2. Musical Theatre
Lights Used
LED
Parcan & Strip
Profiles
Fresnels
Intelligent Lighting
Floods
Prop Lighting
Why
LED’s are used to add bright colours to a piece. They are also
used because they don’t generate much heat and in doing this
don’t use much power.
Profiles are used for multiple things in musical theatre one
being static spot lights the other being for effects. They are
used for effects because of their shutters and or an iris, which
allows you to shape the beam around anything.
Fresnels are used for general cover and sometimes floor/up
lighting this is because they can be focused to create an even
spread of light across the stage.
Intelligent lighting is used in musical theatre for follow spots,
effects and for their aesthetic feel.
Floods are used to light wide spaces where the direction of the
light does not need to be controlled. Such as a cyclorama and
the audience.
Prop lighting is where a prop is meant to light up and instead
of using another light to light it and create the effect of it
being on the lighting technician wired it to make it work on
stage.
3. Musical Theatre
Beams
Beams are created by all lights in any environment the effect
used in musical theatre is used to WOW the audience. This
effect is created by using haze.
Side Light
Side light is used to highlight the shape of the performers
body, when dancing. This is also done to add depth to a piece
giving the performance the third dimension.
Back Light
Backlight again is used to add the third dimension to the piece.
Back light brings the character off the backdrop/set ensuring
the audience will see them and they wont blend in.
Top Light
Is used again to highlight the actor or prop on stage to make it
more prominent and important then the other things on stage.
This focuses the audiences attention to that area.
False Colour
False colour is where by the use of audience lighting or
backlight with a bright colour makes the audience believe the
entire stage is the one colour.
Effects
4. Musical Theatre
Beams
Side Light
Back Light
Top Light
False Colour
Set Lighting
All of these are used to stylise the
performances to set the date, time,
location and other key factors of the
performance that would not be told
through movement or dialogue.
Mood
5. Musical Theatre – Semiotics
Colour = Mood = Audience Understanding
Musical theatre has a very semiotic approach to lighting design
as designers have to design in such away to spoon feed the
audience important information like emotions. An example of
this is a fight scene where there would be a snap contrast to
the scene before, changing the backlight from say blue or
purple to red which underlines and anger and pain to the
audience. This is one of the most effective changes as it allows
the audience to understand the text without having to think
about it. This is a subliminal change which as a result drives the
narrative forward.
6. Retail
The lighting used in Ted Baker was made up using a mix of generic lighting, Pin Spots and
custom made blown glass lampshades. This would have been done to make the shop bright
however highlighting clothing within the shop. With the Pin Spots creating a narrow, however
bright beam that ensured that they covered a single item, made that item stand out next to
another. The generic lighting, which the custom lampshades were part of allowed ‘the audience’
or the customers to find there way around the shop easily. In my opinion this lighting design
really worked for the shop, as it was bright, however still had highlighted displays.
The atmosphere in Ted Baker was portrayed to be sophisticated. This was done in many ways
one of them being the lighting design. This was because of the blown glass generic lighting.
However this was not due to the effects the light, however it was due to the aesthetic feel that
the lights gave off.
The colours in Ted Baker also changed the atmosphere that was created. This was down to the
colour and their connotations. Red, black and browns are used in Ted Baker. These colours all
signify wealth and passion. The blacks and brows also give connotations of a vintage feel, which
flows with the theme of the shop and their style of clothing.
The generic lighting in Ted Baker was made up of custom made lampshades, which were
connected by lengths of wire that ran throughout the shop.
In the windows of the shop Pin spots were used with barn doors on to highlight items that were
on a raised platform. This made the shop window look professional and unique. Which is key
and a large shopping center, which have to stand out from lots of other shops.
7. Retail
All Saints used little to no generic lighting and used lots of
fresnels the highlight different parts of the shop. This was key in
generating the overall atmosphere, following the design and feel
of the store. The fresnels in the store were on a generic lighting
rig to generate the rustic atmosphere the store was going for, in
its ‘set’ design. The overall atmosphere created was a rustic,
vintage and simply classic design, which ran through the entire
store. This is key as it portrayed the style of clothing the store
sold.
The colours in the store were monotone (black and white) this
generated a theme. The colours signify purity and cleanliness,
which are positive connotations on the store.
Fresnels with barn doors are used not only to light specific items
but also for the aesthetic feel within the shop.
8. Retail
In this shop pin spots, film set lighting (floods with barn doors),
fluorescent lighting tubes and LED backlight was used to generate
the overall atmosphere. This shop had multiple shops in one
however they all tied together by the lighting and design.
In this shop pin spots, film set lighting (floods with barn doors),
fluorescent lighting tubes and LED backlight was used to generate
the overall atmosphere. This shop had multiple shops in one
however they all tied together by the lighting and design.
Fluorescent lighting tubes were used in a different way to what I
had already seen around the Trafford Centre. They had put T-shirts
over the tubes to highlight what was on the stand below.
9. Music Gig
• LED
• LED lights are used to add colour and make the gig more visually dynamic this creates a
mood and emotion to match the dynamics of the song.
• Profiles
• Profiles are used to pin point and highlight different performers on the stage instead of
using fresnels because profiles can be isolated more so then a fresnel.
• Intelligent Lighting
• Intelligent lights are used to create beams and other visual effects these lights are used to
create the WOW factor again to make the performance more visually dynamic.
• Blinders
• Blinders are a non direct way to interact with audience this is a way of exciting the audience
at the climax of each song.
• Floods
• Floods are used as backlight to add to the blinders along with 1k Fresnels to add depth to
the performance.
10. Music Gig
Effects
All lighting that is used for music except for profiles
are used to create a more visually dynamic
performance. Semiotics is heavily used to portray
the meaning of the song to the audience. The
changes between these songs are a strong in
contrast to ensure the audience are following the
emotions and are staying engendered with
performances.
11. Comparison
All three of these genres have similar and contrasting elements for example stylised lighting is used
throughout all three genres however things like blinders are specific to music gigs. All three of the genres all
use semiotics to sublimely give emotions and feelings to the audience. An example of this in retail is the colour
pink which represents the girls section of the store. This ideology also flows into musical theatre and music
gigs. Unlike both musical theatre and music gigs where the audiences attention is directed by the light. In retail
lighting is less stylized and more naturalistic with highlighted elements to ensure that people can still see the
products within the store, however their attention is drawn to the highlighted elements. Music gigs and
musical theatre are very similar however lighting for musical theatre is their to support the narrative and some
times tell the story, however not to be heavily noticed if at all by the audience. Unlike music gigs where lighting
is basically a separate performance, which interacts directly with both the performer and the audience.
