WAKAKIRRI LIGHTING GUIDE
LIGHTING TIPS
LIGHTING AT W AKAKIRRI
An important part of the overall delivery of your Story-­‐Dance is the lighting design. ONE teacher from your team will be required to sit with the lighting technician to explain your LIGHTING DESIGN SHEET and give cues throughout rehearsal and performance. On the day and night of your performance you will be working with professional technicians who will always do their best to explain things in a non-­‐technical manner and interpret your instructions as best they can. However, it always helps when teachers can explain and think in lighting terms. This sheet will run you through the basic terms you might need to know and some ideas for creating a lighting design. Each school involved writes down the lighting states they want for their item. It is essential that you complete your lighting design form and bring it with you to your rehearsal and performance. Don’t be too concerned that you have not used technical terms – you will be there to explain it fully. . HOW THE LIGHTING SHEET IS USED
The purpose of the lighting design sheet is to give an overall picture to the technician of the moods you wish to create throughout your item. You must have your lighting details worked out before your rehearsal in order to aid the lighting operator and make the most of your allocated rehearsal time. You have thirty minutes Rehearsal time at performance shows (and 20 minute rehearsal at Awards nights) A copy of your lighting design sheet must be brought to the rehearsal and given to the Lighting Technician. (visit the website to download the lighting cue sheet – or refer to the production maual) Your lighting rep must KNOW the item, in order to best instruct the lighting technician. The lighting rep should be able to cue the operator (e.g. "5,4,3,2,1 Go UV" or "5,4,3,2,1 Go Mirror Ball”) Teachers are not permitted to operate the lighting board themselves. Venues provide their own technician who must operate the equipment. Please note that at least one other teacher must remain on the stage with the students for the rehearsal and the performance to supervise and accompany the students back to their dressing area. Wakakirri staff do not supply exclusive supervision for your school. LIGHTING EFFECTS AVAILABLE
All Wakakirri venues are equipped with a range of lighting effects. This includes a variety of different colour washes and fixed colour spots. The different colours include red, blue, green, amber, white and pink. A limited range of special effects are also available -­‐ they include: • 1 x follow spot • 1 x strobe machine • 1 x mirror ball • 4 x ultra violet (or "black" lights) downstage • 1 x smoke machine also included for awards nights • 4 x vari-­‐lights (capable of patterns) If you are not sure what you want, our skilled lighting technician will gladly provide assistance on the day. Lighting designs can be very simple and still be highly effective. You may want to use a few different effects (see below) to help illustrate the story, but don’t feel that because it’s there you have to use it. Sometimes less is more. SOME
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LIGHTING EFFECTS YOU MAY W ISH TO USE;
Build -­‐ A gradual increase in light (slow or fast) Fade -­‐ A gradual decrease in light (slow or fast) Blackout -­‐ Complete darkness on stage Crossfade -­‐ A gradual change from one lighting state to another Cue -­‐ A signal to the lighting operator to start the change in the lighting Cyclorama -­‐ The large white cloth at the back of the stage which can be lit in different colours. All venues will have a white cyc. •
Followspot -­‐ A very large spotlight which is designed to follow a person around the Stage as they move. Each venue only has one followspot and we recommend conservative use as overuse can spoil the general look of your item. Follow spots only light a small area – we don’t recommend trying to light a whole group with a followspot. Also try to avoid having a followspot come on directly after a blackout – it can very tricky for the followspot operator to pick up the person you want to light in the darkness! •
Mirror ball -­‐ Just like it sounds. A ‘disco ball’ covered in tiny little mirrors which reflect the light to create the effect of tiny moving lights. Great for stars, underwater, discos… •
Strobe Violent-­‐ flashing white light which can give the effect of old film, a ‘flickering’ effect. This is a ‘special effect’ and should be used sparingly for maximum effect. NOTE: Wakakirri rules stipulate that you cannot use a strobe for any more than 12 seconds at a time as it can provoke epileptic fits. If any of your students suffer from epilepsy, the strobe is not recommended at all. We also recommend breaks of 30 seconds or more between each burst of strobe lighting. Strobe always works best when sparingly used as the human eye does adapt to the effects after a time. Please inform parents of your group if you intend using strobe lighting. •
U.V Light -­‐ Sometimes also called ‘black light’. Use to create special glow in the dark effects on fluorescent paints or pure white fabrics. For example, if the performers are dressed in all black with their hands in either pure white gloves or painted with white fluorescent paint, only their hands will appear. U.V light must used on its own without other lights, so it is suggested you only use it for short periods of your item. •
Wash A -­‐ Blanket of single colour across the stage. Eg. red wash = red light over whole stage. •
Special A -­‐ Single pool of light in a particular place on the stage for a ‘special’ reason. In all Wakakirri venues there will be a special at centre stage and one at downstage centre. These specials cannot move or be used in other places on stage. •
Foot lights -­‐ Lights across the front of the stage on the floor, pointing up at the performers. Will create big shadows of the performers on the ‘cyc’ at the back. •
Back light -­‐ Light from the back of the stage (usually from above). Creates great dramatic effects – performers lit only from the back become faceless silhouettes; can give performers lit from the front a ‘halo’ of colour. •
Smoke Machine or fog machine -­‐ Also sometimes referred to as a hazer. Creates a totally NON TOXIC burst of smoke from wherever it is on stage (the machine will usually be fixed to one position on the stage for all performances). Enhances lighting effects by turning all lights into beams. Great for creating a scary or mysterious feel like monsters or aliens arriving, rockets taking off, dream sequences. Try to only use small blasts of smoke as it does take a while to clear in some venues and might obscure the rest of the action on stage. Contrary to popular belief smoke or fog machines will not cause coughing, asthma attacks or breathing problems. The smoke is a special chemical, not wood smoke or such. If using smoke, please talk to your students and inform their parents. MOODS
You might have noticed how lighting and colours can change the mood in our favourite TV shows or film clips – dark, brooding scenes in blue or upbeat songs told with bright, flashing colours – creating moods on stage works in the same way. • Blue sad, spooky, eerie, night-­‐time, cold, underwater • Yellow amber, orange for warmth, sunny, happy, interior scene • Pink happy, warm, dream states • Green outdoors, forests, aliens, spooky, underwater • A basic white wash will usually contain some amber or pale yellow lights as these are much softer than plain white light and help add visual depth to performers and objects on stage. COLOUR COMBINATIONS
Coloured lights can change the colour of the stage and the white ‘cyc’, but what about putting coloured lights onto coloured fabrics? Often if you use a red light it will show up mostly on white or light fabrics and enhance red fabrics on stage, the same with strong greens and blues. Pale coloured lights such as yellow and pink will often bring out the warmth in other colours. Sometimes, to enhance the sea of red costumes you’ve created a white light might be more effective than red light… The light used will effect the colours of the fabrics and surfaces – sometimes enhancing them and sometimes changing them. Think about what the lights did to the colours of your clothes last time you were at a disco! Or, if discos aren’t your thing, and you teach junior primary students, you might want to do some experiments with coloured torches and cellophane to show how adding one colour on top of another changes it. LIGHTING YOUR STORY
You might want design your lighting plan by thinking about the different sections of the story you are telling. • Break your story up into the key sections: opening/beginning, complication, climax, resolution. • Decide what the mood or emotions are of each section. When are the characters happy, scared, angry, united, alone, lost? It might be a good exercise for your students to help out with this. It will certainly help them understand the story and their characters more. • Look at the tempo, mood, themes and changes in the music you have selected. • Isolate any key moments or events that happen that you feel should be really emphasised on stage. • Then apply a lighting state to each section. You might repeat the same ideas for a number of sections, you might use one state with other effects brought in briefly for key moments or add a little of a different colour to the stage for each change in the story. BLUE W ASH: Used here to create a sad, dreamlike quality RED W ASH: Used here to create a menacing, dangerous quality YELLOW W ASH: Used here to create a light, celebratory tone PURPLE W ASH: Used here to create a magical, otherworldly feel GREEN W ASH 1: Used here to create a lush, natural forest scene GREEN W ASH 2: Can be used to make things appear monstrous SPOTLIGHT 1: Used here to create a poignant moment SPOTLIGHT 2: Used here to simulate a tunnel and focus attention SMOKE MACHINE: Used here to create a sense of otherworldliness 'travelling through the mists of time'