New Project!

So I also stated when I started this blog, that I would also keep everyone up to date in my upcoming projects and progress as I make my way through the technical world.

My new project as head lighting designer has fallen into place, as I take on the work of being Head LD for Cinderella. So, I’ve already began working on this project and I’m a little late in making this blog entry, but its all good 😉

First of all my start to being designer for this show hasnt gone exactly smooth, seeing as though the director has YET to give me a script! Never good! But on the other side to it, as head LD, I can’t sit around doing nothing until I get a script, so its been all about planning, advance planning, and even more planning. And I’ve taken some photos for you guys along the way 😉 see im nice really.

I started off my planning by checking what lights we have available, and also what space Id have, I have had to work along side the set designer and the director in order to know where I have space! Because of cloths, and gauze flying in from LX bars, some of my space has been limited down. At present I have the full truss, and only 2 onstage LX bars.

After finding out exactly just how many lights I was able to use within my design, it was time to look at lighting gels! They’re known as color gels, color filters, lighting gels or simply, gels. But whatever you call them, color gels are thin sheets of polycarbonate or polyester that project color when placed in front of lighting fixtures. Such as the parcan.

Above is the pack of LEE FILTERS I often use when picking out color gels. This pack of Lee Filters helps a lighting designer look through colors and find numbers of colors they need, the numbers used help with a lighting plan, giving riggers the correct number in order to rig the lights properly with the correct gels, but also helps the designer order the required gel colors. I spent a while looking through and chose some colors to use.

 

In the end I have ended up using 117, 137, 132, 106, 135, 119, 128, 202, 103, 136, 126. For a non-lighting designer or non technical person, those numbers would mean nothing!

I then constructed a small non-scaled plan of the trussing for the space the show will be held.

I then began jotting down some ideas on lighting positions, It was hard to do this without actually going into the theater, but I was able to give myself a rough plan of what I think could work before heading into the theater to give myself more creative options.

 

I then went into the theater to have a look at what space I would have, and to get a more creative feel of where and what area of staging I would need to cover, and the actual space I have. This is the theater I will be working in, and where the show of Cinderella will be performed!

 

As of now most days have consisted of sitting in front of paperwork, constructing ideas, lighting plans, patching plans and developing research, looking at previous shows of Cinderella and thinking of the best ways to light the actors and actresses, whilst also making sure I light the set without flooding the stage too much. Cinderella is a colorful show, needing as much color wash, and specials as possible, which is why I mainly opted for Mac 250 washes, Mac 350 entours, and the trusty parc 64s! My rig also consists of LED Fixtures, LED Battons, Fresnels,  500W floods and a range of Source 4s with various degrees.

 

As of now, my current lighting plan consists of this:

Not a great photo! 😉 But you get the idea. My lighting plan can change at any minute, either adding or taking away fixtures in order to make the show work best. I’m currently in total using approx 66 generics, 6 LED’s, 6 Macs (washes/entours) and 4 LED Battons. Ill be working with the ION ETC Lighting Desk. Not the most amazing desk, but its easy to use compared to many. Picture of the desk:

 

As of tommorow, I will be constructing my final mood board for the show, Ill be within the theater, and making my lighting plan on a TO SCALE drawing, Ill also be watching rehearsals of Cinderella and making notes on when cues could come in, ready to help my Lighting assistant programe the show. I will also be over seeing rigging also rigging myself, over seeing focusing of my lighting, and making sure all lighting areas are covered and sorted.

I will make another post tommorow with more photos!