TL;DR (2 minute summary; plz read if nothing else)
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.
- You should be familiar with the idea of a light plot and the information people expect on it - readability and actual content. See the attached example plot, and ask people for plots in the same space as you're working. Generally, you should try to at least be able to light people from the front and the back. 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).
- 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.
- You, or the master electrician (talk to them to figure out where division of responsibility lies) will coordinate the hanging of lights onto the ceiling during or around put-in, and then you will focus the lights; i.e. point them in the right places.
- During tech, 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' which the board remembers how bright each light is (and color, place, etc. if you're using intelligent fixtures). This can take a while.
- 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.
- There's also strike but that's just put-in in reverse. Make sure you take gobos (cut-out patterns) out of lights.
Overview
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). Sala's inventory (salainv.xls) is a bit smaller.
At this point you should also meet with the Set Designer to see what the set designs look like. This way, if there is a scenic element that needs to be rigged from the pipes, you know to avoid that area. Also, 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. If in KLT, you should also decide if you are going to use a cyc. 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 lamp, 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. Your next job will be during put-in/prod week. As a lighting designer your job will be to tell your electricians where to focus each and every instrument once it's hung and circuited. Once the lamps are focused you need to sit down with the director and write the cues. This process is often called "paper tech". Q2Q (cue-to-cue) rehearsal is your chance to refine the cues live, in the theater, with the actors onstage. 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.
There are various types of lighting instruments available to you. In Sala, you have Source 4 ellipsoidals, Source 4 PARnels (mostly like a fresnel, but in the formfactor of a Source 4 PAR), scoops, strip lights, and a few miscellaneous fresnels and other things. In KLT, you'll have Source 4s, Source 4 PARs (the normal interchangeable-lens ones, not PARnels), fresnels, cyc cells (both hanging and ground-row), and strip lights. (Beware: the KLT strips are notoriously unreliable. We recommend not using them.) See "references" below for some more information about the functions of these different types of fixtures, if you are just learning or if you'd like a refresher.
Use VectorWorks for your plot, unless you have a really good reason for using another CAD software. (VectorWorks offers a free student version; they may ask you to send them a picture of your student ID in order to download it.) Whatever you do, don't draw your plot by hand. Hand-drawn plots stopped being cool before you were born. VectorWorks template files of both Sala and KLT are attached to this page, for your use. If you're new to VectorWorks, a quick googling should bring you some good tutorials. (An in-person training from a competent experienced drafter is always a better option, though.)
While creating your plot, you should decide channel numbers for every instrument. A "channel" on the light board represents a complete connection of instrument(s) to dimmer(s). During focus and afterwards you will probably refer to channel numbers (example: “bring up channel 19”). As such, it is important that the channel number arrangement makes sense to you so you can refer to the correct instrument/s quickly and easily. Some designers organize their channel numbers linearly along pipes; others organize their channel numbers by purpose (for example: front light is chs. 1-10, back light chs. 11-20, etc.).
You should also make copies of your plot to be used during hang. Ideally, you'll have a few copies in a large size like ARCH D (36" x 24"), and multiple smaller copies in 8.5" x 11" or 11" x 17" for giving out to everyone who needs one.
Paperwork
Before starting put-in you should have some paperwork done. A channel sheet that tells what channel corresponds to what instrument, the focus of that instrument and which gel or gobo (if any) and any extra notes. Additionally which circuits correspond to a channel is also stated on this sheet.
You should also make a magic sheet that shows each lamp organized by purpose. This sheet shows the lights in their general positions and which direction their beams will point.
Patch
Patching is simply telling the lighting board what channel corresponds to what circuit. 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
Color
Picking general the colors of your light is not difficult however deciding which particular gel to use is. Rosco, Lee and GAM 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.
Hang/Focus
Ideally the lighting designer would not be deeply involved in hang, s/he 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.
Doing a 'rough focus' during hang (point the lights in roughly the right direction, without actually having the lights turn on) can save time during actual focus because you will quickly discover problems like insufficient cable slack, lights clashing into each other, etc. Also remember to plug lights in as you hang them.
When hanging lights that will receive a barn door/gels, make sure you orient the light such that the barn door/gels will be slid-in from the top (and not the bottom); sometimes lights don't have a latch that would otherwise keep the gels/barn door from sliding out, and even if they have a latch, it can be worn-down, so make sure you aren't working against gravity.
When using tie lines to tie up slacking cables, try to ensure the tie line can be undone with one hand; this will make life much easier during strike.
Focus is the time for the LD to be the star. You are responsible for each light being focused in the correct position, you make sure that each lamp is casing light in the way and in the area you intended when making your plot. However you decide to run focus is fine as long as you get each lamp to do what you want in a reasonable amount of time. Remember to minimize how long you keep each light on, because they get hot rapidly.
Programming Cues
Once everything is focused you need to write the cues. Having a well-organized channel schedule will make this easier. Essentially you need to listen to what the director wants for each cue and find the levels for each light that make that look. During Q2Q pay close attention to how the cues look with the actors and the timing between cues. Once you’ve seen what the cues look like with actors adjust them as necessary. Also it is important that you are available to watch run-throughs during prod week this way you can find any holes in you washes or a scene that isn’t quite right. Keep adjusting the cues until you (and the director) think you’ve gotten the best you can.
Sala has an ETC Ion board. The manual can be found here. It is pretty straight forward and EXHAUSTIVE (it'll answer any question you come up with).
KLT has an ETC Element. Its manual can be found here.
Backstage lights
Having appropriate lighting backstage is a big help. This includes a lamp at booth (there should be a clip lamp with a blue gel over it in the office) and light for actors backstage (especially near the props table). On some occasions we've had a dedicated stage light for the backstage area that's just on dim for the duration of the show. Alternatively you can use the lights under spacedock. They're controlled by the lightswitch on the column north of space dock (just the normal switch, not the panel. That controls the house lights). If half of the spacedock lights are blacked out (paper or black foil taped over the light works great) and half are gelled blue (gel the light not the waffle) that is incredibly useful.
Contacts
- e33: a student run production company. You can rent instruments from them (like 19 degree Source 4 ellipsoidals or strobes, which do not exist in Sala inventory). Email e33@mit.edu.
- ALPS: A lighting company located in Randolph MA, about a 20-30 minute drive from campus. Useful if you want to rent more exciting equipment: like a black-light, strobe, etc. Visit their website here.
- High Output: A lighting company with an office in Brighton MA, from whom you can buy gels and rent other stuff (like ALPS).
- Josh Higgason: a wonderfully nice
- Meredith Sibley, CAC Manager. She can help you with any logistical issues you run may run into. Email: mfsibley@mit.edu
- Mike Bromberg: Class of 1970, does lighting for G&S and MTG. Can be spotted in the wild by his tie-dye plumage. Extremely knowledgeable; also owns lots of equipment and will rent to student group for cheap. Here is his price list and inventory as of Spring 2012.
References and resources
- Stage Lighting for Students
- Lighting Design 101
- Scene Design and Stage Lighting (a book; the Ensemble has some copies you can borrow and read)