The aim of this lesson is to:
- Understand the principles of lighting design
- Know what lights create what effects
- Build subject specific vocabulary
- Give opportunities to be creative using a light simulator
Task 1: In Pairs, discuss for 1-2 mins ‘why lights are needed in theatre?‘ (Shakespeare didn’t use them!)
(10 mins) Create a Venn diagram. Label one side Functional lighting and the other Emotive lighting (effects designed to cause/reflect an emotion)
Some of your ideas might exist in the middle – the cross-over.
E.g: A sunset scene is functional in that it tells us the time of day, but it may also convey an emotional response to the audience or reflect an emotion present in the text.
Task 2: (20 minutes) Finding out what lights do (basic)
Click on this LINK for the lighting simulator
http://scenicandlighting.com/lightlab/
Set every light to zero (slide to the left).
Using 1 slider (light) at a time, see what effects are created by using:
- A cyclorama light
- Side lights
- Top lighting
- Foot lights
- Specials
- High Side Gobos
*Take photos or screen shots of each to help memorise and put into a word document.
Task 3: (20 minutes) Create a ‘lighting state’ for
- a woodland scene at night (Midsummer Night’s Dream – by Shakespeare.
- a romantic sunset scene outdoors
- a spooky castle
*Take photos of each to help memorise or screen shot it .
In your Journal, you need to be able to:
- State the scene – location – time of day.
- Explain where lights are positioned, angled, focused and any colour choices, special effects (gobos?)
- Justify why you used these (in terms of the effects you wish to create eg: time / place / mood.)