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Edited Lighting Design PowerPoint

The document discusses the history and evolution of lighting design for theatrical performances. It begins with early outdoor Greek and Elizabethan theaters that relied on natural sunlight. It then covers the transition to indoor candle and oil lamp lighting in the 17th-18th centuries, followed by the adoption of gas lighting in the 19th century and electric lighting in the 20th century. The document also examines lighting instruments, controls, objectives, and functions used in modern lighting design.

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Charlotte
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80 views22 pages

Edited Lighting Design PowerPoint

The document discusses the history and evolution of lighting design for theatrical performances. It begins with early outdoor Greek and Elizabethan theaters that relied on natural sunlight. It then covers the transition to indoor candle and oil lamp lighting in the 17th-18th centuries, followed by the adoption of gas lighting in the 19th century and electric lighting in the 20th century. The document also examines lighting instruments, controls, objectives, and functions used in modern lighting design.

Uploaded by

Charlotte
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lighting Design 101

Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent | Georgia Department of Education | Educating Georgia’s Future
History of
Lighting

● First
form of theatrical
lighting was the Sun.
● Greek, and Elizabethan
theatres were outdoors
● Changes in time or light
were indicated by the
dialogue
● “But look, the morn in
russet mantle clad
Walks o’er the dew of
yon high eastward hill.”
– Hamlet Act I, Scene i

Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent | Georgia Department of Education | Educating Georgia’s Future
17th and 18th century: indoor theatres with candles and
oil lamps

Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent | Georgia Department of Education | Educating Georgia’s Future
Pre Gas Indoor theatres

• 17th and 18th century: indoor theatres with candles


and oil
• Pros:
• Reflectors attempted to magnify the intensity
• Some level of control with regard to the direction
of the light
• Cons:
• Problems with candles and oil lamps included:
• Heat, Smoke, and no control of intensity.

Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent | Georgia Department of Education | Educating Georgia’s Future
19th Century: Gas
Lighting

• Drury lane is the first


theatre to fully
employ Gas Lighting
http://www.overthefootlights.co.uk/18
17-18.pdf

Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent | Georgia Department of Education | Educating Georgia’s Future
19th century: gas lighting

• Pros:
• smokeless performances.
• Variation in intensity

• Cons:
• Intense heat
• Expensive initial purchase and installation
• Deadly explosions
• Chance of asphyxiation

Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent | Georgia Department of Education | Educating Georgia’s Future
20th century: Electric lighting

Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent | Georgia Department of Education | Educating Georgia’s Future
20th century brought electric light to the stage.

• Pros:
• Much safer and more effective than the gas.
• Can control intensity, direction, color, and form from
a central location
• Cons
• The early dimmers were not safe
• Still an occasional fire or electrocution

Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent | Georgia Department of Education | Educating Georgia’s Future
Gels

• Lighting Gels were initially made


of gelatin, hence the spelling.
• Up to the 1940s theatres were
still boiling their own gelatin and
imbuing it with their own dyes.
• Problems with early gels
included:
• Quick burn out, Hard to match,
and dripped scarred the actors.
• Now gels are made of plastic

Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent | Georgia Department of Education | Educating Georgia’s Future
Objectives of Lighting
Design
● Visibility
● Establish time and place
● Create mood
● Reinforce style
● Focus and composition
● Rhythm of visual movement

Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent | Georgia Department of Education | Educating Georgia’s Future
Functions of Lighting Design

1.VISIBILITY- Can the audience see the important action


on stage clearly? Is the action we don’t want to see not
lit?
2.MOOD- What is the overall look/feel/atmosphere of the
scene? How do I communicate that with light?
3.REINFORCEMENT- What information in the text do I
want the audience to understand more fully through
light?
4.PUNCTUATION- How do I want scenes to
end/transition?
5.SCULPTURAL AESTHETIC- what do I want to evoke
in the audience? How do I create depth/detail in
lighting?
Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent | Georgia Department of Education | Educating Georgia’s Future
Qualities of Stage Light

● Intensity
● controlled by dimmers
● Color
● provided by gels
● Direction
● key, fill, back and down lights
● Form
● controlled by shutters and gobos
Educating Georgia's Future by graduating students who are ready to learn, ready to live, and ready to lead.
Instruments and Controls

● Floods, scoops, strips, and border lights


● for a soft “wash”
● Fresnel
● a soft-edged spotlight for area lighting
● Ellipsoidal reflector spotlight
● the “workhorse” for a concentrated beam
● Robotic or “wiggle” lights
● for example, the Vari-Lite
Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent | Georgia Department of Education | Educating Georgia’s Future
Instruments and
Controls

Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent | Georgia Department of Education | Educating Georgia’s Future
More Electric lighting
• Instrumentation has changed a great deal over the
years.
• In the past lightning was dependent on the size of the
lamp and the reflectors surrounding the source.
• Modern lighting is comprised of lamps hung on the
battens, patched into dimmers and programmed into a
light board.

Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent | Georgia Department of Education | Educating Georgia’s Future
Floods, scoops, strips, and border lights

• for a soft “wash”

Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent | Georgia Department of Education | Educating Georgia’s Future
Fresnel

• a soft-edged spotlight for area lighting

Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent | Georgia Department of Education | Educating Georgia’s Future
Par Cans

Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent | Georgia Department of Education | Educating Georgia’s Future
Ellipsoidal
reflector
spotlight

• the “workhorse” for


a concentrated
beam

Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent | Georgia Department of Education | Educating Georgia’s Future
Robotic or “wiggle” lights
for example, the Vari-Lite

Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent | Georgia Department of Education | Educating Georgia’s Future
LIGHTING TERMS TO KNOW
1.Dimmer- How electricity enters the building and how it flows
through the wires. “Neighborhood”
2.Circuit- The physical plug for the light. “House”
3.Channel- The name of the circuit in the board. “Address”
4.Instrument- The name of the light (Ellipsoidal, PARCan, LED,
Mover, etc)
5.Lamp- the thing that creates light.
6.LED- Light Emitting Diode (lights that vibrate and can change
color at low wattage)
7.Incandescent- Lamps that vibrate a coiled filament to emit light.
Higher wattage.

Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent | Georgia Department of Education | Educating Georgia’s Future
Other Terms
● Light board
● Cues
● Light plot
● Hang and focus

Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent | Georgia Department of Education | Educating Georgia’s Future

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