For as long as I have been a lighting artist, I believed in and felt the power that light has over emotions. Every lighting atmosphere is connected by a human emotion, and the change of light in that atmosphere causes psychological changes in emotion. This is one of the primary keys to understanding live entertainment and architectural lighting design.
Every lighting atmosphere is connected by a human emotion, and the change of light in that atmosphere causes psychological changes in emotion.
As music has the ability to audibly evoke emotional responses in the audience, lighting holds the visual power to do the same. The combination of the two creates a very powerful emotional tool. These are the tools that I use to create evolving atmospheres and emotions.
I first experienced the unique connection between music and light during my early career as a composer for musical theatre. Both art forms are created over time. They are flexible and can change with the emotion of the moment. They both share compositional elements like preludes, conventions, tempo, climaxes, and crescendos. They share artistic qualities like: Intensity and loudness, color and mood, and texture and timbre. Music reveals and creates audible space, and light reveals and creates dramatic space. They share the powerful compositional elements of contrast, dynamics and change, rhythm and speed. They utilize dynamic changes such as accelerando, crescendos, ritards, decrescendos, key changes, time changes, and most importantly, the ability for improvisation.
Fresh insight
Manufacturers have finally clued in on this special relationship of music, light, and emotion. New powerful lighting fixtures are being created that have unique qualities that a lighting designer may wish to use for a specific emotional moment. When I choose the lighting equipment for a project, I approach my task as if I were choosing the instruments in my orchestra—to create the emotions of the music to my audience. The difference between a MAC Viper Performance and a Clay Paky B-Eye is no closer than a violin and a tuba. Yes, they both project light (and music), but the quality of the light (and music) is radically different. I choose my lighting instruments specifically to create an ensemble to offer me the most flexibility in emotional expression.
There are many manufacturers that create generic models, trying to cover all the bases. These fixtures can be quite useful when you are unsure of where the final production may end up. Songs can be added throughout the rehearsal week, so a more generic fixture may be the best choice for a quick decision on how to light the emotions. It’s not unlike using a piano or guitar, instead of being limited to an oboe. The oboe is a beautiful instrument, but it’s not as versatile as a piano. The same holds true for, say, the difference between a Clay Paky Sharpie and a Vari-Lite VL3500. The Sharpie has a super intense tight beam of light, but if you need something that can offer a small beam of light and still zoom open to cover a large group of people on stage, then you may be better off specifying the VL3500.
An expansion in architectural lighting
As an architectural lighting consultant I realize that many of these choices may be limited when dealing with energy conservation as well as the physical size and weight of the lighting fixtures. The good news is that LED stage lighting has reached a level of power and versatility to almost completely supplant HID and Tungsten Halogen fixtures. This technology is ideal for more permanent locations like houses of worship and their supporting spaces. Manufacturers are now creating LED stage fixtures with the same strong identifiable qualities that I mentioned above. The footprints of these fixtures are smaller and more compact, allowing many to be hidden from sight within the space’s architectural features. This is important when creating lighting atmospheres is truly task-oriented and does not intrude on the architectural design of the space.
There is no difference in my artistic approach when designing spaces such as these. Each room must evoke an emotional feeling that projects the essence of the space’s human use. Should it be a quiet, calm, warmly lit sanctuary? Is it a rec room where kids need a lot of clear light with excellent color rendering and energy that inspires play? Is it a well-lit, cool outdoor play area that minimizes glare and shadows for safety? Is it a softly colored changing room with no lighting glare so mothers and fathers can calmly change a baby? In the hands of a competent and sensitive lighting designer, all these spaces can be designed to have emotional qualities that serve the people who exist in them. These spaces will have more than just the utilitarian lighting needs of the space; they will also evoke the emotional connection of the worshipper with the worship space. These emotional connections build congregations, and make their worship experiences more intimate.
