If you choose the equipment, color, angle, intensity, rate of change, channeling, etc.... you are the lighting designer. It matters not if you've been to rehearsals, done paperwork, discussed with anyone. You do not have to have collaborated with other designers or a director/choreographer to have still created a lighting design. Everytime I see one of those hokey high-school YouTube video's of some kid using all the schools moving lights to make a cool light show to a Led Zeppelin song, I think, "well, they're learning lighting design".
Who Gets Credit For What?
- Thread starterMrsFooter
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If you choose the equipment, color, angle, intensity, rate of change, channeling, etc.... you are the lighting designer. It matters not if you've been to rehearsals, done paperwork, discussed with anyone. You do not have to have collaborated with other designers or a director/choreographer to have still created a lighting design. Everytime I see one of those hokey high-school YouTube video's of some kid using all the schools moving lights to make a cool light show to a Led Zeppelin song, I think, "well, they're learning lighting design".
I'll vociferously disagree! (No offense to soundlight, or any other devotees of that particular genre.) Learning/knowing how to flash lights in time to music IS NOT lighting design. Particularly when done in a vacuum with little or no supervision/collaboration. It may be a desirable skill for a club DJ, but it ain't gonna help one bit when lighting a production of The Cherry Orchard.
Intensity
Color
Distribution
Movement
Selective Visibility
Revelation of Form
Illusion of Nature
Mood
Composition
Well, no its not going to help you with some things, but don't you think at least a little thought went in to what was lighting where in what color, and how that affects the rest of the stage?
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I would think that one of the goals is to sometimes not be an Illusion of Nature and is not what I was taught, where as the other tools and goals were.
And I'm thinking you are asking for a very narrow and selective definition of Lighting Design. Certainly one of the flash and trash YouTube designers are not creating a theatrical piece, but if they use the tools and achieve the goals, does the end result disqualify them from being a designer ?.
Hardly.
Nowhere in the USA 829 Lighting Design exam (as far as I'm aware) is it written that acceptable designs need to have been collaborative pieces. Indeed, many practicing 829 members design restaurants and other architectural systems. They never talk to a costume designer or director and really only deal with an architect, who are generally not known for being collaborators. Yet they use all the tools and attempt to achieve all the goals listed above. And they certainly think of it as a Lighting Design and list it on their portfolio as such.
This whole issue came up decades ago when the concert LD's started to get creative with the big R&R tours going out, when many so-called Broadway and theatrical designers would poo-poo the "designs", but eventually came to realize that folks like Jeff Ravitch, Jim Moody, Patrick Woodroffe among others, were indeed designers and the lighting they created was every bit a Lighting Design, flash and trash and all.
That requires all the traditional skills of lighting design, plus the ability to focus on something even at points where it's exceedingly boring...
And worst case scenario, it falls very slightly into the category of "this should feel like this and be this color," with may help a bit with the Chekov's and Ibsen's of the world.
I think the terminology that you are using is more definitive of the type of "design" you speak of in the first post. If you consider a quality jam session, single musician or an entire band. While those of us who enjoy this type of music (you Dead-heads and Phish fans, especially), I wouldn't consider anyone a composer/song-writer at that moment. They are simply using their talent as a musician, based off previous experience, to provide a great sound. Even if there is a leader to the group guiding the jam session, that person is still not the song-writer.
Now, like the HS student doing their flash and trash design on an empty stage, there is still experience being collected. The band leader may use some of the sounds created in the jam session as inspiration for a future song as well as the student taking looks and using them for actual designs later on.
I worked in a roadhouse, similar to The Egg, but on a larger scale (we had the biggest Broadway shows down to small regional acts, speakers such as the Dali Lama and final Presidential debates, and everything in between). There were many times that one of the technical directors would turn to me and say, I need such and such for this show. There is not a plot, and only a basic description of the show, make it good. I wasn't ever billed as the lighting designer, lighting director, or anything since that isn't how the operation worked. If I were to do a website for my designs, I might list one of these as an example of my work, but I wouldn't consider it a "design".
For a design, there is more of a process which has many different elements, which may or may not all be present in the design. As with Derek's list, there are many things to be considered in a design, but they may be applied to many different types of productions/situations. Certainly a rep plot will affect your design, as does the architecture of a specific venue, the locations of a lineset, or many other variables.
But, for what you did, along with many other similar situations, I would go with your term of "busking". This is what we do for many corporate events, one-off productions, concerts, and for idiot road LDs.
I handled lighting for one acts this year at the high school I participate at and went off the rep plot however I wouldn't consider myself the designer; there were somethings I would like to change but just couldn't with the time constraints. My role was talking with the directors to get what they wanted in terms of where the stage should be lit and not but also having to take requests like "mystery" or "dark" and translate that into something on stage. I also helped develop ideas like throwing in amber side light and the like.
The real question is, if you gain some sort of satisfaction from the work you're doing, does it really matter if some theatre snob considers you a "true" lighting designer or not? If I can get as much creative satisfaction from blinking lights in time with the music, as someone lighting Chekhov, I don't really care what my title is.
As far as I'm concerned, if an operator/Lighting Director/Designer is aware of and uses these tools:
Intensity
Color
Distribution
Movement
To achieve these goals, to the best of their ability and given the constraints of the enviroment:
Selective Visibility
Revelation of Form
Mood
Composition
As an ORIGINAL creation, then I'd call them a Lighting Designer.
Intensity
Color
Distribution
Movement
To achieve these goals, to the best of their ability and given the constraints of the enviroment:
Selective Visibility
Revelation of Form
Mood
Composition
As an ORIGINAL creation, then I'd call them a Lighting Designer.
Get used to being in this situation. I've been in each position (LD, op, programmer, SM, TM) and the LD gets credit for the design most of the time, along with the producer; depending on the type of show. Ops and programmers are the real beasts on these shows, and go completely un-noticed(until a miscue). I've had a number of big name LD's come in and give me their design input, but the person who puts the cuelist together is who makes the show. Unfortunately, that's not usually the person whose name is carried along with the project. Your time will come when you're LD'ing that you get your just due. Everyone has to go through it.
This is a really interesting discussion, and I have been in similar situations. Half way through one project the designer had to excuse himself for personal reasons and the producers asked me to take over and finish the design. They decided to bill me as the designer and give a program credit to the other designer: “Original design concept by ____.” Other times I am just a lighting tech, but because it’s a tour and the LD isn’t present I end up making creative decisions with the client to get the show done. In that case, if I really felt strongly about it, I might approach the producer/promoter and negotiate the proper billing AND compensation. If you’re doing the work of an LD, you might as well get paid as one. But I don’t think I would ever claim being a designer on any project unless that is what I was hired to do. It should be clear if the producer/promoter is hiring you as a designer/lighting director/electrician/lighting tech/whatever.
As far as what qualifies a lighting designer, I think that may depend on the project. You can be billed as the LD whether you choose to use one light that never changes or 300 lights with 1000 cues. You are the LD if you work in a bubble or if you collaborate with the director and other designers (I find the collaborative projects to be MUCH more rewarding). Theatre, concerts, special events, architecture, etc. all have lighting designers. You are making creative choices to support the show. But like Michael’s Chorus Line example, what you are credited with really depends on what the producer/promoter hires you to do.
If it were me, I would save this situation for an interview as a great example of working under pressure. I think your work ethic and willingness to go above and beyond speaks more than what your title happened to be.
As far as what qualifies a lighting designer, I think that may depend on the project. You can be billed as the LD whether you choose to use one light that never changes or 300 lights with 1000 cues. You are the LD if you work in a bubble or if you collaborate with the director and other designers (I find the collaborative projects to be MUCH more rewarding). Theatre, concerts, special events, architecture, etc. all have lighting designers. You are making creative choices to support the show. But like Michael’s Chorus Line example, what you are credited with really depends on what the producer/promoter hires you to do.
If it were me, I would save this situation for an interview as a great example of working under pressure. I think your work ethic and willingness to go above and beyond speaks more than what your title happened to be.
