Capa Aplicación

1. DISCOVERING INDIVIDUAL COLORS IN LIGHTING

Equipment: A stage; white curtains or flats (sheets can be hung over colored flats); a vari-ety of lamps (strip lights, spotlights, etc.); light-ing control board; filters in blue, green, red and amber or yellow; two ladders

Preparation: Clear and clean the stage. Set up white flats or hang white curtains or sheets. If necessary cut colored filters to fit into the frames to be used. Check that the lighting con-trol board is in working order. Fill the frames with the four colored filters mentioned above and fit the frames to the lamps. Suggest that between the individual phases of the exercises everyone rests or closes their eyes as often as possible. Be aware that the intensity of the colored lights can have strong and disturbing effects on individuals; pay special attention to everyone’s well-being.

Exercise 1a: Invite everyone to move onto the darkened stage and crouch with closed eyes.

Gradually bring up the blue strip lights. Ask every-one to open their eyes and begin to move as the color around them inspires them. Watch the movements closely, allowing the group itself to determine when everyone returns to their crouching position. Invite participants to return to their crouching position with closed eyes, gradually fading out the blue, so that the stage is again in darkness. Repeat this sequence with the other two primary lighting colors of green cally in front of them. Starting with either a

cir-cle or a straight line, invite the group to create a number of different shapes in the space (to build ‘mobile walls’), holding the poles vertically in front of them. Repeat the same forms and shapes, holding the poles behind them. Hori-zontal Shapes: Ask participants to hold the poles horizontally in front of them. Starting with either a circle or a straight line, invite the group to create a number of different shapes in the space (to build ‘mobile fences,’ etc.), holding the poles horizontally in front of them. Diagonal Shapes: Ask everyone to hold the poles in a variety of diagonal positions. Starting with either a circle or a straight line, invite the group to create a number of different shapes in the space (to build ‘mobile roofs,’ etc.), holding the poles diagonally in front of them.

Exercise 2 – Ask the designers to create shapes with the poles both upstage and downstage.

Invite them to create shapes with the poles on the left and right of the stage. Ask them to cre-ate shapes in the upper regions of the stage, near the lights, then in the lower regions, near the floor. Invite individuals in turn to stand within the created form and experience it from inside. Allow the same designer to observe the same form from the auditorium.

Evaluation: Invite everyone to share impres-sions of their experiences of creating the shapes. Pay attention to the variations in the experiences of standing in front of or behind the pole. Write the impressions in large writing so that they can be referred to later. Both the miniature and the large forms create the basis from which to design and build the set.

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above the stage and then down to floor level and lighting the stage with it; and with the sides, moving the flashlight from stage left and from stage right and lighting the stage with it. Sug-gest that the others note the effects they have observed. Repeat the above sequence for the further turning points of the play.

Evaluation: Ask everyone to sit in a circle, if possible in daylight. Suggest that they share impressions of their experiences of the forms under the colored lights and the shadows the forms created on the white backdrop. Write the impressions in large writing on large sheets of paper for later reference.

Large Surfaces & Forms

Equipment: A stage; the three, four or five flats already painted in the exercises on set painting;

three white flats; all the costume drafts created in earlier exercises; dummies or coat-hangers;

artists’ easels; a gauze curtain or scrim; lighting equipment as earlier; chairs

Preparation: Place the white flats on one side of the stage, the colored flats on the other and the set drapes in the center. Place the costumes that are still pinned to the dummies or coat-hangers in front of the white flats.

Exercise 1: Invite everyone to sit in front of the stage. Darken the auditorium. Light the stage first with blue strip lights alone, then with green alone, then with red alone, then with yellow alone. Repeat as required. Ask the group to observe the effects of the individual colors on the painted flats and on the costume drafts.

Evaluation: Ask everyone to sit in a circle, if possible in daylight. Ask them to share impres-sions of their experiences of the colored shad-ows on the background. Write the impressions in large writing on large sheets of paper for later reference.

2. EFFECTS OF COLORED LIGHTING ON COLORED SURFACES & FORMS

Miniature Forms

Equipment: A space which can be blacked out;

one clay modelling board per set of clay models as a miniature stage; the clay models made in the earlier exercise; four flashlights; miniature colored filters in the three primary colors and yellow; scissors and tape; white cloth or stiff paper or a board as a backdrop; table; chairs

Preparation: Place the modelling board on the table in front of the group. Create a miniature theatre space by hanging or creating at the back of the modelling board a vertical white back-drop out of paper, board or cloth. Set out chairs for the group. Cut small filters in the three pri-mary colors and yellow and tape them to the flashlights.

Exercise: Once everybody is seated, invite one or more group members to set the forms for the first turning point in the play in the miniature stage space. Hand one flashlight each to four designers; invite the others to observe. Black out the space. Invite the four to experiment with distances, moving the flashlight close into and then away from the stage and lighting the stage with it: with angles, moving the flashlight high Exercise 3: Invite everyone to stand with their

backs to the colored strip lights and face the white flats. Gradually light the stage with first the blue strip lights and then the green ones.

While raising and lowering the levels of the two colors, but without removing either color entirely, ask participants to gently move whilst observing the shadows on the white flats cre-ated by their movements. Repeat the same sequence, first bringing up the green and then the red strip lights. Repeat the same sequence again, first bringing up the blue and then the red strip lights. Repeat the same sequence for a third time, first bringing up the blue, then the green and then the red strip lights, again raising and lowering the levels of the three colors alter-nately. Finally, add yellow to the three colors and ask everyone to observe the effect. Repeat the same sequence, reversing the order in which the colors have been introduced. Follow this with an improvised sequence of colors.

EXERCISES : LIGHTING

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Anyone interested in design and who has gone through the sequence of exercises described in this chapter, discussed and reviewed the entire process, and used the notes taken in the evaluations of the exercises when necessary, should now be in a position to create the final design of the set, the costumes and the lighting with a good degree of confidence. As to the time they may take. These exercises need approximately forty hours, or one full week of work, if they are to be done effectively.

They can be done either in one block before the production starts, or during the early phase of the rehearsals or run more slowly, parallel to most of the rehearsal process. Of course, the creative process does not end once the different components have been designed. It goes on throughout the building of the costumes and set and beyond that into the final stages of rehearsal and ultimately into performance. Only then can the designer begin to think that the work has come to some sort of completion.

Then combine the colors, building up sequen-ces, both prepared and freely improvised. Ask everyone to observe the effects of the different combinations of colors on the painted flats and costume drafts. Encourage them to take partic-ular note of the effect of the red and green lights on the red and green surfaces.

Exercise 2: Using both strip lights and spot-lights, change the source of the lighting. Light the stage from the front, from both right and left and from behind; light it from below and from above. Invite everybody to observe the effects of the different lighting sources.

Exercise 3: Using white spotlights only, light specific areas of the stage. Ask one or two designers to move in and out of the lit areas of the stage. Invite everyone to observe the effects of lighting the stage with white spotlights only.

Exercise 4: Hang a gauze curtain or scrim and repeat the above sequence of lighting exercises, lighting the gauze first from the front only, then from the back only and finally from one or both sides. Invite everyone to observe the effects of lighting the scrim from the three sources of light.

Evaluation: Ask everybody to sit in a circle, if possible in daylight. Suggest that they share impressions of their experiences of the colored lights coming from different sources. Write the impressions in large writing on large sheets of paper for later reference.

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1. SCENE CHANGES

Keep set changes to a minimum. As necessary use or build lightweight furniture that can be easily carried on and off stage. Use heavy set pieces only when they can be on stage through-out the performance. If heavy pieces have to be moved, attach wheels beneath them that roll silently. On an uneven floor give the wheels regular attention so that they remain silent.

2. LIGHTING CHANGES

Ensure that the lighting technician can see the entire stage so that adjustments to the lighting plot can be made during the performance. Give the technician manual control of the lighting board, even if the lighting changes run auto-matically from a computer, so that adjustments can be made during the performance. Consider introducing any new lighting setting before