Week 6: Obsession

For this week’s blog, our theme is obsession. I truly struggled trying to find lighting that captured my opinion of the word. For me, obsession is something negative. It is something that people try to block out, but it slowly creeps into one’s life. So, this image captured that for me. The light symbolizes the person’s obsession. The darkness and the door symbolizes their attempt to block it out, which is not possible. The inability to completely block out the obsession is shown by the light that creeps through the bottom of the door. The light spreads providing visibility to the room, symbolizing the person's ability to see their problems that they constantly choose to ignore and try to deny. I know my mind tends to think in different ways, but I hope I explained it in a way that you can understand too.

Week 5

Having just realized I completely forgot to post a blog for this past week, I frantically rushed around my apartment, trying to find something to snap a picture of, something that would be a good example of interesting lighting.  Worried that I wouldn't be able to find anything that great, I walked into my bedroom and stopped in my tracks - I had never noticed the early morning light on the bedroom blinds before, but now that I was paying attention, they seemed blog-worthy.

I was struck by the variation at first - why isn't the shift from dark to light evenly spread across the set of blinds?  I realized that it was because a few of them had gotten flipped backwards, which resulted in them being shadowed (the one right in the middle).  Peering outside the window, I learned that the reason the blinds on the left were so dark was that there was a tree outside the window, blocking light on that half of the window.

The other thing I noticed that was really appealing was the fact that the set of blinds as a whole seemed to be almost glowing, with the sunlight edging the window and a bit of light peeking through.  This served to give a halo-like effect to the whole window, which was complimented by the glow between some of the blinds themselves.

This all reinforced a few of the ideas we've been talking about / noticing in class this quarter:
     Pay attention to what your source is doing, and what might be obstructing it.
     Backlight can be a great creator of silhouette, and a halo-like effect.
     Changing the direction of the model (or the blind) can change the amount of
     conceal/reveal displayed.
     Interesting lighting is all around - we just need to pay attention.

Week 5: Boats and Shows

Wow what a week it's been. Major projects due, tech for The Last Lifeboat, and several days without sufficient sleep. Since I was here at the xMPL theatre space all week and all weekend as his assistant lighting designer, I feel like it's only fitting that I comment on some of Wesley Chew's lighting. 

I know one class mate already commented on TLL, but there's no harm in getting a second opinion. 

Since I'm actually working with Wes, I was able to hear and understand his design concept. He split it up where each act has its own big idea. 

The first act is the Pre-World of the leading up to and building of the Titanic and the choices J. Bruce Ismay had to make during that process. The main difference is the first act is warmer at least until the crash of the Titanic. There is a texture that he uses that mimics both the look of a ship and the ripping or shredding of metal. In using this texture he foreshadows the inevitable iceberg crash.

What I find interesting is he only uses the texture in the first act. I see it as both a way to differentiate the place between the many, many scenes, and it is a great conceptual choice to give a harsher feel to the play. There are so many scenes and I could write for a long time about every one. So I'm going to choose only one picture per act. 

I felt like this was an appropriate picture. I figured it has the most elements of the first act. The brighter more saturate and warmer colors on the cyc tell the time of day, and this is a more romantic point in the story so the colors could get more on the love side of sunsets. The icy cools cutting in from the high angle wash give a frigidity from the time and place. It also has sweeping warm sunset light coming from the heads stage right. 

Act 2 is the following event that unfold after Ismay's decision to jump into a lifeboat instead of going down with the ship. Wes' idea for the next act is to take out most of the warm from the world. Ismay is haunted by the memory of what he has done, Wes expresses that story with high angles and isolations. The color palette is more stark and nightmarish especially within the first couple scenes.

This is the scene to begin act 2 on the lifeboat. The contrast between the Act 1 picture and this one is very high. It has a iciness to it that really sets the play in a different direction. There is an icy greenish blue coming from the heads that gives an eerie unsettling deathly feeling. The surrounding blue sets the lifeboat into the ocean.

Week 5: Irvine Spectrum

As a present to my best friend after getting married, my mother decided to take her, her new hubby, my date, and myself to Dave and Buster's at the Irvine Spectrum for a day of fun. Together, the four youngest people won approximately 3,150 tickets. My mother is a goddess and won close to 5,000 alone. But she does that every time she goes to an arcade because she's magic. My date and I resolved that we were going to save our half of the tickets for something neat, like a food processor for 6,000 tickets. Either that, a plasma globe, or a lava lamp for our room because we're retro like that. Huffah!

Before dinner, my mom decided to go shoe shopping (every girl's love) while my date and I took a romantic ride on the ferris wheel during sunset. And by romantic, I mean mildly awkward as I tried to take selfies he didn't want because he hates taking pictures. I did manage to get a few good ones, mostly funny, and turned my focus to the scenery. The sun reflecting against the glass panes of the building windows was absolutely stunning. The warmth, and with all of the cool down light to serve as a tonal. Of course, all the street lamps and building lights are practicals, but we all knew that. The best practicals, however, were those attached to the ferris wheel, all lit up at one time! It circulated and had designs, but overall was just a giant headache. It was great.

And while all of these aspects of the Irvine Spectrum were wonderful, my favourite would have to be, by far, this up lit scary tree. How frightening! I was telling my mother how a lot of the time, people use up light if they're trying to scare someone, like a flashlight on someone's face during a ghost story while camping. So, why up light this sad dying tree? Her answer was that it scares kids into thinking the tree will throw an apple at them if they climb on it. So much yes.

Week 5: Depth of Space

When walking across my apartment complex one night I noticed more closely how different sources of light on varying planes created a depth of space. Porch lights, street lights, and the illumination of the sky all created an interesting atmosphere in the courtyard.

As I moved closer to the streetlight, that source became prominent which shifted the intensity and the overall look and feeling of the space. The strong light coming from the lamp also intensifies the illumination on the skyline in the photograph.

Finally as I passed under the streetlight, the porch light on the building and the skyline illumination came into the foreground of focus. With another streetlight providing isolation and distance.

Overall, these three photographs tried to capture the feeling I got when walking along the sidewalk underneath the streetlights. I am trying to recognize sources of light in everyday situations, and how those sources are utilized in order to create atmosphere and, in this case, depth of space. I like to look at these photographs as a set- with cycs on a scrim for the skyline, and the front porch of a house on stage left with a street light stage right.

Also notice the difference between the LED streetlight and the incandescent porch lights! Is the skyline illuminated with light pollution, or what do you think? There is a definite glow, and the moon is in the opposite direction. Interesting.

Week 5: Projector + Spectra Cycs = ♥

Continuing the theme of posting pictures that I get during tech (because at this point I'm not actually sure there is life outside of tech) this week I've brought lighting from the set of The Last Lifeboat. What's interesting about The Last Lifeboat is that we have three white drops that are used both as projection screens and a segmented cyc. 

What's really cool is that during certain cues the projections and cyc lights work together, so that the projections act as a texture, seen here creating a really beautiful sunset effect. 

Another noteworthy aspect of this setup is that the cyc lights are positioned behind the drops, facing the audience. Instead of having the drops reflect the cyc light back to the audience, as we've always done in class, the cycs are simply having their light spread out and diffused by the drops. The effect of this is very similar to what we're used to, but it's softer and a bit less garish than the back wall of the RCT. 

Another notable aspect of this setup is that the lamps themselves are very visible to the audience. While this is not exactly optimal, I think the trade-off is worth it for what what we gain in softness. I think this probably also prevents the spectras from completely obliterating the projections. 

Seeing this has given me a lot to think about with regards to using cyc lights. I thought that my cyc light options were basically limited to cyc on cyc and cyc on closed curtains, but now I'm starting to think about the subtle nuances that can be produced by using alternative setups and alternative types of cyc materials. 

Week 5: Kickin' It Old School

So, this week I got to be super nerdy about lighting! My friend was at my apartment and he put his blue water bottle in front of a candle, which we had lit in our living room. One of my flatmates saw it and freaked out because she thought it was so cool! I too freaked out. Soon enough my 3 flatmates and my friend are taking pictures and sending snapchats to their friends about it. After the craziness settled, I went into supreme lighting designer mode! I proceeded to tell the story of how lighting for theatre was created and how all the lights get their shape! I talked about the barber's basin, which acts as a reflector, the candle, which acts as the light source, and the glass bottle with wine, which acts as the filter and lens. They all thought that was neat. I am pretty sure they just told me this to make me feel cool about my intelligence of lighting. But, I definitely got more excited about this than a normal person should. That justifies the fact that I am heading towards the correct career choice!