-Lighting-

lantern not light, lamp not bulb

main types of lighting

("pros, cons & uses" refers to; when used on their own)

front lighting

• pros     audience can see actor's face

• cons    flattens the face, casts unsightly shadows on set

• uses    Stark, clinical effects

    top lighting

• pros    causes hollow eyes, sunken cheeks and long nose shadows

• cons    causes hollow eyes, sunken cheeks and long nose shadows!

• uses    Sinister, mystical effects

    rim lighting/backlighting

• pros     pulls actor away from set

• cons     can't see face 

• uses     powerful presence

    side lighting

• pros    adds third dimension to actors, lights only the actors.          

• cons    casts abstract shadows down the centre of face  and body

• uses    dance (because it casts abstract shadows down the centre of face  and body)

To correctly light an actor you need all of the above (at varying levels depending on the criteria)

main types of lantern

    Profile

• hard edged-able to accurately focus, 

• used softly for general plus accurate pinpointing of actors or props. also Gobos*

    *gobos are etched tin patterns that are projected onto stage

    Fresnel

• soft edged-can be slightly focused with barn-doors to cut spill*.

• also used for general lighting

*spill is unwanted light

    Flood

• wide beam, no focusing

• used to achieve even cover (grouped together in battens for lighting cyclorama)

  Some others:-

    Parcans

• tight beam, hard edged-no focusing (looks like a car headlight)

• used in large numbers (banks) for rock-lighting

    follow spots

• referred to as limes (as in limelight), focuses like an eye with an iris. Usually on a stand at the back of the auditorium or the Gods and can be used from the flies* for top lighting . Infinitely focusable, from; hard to soft, pin-spot to large open. colour change facilities and snap blackout

• uses- boldly in concerts, or subtly in highlighting moving actor during atmospheric lighting.

*flies-area above stage where scenery is "Flown"

Colour in light

The two most widely misunderstood points:

    1.    the 3 primary colours in light are 

red  blue  green

(not red blue yellow!)- 

note: in light. red and green make yellow

    2.    gels or coloured filters filter the light.

They only allow that colour through

(They do not colour the light)

why are those two points important to know?

when choosing colours for a scene; if you choose  primary colours, you will only be using one third of the light available (which can render a small rig all-but-useless). So go for secondary* or tertiary* colours.

i.e.. instead of choosing green for a forest scene, which only allows one third of the available light out, choose green/blue (which will be twice as effective)

*secondary colours in light are.... yellow magenta cyan

*tertiary-basically anything that's left...lavender,straw,steel blue

Straw and Steel blue you should know