Light Designer's Goals

• Selective visibility
• Establish time and place
• Influence mood
• Reinforce style - illusionistic created by "motivational" lights
• Visual rhythm and movement

• Intensity -- wattage and dimmer control
• Color -- gels control
• Angle -- key plus fill lights
• Distribution or shape -- focus, shutters, barn doors control; gobos
• Movement  -- dimmers, electrically controled lights

• Spotlights -- follow, ellipsoidal, fresnel
• Floodlights -- scoop
• Striplights -- 6+ foot sections, hung over stage, on cyc, or footlights

• Text analysis - look for locations, character, theme, style, and mood
• Production meetings with director and other designers
• Thumbnail sketches, or show ideas in light lab or by lighting model
• Renderings are possible
• Lightplot
• Light hang and light focus
• Set cues, write cue sheet
• Technical Rehearsals

• From 1st indoor theatres:  candlelight to oil lamps
• 19th century: gas light
• early spotlights:  carbon arc, limelight
• 1879: incandescent light bulb by Edison
• Appia suggests designing light like scoring music
• Increasing addition of projections with light

• Establish time and place
• Create mood
• Establish style
• Movement
• Work within director's concept and coordinate with other designers

• live sound effects = practicals
• taped = canned
• if prerecorded, analog or digital format
• sound system in theatre includes:
• input device(s)
• mixer
• equalizer
• synthesizer
• amplifier
• speakers
• to amplify stage, mikes on and above stage plus on actors

• Text analysis
• Production meetings
• find or synthesize sounds
• remaster sounds
• play clips for production staff
• set cues and make master tape
• set levels and make cue sheets for sound operator

• smoke or fog, with dry ice or fog machine
• flashpots
• gunshots