of like you see in big bands, possibly you could put a light or two with an appropriate gobo to project "bars" upwards. Alternately, maybe just having top/back lighting and no or rather dim and strongly colored front lighting (with no haze) might work fairly well; it's not the same effect, to be sure, but could give the same sort of cue to the audience I think.

I will have haze. I think visible beams would look good for the game show look.

I think the top lighting effect might be the best compromise. I don't think beams pointing upwards would really work — there isn't currently a desk in front of everyone, and since 3 of the cast are in wheelchairs then that's likely to be difficult.

Do you have a position (and personnel) to allow for a followspot or two? I'm guessing perhaps not given the low ceiling, but if it is doable I think that might work well for the host.

Yes, I was thinking that. We have the personnel, I believe, but not sure about positions. I'll follow up on it! (No pun intended)
 

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