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The bare minimum to design a show when you're starting from scratch: -
- You need to figure out what the lights available to you are and what they do. Have someone explain the uses of Source Fours, PARs, LEDs to you, as well as what gels are.
- See some of the references for more of this information.
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- You should be familiar with the idea of a light plot and the information people expect on it - readability and actual content
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- See the attached example plot, and ask people for plots in the same space as you're working
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- Generally, you should try to at least be able to light people from the front and the back
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- Colors, side light and other things are even more exciting.
- Make sure you have light in all the places people walk (go to Designer Run to find out where that is).
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- You should be familiar with all the play-world locations (ideally all the scenes [ideally, read the script]) in the play and think about what they look like.
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- You, or the master electrician (talk to them to figure out where division of responsibility lies) will coordinate the hanging and cabling of lights (where/how they get plugged in, this is sometimes not trivial)onto the ceiling during or around put-in, and then you will focus the lights; i.e. point them in the right places.
- For specific hardware/cabling questions, see the Master Electrician page (especially if you also are or are working with a first-time Master Electrician).
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- During tech week, you'll combine the things you thought about before (where people are onstage, what world they are in) into cues which are "snapshots" - saved 'looks' in which the board remembers how bright each light is (and color, place, etc. if you're using intelligent fixtures). This can take a while.
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- Once all your cues are written, all you have to do is press "go" at the same time every day (or get someone else to), and the board will do the rest.
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- There's also strike but that's just put-in in reverse. Make sure you take gobos (cut-out patterns) out of lights.
Overview (for tryhards)
- The very first thing you need to do as lighting designer is familiarize yourself with the script, read it (probably more than once).
- Pick out themes that you think are important and might be able to translate into different looks.
- (Contrasts tend to be easy to work with: winter vs. spring, Egypt vs. Rome, etc.)
- Meet with the director, find out what they want to emphasize and if they have any ideas about how they want the stage to be lit.
- At this stage, take in all suggestions you can get — feasibility can be worked out later.
- Once you have an idea of how you want the scenes to look (generally after the semifinal set design is due), you need to figure out if you can do it.
- The two main spaces the Ensemble uses are Kresge Little Theater and La Sala de Puerto Rico.
- KLT has a large stock (an inventory list is in the PDF attached to this page); if you aren't doing anything too crazy, I doubt you'll run out of anything.
- Sala's inventory (salainv.xls) is a bit smaller.
- Pick out themes that you think are important and might be able to translate into different looks.
- At this point you should also meet with the
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- Technical Director (TD) to see what the set designs look like.
- You need to know about major set pieces that may need to be lit, or different levels of playing areas that you will have to deal with.
- You should also see a "designer run" so you have a more concrete idea of the blocking and general mood of the show.
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- Next, you must come up with a plot (specifics as to where each lighting fixture will be hung).
- You need to pick what kind of light, and where it should be hung to illuminate a specific part of the stage in the desired manner — needless to say, this can take a bit of trial and error.
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- If in KLT, you should also decide if you are going to use a cyc.
- Building the plot and writing a cuelist should happen semi-together – you can't write the full, specific cuelist if you don't know what lights you'll be working with, but you also shouldn't build a plot without having a sense of what moods you want to create and if you want any "special" cues (i.e. a spotlight for a specific scene).
- Write a cuelist!
- Here is an example of a cuelist from Fall 2022.
- Each cue has two parts: when it happens and whathappens.
- The when: Make sure to communicate with whoever's cueing you (usually the Stage Manager) about when you want to be cued / if you change things.
- In terms of designing, a good rule of thumb is that lights should (can?) change whenever the mood changes in a scene.
- This isn't a firm rule – if things are feeling a little too rushed, you can cut cues, or if you have a reeeeally long stretch that feels dull, you can add cues to add visual interest!
- Try to have these finalized by the last rehearsal, so you have at least one chance to practice the final timing before performances.
- The what: This is almost entirely up to you (as long as the cue is safe for the actors and the director is onboard).
- It's usually helpful to make "generic" cues for the main locations of the show (e.g. a palace vs a forest) that you can then edit on a case-by-case basis.
- These can be edited all the way up to the show (and even between shows!), although try to avoid surprising the actors! Communication is your friend.
- The when: Make sure to communicate with whoever's cueing you (usually the Stage Manager) about when you want to be cued / if you change things.
- Once you have a cuelist, it's time for papertech.
- In the Ensemble, "papertech" is a meeting with the director where you walk them through your cues and get their feedback.
- It is not the director's job to work on the small details of cues. Their job is to see the big picture. If the director is giving feedback that you're not finding helpful (or even finding nitpicky), please pleasecommunicate this.
- Stage manager and sound designer are usually at papertech, so if you have concerns that the director will overstep, feel free to talk to either or both of them in advance.
- On the other hand, the director will probably have a clear picture of scenes they want to look a certain way.
- Be prepared to edit the cuelist – that's what papertech is for.
- You should have a cuelist written before papertech so that the meeting doesn't take too long.
- Put-in is usually the Sunday of papertech weekend.
- "Put-in" is a full day of hanging lights and then programming as much as you can.
- The TD is in charge at put-in, so if you're not sure what to expect, communicate with them.
- In general, the lighting designer's job will be to tell your electricians where to focus each and every instrument once it's hung and cabled.
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- Q2Q (cue-to-cue) rehearsal (the first tech rehearsal after put-in) is, in the words of Jake Gunter (although the spelling "theater" instead of "theatre" suggests it may not have been written by Jake), "your chance to refine the cues live, in the theater, with the actors onstage".
- In other words, lights and sound are in charge! Use that control while you have it. Stop scenes as needed and ask about the blocking if there's doubt.
- Try to have the basic cues coded by Q2Q, but you don't have to have anything fancy done – if you have "generic cues" for each setting, try to program those in, and add timings so you can see how they work. But the fancy color balancing and stuff can be tweaked throughout the dress rehearsals.
- Historical opinions:
- As of Spring 2018, the Ensemble does not have a coherent opinion about what actually happens during Q2Q.
- During the Fall 2017 production of Hamlet, the Ensemble quixotically was frustrated with the LDs for writing cues during Q2Q, thus implicitly expecting the LDs to have written all the cues in the 10ish hours between 7AM and the start of Q2Q rehearsal.
- My take is: write as many cues as you can during this time. Don't let people get mad at you if cues are not written, because when were you supposed to do that anyways. Finish writing cues during/after Q2Q and ideally before the next tech rehearsal. During subsequent tech/dress runs, you can further refine cues, and (if necessary) the focuses of particular instruments. (Realize that much if not all of your free time during tech week may be spent in the theater.) Finally, sit back and enjoy the beauty of your work.
The Lighting Plot
Creating the light plot is your largest single task pre-tech week. Translating the stage look you want into a set of lighting instruments in space is an arduous task, and is best learned by doing — many times. Each designer has their own preferred method, and you will develop yours as you go along. The important thing is that your plot is readable by both you and your team, and that it communicates the needs of your design.
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As of Fall 2022, CAC requires us to make a plot in VectorWorks for every show we do. This means that the opinions on VectorWorks below are not really relevant unless this changes. . Here is a guide for getting started on using VectorWorks for lighting design (and there are many video guides on YouTube).
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Patching is simply telling the lighting board what channel corresponds to what circuit/address(es). Once you have patched you can refer to a channel and both you and the board knows which instrument you are referring to. This is necessary because cues will be written using only channel numbers and the levels you want for those channels. If you are using intelligent instruments, boards like the Ion (Sala) and the Element (KLT) know how many addresses those instruments take, and lump them all into one channel. For example, if you have a few ColorDashes in 10-channel mode on addresses 101, 111, 121, etc., you can patch them to channels 31, 32, 33, etc., because the board takes care of the addresses. See the Ion/Element (they have basically the same underlying software) manual if you don't know/remember how to do this. Here is a video guide.
Color
Picking general the colors of your light is not difficult however deciding which particular gel to use is. Rosco, Lee and GAM (which also happens to be quietly owned by Rosco) are the three major types of gels used, with Rosco being the most widely used. Some of the questions you have to ask when picking a color are: what effect will this color have on stage? (Example R02 is warm but not overpowering, the feel will be sunny but not yellow). How will the set/costumes/actors look under this color light? (No one looks healthy in green light). Picking through hundreds of various gels is fairly frustrating, advice can be found on the Rosco website (they have good descriptions of what effect each gel has) and by asking those who know (again Karen is a good source). Color is part of what makes lighting design an art form; don’t leave the decisions to the last minute. The Ensemble has a collection of gels: you can buy more at Backstage Hardware or order from ALPS. Someone will probably have to go to Backstage Hardware for something else at some point: coordinate with the TD to save trips.
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Ideally the lighting designer would not be deeply involved in hang, s/he they would hand over the plot to the master electrician and the lights would get hung and circuited as desired. Of course this doesn’t happen. Even with the best of plots and paperwork something might seem perfectly clear to the designer and not to anyone else. During hang you should be around to help and answer any confusing points of the plot.
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