Chapter 1: The Nature of Theatre

1
Chapter 17 Lighting and Sound Design

• Controllable qualities of light
• Intensity
• Distribution
• Color
• Movement

2
Functions of Lighting Design

• Creates visibility
• Aids composition
• Affects perception of dimensionality
• Enhances mood and atmosphere
• Reinforces style

3
The Lighting Designers Skills

• Lighting Designer as
• Electrical Engineer
• Optical Engineer
• Computer Programmer
• Display Designer
• Visual Artist
• Electrician
• Social and Cultural Historian
• Stage Director

4
Lighting Designers Working Procedures

• No standard approach
• Must adjust work frequently to enhance the work
  of others
• Cannot make firm decisions until later in the
  process than other designers

5
Lighting Designers Working Procedures

• Convey design through
• Value Sketches
• Lighting score
• Computer simulations

6
Organizing the Distribution of Light

• Working plans
• Light plots
• Instrument schedules

Floor Plan
Vertical Sections
7
Organizing the Distribution of Light

• 3 principal types of stage lighting
• Specific illumination
• General illumination
• Special effects

8
Lighting Designers Working Procedures

• Instrument schedules charts that list for each
  lighting instrument
• Its specifications
• Mounting position
• Color filter
• Focus
• Circuit into which it is plugged
• Dimmer to which it is connected

9
Automated Lighting

• Developed during the late 1980s for rock concerts
• Most significant development in stage lighting in
  the past 25 years

10
Setting the Lights, Rehearsals, and Performances

• Instruments are mounted and focused
• Cue sheets are generated
• Lighting integrated with other production
  elements during technical rehearsals

11
The Increasing Role of Sound Design

• Only acknowledged recently as a separate art of
  design
• Sound may be divided into 3 categories
• Verbal actors voice
• Nonverbal music and abstract sound
• Realistic identifiable, recognizable

12
The Functions of Sound Design

• 4 main functions
• Evokes mood and atmosphere
• Reinforces the action
• Reinforces the performers voice
• Reinforces production style or comments on action

13
The Sound Designers Working Methods and Resources

• Examines script closely
• Develops sound score
• Collects sounds to meet needs
• Creates sound plot
• Creates show master
• Creates cue sheets
• Adjusts cues in technical rehearsals

14
The Sound Designers Working Methods and Resources

• An efficient sound system includes
• Several recorder/playback units
• Microphones
• Turntables
• Tape/cassette or digital players

15
The Sound Designers Working Methods and Resources

• An efficient sound system includes
• Equipment for processing and altering sound
• High-fidelity speaker system
• Patch bay
• Control console
• Computers

16
Mixed-Media Productions

• Common since the 1960s
• Increased popularity of multimedia
• Liberal use of projected images

17
Mixed-Media Productions

• Common since the 1960s
• Increased popularity of multimedia
• Liberal use of projected images

18
Mixed-Media Productions

• Closed-circuit television to project various live
  images onto large screens
• Sometimes nonverbal elements take precedence over
  written text