Jonathans Blog

Once again another great session by scotty where we got a master class on all the technical mumbo jumbo. It was mainly revolved around the lighting effects, thankfully making my understatement of the whole lighting technicalities a reality. We began the class looking at the numbers involved in any major production, and it really gave us a great understanding on just how expensive it is to present even a small VCE play. Once we discussed the ideas on how and what to charge for our performances, we were taken into the PAC where we got the privilege to get up close and personal with the mammoth lighting equipment. It was most beneficial to me more then anyone else as i am in charge of lighting, i have to get my terms right so that i’m able to call the shots in the correct slang for the techies.

Due to my poor handwriting i asked our director Scott to take notes on my behalf. Also, i gained a better insight by not having the distraction of taking notes, so it was good to just zone in and hang on every word he said. He seemed to know what he was talking about in every way, he would probably be the best guy to ask when i have completed my first draft lighting plan. Some of the lighting equipment terms really ran over my head, the names were just pretty hard to remember and doesn’t have anything to do with what the light actually does.

 Nevertheless i have constructed a small list of terms here for future reference.

• Gobo: The Gobo is a light that has the ability to split the beam up in certain shapes. You cant add colours. This is probably best used for zoning in on specific areas, highlight crucial characters at the right time. This helps direct the audience where to look.
• Fresnel: A Fresnel is a light that is probably used for a more general lighting effect. The Fresnel has soft edges so it would be used to light up a stage as a general rule. You can add certain colours but its not as controllable as the Gobo.
• Intelligent Light: An Intelligent Light is just what the name suggests. It has the ability to track a character with using signals to and fro the light and the human (using a signal box attached to the human). It can also be operated manually by an operator and has the ability to be a soft or hard edge and can change to any colour desired automatically using a set of pre-configured commands. It is however very expensive and it would most likely not be used within our performance due to the tiny scale and limited movement of our characters. Of course this is not a final ruling.
• Profile- The Profile is the correct name for the light known as the spot light. As the name is self explanatory, the idea of its purpose is simply highlighting an actor and has the ability to focus. Gels can be added but needs to be added manually.
• Parcan: Similar to the Fresnel, its much larger and sports a soft edge spot light.
• Gels: Gels are the coloured disks that can be inserted or already installed in certain lights to give a different colour effect. They are commonly used in most theatre productions as they can have a profound impact on audiences reaction to certain colours (like red suggesting ‘evil’ force is about to be reckoned with).

LX stands for Lighting Effects. Its based around the concept of the well known term FX (Video Effects).

My job now is to sit down and work out where i am able to put down different LX’s instead standard ‘down light’ effect. Many questions are still being decided upon by me and my fellow crew and i hope we can all work together to fully understand and collaborate responsibilities to give everyone a better chance at perfection.

Until next time,

moondy