Lighting

                                                               
Drama studios, halls, theatres, etc have specialist lights. These are called lanterns. They have two main purposes:

1. to focus our vision on a particular part or on all of the acting area

2. to create atmosphere.

The basic rule is: Better too much light than not enough.

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Often, the lighting engineer will fade in the lights. As this occurs,for a brief moment, the audience can see the actors in position ready to start. Here is an opportunity to create an effective visual image. The start of a piece of drama is very important - it sets the tone for what will follow. This moment is worth spending time on.
Sometimes a fade in may last up to 45 seconds. Begin the action,or speak as soon as there is sufficient light on the acting area for the audience to see. Once the lights start to intensify, don't wait for them to be fully lit. Often, students wait too long before starting their drama.
Just as the moment you may hold at the beginning of the fade in is important, then the end of the scene is equally important. You should always try to create an effective image, especially if the lights are going to fade out slowly, thus leaving the audience thinking about the final picture of the drama.

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Lighting without lanterns

As well as using the lanterns to create particular visual effects, there are other popular ways of creating atmosphere. The use of a
lighted candle held by the actor near the face gives an interesting dramatic effect. Often when candles are used, it is necessary to
add a little light from the lanterns.

There are, however, possible problems with using candles. When striking matches to light the candle, the matches may break, it may need several strikes to light the match or it may take a while for the candle to light. In your drama, it is essential that you do not lose time because of small technical problems. If you use lighted candles, then there is always the risk of fire so don't forget to discuss it with your teacher first.
                                                                                  

Shining a torch onto the actor's face also gives an interesting dramatic effect. A common technique is for the actors to hold a small torch at their chin and shine it upwards.
                                                               

The actor can also shine the torch onto another actor's face. Always check the batteries are working.

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Certain parts of the acting area will be lit more than others. Sometimes it is necessary to 'find your light'. This means moving to the area onstage that is appropriately lit. An example might be that in one area there is a spotlight that you need to move into when you are going to sing a song. Maybe the spotlight is coloured so that as you step into that area the atmosphere change$. Actors need to be aware of where they should be standing in relation to the lanterns. Sometimes, a director will mark a particular spot with chalk marks to get the actors used to finding the space where they should be.

Houselights

These are the ordinary lights in the auditorium or drama studio. Before the presentation of a piece of work, try to take the houselights out by dimming them. It helps to create an atmosphere of anticipation. Houselights may be on a dimmer. If they are not, then turn off the light switches one at a time, turning off the lights furthest away from the acting area first.

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The lanterns
Light bulbs in your house are generally 60-100 watts. Bulbs used in lanterns are 500-1000 watts and sometimes stronger. These bulbs are very expensive and great care must be taken not to knock the lantern or bulb. The lanterns fall Into three categories, although there are variations within each:

- the profile spotlight

- the fresnel spotlight

- the flood

The profile spotlight
The profile spotlight (right) creates a hard edge to the circle of light.

The fresnel spotlight
The fresnel spotlight (below) lights a particular area but the edge is soft, not hard.

The flood
Floods give general light. They flood the acting area with light. Like 1 other lanterns, they will hang from the lighting bar and can be shone from various angles.

Safety chain and 'G' clamp
As well as a clamp (usually called a 'G' clamp) to secure the lantern to the lighting bar, each lantern should have a safety chain. The chain links through the lantern support and round the lighting bar.
                                                                  

Never hang a lantern without a safety chain!

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Barn doors

Barn doors are four metal hinged flaps on a small frame that slots into the front of the lantern. They can be opened or closed to help control or shape the beam from the lantern. They stop the light spilling out and focus it on a particular area.

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Using colour (cinemoid)
Creating atmosphere through the use of colour is done by using cinemoid. There is a bracket at the front of the spotlight into which the cinemoid holder can be inserted.
                                        
Cinemoid comes in many different colours but you must remember that it is expensive. The colours can be symbolic. For example, the stage can be flooded in red to symbolise danger. Green can be shone on witches, etc. Costume and set colours will be enhanced by coloured cinemoid. For example, if the set contains lots of plants, trees, etc, green cinemoid will help the effect. If you are creating a piece for examinations, then try to use colour to help the effect. Remember that your teacher may be organising the lighting for a number of groups so the earlier you know what you want, the more chance you have of getting it.

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Lighting the actor
If the actor is only lit from one side, then a shadow will be cast on the opposite side to the lantern.

Ideally, the actor should be lit from both sides and from the front, although this can be a very expensive use of lanterns. 

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Channels 1-10 operate the lanterns. The closer the sliding switch is to the numbers at the top, the stronger the light. If the switch is at the bottom, then the lanterns linked to that channel will not be on. The master switch controls all of the channels. For example, if you set the sliding switches for channels 3, 7, 8 and 9, you can move the master switch up or down to control all these four channels at once.

Crossover
Often a control desk will have crossover facilities. Look at the control desk shown below. There are two sets of controls for the lanterns - an upper and a lower deck.
                                                                         
                               

To the right of the channels are the crossover switches, These two switches are kept together. In the diagram, they are set at number 5. If you move them up so that the left-hand switch is on 10 and the right-hand switch is on 0, then you are controlling the upper deck. If the switches are slid down so that the left-hand switch is or 0 and the right-hand switch is on 10, then you are controlling the lower deck. By sliding these two switches up and down together, it allows you to cross from one planned lighting design to another.
Whilst using the lower deck, you can reset the upper deck and then slide the crossover switches back up to create a new lighting design, and so on.
Both the upper and lower decks can be controlled by the master switch.

Timer switches
On the top right-hand side of the control desk there are sliding timer switches. The left switch functions with the upper deck and 'c the right switch with the lower deck. These timer switches control how long it takes for the lanterns to come to full brightness or for the lanterns to fade to a blackout.
 If the timer switches were set as shown below, it would take twenty seconds for lanterns to reach full brightness when the master
switch is pushed up. The required channels on the upper deck should generally be set at the top to ensure the full brightness of the lantern.

Flash buttons and snap blackout
Pressing the flash buttons gives an instant light which remains as long as you keep your finger on the button.
Some control desks also have snap blackout buttons. When pressed, these give you an immediate blackout. There is one snap blackout button for each deck.

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Patching
A basic lighting set-up will consist of a patching board (also called a dimmer rack), a control desk and the lanterns. As you operate a channel on the control desk, this feeds into the patching board, which in turn feeds into the lantern socket. Most drama studios have a number of patching boards, but in order to explain we shall consider a simplistic set-up.
In the diagram shown on page 23, the patching board has six channels with two sockets per channel.
Generally, there will be an on/off switch and perhaps a pre-heat switch. The pre-heat switch lets the equipment 'warm-up'; this helps prevent fuses blowing. There are two plugs for each patching channel. Each of the channels on the patching board has three fuses - a master fuse for each channel and two smaller fuses for each of the sockets. Sometimes, when you think a bulb in the lantern has blown, it can be that a fuse on the patching board needs replacing. Fuses should be replaced by a technician.
Each of the channels in the control desk is linked to two sockets on the patching board. These sockets are linked to two further sockets on the lighting bar where the lanterns plug in. If you switch plugs round on the patching board, then the channels on the control desk will control different combinations of paired lighting.
Consider the diagram. Channel 1 on the control desk is linked to channel 1 on the patching board. These are linked to the lanterns
at A and B. By swapping the bottom plugs in channels 1 and 6 on the patching board, the slides on channel 1 of the control desk will work lanterns A and L. The slides on channel 6 will work lanterns B and K. It is best not to change plugs around when the patching board is switched on.

Some patching boards have an override switch for all or each of the channels. When this is pressed down, the lanterns will come without using the control desk.
Always consult your teacher or a technician when organising lighting.

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Planning the lighting for an improvisation/play
When planning the lighting for an improvisation or play, you should create:

- a ground plan with details of special lights

- a cue sheet.
               

Ground plan
Draw up a plan of the area to be used by the actors. There may be areas you want to light for effect but your main concern should be the actors. Watch rehearsals through so that you can see how much of the area the actors use. Your lights should be set so that the areas are covered and the special lights, eg particular spotlights, are aimed. The plan below shows the main acting area in sections (A-F) with special lighting requests marked with circles (X, Y, Z).

There will often be restrictions on the number of lights available. This could mean you will need to talk to the actors/director about the areas in which they stand. For example, if a solo singer begins their song in area C then, in order to pick up a spotlight, they need to move to area Y.

Cue sheet
After the ground plan, draw up a cue sheet. Cues should be listed in order. Next to each cue number should be the dialogue or
action on which you change the lighting pattern. An example lighting cue sheet is provided below.

The first column in the example on page 25 is the cue number, the second column is the cue and the third and fourth columns are specific to the control desk you are using. The example cue sheet refers to an 18-channel desk with an upper and lower deck. This means that there can be up to 36 lanterns in use and that you can cross over from deck to deck as you meet cues. Hence, you can se the channels for cue 1 on the upper deck, the channels for cue 2 on the lower deck, and so on. For example, for cue 3 you would make sure that channels 3, 2, 9 and 18 are set on the upper deck so that, as you slide up the master switch or cross over on the cue of 'Beryl: In that case, I'm off to the gym', the lighting pattern changes.

 With two decks you will always be ready for the next cue. The snap blackout referred to is an immediate blackout (see page 21). There is a snap blackout switch on most control desks. There are also usually timer controls which allow you to fade in and out. Many schools use computerised lighting desks which make the process less hectic as all plots can be preset. However, because the performance is live, you still need to be able to work the control desk in case any changes are necessary. Of course, with a computerised lighting desk you will still need a ground plan and a cue sheet, and the lanterns will need to be hung and positioned.

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