On the Verge

[Dylandtech]

I'm currently doing a lighting design for on the verge, and i have a pretty good sized budget and was wondering if anyone had any good ideas, or if anyone had done the show and has pictures of their design

 

[kiwitechgirl]

I'm currently doing a lighting design for on the verge, and i have a pretty good sized budget and was wondering if anyone had any good ideas

Yep. Read the script through. Read it again and make notes in it about location, time of day, mood of each scene. Talk to the director and find out what they are thinking about it. Read the script again and look at your notes and see if they correspond with what the director is thinking. Talk to the set and costume designers to find out what colour palette they are using and what their thoughts are. Work out how you want the show to look, based on your notes and the conversations you have had with people; draw up a lighting plan which will achieve what you want it to - and don't hire fancy toys just because you have the money!

 

[derekleffew]

Those ARE some good ideas, kiwitechgirl. Some more are contained in Lighting Concept/Lighting Statement - ControlBooth .

Dylandtech, we're more than happy to help answer specific questions: "How do I...?", but no one here is likely to tell you "use six S4-36°s from the front with L142 gel and pointed break-up gobos." And some might tell you that looking at pictures of other designs is perhaps the worst possible thing one could do. They might also tell you that titles of shows are capitalized and italicized: On the Verge, a play by Eric Overmeyer.

 

[rochem]

"use six S4-36°s from the front with L142 gel and pointed break-up gobos."

Will do, Derek! Thanks!
(tongue firmly in cheek)

In all honesty though, a budget is great, but that's not necessarily gonna make your show better. Designs with a virtually nonexistent budget can look fantastic, but shows with enormous budgets can also look bad. The first time I ever had a large budget, I went into it the wrong way, trying to figure out what cool gear I could get and how I could use it. In the end, I had some moving lights that didn't look good at all with the rest of my rig, and the design wasn't very good. Set aside whatever budget numbers may be in your head and figure out what you need on a purely conceptual basis first. Once you have that firmly established, then turn to your budget to figure out what tools you can get to turn your conceptual ideas into reality.

 

[DuckJordan]

"use six S4-36°s from the front with L142 gel and pointed break-up gobos."

Well, I would but then It would be my design and I'd want some pay. Meet with the design team. Nothing is worse than going into a show blind and trying to "make it work"

 

[TimMiller]

First thing I do is make a copy of the script or get a pencil. I then sit down in a quiet room with a notepad and start reading through the script. The first read through I visualize the story. I put a star on the side of the page when it states a scene change or an action happens in which I feel a lighting cue is necessary such as a person comes in and sings a solo or as they move indoors. The first read through I'm not after trying to jot down every detail. That just makes things confusing. I'm after trying to get a visual feel for the show. The second read through is about the same as the first picking up some more mental details of what is happening. The third read through I have a good idea and will start writing down cue numbers. I skip by 5's so that I have plenty of space to fill in-between plus most consoles will allow you to put in decimal cues. So I will make houselights cue 1, house to half cue 2, black out cue 3, first show cue is 5. Next cue I feel appropriate is cue 10 and etc. Intermission is cue 50 or 100 depending on the show and so on. I now write down my mental light plot and talk to the set designer. I normally come in after the set design and a bit of the blocking is completed so I can see what I am actually lighting. I modify and add onto my plot as necessary. I then start putting everything in the console usually by going scene by scene with the director.

 

[shiben]

I'm currently doing a lighting design for on the verge, and i have a pretty good sized budget and was wondering if anyone had any good ideas, or if anyone had done the show and has pictures of their design

Whats a good sized budget? A local theatre here considers 1K for all aspects of the show (sets, lights, costumes, etc) to be "good sized", and another spends 20-30k on a show routinely. Both consider themselves to have a good sized budget. If you had 30k for the lights and some sick ideas and a need for it, renting MLs and whatnot would probably be a decent idea. However, if you have 1k to spend (or even 5k), renting MLs might not be a good choice either. I tend to agree with the above saying dont bother to look at what others do, dont bother to worry too hard about budget until you have creative down, and if you cant come up with any ideas, you have a whole creative team to help...