Images courtesy David Martin Jacques
Lighting design is a powerful art form that incorporates both art and technology as a means of artistic expression. Lighting designers cannot help but use technology as the tools to express their artistic design. There is a common belief among professional lighting designers that one should never allow technology to overwhelm the art. You can see how easily this can occur when viewing many recent large-scale spectacle productions. You can wow an audience with pyrotechnics; LED floors and walls; and hundreds of moving lights piercing through haze … or you can use technology as a liberating force that makes the lighting designer's art more immediate and efficient.
When I first began my studies of lighting design back in the 1970s, my teachers stressed an organized, step-by-step method to the process of developing a lighting design: script study, research, developing a design point of view, deciding on a strong design approach, creating the light plot and paperwork, hang, focus, and cue the lighting, and adjust the lighting over rehearsals. This process was necessary and was not unlike what lighting designers use today.
The difference between then and now is that through modern technological developments, the process has become much more creative and efficient. Where in the past we only had conventional lighting fixtures that had to be individually focused from a ladder, could only project one color at a time, and had only one gobo slot, we now have moving lights that are focused remotely, can mix to almost any color in the spectrum, and [are] controlled by extremely sophisticated lighting desks.
THE DAWN OF LIGHTING CONTROL
There is no question that the advent of computer-controlled lighting in the 70's completely changed the designer's process. The most significant production to influence this process was back in 1975, when “A Chorus Line” premiered on Broadway. The lighting designer for this production was an amazing theatrical lighting artist named Tharon Musser.
I had the unique opportunity to meet and talk with Musser when I was a graduate lighting design student. I learned why she insisted that the producers secure the use of a computer memory lighting console for that show. “A Chorus Line” was created through a series of workshops where dancers would tell their stories on how they became professional artists. Following these workshops, rehearsals began and the choreography was developed. Musser told me that she attended most of these rehearsals and she soon realized that the then current lighting technology used on Broadway could not reproduce the lighting atmospheres and cue transitions she was imagining in her mind's eye. She requested that a memory lighting board be secured to quickly and accurately playback lighting cues that were impossible to create on the old manual lighting consoles.
This was a huge risk as only prototypes of these new controllers existed. Due to the new technology, several lighting consoles suffered from unfortunate crashes during the rehearsals. But the show opened to huge fanfare, and Musser won the Tony Award for “Best Lighting Design.” In the end, she changed lighting history through her design of “A Chorus Line.” The risk she took using this technology fundamentally changed the way we approach our art.
With automated lighting, the design process becomes much more “jazz” than “classical."
I cannot overstate how liberating this was. Designers no longer had to compromise what they envisioned just because lighting board operators could not physically adjust the individual dimmer levels fast enough and accurately enough. Cues could now be played back with a touch of a button, and could be run in complex sequences. All this was previously impossible to achieve with a manual lighting board. The designer could rest easy knowing that the lighting cues would be replicated the same way every night. The lighting levels would be accurate, the timings between cues would be consistent, and the only possible human error would be if the electrician missed initiating the cue by not pressing the “go button.”
Over the years, lighting controllers have become infinitely more powerful. This was necessary with the development of automated lighting in the 1980s. When Vari-lite developed its first moving lighting fixture in 1980, few could imagine how revolutionary this technology would become. By being able to remotely focus and color a light, designers' processes changed from focusing on ladders to focusing from the lighting controller.
The designer now had almost unlimited control of the light. Not only could you remotely change the focus, color, texture, size, and intensity, the timing of all the changes in these qualities of light could be individually manipulated. This means that you can have the light move and change its focus in five seconds, have the color change from blue to amber in seven seconds, have the gobo start to spin in three seconds, and change the intensity of the light in one second. You can even delay one or more of these qualities within the same cue. No wonder lighting control desks had to become more powerful…. The continued development of more powerful moving lights requires this technology to advance at a rapid pace.
FAST FORWARD TO TODAY
I now use moving lights in virtually every show I design. I now spend less time on stage focusing and more time at the production table creating atmospheres. My time at the production table is “magic time,” and the more time I have at the table, the more creative I become. With automated lighting, the design process becomes much more “jazz” than “classical.” Classical music requires rehearsed and accurate study of how the music was originally intended to be performed … where jazz is improvised, immediate, and highly creative.
Through the technology of moving lights and sophisticated lighting controllers, lighting art is more immediate. I can make adjustments with the director sitting next to me, and not have to wait until the rehearsal is over and a ladder can be moved onstage to refocus or recolor a static conventional lighting fixture. I can see how the color affects a costume, and dial in a little more magenta or cyan to shift the color while the costume is on stage. This flexibility not only encourages more creativity, it has made lighting design much more efficient.
...when it comes down to it, a strong idea is the most effective means of theatrical expression.
New technology has also produced amazing virtual lighting software. The development of What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) and ESP Vision software permits designers to create lighting designs in virtual space. I use and teach this software at California State University Long Beach and at many professional theaters and houses of workshop. This technology allows the designer to focus moving lights and set lighting cues off-site, saving precious time in the theater. I have this software on my laptop computer, allowing me to focus and set lighting cues on the plane on my way to the theater. When I arrive at the theatre all I have to do is load the show file from my computer into the lighting controller, and the moving lights will be focused as I programmed in Vision.
Although lighting projections have been around for decades, it was not until this century that they have become a common and major element in lighting designs. Video projection is used almost everywhere as a tool of the lighting and media designer. Just look at the latest halftime show for the Superbowl. There were LED video screens embedded in the floor of the stage. A section of the floor even tilted up to create a dynamic background of video effects.
A NEW (AND EXCITING) WRINKLE
Video is incorporated into many of my lighting designs. Abstract as well as a literal video can be used. My process includes video as a moving texture of light. This is highly effective when creating complex atmospheres. My production of “Rusalka” for The Norwegian National Opera and The New National Theatre of Tokyo used eight video projectors to create some amazing effects and lighting statements.
The lighting designer must also design the stage lighting to take into account the technical needs of video projection, especially where the screens will be located and what content will be projected. This is especially true when using standard video projectors and screens. As most churches utilize these systems, the lighting designer must be sure to avoid hitting the screens with light from the theatrical fixtures.
One of the most challenging issues for houses of worship is to decide just how much technology is necessary for their specific needs. As I have mentioned in previous articles, one of the most important questions that church leaders must ask themselves is if they are ready to financially commit to technology. This not only includes the money needed to purchase sophisticated lighting equipment, but a trained staff must be secured to maintain it.
The payoff to embracing technology in your house of worship can be enormous. But remember, some of the most effective lighting moments can result from one simple conventional lighting fixture. Technology has made the design process much more creative and flexible—but when it comes down to it, a strong idea is the most effective means of theatrical expression.
