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Photo courtesy of Abel Aluart.
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Image courtesy of Church of the Highlands.
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Image courtesy of Abel Aluart.
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“There can be a temptation to let details ‘figure themselves out when we get there,’ but often they don’t. Preplanning is so important.” Helena Kuukka, Freelance Lighting Designer, Orlando, FL
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Image courtesy of Church of the Highlands.
Christmas is a time when many churches pull out all the stops. So it's worth taking a few moments to ponder what good lighting is all about. Four lighting professionals (Brian Worster, lighting director at Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Ala; John Weygandt, lighting and scenic designer at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill.; Seth Thiesen, production director/lighting and scenic director at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Ga.; and Helena Kuukka, freelance lighting designer in Orlando, Fla.) offer their thoughts on how to approach lighting to get the best results.
TIP 1. Planning
Yes, the biggest piece of advice that all four of our designers hit upon is planning. “Planning is key,” states Kuukka, “and it can get complicated because it's often hard to determine who's in charge in a church production. A music minister might be in charge of the music, but not over the whole thing. Getting a clear vision from the person in charge before working on the nuts and bolts is critical. If the planning is not in place, the execution will be very hard.”
“Christmas is always a special event for us,” says Weygandt. “The needs are different because the service itself is different—we start from a blank page. A very empty blank page. As the concept for Christmas itself evolves, the needs for lighting evolve as well. What fixtures, and where to put them is created along the way.” Working as part of a creative team and not as the Lone Ranger helps to ensure that your lighting works with your production.
“I would suggest starting small,” says Kuukka. “It's OK to dream big, but be realistic. Small can be really wonderful. I'd rather watch something small that's done well, than [something] large that falls apart. Small is not bad—it can be very effective. One can easily be swept away with big dreams; [but] if [they] end up being implemented poorly, [they're] not going to be effective.”
It's increasingly common to include video in the scenic design at Christmas. Surfaces of props may actually be “painted” with video instead of actual paint, enabling all kinds of effects. “The lighting needs to work with that video content,” Weygandt states. Determining what video will be used where will set the tone for what needs to be lit (or not lit), and what colors to use to support that video content.
“There can be a temptation to let details ‘figure themselves out when we get there,' but often they don't,” adds Kuukka. “Preplanning is so important. A last-minute rush on anything ends up costing a lot more money.”
TIP 2. Priorities
When it's time for implementing your lighting, our designers are also unified in priorities, whether you're a large church with hundreds of fixtures, or a small church with just a few.
“The most important thing is the story telling,” states Kuukka. “This means visibility. Can the audience see what you want them to see? You need to highlight the important things.”
“Light the talent first. Once the people on stage are lit properly for the mood being set, then the second priority is to light the environment.”
Brian Worster
Lighting Director, Church of the Highlands, Birmingham, AL
“The biggest tip I give people is that you light the talent first,” Worster says. “Once the people on stage are lit properly for the mood being set, then the second priority is to light the environment.” This includes the stage floor and walls, the props, maybe even the seating area, all depending on the context of what's happening in the program. “Then if you have fixtures left over, you look at adding appropriate effects,” Worster adds.
Application of effects needs to serve the moment being created and the story being told. If the effect doesn't reinforce the moment, it will distract from it.
TIP 3. Execution
Making sure you have enough time to implement your vision for lighting is another critical aspect of planning a show or service.
“I try to have three days of load-in and programming time,” states Worster. “Our church is very volunteer-driven, and we have a team that makes themselves available for large events. We call them the ‘Dream Team.' I have a dream team of 8-10 people that come in and help with setup/teardown at Christmas.”
Weygandt adds, “We start the process early. This gives us more time for experimentation and getting it right.”
Kuukka confirms that starting early is crucial for lighting a church Christmas production. “Getting the structure programmed in first is important,” she says. “Get the beginning, middle and end in first, so you know you have a show. Then, go back and add elements as time permits. It's really easy to get bogged down in the first 10 minutes of the show, but you need to get the basics down for the whole show before you tweak details for specific components. It always takes longer than you think it will.”
If you're planning large set pieces that take time to set up, start a discussion about when that setup can take place. It may be necessary to start introducing larger pieces earlier in December to make sure that you'll be ready for the Christmas service or event. Some pastors may not like this idea, but it can be done to the church's advantage. Perhaps these elements can be used to start building excitement about the production, making people curious and encouraging them to invite people—their friends and neighbors. Planning out the set introduction can have a promotional effect if done with intentionality.
Placing your fixtures is only part of the work in designing your lighting. Hiding them can also be important. When you're lighting set pieces from the stage floor, leaving those fixtures exposed can take away from the overall look of the set.
“Traditionally, when you have lights on the floor, you create scenery called ground row to hide the fixtures,” Weygandt says. “One year we created a forest on the stage, lighting each tree from its base. To hide all the fixtures, we created small snow-bank set pieces that were placed in front of the fixtures.”
When lighting elements from the floor at the front or sides of the stage, consider moving the fixtures off the stage and onto lower platforms to drop the fixtures down as low as possible. “It's not always possible to completely hide the fixtures,” adds Weygandt, “but do what you can to minimize them.”
TIP 4. What not to do
While there are plenty of things to do when lighting your Christmas event, there are also things that you should not do.
As Thiesen puts it, “I see, in general, there's a tendency for people to think, ‘I need to have my lights moving and spin gobos, just because I can.' Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. You need to find the right moments to do effects. Don't just do it for the sake of doing it. You need to feel out what's happening on stage and what's happening with the audience. I see a lack of intentionality in building cues in many churches and shows.”
“The lighting must work for the production, and shouldn't be about itself,” Kuukka adds. “Everything you do as a lighting designer needs to emphasize the production. It all needs to be in the service of the story telling.”
TIP 5. Get out of your church
Weygandt points out that some of the best ideas come from seeing what others have come up with. “Christmas is a busy time for all of us,” he states, “but try and get out to see a service or show at another church as often as possible.”
TIP 6. Don't lose sight of the big picture
One of the core principles at Church of the Highlands, according to Worster, “is to look at things from the visitor's perspective. Does it make it comfortable for them? Does it make sense? If it doesn't, it's going to be detrimental to the ministry goals of your service.”
