Week 10: Christmas Shopping

I know it's a little late, but I'm a procrastinator when it comes to Christmas shopping because shopping, as much as I'm a girl, is just not my thing. But, I decided to pick up a cute boy in my car and drag him to the Irvine Spectrum with me. Every guy's dream..

He actually chose the Irvine Spectrum over the other choices because they had an ice rink. Not that it actually mattered since once we got there he was like, "I suck, I'm not going." But, you know. It was great to see all the neutral coloured lights. They're still festive for the holidays, but acceptable year round, which is how long they're up. But it also helps that they're not coloured so that different people in different religions don't cause any problems with management.

I passed this jewelry store with terrible lighting. Though, I guess they achieved their goal; their goal being to make the jewelry sparkle and look good. And while the jewelry looked fine, the intensity and harshness of the lights didn't make people who would walk in the store look good wearing the jewelry, and the store wouldn't make any sales. And, as you can see, there's no one in the store to even put up with the harsh lighting.

On the other end, higher end stores like Orogold Cosmetics that have very similar harsh lighting were more successful in attracting an audience because of their theme colours. Most stores that had an overall theme were the most successful in attracting customers. Orogold stuck so true to their theme that they even got their own white Christmas tree with white lights, and gold ornaments.

Week 10: Mall Madness

For this weeks blog, I went with my friend, Hannah, window shopping in the South Coast Plaza. It
was both of our first time here. Overall, the Plaza had a very festive atmosphere, shown in the picture directly below with wreaths that were draped throughout the building. They had a giant Christmas tree(seen to the right) in the heart of the mall. Overall, the atmosphere they created and the amount of people that were in the Plaza created a busy, yet relaxing holiday atmosphere. It reminded me of being at home during the holidays, which was very relaxing and comforting. It was lighting that was very easy to walk through and made the trip very enjoyable. We were really surprised at the fact that there were MANY high class stores that were way out of our poor college student pay grade. Luckily, there were a few stores that we could afford. As we walked through the Plaza, I realized that you can identify whether or not you can afford to shop there just by the lighting, which is really interesting!

For example, with a store such as Versace (shown to the left), the lighting was very clear and crisp to highlight the products and the colors of this season. The overall theme was a very high class and elegant fashion store. It is intended for those who have high confidence in themselves and are very successful in whatever filed of work they pursue. They were effective in accomplishing this. I was able to tell from a few stores down that this store was one for the wealthy. Their pieces are made for a specific type of person. They made that clear through          their clean and concise lighting.

Another store that we saw was Miu Miu, shown to the right. I have never heard of this show. But, I took a picture anyway. When I got home, I looked it up. It turns out that it is a well known store. I can tell by the lighting that they were going for a similar feel to that of Versace. However, in my opinion, I do not think that they accomplished it. I feel that the color choice for the outside was unappealing. It also did not accent the product in the same manner as the lighting designer for Versace did. The product almost blends into the wall because the colors are so similar. I think the lighting could benefit more by highlighting the product and pushing it forward towards the audience. Thus, encouraging them to buy the product by making it look more appealing and by giving the products more emphasis. Overall, I think a change in their color palette would be very beneficial for them and may even result in an increase in people coming into their store.

Week 10: Mall shops in Nashville, TN

Having left Irvine midway through week 10, I was able to use some locations where I'll be for the next three weeks - Nashville, Tennessee.  There is a huge mall on the outskirts of town, called Opry Mills, and so I took a trip down (later at night to avoid the terrible Christmas-time mall traffic), to try to snap some pictures for our final blog assignment.

Opry Mills is your typical middle-America mall, with a ton of big-name chain stores, and small kiosks down the middle of the main aisles.  The overall feel of the mall is seen in the picture to the left - bright, uncluttered (except by people), relatively clean, and upbeat.  I think this is what the designers were going for - an upbeat atmosphere that would put people in a positive, active mood to spend money.

One of the restaurants in the mall is Johnny Rockets.  The lighting enhances the decor and vibe selected for the restaurant - that of a 1950s diner.  The bright neon on the outside of the restaurant, and the bright, warm light inside create an atmosphere similar to that of the mall in general - upbeat, fun, happy.  Light reflects off the chrome fixtures, and all the individual booths have their own light above them.  To me, this is a very successful use of designed lighting - the mood of the customer is manipulated, and the basic theme of the establishment is communicated.

Another shop I found was one I had never heard of, called "Justice".  In my estimation, it was geared towards teenage girls, who were picking out decor for their bedroom or locker or wardrobe.  There were several green and orange fixtures hung from the ceiling, and it seemed as if the designer was trying to recreate the vibe found in a bedroom, with soft, non-fluorescent lighting.  However, the rest of the store's lighting didn't match up to this idea - the non-"bedroom" fixtures were just regular harsh fluorescents.  Because of this, the softer incandescent lighting was washed out, not really visible.  I think this "bedroom" look would have been a good choice, if it had been executed more consistently; because of how it was executed, I would label this "unsuccessful".

There was one more shop that I just thought was interestingly lit, so I'm including it just for fun.  It was "Guess", and the lighting was kind of industrial, with a really great orange fluorescent treatment at the register.  This picture isn't the greatest quality, but the lighting made me feel like it would be fun to shop in this store.

Week 10: The House of Mouse

This week I was able to fit in a few trips to Disneyland in between studying for finals. Luckily one night I made it in time to catch the lighting ceremony on Sleeping Beauty's Castle and on Main Street. While Main Street has a standard design for the exterior lighting on the buildings, during special events they bring out the big guns. On the roof of the buildings on Main Street, as well as other places in the park, they have specifically designed lights for the event.

This event in particular was to create a cool, winter feeling while fans blew snow onto the crowd below. Throughout the event, intricate lighting was displayed on the Castle, the tree and all down Main Street. It was so neat seeing instruments similar to those we use in class in a real world setting, creating looks I'm so used to seeing on a stage outside in the world.

Also, just as a bonus: the lighting for the Teacups ride in Fantasyland is done so well! They hid the lights in lanterns to keep the theme of a tea party, while also creating a grid-like structure above the attraction (masked by vines and such) for a very unique lighting look.

Every time I go to the park I try and find a lighting element that I haven't noticed before, and it makes me feel so cool when I can identify an instrument or the source of the lighting!

Week 9: Why Blue?

I've always wondered why do we always resort to blue to represent night. Is it because it's the darkest color we can put in fixture and get output? Is it because Blue is the calmest of colors that puts our eyes at ease? Probably, but why is it so 

wrong to replicate what is seen here with the hazy moonlight seeping through trees?

Yes this can be directly replicated for the stage, but that should be only if the text or director calls for it because it gives so little visibility and even less emotion. I feel like this picture is very beautiful in the way how hazy the moon is which gives an eeriness that is fun and interesting to look at. I didn't get to see it on skin or at least didn't get a picture. I wonder what it does actually look like with having it directly replicated...I'd love to explore it. But I'm still going to wonder why we see night as Blue on stage. 

Week 9: Illegal Action While Driving

Last week was an intense week for California. It rained three days in a row, which almost NEVER happens. (Sorry you missed it Karyn) And I was actually really just beside myself on the first day that it rained because my right rain boot broke and decided not to keep out the wet, while my left foot stayed dry. I was lopsided.

Anyway, after rehearsal for Blood Wedding, with Gabri is designing for us, I drove home. Sleeping overnight in my car was tempting, but dangerous driving in the rain with a bunch of idiots on the 405 seemed more appealing. So, as I exit my off ramp towards home, and notice several cop cars, I look out front window and am almost blinded by the amount of red light reflecting off of every surface due to the water. Did someone really just decide to take R26 at 100% and shine it into my face?

And then I look to my left and my goodness, I was being blinded by a much cooler almost silvery white light. I don't think as green as L201, but definitely somewhere within that colour range. However, it was also easier to look at than the red. The red just burnt my soul and eyes and made it so that I had to close my eyes and wait for the inside of my eyelids to change colour with the stoplight.










And then I did something illegal. I rolled down my window, with a cop on the opposite corner of where I was taking my photograph, and took three pictures. One of the red, one of the white, and a panorama of it all. I don't know exactly why, but there was really very little colour mixing taking place. You can see a little hint of amber down the middle, but it's almost like the vertical cyc that Dan created for one of his projects, where the colours just split down the middle. It's really enhanced by the rain and even moreso by the quality of the photograph, obviously, but even so. And then the light turned green and I drove past the officer while singing Taylor Swift's song "Blank Space".

Like a badass.

Week 9: Cityscape Over Water

A few nights ago I took my girlfriend to the aquarium in Long Beach and we ended up walking around the harbor later that evening. Looking out at the water, I just had to snap some pictures. The way the color on the water rippled got me thinking about how I could create something like this on a stage. For our class plot we've only ever had one pair of cyc lights on each side, but I wondering if a larger cyc with more individual units could produce an effect like this. Then again, it would probably be easier to do something like this with a dedicated system of lekos, although that then presents the problem of using up a ton a lekos, which wouldn't work unless it was a space with plenty of instruments and dimmers to spare.

Lately I've been working as light board operator for Darrin and Ebony on New Slate and I've gotten to see some of what moving lights can do. I'd love to see how close to a look like this I could get with some movers. I also wonder how a more abstracts interpretation of this would look on a cyc. Perhaps just a regular cyc wash with a just one or two textures thrown on top of it (maybe a twinspin for the rippling). For still another option, I might try creating a ripple animation video and projecting it over a cyc wash to add some moving texture.