Preface

The purpose of this book is to introduce students to stage lighting design, which is
an amalgam of technology and art. Without an understanding of the technology
used in the craft, it is difficult to design with light. And without an understanding of
the theory and processes of design, it is almost impossible to design with light. To
be successful, a designer needs to know both.

As with any art form, the basic elements for a successful creation are an
understanding of the chosen artistic medium and the inspiration to create. We hope
that this text will provide that basic understanding of the design potential of light
and give an insight into the sources that inspire a lighting designer to create.

Organization
Because the study of theatrical lighting design covers two basic areas—technology
and design—this text has been divided into two sections. Chapters 1 through 10
present practical information that is essential to developing an understanding of the
technological aspects of designing with light. Chapters 11 through 17 provide
information on how to design with light as well as how to draft the light plot and
execute the other paperwork used by a lighting designer.

New to the Seventh Edition

In the rapidly evolving technological world of lighting design one of the challenges of
updating this text is divining which of the new technologies and design
innovations—that seem to be appearing at an ever-accelerating pace—are truly
significant developments that will become “the new standard,” and which are
simply interesting ideas that, for one reason or another will quietly, or not so quietly,
fade away. We’ve chosen to include explanations of a few of these new
developments, such as sine wave dimmers and LED-source lighting fixtures
because these innovations offer some clear advantages over the existing
technologies at what are relatively competitive costs. As progress is made on
similarly exciting new technological developments, they will be included in future
editions.

We also find it interesting that, while there have been myriad technological
advancements in the past decade, almost no changes have occurred in basic
design philosophy—the reason we design light for theatrical presentations in the
first place. The core of that design philosophy—to provide visual reinforcement that
supports the production concept—hasn’t changed. And it probably won’t change
until such time in the future as, for whatever reason, there is a radical shift in the
purpose and nature of theatrical presentation. For that reason we’ve chosen to
make very few adjustments to the sections of this text dealing with the process of
creating the lighting design.

It is probably a gross understatement to say that the world of lighting design is a

much wider and deeper field than it was when the first edition of this text was
published 42 years ago. What were once considered subfields of theatrical
lighting—concert, club, trade show, TV specials, projections and event lighting—are
now fully developed, energetic, and vital professional fields. And, since the
integration of the computer and its related technologies into the lighting industry, we
are being constantly bombarded with new technologies and exciting equipment.
There is almost too much information to learn. And anyone working in the field
needs to know, or at least be aware of, much of it. For this reason, we’ve included a
selected bibliography that references a number of excellent sources from across the
now-broad field of entertainment lighting design. We hope you will find this
additional information helpful and useful.

In this edition, the basic organization of the text remains the same but there have
been several significant changes in content. New technologies have been
introduced, old technologies updated, and many of the equipment photos have
been changed to show manufacturers’ more recent designs and models.

Much of material in every chapter of this edition has been significantly rewritten to
update the existing technology and equipment; introduce the new technologies
being used in lighting for theatre, film, and video; bring both the terminology and
practices in line with current standards; and update the photos and illustrations.

Acknowledgements or Credits List

We would like to thank those students, friends, and colleagues who have offered
suggestions for improving Designing with Light in the years since the publication of
the sixth edition.

The updating of Chapter 9, “Projections and Media,” could not have been
accomplished without the information, ideas, and counsel provided by John A.
Boesche. His knowledge has been invaluable in making that chapters current in the
areas of technology, equipment, and practice.
1 - An Introduction to Designing with Light
Any dramatic production, unless it is performed outdoors during the day, needs
some kind of artificial light. If illumination were the only function of stage lighting,
however, you could hang a bank of fluorescent lights over the stage and forget all
about the dimmers, control boards, cables, and instruments.

Obviously, there is more to stage lighting than simple illumination. Effective stage
lighting not only lets the spectators see the action on the stage but also ties together
all the visual elements of the production and helps create an appropriate mood and
atmosphere that heightens the audience’s understanding and enjoyment of the
play.

Banks
Refers to the number of individual fluorescent tubes or lamps contained in a
fluorescent light fixture.

Dimmer
An electrical device that controls the intensity of a light source connected to it.

Control Board
A console containing controls for a number of dimmers. Also called a control
console.

Light and Perception

Why bother to “design” light in the first place? To understand these questions, we
first need to understand what light is, what it does, and how light influences our
perceptions and understanding.

Light is usually described in terms of its characteristics and physical nature.

Explanations of what visible light is usually follow these boringly accurate
descriptions: (1) Something that makes vision possible; (2) that portion of the
electromagnetic spectrum that stimulates the visual receptors in the eye; (3) that
relatively narrow band of the electromagnetic spectrum between infrared light and
ultraviolet radiation; (4) light travels at approximately 186,281 miles per second.1
Cable
An electrical extension cord used to connect instruments to dimmers or
instruments to permanent stage circuits.

Instruments
Lighting fixtures designed for use in the theatre.

Although these definitions describe the physical nature of light, they don’t really tell
us what light “does.” We all know that light makes objects visible. But it is much
more important for someone interested in lighting design to understand that: the
manner in which light illuminates an object shapes the viewer’s impression and
understanding of what they’re seeing.

That concept is the crux of the discussion of light and perception as well as the
underlying reason that we bother to design with light in the first place.

Intensity
One of the four controllable qualities of light; the relative brightness of light.

Color
One of the four controllable qualities of light; a perception created in the brain by
the stimulation of the retina by light waves of certain lengths; a generic term applied
to all light waves contained in the visible spectrum.

The angle of the light, its intensity, color and cohesion (sharpness) or diffusion
(softness) all affect our impression of the object we’re seeing. To illustrate, almost
everyone has heard of the phrase “the ever-changing face of the mountains.” But, if
you stop to think about it, unless there is some cataclysmic disaster, the features of
any particular mountain or mountain range change little, if at all, over hundreds or
even thousands of years. However, if you were to critically look at a mountain range
for even a few days or weeks, you would begin to understand the concept behind the
phrase. The appearance of any mountain changes considerably in the course of the
day. The patterns of highlight and shadow created by sunlight falling on the ridges
and valleys shift continuously as the sun moves across the sky. A steep cliff that is
bathed in brilliant morning sunshine slides into deep shadows in the late afternoon.
A hillside that hides in morning gloom emerges into brilliant sunshine by midday.
Clouds or fog soften or obscure part of the range. In the late afternoon we may be
treated to the mountain being bathed in a soft purple or peach twilight at sunset.
The manner in which the sun illuminates the mountain controls not only what we
see but also, to a great extent, how we feel about what we’re seeing.

Intellectually everyone understands that the physical structure of mountains

doesn’t often change in our lifetimes. But our individual perception, our personal
understanding, of what those mountains mean to us is based on a complex process
involving not only sight and intellectual recognition, but our emotional reaction to
what we’re seeing. To a great extent, that emotional reaction is controlled by two
primary elements: instinct and learned behavior. Another example may help explain
this process. Imagine it’s a pleasant, sunny summer day. You’re walking down the
sidewalk next to a park. There is a low stone wall, about waist high, between you and
the park. The park is inviting, with a thick carpet of grass beneath a canopy of large
shade trees. A few benches are randomly scattered on the lawn. A young couple sit
on one of the benches quietly talking. Across the street there are several stores—a
bookshop, a clothing store, a bank, and a drugstore on the corner.

Now, imagine that you’re on this same street at 2:00 a.m. on a moonless night. It’s
really dark. The only light comes from the window of the drugstore on the far corner
at the other end of the park. As you walk beside the stone wall, you peer into the
blackness of the park. A little starlight filters through the leaves. You hear low voices
coming from the park. Then you think you see something move. You’re not sure. You
quicken your pace as you cross the street then almost break into a run as you rush
toward the drugstore.

Voice
Design “voice” refers to the ability to express your own artistic style.

As mentioned earlier, our emotional reaction to what we see is controlled by two

primary elements: instinct and learned response.

Instinctively, most people are afraid of the dark. This response was genetically
programmed into our ancestors tens of thousands of years ago when our
progenitors roamed the plains and woodlands looking for food. Our vision was our
primary defense against being eaten by something larger, stronger, and/or faster. If
we saw it, we would at least have a chance of defending ourselves. If we couldn’t
see it, it could jump out of the dark and “get” us. Humans don’t see well in the dark,
so our ancestors who avoided dark places were more likely to live to pass on their
gene pool than those who ventured into the dark and didn’t return. With each
succeeding generation this healthy act of self-preservation became more and more
reinforced in our genetic code.

The second contributor to our reaction to what we see is learned response. From the
time that we’re infants we are busy learning. A great deal of what we learn is stored
in the brain as memories. Almost all of our early learning is experiential—learning by
experience. These experiences are major contributors to how we will react in any
given circumstance. Occasionally I have looked outside on a cloudy summer day
and absently thought, “It looks like it could snow.” Logically, I know that it isn’t going
to snow, but there is something about the shape and color of the clouds, the
direction and speed of the wind, and the color of the light that reminds me of the
way it looks before a snowstorm. Our subconscious minds are constantly
comparing incoming information—what we’re currently seeing—with memories of
what we’ve experienced before in our ongoing struggle to help our conscious minds
make sense of our surroundings. An interesting example of this learned response
occurred during the University of Arizona production of Terra Nova, which is
primarily set in Antarctica and chronicles Scott’s ill-fated trip to the South Pole.
Gillette was designing the lights and the director wanted the lighting for the
Antarctica scenes to be “white and painfully bright.” At first I left the lights
uncolored, but the white light seemed warm rather than cool. Before the next
rehearsal I put a light blue color media into all the lights. At rehearsal that night
almost all the people in the audience complained of being chilly or cold. The
thermostat in the theatre hadn’t been changed from the previous day. The only
difference was the light blue color in the lights. My assumption is that our
subconscious minds saw the blue light, compared it with memories of “the color of
cold,” and convinced our conscious minds into thinking that the theatre actually
was cold. Subsequently we had several comments from the paying audience that
the theatre was rather cold. We raised the thermostat a few degrees even though the
production occurred in late September in Tucson when the average temperature
was in the high 90s. Such is the power of the mind.

White Light
Light that contains all wavelengths of the visible spectrum in relatively equal
proportion.
Color Media
The plastic or glass materials used to color the light emitted by lighting instruments.
The reason that we design the lighting for an event or a place is to influence the
audience’s perception, understanding, and emotional reaction to what they’re
seeing. That is the reason lighting is thoughtfully designed for theatre, films, and
television as well as for rock concerts, theme parks, and retail stores.

Lighting strongly influences our perceptions and understanding. Machiavellian, isn’t

it? Read on and learn how Machiavellian lighting design actually is.

Design Characteristics of Light

As you begin to learn about lighting design, it is important that you understand what
lighting design is, as well as what it is not. Theatrical lighting design is a process and
a craft used to create an artistic result. While it’s easy to think that the primary
purpose of stage lighting is to allow the audience to see the stage, the reality is that
“the designed use of light”—lighting design—is much more than an exercise in
illumination.

The lighting designer uses light to achieve five primary goals: (1) to influence the
audience’s perception and understanding of what they’re seeing; (2) to selectively
illuminate the stage; (3) to sculpt, mold, and model actors, settings, and costumes;
(4) to create an atmosphere that is supportive of the play’s production concept; and
(5) to convey the environmental circumstances of the scene—the time of day,
atmospheric conditions, as well as the type of light (natural and/or artificial) that are
used to help “tell the story” of that particular moment in the play. To achieve these
goals the lighting designer uses the tools of lighting design—the instruments,
dimmers, color media, and so forth—to create a design that works to support the
production concept.

Lighting Designer
Person responsible for the appearance of the lighting during the production.

Production Concept
The creative interpretation of the script that will unify the artistic vision of the
production design team.
Any creative art, regardless of field, is comprised—in equal parts—of inspiration and
craft. Inspiration refers to the creative element, the process used to create a
conceptual image the artist “sees” in his or her mind. Craft refers to a mastery of the
tools and techniques used to re-create the conceptual image in physical form.
Michelangelo is reputed to have said that he released figures that were trapped in
the blocks of stone that he sculpted. He first studied the stone, saw the figure
entombed within it, and then used chisels and mallet to sculpt away the stone to
reveal the form. Those statues are the result of the two qualities that any artist has
to possess: artistic inspiration/vision and the skill needed to use the tools of the
medium to re-create the inspiration.

Development of the Production Concept

The production concept is the coordinated artistic vision that the members of the
production design team—the producer; the director; and the scenic, costume,
lighting, and sound designers—develop (there may be others on this team, too).
There is no formula for creating a production concept. It is an understanding about
the artistic themes—visual/auditory/textural—that is developed among the
members of the production design team. This kind of development is possible only if
all members of the team freely share their ideas and vision for the production. A
regularly scheduled production meeting (discussed more fully in Chapter 2,
“Lighting Production Team: Organization and Responsibilities”) is probably the most
effective method of ensuring that every member’s ideas, thoughts, and opinions are
heard and understood by every other member of the team. Actors also use both
process and craft. An actor uses many sources to develop the interpretation of a
character. Although the character is based on elements in the script, a good actor
also uses other sources to conceptualize the role to make the character portrayal
seem more “real” and to create a life beyond that contained in the script. For
example, an actor may recall and use characteristics of people he or she has
observed; perhaps characters from literature will serve as models for certain
aspects of the role; parts of the characterization will certainly be based on
emotional memories from the actor’s past. Although the process of analysis can lay
the foundation for creating a conceptually brilliant character portrayal, if the actor
doesn’t have a mastery of his own body and voice so that he can move and talk as
he has conceived the character would, then it will be impossible for him to fully
realize his brilliantly conceived portrayal. To create a great character, an actor
employs both process and craft. The intellectual process of character analysis can
neither supplant nor negate the need for a basic understanding of how to move and
how to talk and vice versa.

In the same way that an actor uses both process and craft to create a character, the
lighting designer uses process to develop an understanding of how the lighting
should look for a production and uses craft to re-create those images in, hopefully,
an artful manner. (A technique used to help the lighting designer “see the light” is
discussed at length in Chapter 11, “The Design Process.”)

Controllable Qualities of Light

Tharon Musser, the late professional lighting designer, said, If you ask most people
who walk in and tell you they want to be lighting designers, what kind of weather are
we having—what’s it like outside? — half of them won’t know how to describe it, if
they remember it at all. They simply don’t know how to see.2 Learning how to see—
understanding how light shapes our perception of people and objects—is
absolutely essential to learning lighting design.

As Musser indicates, a lighting designer must learn how to see. Actually, it is

relatively easy to train yourself to see things critically. You just need to begin
studying and watching how people and objects are lit, then correlate that with your
thoughts, impressions, and understanding of that person, situation, or thing. Over
time you will begin to notice that relationships exist between light and
understanding. Some are subtle; some are overt. But all are interesting, useful, and
necessary for a lighting designer to know.

To recognize relationships between light and understanding, you first need to gain
an understanding of how objects are lit in the “real world.” The following list provides
a good beginning point for your study of meaning in light. As you begin to examine
how things—people, buildings, trees, cars, clouds—are lit, you will undoubtedly
come up with additional thoughts that should help you understand how light is
shaping your understanding of what you’re looking at.

1. What is the light source illuminating the object you’re viewing? For example,
is it the sun, a streetlight, a table lamp?
2. How bright is the light? Is there more than one source? If so, is one of the
sources brighter than the other(s)?
3. From what directions is the light striking the object? For example, light
normally strikes most objects from multiple directions, some direct, some
indirect. What are those directions? Is the light coming from overhead or the
 side, coming straight from the front, or bouncing off the ground or a nearby
wall?
4. Is the light hard-edged or diffused? Are the edges of the shadows cast by the
object sharp or fuzzy?
5. What color is the light? Is it picking up color by being bounced off something
else (grass, building, surface, sidewalk, clothes, furniture, etc.)?

As you develop an understanding of how things are lit, you also need to ask yourself
if the way an object is lit has any influence on your perception of that object. An
interesting way to check that perception is to imagine the object lit in some other
way. For example, if you’re studying the way a woman’s face is lit as she reads a
book while sitting in the library, imagine that same woman reading the same book
while sitting by a campfire. Does that change of lighting affect your understanding of
that person? If so, how? The point of this exercise? Learning to see what’s really
there and how the manner in which it is lit influences your perception of that object.

Any discussion of how lighting affects understanding needs to have some common
terminology. Traditionally the controllable qualities of light—those qualities the
lighting designer can manipulate to affect meaning—have been divided into four
categories: distribution, intensity, movement, and color.

Distribution
One of the four controllable qualities of light; the direction, shape and size, quality
(clarity or diffusion), and character (texture) of light.

Distribution
Distribution is a catchall term that refers to several elements: (1) the direction from
which the light approaches an area, actor, or object; (2) the shape and size of the
area that the light is covering; (3) the quality of the light—its cohesiveness (clarity or
diffusion); and (4) the character of the light—its texture (smooth, uneven, patterned,
hard- or soft-edged, and so forth). The focus of the lighting instruments determines
both the pattern and position of highlights and shadows cast on the actors and their
environment.

Focus
In stage lighting, the location onstage where the light from an instrument is directed.
Douser
A mechanical dimmer with movable slats or an iris to block or allow light to pass.
Typically used in fixtures with non-dimmable sources such as followspots and
intelligent/moving light fixtures.

Intensity
Intensity is the term that refers to the actual amount of light—its level of
brightness—striking the stage or actor. The most common way a lighting designer
can control the intensity of lighting instruments is by adjusting the dimmers to
which those instruments are connected. The intensity range can vary from total
darkness to painfully brilliant white light. The normal range of intensity for stage
lights typically lies somewhere between these two extremes and is modified to suit
the needs of a particular scene or moment in the play. Intensity can also be
controlled by other means, including varying the color, using different wattage
lamps, or by using dousers to mechanically block the light. Each of these methods
will be discussed more extensively in later chapters.

Light Cue
Generally, some type of action involving lighting; usually the raising or lowering of
the intensity of one or more lighting instruments.

Followspot
A lighting instrument with a high-intensity, narrow beam of light; mounted on a stand
that allows it to tilt and swivel so that the beam can “follow” the actor.

Movement
Movement can be divided into three general categories: (1) the timed duration of a
light cue—that is, the length of time it takes for the lights of one cue to come up or
go out; (2) the movement of onstage lights, such as a lantern or candle that an actor
carries across the stage; and (3) the movement of an offstage light source, such as a
followspot or moving light fixture. (See Chapter 10 for a discussion of moving light
fixtures.)
Moving Light Fixture
A lighting fixture that can be remotely controlled to move, change color/beam
shape, and so forth. Also known as an intelligent light fixture.

Color
Color is an extremely powerful tool that will be discussed at length in Chapter 8,
“Color.” color media and color-controllable LED fixtures (discussed in Chapter 10,
“Advanced Technology Instruments”), both allow the designer access to the full
color range of the rainbow.

Visibility
One of the four functions of stage lighting: to light the stage in a manner that
supports the production concept.

The judicious use of carefully selected colored light can enhance a scene
immeasurably. Happy, pastel colors can help to create a pleasant, friendly
environment for the production of an old-fashioned musical comedy like The
Boyfriend. Stark white light etched against a black background can help reinforce
the sense of conflict in Anouilh’s Antigone.

Functions of Stage Lighting

Stage lighting design is the creative use of illumination to enhance the spectator’s
understanding and appreciation of the production by visually supporting the
production concept. To achieve this goal, stage lighting must perform several basic
functions.

Visibility
The lighting for any production must make the actors, costumes, and sets clearly
visible to the audience. At the same time, because light affects meaning, it is
equally important that the audience see those people and things only as the
designer, director, and other members of the production design team want them to
be seen. The dark, brooding, heavily colored shadows that we usually associate with
murky tragedies would call for a completely different type of visibility than would the
bright, happy look of a farce or musical comedy.
Production Design Team
The producer; director; and scenic, costume, lighting, and sound designers who
develop the visual and aural concept for the production

Location
In the context of lighting fixtures, those instruments designed to be used outside the
studio. Typically these fixtures are small, lightweight and are equipped with a
telescoping stand. One of the real challenges of lighting design is to create a
selective visibility that subtly directs the audience’s attention to a specific area or
location. The light’s intensity as well as its direction and color all affect the visibility
of any scene.

Selective Focus
Selective focus means directing the audience’s attention to a specific area of the
stage. The lighting designer can selectively focus attention in a number of ways but
frequently does so by increasing the intensity of the lights on a desired area of
interest. When this happens, all areas that are less brightly lit become of secondary
importance to the audience. A common example of the use of selective focus
occurs when the lighting designer reduces the intensity of lights on one area of a
unit set while increasing it on another. Instinct literally forces the audience to look at
the brighter area.

Selective Focus
One of the four functions of stage lighting: the ability of light to direct the audience’s
attention to a specific location.

Unit Set
A single set in which all of the play’s locations are always visible and the audience’s
attention is usually shifted by alternately lighting various parts of the set.

Acting Areas
Those areas of the stage on which specific scenes, or parts of scenes, are played.
A subtler use of selective focus can be seen in the lighting designs for most interior
settings. In these designs the lights are usually brighter in the major acting areas
than they are in the upstage corners of the set where there is little, if any, action
during the course of the play.

The most extreme use of selective focus can be seen in almost any musical, where
the audience’s attention is directed to the lead singer by one or more followspots
that focus on the singer while the rest of the stage lights dim or change color to
emphasize the mood of the song.

Modeling
Light can be viewed as a plastic sculptural medium used to reveal form by the
creation of highlight and shadow. A column is perceived as round because of the
smooth gradation of light from the highlights on the sides of the column to the
lowlight, or shadow, area in the center (shown in Figure 1.1A). However, if we light
the shadow area, effectively creating a smooth, unvarying wash of light over the
whole column (Figure 1.1B), then the column appears to be a flat, board-like
rectangle with little or no apparent depth.

Modeling
One of the four functions of stage lighting: the ability of light to reveal three-
dimensional form.

Figures 1.1A and 1.1B - The modelling effect of light: (A) a column lit from the sides;
(B) column lit smoothly edge to edge.
Figures 1.2A and 1.2B - The modelling effect of light: (A) face lit from beneath; (B)
face lit from in front and above.

Almost all of us, at one time or another, have placed a flashlight under our chins and
impersonated a “monster” by shining the light up into our faces. Lighting the face
from beneath, as shown in Figure 1.2A, reverses the normal and expected patterns
of highlight and shadow that are illustrated in Figure 1.2B. In Figure 1.2A, areas of
the face that are normally shaded—the bottom of the nose, the eyebrows, below the
chin—are highlighted, while areas that are usually highlighted—the cheekbones,
bridge of the nose, and brow—are shaded. This simple example demonstrates the
dramatic changes in meaning that can be made by simply reversing the expected
pattern of highlight and shadow. In the same manner, our perception of the forms of
actors or dancers can be changed or modified by controlling and manipulating the
patterns of highlight and shadow on their faces and bodies. The use of sidelight
highlights and accentuates the edges and vertical line of the body and makes those
actors or dancers seem taller and thinner than they are in reality.

Direction is the primary element used in modeling, although intensity, movement,

and color all affect modeling to a lesser degree. A change in any or all of these
variables will inevitably result in an apparent change of form and feeling in the
object being lit.

Sidelight
Any light striking the side of an object relative to the view of the observer.

Mood
One of the four functions of stage lighting: the ability of light to create a mood.

Mood
Creating a mood with light is one of the easiest and, at the same time, most difficult
aspects of stage lighting. It is relatively easy to create a spectacular sunset effect or
a sinister feeling of lurking terror; the difficulty comes in integrating these impressive
effects with the other elements of the production. Effective stage lighting, even
though it greatly affects meaning, is subtle and rarely noticed. Although it is fun to
create a sunset or similar breathtaking visual display, the opportunity to do so
legitimately doesn’t present itself in many plays. Within the parameters of the
production concept, stage lighting is usually designed to enhance the mood of the
play as unobtrusively as possible. Intensity levels may be varied slightly to shift
focus, change color, or create a mood, but the movement of the light generally must
be so restrained that it will be felt by the audience rather than seen. Lighting handled
subtly and with precision can be used to create or shift the environmental mood
without distracting the audience or calling attention to itself.

An apparent exception to the concept of unobtrusive lighting involves concert and

club lighting. Mirroring the vitality and energy of these venues, concert and club
lighting is almost always frenetic, bold, and spectacular. But note that these sassy,
kinetic designs are providing exactly the same function for their productions as their
more unobtrusive cousins do for a production of Shakespeare, Williams, or
Ayckbourn. A vital function of a successful lighting design is to create a mood that
reinforces and supports the production concept.

Kinetic
Having to do with movement. In the case of lighting design, having to do with moving
lights.

Given Circumstances

The term “given circumstances” is borrowed from Konstantin Stan-islavski’s method

of actor training. In that context it refers to the environmental and situational
conditions that influence a character in a play. In the context of “functions of light”
that definition is expanded to include not only the ‘environmental and situational
conditions’ of the script but of the entire production as well. Examples include:
budget, venue, information gleaned from the script such as time of day, time of year,
locale (both geographic and specific), weather and so forth—basically anything that
might influence how the lighting should/will look for every moment of that
production. If the lighting is for a club or concert the “given circumstances” would
refer to the emotional/presentational requirements of both the production venue as
well as the show.

Prior to roughly 1960 scenery was the primary means of indicating a scene’s locale
in much of the theatre produced in the United States. Lighting provided indications
of the weather and time of day. But, because of the available technology at that time
those efforts were frequently simple and rudimentary. Broadway shows were the
glaring exception to this generalization. Those productions generally had budgets
large enough to buy, rent or create whatever scenery, lighting and costumes were
necessary to achieve the desired effect.
In about 1970 stage lighting technology began its meteoric development phase:
effective new fixtures were being developed every year; new colors for those fixtures
were created almost monthly; new lamp structures greatly enhanced the light
output of the lamps used in the new fixtures; new, more reliable dimmers were
replacing earlier, clunkier iterations of that technology; enhanced lighting control
systems enabled designers to create the images they were visualizing—something
they’d only dreamed about a few years earlier—only to be supplanted a few years
later by the more technologically advanced computer boards in the 1990s and
beyond.

Simultaneously—perhaps coincidentally—the realistic, pictorial style of scenic

design in vogue from the 1920s through the 1960s began giving away to designs that
were more sculptural and evocative than representational.

Those two developments—advances in lighting technology and the minimalization

of the physical elements in stage settings—forced lighting to become a more
prominent partner in setting the time, weather and locale. If their budgets permit,
lighting designers could now create almost anything they could visualize to support
the production: locale identified by defining areas with light, color and texture;
projected images of buildings, leaves and vegetation could replace physical set
pieces; weather and time of day could now be presented equally well with subtle or
spectacular effects.

The possibilities in lighting design are now limited only by the lighting designer’s
imagination and the needs of the production.

An understanding of the functions and controllable qualities of light will enable the
designer to blend and manipulate light with the subtlety and precision necessary to
create a lighting design that uniquely enhances the audience’s understanding and
appreciation of the production.

Psychological Effects of Light

In lighting design, just as in literature, the concepts of good and evil are often
associated with light and darkness. When a scene is lit with dark shadows, most
people instinctively react with a sense of foreboding. The suspicion that something
could be lurking unseen in the shadows is almost universal. When a scene is
brightly lit and has no shadows, we instinctively relax, because we realize that
nothing can sneak up on us.
To more fully understand how we see and how we understand what we see, you
might want to take courses in perception from your school’s psychology
department. These courses are appropriate, effective, and helpful to the training of a
lighting designer. After you understand the nature of our learned and instinctive
responses to light and our environment, you can apply that knowledge to create
lighting designs that will effectively manipulate the audience’s response to the
environment of the production.

Additional information on the psychology of color can be found in Chapter 8,

“Color.”

Notes
1. Webster’s 11th New Collegiate Dictionary, 2003, p. 719.

2. “Tharon Musser,” Lighting Dimensions 1 (1977): 1