I went to an exhibition at Geffen Contemporary MOCA last week. The exhibition is titled “Trinket.” The huge flag in the picture is a major installation work in the exhibition. It has 51 stars on it. Around the flag, there are four large fans blowing it. It is lighted by many Lekos hanging on a batten or on the floor. They are programmed in a specific way. The Lekos could be all on or all of or partially on. The lights give viewers an atmosphere, which is kind of conspiratorial. 

This past weekend I was excited to see sweet smell of success. The show was spectacular in all ways. I enjoyed watching talented people perform and it made me proud to be a student of the arts. The lighting of the show was really amazing to watch. Darrin out did himself for this show. It makes me want to become a lighting designer. My favorite scene of the show is the opening scene. That moment in the show really captured my eye and made me want to watch the rest of the show. I liked how he lit the pillars on stage and made them change color. It reminded me of the pillars near LAX. I just remember flying how from out of state or out of the country and seeing these lights. In fact, I remember when they were builbut overall I enjoyed the show.

I couldn't get a picture but this weekend has been a lot of moving cause I had to shift houses. It was super hot and the sun was bearing down on me. As I loaded things onto the car and then we drove to our new house and it looked like there was water on the road but as we got closer to that spot it disappeared! Same thing kept happening and then it took a while for me to realize that it was the sunlight that was reflecting off the road. It looked like there were ripples on the road of a small pond of some sort. Maybe that was because the road was slightly ups and downs but it looked so cool the way the sunlight tricked my eyes into thinking there was water on the road, with just the way the road  reflected the light! I also remember thinking, "we are in drought why would someone waste this much water." and then thinking "how come the water hasn't dried up quickly with all this heat".
If anything, seeing everyone's posts and then the whole 50C class in general has made me fall more in love with light and all that it does!


P.S: Not sure if you all read other people's posts, but in case you do, Good luck on finals folks!

Paint the Night Parade

This picture was taken from the Paint the Night Parade. I really loved how Disney managed to merge together an electrifying, almost club-like feel while still keeping that element of magic to the lights in this parade. The lights were synchronized with a remix of Owl City's "When Can I See You Again." The movement really added to the upbeat feeling of the parade. There was a rainbow of bright colors in this show. Each float had a color theme that was associated with the movie. Disney was "painting the night" with lights in quick, bold strokes that were very dazzling. It was almost overwhelming because the lights were so bright and so up close. It kind of reminded me of pointillism. It also reminds me of fireworks. In the first float, the lights behind Tinkerbell look like a poof of pixie dust that swirl together to create a kind of vortex that invites the audience to get sucked into the excitement and energy of this parade.  Tinkerbell's wings and dress are lighted, but it bugged me that we couldn't see most of the cast members' faces, but I understand that the designers had to be selective. The show was focused on the spectacle of the floats more than the face characters. I thought it was interesting that the characters in suits were given more face light than the live characters. This light parade is a great way to end the night for most of the guests.

Boeing Boeing 101

At the beginning of the quarter I finished up my last two units of Drama 101 by helping out with E Hang. In this time I was able to see, start to finish, the complications that come with being a lighting designer. Ebony was able to deal with these complications and work around them and with them. I realized that some times you are going to have to deal with creative differences with people that you may be working with for the sake of the success of the performance and show as a whole. While creative differences can be troublesome and aggravating they are much easier to deal with than technical issues, such as the dimmers of the Little Theatre burning out shutting down at random intervals throughout the show. While al of these complications arose Ebony did an absolutely amazing job overall and was able to work with the issues she was presented and the final product that presented itself onstage, while it may not have been her exact creative design from start to finish, it was wonderful and the show would not have been what it was without her exceptional input and contribution.

Hotel Room Lighting

So I'm just chilling in a hotel room right now because my family is in town and why stay at my apartment when I can stay at this shmance hotel. I was staring blankly ahead thinking, "hmm I have no idea what to write about," and then I realized I could right about what is right in front of me.

In the picture is my younger brother sitting at a table which is in front of a mirror. What I'm fascinated by in this image is the contrast between the light surrounding the mirror and the light within it. I guess this could easily become a discussion of mirrors (they're scientifically baffling) but it's so strange to me how the lamp on the table can illuminate the surrounding room but not the world within the mirror. Does that make sense? I guess what it comes down to is that the mirror is a 2D world so we are just seeing a flat portrayal, and the light's effect on the opposite wall. This is kind of making my brain hurt. Mirrors are weird. Overall, I find it to be very awesome how--since that light is positioned there--the reflection in the mirror looks like a different room than that outside of it since there's such a big contrast. Light is cool, you guys. 

4.48 Psychosis

Having had worked on 4.48 Psychosis since around week 5 I have had the honor of working with some really awesome people. One of which was lighting designer Kyle Swatzell, the work that he was able to do with the blank template of a performance space that we had was absolutely inspirational. Because the script of 4.48 is so nondescript it gives you the freedom to really explore whatever you want in the way of design. But with that freedom I imagine comes great challenge because you are literally creating something from nothing. Our performance took place in a rehearsal space in the Contemporary Arts Center which makes hanging lights almost impossible so it was necessary that Kyle used his skills in guerilla lighting design using clip lights clipped to PVC pipe and wireless remotes to program and cue lights. The final product was absolutely amazing and the production would not have been as successful as it was without his contribution.

SSS

I had the privilege this quarter of serving as assistant scenic designer for Sweet Smell of Success. It is the first time working on a musical and it was the first time going thru tech week with a lighting designers point of view as well. I was really surprised by the technology of lights and I was also surprised that the school could actually afford color scrollers and moving lights. It made me realize how simple technology was making theatrical designs. Instead of  filling up all of the electrics pipes with lighting instruments, Darren just needed a couple of lighting instruments, color scrollers and moving lights to light Sweet Smell of Success. During tech I remember Darren and Lonnie were changing colors thru the use of their Ipad and instead of manually changing gels or turning on and off lights, the scrollers did all the hard work. In fact, I was more intrigued by Darren changing colors at the push of a button than I was of making sure the scenery looked right. I feel this was a good way to finish off a quarter of lighting design and seeing it all in action. I also am impressed of how technology has advanced in lighting design and I'm curious where it will go next (I still think moving lights are the future of lighting design).

Miniature Bike Lights

As I began packing up my apartment yesterday I found some of my old bike lights. I have three: A tail light, a headlight and a helmet light. The tail light is a series of 5 incandescent minature bulbs that have three settings (solid on, blinking, and chaser). The bulbs are clear with a solid red plastic cover over them that act as a gel. This light is most like a cyc or strip light. The headlight is made up of three LED bulbs that has three settings (solid on, fast blinking and slow blinking). The bulbs are arranged in a triangular shape with a plastic convex lens that magnifies and creates one solid pool of light with clear edges. This light is most like a Leko. The helmet light consists of one incandescent bulb in the center of a concave reflector. This light has on one function: on and off. This light is most like a par can (it even has a hot spot in the pool of light).

Since this is the last blog that we will be doing for this class, I will be talking about the city that I came from, the city of Sacramento. I know hat here in Orange County, we have other places to visit such as Disney Land, Hollywood, the fair, ect... With that said, lots and lots of lights are in support of these events. But in Sacramento, we do not have any special locations like that. We're just a city, a city that's filled with trees and poverty. But what have caught most of my attention when I was a little kid is the Tower Bridge in Sacramento. They used to light it up every night for tourists and people to come and visit. But nowadays, they don't anymore. The picture that I included is how the bridge supposed to look like. With that said, I love the color of the bridge. It is very calm, as though you can sit on top of the bridge and just overlook over the city. The white side lights along the side of the bridge helps illuminate the modern look of the bridge. The yellow/orangish light helps to maintain the antique look and feelings in order to keep the keep the tourists coming back for more. Especially at night, if you are sitting at the river below it and look up, it is one of the most fascinating scene that you have never encountered. I am proud and happy to share this moment with you all.

Club Lighting and Concert Lighting

As someone who produces house music and DJ's I'm constantly in clubs and going to music festivals and one thing that absolutely makes or breaks the experience is the lighting. Lighting is a huge part of the experience because it adds mood and atmosphere, especially in a club setting. What impresses me most is that lighting isn't necessarily planned beforehand, reason being that all DJ's mix according to the crowd vibe, therefore there are no planned moments or planned cues so the lighting designer must improvise and just like the DJ feel the crowd and gauge where they're at and cue lighting in the moment accordingly. There is a huge respect for lighting designers of all trades and while stage lighting and concert lighting are two very different entities they both enrich and add to the experience of going out.

Wearable lights!

I am currently working on 4.48 Psychosis, one of the DCP’s here on campus, and one of my costume pieces is stitched with these wearable electronic lights. I think they are so awesome. These particular lights have a microphone attached to them so they turn on and off and change colors with any sound. One of the other girls in the show gets to wear them on a skirt. Her lights have a motion sensor so the lights flash every time she moves around. We wear these costumes when we are dancing, and its like the little lights dance and move with us!  I have always loved wearing anything flashy or reflective like sparkles and sequence while dancing, so I am so excited to wear this costume which has actual lights! I feel like such a magical creature while wearing this. I literally have light beaming out of me with this costume, and I just think that is so cool. 

My brother has a talent for pumpkin carving and lighting them on fire. I, unfortunately, did not inherit this talent. I’ve always had such an issue distinguishing how the light will pass through the pumpkin – what light will be seen, what won’t. I always had the hardest time following patterns to tell what needed to be cut and what didn’t. But I digress, I share this photo because it is 1) totally badass and 2) because I think it demonstrates the idea of negative space and how gobos are used and created. Jack-o-lanterns product a similar effect as gobos – only specific light is shown through due to the pattern cut in the piece. Gobos play more with shadow than pumpkins do, but the principle is the same. The pumpkin is being manipulated to only reveal specific light to create a visual effect. If I had the pumpkin carving gene, I would play around with these ideas more – but alas, I’ll have to make my brother do it.

Night to Day

As we are approaching on Finals week, this comes with the all too familiar experience of all-nighters. It's never a pleasant feeling dealing with the grogginess and heavy eyes but the event in which the night sky begins to change its color makes for a great observation. The idea of the sun rising usually associates with the colors of the sun itself with oranges, yellows, etc. but in choosing color for theatrical lighting I've learned it is important to pay attention to choices realistically to setting. From my room, through the window the traveling of the sun changes the light and color of a black to various shades of blue, getting lighter and lighter as time passes. Just an important discovery I've made as far as color connection to memories of being awake through the night and onto the next day.

Shadows

One of the most fascinating things that have stuck with me throughout the quarter was when one of the TA's or Jaime mentioned that lighting designers are actually shadow workers. It is so interesting to me that creating shadows on the face or on the floor can mean so many different things. The artistic and expressionist side of lighting can go to the fullest extent of shadowing. Shadow's help human beings so much, it is how we can tell what time of day it is, if someone is behind us, what to maybe stay away from. In the shadows of buildings and tree's is how humans have learned to stay cool from the sun. Shadow's serve much more purpose and hold incredible amounts of meaning. I noticed different shadows that happened through out the day. Since i'm mostly inside the studio all week I noticed the shadow of the bars. The overlaps create cool patterns on the floor much like how a gobo would. After taking this class I'm much more aware of a shadows presence, because I have become accustomed to looking for light.

Sweet Smell and Light

This past weekend, we opened up Sweet Smell of Success in the Claire Trevor Theatre. Throughout tech rehearsals and the past couple of shows I had an opportunity to steal a glimpse at all of Darrin's glory and I feel that the lighting concept is a vibrant and well thought out representation of the story that is being told. Audience members have noticed that this show solely takes place at night and that the lighting and shadows have brought out that concept nicely. Unfortunately, as I am a pit singer, I don't have the opportunity to see how the light feels on stage but just by looks of color and position I know it must be a great addition to mood.