Ice Skating High

I went ice-skating at the Irvine Spectrum a few days ago. I've never skated to lights and thumping music, and now it's a new pastime. The cyc lights were changing the floor's color. While skating I would always be watching the floor, and so my mood changed depending on the color. Cool blue colors were mostly used; I felt incredibly relaxed, too relaxed for ice-skating really. Getting dizzy, and forgetting all my worries at the time. Round and round I went, going hockey-player fast, and everything becoming blurry around me. It was a trip. This is what lighting can do.

Because of it's subtle and subliminal effects, I find lighting much more important than the set on stage or even costumes. I will always keep my eyes open light.

Moving Away from The Fire

We spoke at the beginning of the course, briefly, on how switching from incandescent light bulbs to LED lights or other more energy efficient lighting will be the first time in history where the human population is moving away from fire as our main source of light and energy. Traditionally speaking, this does not seem like a very good thing to some people but I wanted to provide some possible benefits of switching to more efficient lights!

Although the hue of the incandescent light is more familiar, homey and comforting to many people because that is what we are used to, there are ways to make LED lights less "harsh" on our eyes or basically make them more familiar or similar to incandescent lamps. (as I have shown with my previous post where I used tape and a sharpie to make a "gel" =])

According to the Energy Star website, if every American home replaced one incandescent bulb with an energy star approved bulb we would be saving enough energy to house 3 million homes for one whole year! We would also prevent 9 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions!

Switching bulbs also saves money! Every bulb saves about $4o in its lifetime!

This is all information that is probably already obvious and available for everyone but I wanted to relate all of this back to saving energy and money in theatre. I also wanted to introduce the notion that it might also potentially get rid of the amber shift and could make cues that would otherwise look "muddy" because of this amber shift more clear while at the same time being dim. Just a thought! =]

Lights at Work

I work in the parking kiosks on campus (yes, I'm one of those guys) and was working late last night in one when I saw some interesting lights. As you may know, the kiosks all have glass on every side, and there is a rearview-esque mirror so I can see cars behind me. When it gets dark out the only way I can see anything outside the kiosk is from the car lights. What's interesting is the lights from the car make an optical illusion from my perspective. As I look straight ahead I see lights seemingly headed toward me, but in fact they are from cars behind me. What is happening is the lights from behind shine through the glass behind me and reflect on the front glass, so it looks like the lights are headed straight at me. While I appreciate how cool this is from a lighting perspective, it is inconvenient as I stand up everytime I think a car is coming through and I end up standing way more times than I need to...and I get tired...

I'm at work again right now so I will be able to see this illusion again tonight!

Jane Eyre

Last spring, Annie Louie produced her take on the story of Jane Eyre through a mixture of movement and acting with actual text. The production in the spring contained sound, minimal sets and very minimal costumes and it did not contain any lighting design as it was produced in the Grotowski Barn.
Having never read nor seen the story of Jane Eyre, I went in to the production with a vague understanding that it was some sort of a love story (with conflicts) and not much else. When I stayed for the talk back that time, we discussed parts of the story that were missed and unclear to those who didn't know the story and even to some of those who were familiar with it. One of the scenes that was very unclear then was the fire scene. Many people found that they did not understand what was going on during that scene and because of that, they missed a vital point in the plot.
Annie Louie did a continuation of that story this quarter in the XMPL??? Theater in the new Contemporary Arts Center on campus. In this production, lighting design was available! (Not just lighting design, but phenomenal lighting design!) This time around, all the scenes that included fire were not only clear but extremely obvious and captivating! The lighting really enhanced the movement and other elements and the movement really correlated with the lighting. During this talk back, the clarity of this scene was no longer an issue. This is a great example as to how lighting in any show is not only beneficial but necessary for the audience to understand the story you are trying to tell or to at least make their own assumptions.

Dyana

Airports

Flouting Jaymie's suggestion we not do all of our posts at once, I have another post.

I live in NorCal, and I love to hate flying out of San Jose Mineta. It's covered with overpasses and concrete and construction. However, flying out at night, the airport had used lights to colour the undersides of all the overpasses. It made all the concrete much less depressing, and especially the cool blues highlighting the bridges with amber street lights above them, there was a really clean contrast. I thought it was a really neat example of commercial/industrial lighting, being used to make the airport look cosmopolitan and functional. This especially when it's under construction, and a hassle to get around in, was interesting.

In any case, it was really neat to look at all the lines the light created, and how the lights worked with each other and with the lights of the airport beyond them. Especially how it worked to, at least for me, transform a place I've always understood to be grey and complicated and grungy into something that looked appealing and happening.

Alabama

This is a view of the Mississippi River from the St James Hotel in Selma, Alabama. It's been my computer background alternately for several years, since I took the picture. It was a little after 7 am, it was February, but looking outside you'd never know it. The way the sun just hit the brick building across the alley was beautiful, and ever since my childhood princess pink room, I've always been calmed by a warm sunlight hitting a pink wall.

Anyway, I think this picture really shows how light hitting a surface can just act as an automatic comfort.

Celebration after the quarter!

I love dancing, and I love going out to clubs to dance when my favorite DJs are playing. Yesterday I went out for the first time since August, and I asked myself, what would a club be without the awesome LED lights, and the strobe lights? My favorite LED light colors are the purple/magenta colors because I'm convinced that they make you feel relaxed and make you let go so you can dance and enjoy your night. Also, the strobes are very appropriate for a certain type of music you can dance to, which is electro/house music. Without those strobes, the atmosphere would not be as exciting and full of energy. This picture was taken in August at Sutra of the twin DJs The EC Twins.

Over the course of this class, I have learned and discovered that I am into back lights that push the subjects forward. I always got excited whenever somebody presented something with channel 23 at full. I have always been fascinated by beautiful yet otherworldly things, so I love it when the subjects look ethereal and mysterious.

This picture is not quite channel 23 at full, but I just love how the light envelops her and pushes her forward. The source is coming from the sun, which has always been my favorite source of light. I especially love the sun when it is on the cusp of dusk--around 4:00 in the afternoon during the winter. Everything looks more mystical and entrancing. It is as if the sun is having a half-off sale, before calling it a day (Okay, I do realize I used a bad metaphor, but you know what I mean. lol.)

I learned a lot from 50C from various instruments to colors, but what I loved learning most is how light can give off so many emotions and feelings. I am eternally grateful for having the opportunity to take this class.

The Integrity of Design

I've been thinking about the tech process a lot recently. And aside from production meetings, tech is really the only time that all the aspects of design for a show really come together to create a shared final product.

But what happens when things don't work? You change 'em right?

And then I thought, but when things don't mesh, who's the one that has to change the most? They're not gonna make costumes dye their costumes if the colors aren't right. They're not gonna make scenic repaint. If anything, they'll go to lighting and ask them to change. It's not a vendetta or anything, it's just the easiest and cheapest out of all three. (And then there's sound, but they're literally in their own world, pretty much unaffected by the others.)

I feel like, as a lighting designer, it must be really difficult, especially in situations like these to really put forth the show that you envisioned. It seems that lighting design is most often compromised for the sake of the show.

Or maybe i'm just overthinking that. I mean, if anything, it's just an issue of color. It's not like you're changing angles or anything.

maybe it's not as bad as I thought. i just know i'm the kind of person who'd get really upset if i couldn't use the exact Broadway Pink or Sangria that I wanted.

A carousel of color...

So maybe i've just been on a Disney kick since i work there now, or maybe it's because i'
m really five years old, but the new(-ish) World of Color show in Disney California Adventure is one of the COOLEST things i've ever seen.

Everyone tells me they start crying after the stampede scene, when Alan Menken's "So Close" starts playing and they do a montage of the Disney couples in love. I tell them i start crying when all the lights in the water come on for the first time.

I mean LOOK AT THAT.

The thought and imagineering that went into this show much have been insane. Every single one of those water jets has a ring of LEDs around the base which just fills the stream with a pure bold color. which is the coolest thing i've ever seen. I don't even really understand quite how that works, especially how the color doesn't bleed out of the jet. It looks like thick acrylic paint is jumping in and out of Paradise Bay.

And then on top of that they have fans of water spraying outward to make a faux projection screen which actually works extremely well. And then on top of that, they use lasers to project outward on the water, as well as using the lights on Mickey's Fun Wheel and California Screamin', which just adds a whole other layer of awesome to the show.

And then top top that all off, the pyro inside me went crazy when they turned off all the water and just used jets of fire to create another scape, which i thought was really cool and was an awesome throwback to the beginnings of lighting design, at least thats what was going through my head.

In all, i just think that Disney really goes above and beyond and they really find new ways of presenting things. and THAT's why they're allowed to charge exorbitant prices to their theme parks. I really think it's worth paying 80 bucks because just to go and see the thought that goes into everything, it's really overwhelming.

Remember the time when we stole the whole day?

What is it about camera phone photos that's just so great? Typically, nothing. The lighting is usually so bad that you can barely distinguish humans from large potted plants. But this one's lighting is decent enough that is captured the actual lighting from the room. It was date night and I'd spent the day cleaning my fiancé's (his name is Jon) room, and since we're young and poor we eat dinner on a lap desk of sorts that we put on his bed. There are a few things easily-notiseable about this photo: first, the time of day. It's darker and casting a shadow on the door behind Jon, so it's probably somewhere around sunset. The light next to me is in the corner and seems to light the room fairly decently, so the room is probably small. There's a blue light on the floor and reflecting on the bottom of the door, but it doesn't match the bluish tint at the top of the door (and typically, the moon doesn't make the floor's kind of distinct blue unless it's on a stage), so it's coming from some sort of electronic device (it was the TV). It's probably against "code" to have a room with no windows (though I could be wrong), so we can safely assume that in this Irvine apartment there is a window opposite Jon that is casting his shadow on the door behind him.

It's amazing what lighting can tell us, and it's amazing what we can tell about lighting. They say a photo is worth a thousand words, and though I'm not typically one for clichés, I could probably write another 800 words about this photo after this post.

In addition, I was looking at this photo while I was listening to this song. I highly recommend checking it out because auditory enhancement brings a whole new level to this photo. Also, it's a cute song.

It's been real, Drama 50C. Thanks for an awesome quarter, Jaymi, Stacey and Karen!

There's no such thing as black.

Or at least there hasn't been until recently.

I was watching a dance show at my friends CC, and after the first piece, the lights went to a blue out for a scenic transition and the crew came out. But in the blue out it looked like everyone was wearing shades of brown.

I remember reading somewhere awhile ago that true black doesn't exist in fabric. That might have been wrong. I feel like there is fabric that can stay black, but some clothing companies would rather try to dye it to save on cost. Maybe it was true black fabric dye that doesn't exist. I think it's really funny how light works on fabric (well, pretty much anything with color) especially under colored light. Light bounces off the "color" of the object, but in situations where the light provided doesn't have those colors to bounce off, it reflects what it can.

And that sort of made me think if it's really the leftover color waves in the light that we see, or if it's the eye compensating for the lack of that color. hmm...

Dewy nostalgia

I swear these posts have been written for a while, I was just too lazy to post them until now. D: *"Yesterday" was actually somewhere around Week 6.

It rained yesterday* and this photo was just too gorgeous to pass up. I know I have a fetish for outdoor lighting, but as a dancer and writer and computer geek I tend to spend all my time indoors, so those times when I actually get some fresh air in my brain make me happy. You can't really get the dewy look that was on everything from the photo, but you can at least get a good idea of the effect of the lighting. The photo has a mini-lens flare in the center on the sign, and though that wasn't my intention in taking the photo, it gives an accurate representation of the feeling I got from the whole scene. The lens flare gives the whole thing a nostalgic attitude, and the extra-bright white light from the cloud in the background creates a red glow on the trees in front of it. All together, the whole scene definitely feels fresh and glowy, which I strongly associate with nostalgia. It's like having a stage IN REAL LIFE. :O

Yellow Lighting Fail

I went to dinner with a few friends at El Cholo by my apartment a couple of weeks ago and took this photo because the lighting in the restaurant, while atmospherically calming because of its dimness, was downright awful. The menu had a certain sheen on it that didn't allow me to read it in the lighting provided, so I was constantly angling the menu right and left just to read one line. It made ordering difficult (and on top of that, when we finally got the food, it wasn't nearly as good as I expected for an 'authentic Mexican restaurant,' but then again what should have I expected for Irvine?). I figured it was probably because the lighting in the restaurant was yellow and the menu was yellow, and the menu cover didn't do the whole situation any favours.

Sadly, this has coloured half my opinion about El Cholo (sadly because it means I'm a critical nerd and just judgmental in general, hahaha) and I will probably not be returning. Though it's only half because of the lighting. The other half is because my grandma's cooking puts the whole restaurant to shame. REAL MEXICAN FOOD, PLS.

Red and Brown Water

Even though I wrote my paper on "Godot", I wish I could have written another on "R&BW." The lighting was beautiful to look at, and both told a story and aided the story being told by the actors. At first I was confused when I looked at the program and saw Stacy's name as both the lighting designer and scenic designer, but once the show began it became apparent the lighting was the scenery. From the sillhouted actors at the beginning, to the gobo's showing the actors behind bars, to the cyc lights changing for time of day, and to the dance party lights, there were lots of themed lights that fit the needs perfectly. It's hard to say what my favorite lights were because they all were so visually appealing. In short, the design was succesful in that in met the needs of the production (creating a set through lights) while maintaining striking visuals that were awesome to look at.

This is a picture of Beyoncé kicking off her "I Am..." Tour.

Her lighting designer (Justin Collie of Artfag LLC) did not put any front lights, so you couldn't see anything but her figure. The light source and the hazers in the back give it a mysterious yet alluring quality to it. It just exudes grace, elegance, and confidence. It is also very flattering on her figure.

Whenever I'm feeling down, or nervous because I have to present something in class, I like to take a deep breath and then imagine that there is a light source and hazers behind me as I walk into the room.

Red Robin

Yesterday I went to dinner to Red Robin at the Irvine Spectrum with Kristine and Jessica, and right above our table there was this straight light shining on our table. It had a red tinted glass right underneath it, that had a circle in the middle that was not tinted, where the light went through. When you directly look at it, it looks like a pretty bright and whit light shining through, but because of the red color around it, it made it more pleasant on the our table. If the glass wasn't there, it would be way to bright to eat!

O, Christmas Tree

While I was home, we bought new lights for our Christmas tree this year at Costco. I was a little skeptical because the lights my dad chose were LED lights and I knew they tend to look more blue. And lights on a Christmas tree should be more light or amber to reflect the magic of Christmas (of course). But I was surprised to find out that when we decorated our tree, the lights were actually quite white and not blue! I guess they figured out a way to color correct the lights. Unfortunately, my dad bought some more LED light to light up this Christmas tree portrait that my Grandma had made with old costume jewelry from the 40s, and that strand is definitely more blue than white. Which made me and my sister sad. But hey, it's nice to know that LED lights are looking more like normal lights and not some weird alien technology.

Magical Glow

This is also a picture of a concert that my friend had been to. Instead of Arctic Monkeys though, this band was Taking Back Sunday. These lights make it appear as if an upbeat song was playing; I have often found this effect to be a great way to get the adrenaline of the audience flowing. I can also imagine some of these lights being on rotators–if not all of them, than at least a few. This is actually a really cool set up to me. The strong beams give it that quick laser like feel. Like my previous blog though, it looks as if there are very few front lights. Maybe the reasoning for this is to help conform to the already mythical status musicians’ walk around with. As we addressed in class, the use of back light can often push the objects out into the audience, or give it that halo glow. The effect these dim lights produce is the magical glow that make us buy clothes in a dressing room, only to find out we look terrible in them when we walk in the sunlight–a reference to a great Seinfeld episode. Overall, I love the limited amount of illumination, and I feel that although this is a relatively simple lighting design, it is quite entertaining.

Lighting A Concert

I was scrolling through my friend’s photo album, and I dug up this old picture featuring Arctic Monkeys. As you can see, it looks as if there are a few Par cans casting light down on the musicians–particularly the drummer. The four lights create a really cool glow on the drummer’s drum set, and I like to imagine that this may have been at a drum solo. I can’t quite tell if it is a blue curtain in back, or a cyc light. Either way, the blue gives the musicians kind of a water or rather serene vibe. Overall, it looks like there may have not been too much front light because the musicians are not lit too much from the front perspective. Rather, the blue cyc, and the pools of bright light from above are primarily lighting the set. I didn’t even know who this band was, but I guessed their music was more alternative by the calming colors. After I listened to their songs, it is obvious that they are in fact alternative. Thus, this is a perfect example of lighting used for mood. Had the lights been a harsh red instead of blue, then we may have thought a death metal band was playing.

Next to Normal Lights

Recently, I started becoming interesting in the broadway musical Next to Normal. One of the coolest aspects of the show is the set. The show is based on a family whose mother is suffering from mental issues and the set is like a house cut in the front. They're three levels to the house, but each level has compact fluorescent bulbs in the ceiling. The back area of the lighting is filled with these bulbs and it creates a really cool affect in the house. I watched a video on the backstage of the Booth Theatre, where it was on Broadway, and it said that they used different types of colors, primarily green, blue, and red. It blends together with the back wall. One of the actors was talking about how they use the LED strip lights to blend together yellow and green to make the back wall blue.

Oh Beautiful Night

When I still lived in my previous town of Turlock, Ca, there was a house that always caught my eye at night. I wish I had taken a picture of it, but alas, I haven’t been home for quite a while. However, it is strongly imprinted in my brain. The house has a modern architectural look. It is a white house with sharp angles; the type of design fit for a Stanley Kubrick film. The lighting on this house is superb. What the homeowner decided to do was put a bunch of little lights around the base of the house. These lights shoot upward and produce a cool color that wash up on the white of the house. This creates an almost solitary point of view because it feels like it replicates the moonlight. Rather than an amber glow of warmth, it is a cool light of solitude. The shadows produced by the trees give it an even more supernatural/romantic feel. The fact that I have never seen who lives in this house, and that I often stroll by it on my nightly walks when everyone is asleep, make me feel as if a very suavely dressed man smoking a pipe is sitting in the house with the set design of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Nonetheless, I find the lighting highly supportive of both the house’s sophistication and eroticism.

Beyond the Horizon

This is an interesting picture because of the Our Town projects, and my recent trip to South and North Dakota. Both Our Town and the Dakotas give me that sense of simple farm life, and I feel this picture can easily be set in those locations. The amber glow of the sky is presenting the idea that the sun is either setting or rising. For the sake of this blog, I would like to say it is rising. I feel that the par can is able to produce a look similar to this sky. A few back diagonals could help the effect too by touching the back of the objects shoulders. Of course, there would have to be a few warm fills in the front. I think that lighting in this warm amber gives a mood of nostalgia or life to me. Also that cool light on the mountains–probably produced principally by the absence of light–give it a very naturalistic touch. Many Eugene O’Neil plays comes to my mind especially Beyond the Horizon. I would like to have lighting that emulates this picture in that play. It is of course a play about going to the unseen. The main character Robert wants to go “Beyond the Horizon” and see locations on the ocean. This lighting gives that same adventurist mood to me. What is beyond those hills? And where else is this beautiful sunlight also rising around the world? It speaks hope, and adventure to me.

P.S.-For some reason, I could not post the photo on the blog. Here is the url. Just copy and paste.

http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=A2KJkK6lJNxOt1UAX_aJzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTBlMTQ4cGxyBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDaW1n?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dalfalfa%2Bfield%26ei%3DUTF-8%26fr%3Dyfp-t-701%26tab%3Dorganic%26ri%3D48&w=467&h=720&imgurl=www.visualphotos.com%2Fphoto%2F2x2659977%2Firrigation_sprinklers_spray_alfalfa_fields_in_cb011042.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.visualphotos.com%2Fimage%2F2x2659977%2Firrigation_sprinklers_spray_alfalfa_fields_in&size=45.1+KB&name=&p=alfalfa+field&oid=1d02457dbadb5ccc0fb89c75b1c48a36&fr2=&fr=yfp-t-701&tt=&b=31&ni=60&no=48&tab=organic&ts=&sigr=12p0ls4gk&sigb=134rs7fvk&sigi=12v3ol42b&.crumb=U88hyp6p.32

Model Stages

I was going through some old things/works and throwing them out when I came across two models that I made for Scenic Design. I threw them out but not before taking pictures so I can save them in my portfolio. I realized I needed good lighting in order for these pictures to come out well and not too dark or yellow so I chose natural lighting: the sun.

The light was actually coming through the window and through some blinds so it had some interesting effects on the models. However, if these were real sets, the lighting wouldn't be "realistic" since the shapes the lighting makes on the floors do not match the doorways and windows of the models. In other words, it does not emulate how lighting would or should work if the models were life-size. Also, the natural light does not convey any sort of mood except maybe "happy, outdoors, bright, natural, etc." The appropriate lighting for the first model should be "creepy and desolate" and the second model should be "surreal and abstract." This is where colors would probably come in handy to work with and enhance the moods that the scenes and sets are trying to convey.   

In the Red and Brown Water, an E-Run's perspective

I'm doing e-run for Red & Brown Water here at UCI, which opens this weekend in the Claire (shameless plug). This is my first time working more hands on with the lighting process from load-in to the actual show, and eventually to strike. It has been very interesting and even intimidating. I cannot quite wrap my head around the thought process that goes into a show with a larger scale of lighting than I am used to. The Claire Trevor is the biggest theatre I have ever worked in, and the amount of lights up in the air and on booms is a headache inducer. I have no idea how Stacy does it, but I hope that further instruction (perhaps Fall 2012? -hint hint-) will help it all make sense in my head. I think I just need a chance to be more hands on, and so far I have gotten that from e-run. I've seen the frustration that can come from an idea that fell short or having to align hand-made gobos made of mesh that refuses to line up on the floor read. This is also my first time seeing so many changes being done daily to the lighting. It has been interesting to see how it has changed and develops. Gels have changed and focus has been adjusted several times. All together, this experience with Red & Brown and 50C has been helping me understand lighting so much more and I'm very glad I've involved myself in them both.

Jess - the aBad one

Lighting Snobs, with Jessica A. and Kristine R.

It seems that I have picked up a new "character" to parody when I have ridiculous conversations with Kristine R. We often joke about the deep meaning behind every sort of light we can find. I'll slap on a snobbish accent and act like I know what I am talking about when I go into the details of the mood of the lighting and meaning behind it. The ridiculous part comes in when we're critiquing the lighting of a bathroom, a statue sitting out in the sun, complete darkness, or a street light. We'll come up with some obnoxious analysis like saying a plastic bag being hit by light from a nearby street light is "a metaphor for global warming". It's a sort of "you have to be there" situation. I'm half tempted to go to our last class acting like a ridiculous snob. Kristine and I have fun with it. Maybe I'll throw it into an improv show. Kristine and I are also tempted to make it into a webseries on youtube.

I had a little bit of downtime today so I decided to watch Beyoncé's set at Glastonbury Festival this year on YouTube. During this performance of "Naughty Girl," it occurred to me that the huge triangular screen behind them changes colors, and that it totally reminded me of the cyc lights we have in the Contemporary Arts Center. Whether Beyoncé's team is actually using the same cyc lights or not, it is still pretty neat. Also, it really works well during this performance because the lack of front lights actually compliments her's and her dancers' movements, which in turn gives the whole performance a very sultry feel.

Warm or cool lights

I went home for Thanksgiving last week, (the first time I’ve been home all quarter, since I’m from Nor Cal). While I’ve noticed it before, I gave more thought this last time to what a difference the lights in a bathroom make. I’ve become more used to putting on my makeup in my apartment in Irvine. The light in my bathroom is somewhat warm. At home, in Nor Cal, my bathroom lights are cool. When I put on my makeup there and looked in the mirror, I was surprised to see how different I looked than usual. It took me a moment to realize that it was not that I’d somehow drastically changed the way I put on my makeup, but that the light was making it look different. The warmer lights in my apartment are more flattering; they make my skin tone look healthier. The cool lights at my parent’s house makes me look pale and sickly, or at least that’s how it seems, until I get used to it again. It’s interesting how much even household lights can change people’s appearances. I can definitely imagine that stores might try to take advantage of this; maybe they try to put more flattering lights in their changing rooms, so people are more satisfied with how they look in the clothes. This could also work well for a hair salon. Small things like this could change the way people perceive the product they are getting; they would most likely not realize that the lights are aiding their satisfaction.

Over Thanksgiving weekend, I went home to my hometown of San Gabriel, CA (about 10 miles east of Los Angeles) and I drove by the neighboring city of San Marino (famous for the house in the Father of the Bride movies... and über-rich people). I always hate driving by San Marino at night because the city is usually almost pitch-black, due to the lack of street lights (which is bizarre considering how wealthy they are, but that's another topic for another blog). Having that said, it is always exciting during the holiday season because all the Christmas lights dangling from the gutters of their faux-antebellum mansions and huge lawn trees really pop out amidst the darkness. These Christmas lights definitely help me get into the holiday spirit.

Lighting my Directing Scene

Hello! Yesterday I had my final scene for Drama 83 go up, and lighting was a crucial part of the overall feel of the scene. I did the final scene from "Long Day's Journey Into Night" by Eugene O'Neill. Though the family in the show has a big summer house, the father (Tyrone) is stingy with his money and doesn't like leaving lights on at night (or ever). However, he agrees to leave one light on before this final scene takes place. To achieve this effect, I had one top light on very dim (15%) that just barely casts any light on its own. To make it look like the top light was creating more light than it was, I had a front light on 50%, which still made the scene look dim but didn't strain the audience's eyes (I hope). This also helped cast light downstage where I had one character perform a speech, and then a small scene take place afterward. My final light was a down light in a fresnel that was blue. It had two purposes. First it looked (again, I hope) like the moon was bearing down in the scene. It also added ambiance as the scene is dramatic and depressing, and the blue nicely tinted the scene in a depressing manner. I can't remember the exact percentage - it wasn't overpowering, but it was obviously there (maybe 40%?). Overall I was proud of my composition as it nicely complimented the scene, and I know I would not have been able to give that extra something had I not been in this class.

Lighting the Darkness

Today I was looking through my iPhoto library and came across a picture I had taken inside a cave in Puerto Rico. The photo seems simple enough, just any other tourist picture, but a lot more thought went into this shot than you would think and all the brain power went towards the lighting! In total, it took about 15 minutes to get this picture right because we had to continually change where the light was coming from and the intensities in which it was lighting everything. We ended up using all of our headlamps to light the photo from the front and sides at different angles so that the formation could be illuminated, but I was still a silhouette. We had a million lights going and it wasn't as simple as using flash. To catch the water falling onto the formation we couldn't just use flash, we had to light it from underneath and behind. In all, I think we used about 5 different headlamps. But there is one lighting detail that really allowed me to maintain my silhouette... I had a portable flash in my right hand that I had to manually set off during the exposure so the whole formation could be lit. It took a lot of teamwork to get this shot the way we wanted, but in the end, it worked out pretty well.

Happy Holiday lighting!

Originally, I wanted to post something about the lighting from the show I Stage Managed, Eurydice, but this past weekend, I went to New Mexico for Thanksgiving, and ALL I COULD LOOK AT was lighting. The architecture there, is all lit up: freeways, hotels, tunnels. It really does make the place look better at night.

I can say all I want, but I didn't take any pictures of it, instead, I took pictures of the "River of Lights" that I went to at the Albuquerque Bio Park. It's a holiday lighting show, and I just couldn't resist the urge for all the pictures that I took.

This picture on the right is of some "entertainment" along the walk. These girls were singing carols, and when they first went up on stage, they were having trouble finding their light, in which I then said "uh oh, find your light game" and they found it. In which, those two lights on the very top, were it. I know, you can only do so much outside, but it was a little sad.

The picture on the left was just of the walk way. It was so cute and pretty, the lights were such a mood setter and it was the perfect place for a date. I couldn't believe how many lights there were. And it was so cold outside that we kept trying to warm up on the lights, but they were LED's! So they didn't get warm like we wanted them to. It was so disappointing!

Okay, I won't post anymore pictures, but the light at the top center was one of few lights lighting some steps. There was this one, and then there was one that was red, blue and green (which of course I didn't get a picture of)! When I saw it, I gave my whole family a lesson in lighting color theory! It was awesome, they were so confused, but I was able to tell them about how the primary colors of LIGHT and the primary colors of PIGMENT were different and the evidence was given right from that little light because the light on the ground turned out white! Perfect.

So, in conclusion, you want lighting opportunities, New Mexico is a good place to go for that. =]

-K

The Galleria Mall

On Friday, I went to the mall and they were all decorated for Christmas. It was really cool because the ornaments would light up with the Christmas music. Well, in the photo, you can see that each ornament is lit with tiny light bulbs and they would go out and then come on at the same time as the music. It was really a cool thing to see. In another way, I can see the lights reflected on the ground. We talk about the way the lights read on the ground, but the light is more reflective on the light. And also the lights are colored, so they bring out the green color of the bulb because of the white light.

Cook birdie, cook!

As we all know last weekend was thanksgiving. This year my husband and I decided to make a turkey for the first time and share it with my family (we all live together, and never really had the chance to cook anything for my parents, since my mother practically owns the kitchen). So we went out last minute to whole foods on thursday and got everything and started cooking. I didn't have much faith in my husband making a good turkey, especially since it was his first one. To my surprise, it came out fabulously! Of course we had to document this precious bird's carving, but we had one problem: our camera's flash didn't want to do its job, and it was too dark in the room. After quarreling with the camera for more than 10 minutes, it came back on, because we had forgotten how to switch open the flash. So my point is, without the flash (bright light) we cannot capture great moments like the turkey making, because it does not look anywhere close to what it actually looked like when we made it.

Thomas Kinkade

For years I have been a huge art history geek. I have been fascinated by works by many different artists from all kinds of eras. One aspect of art that I have always been interested in is whether a piece of art is created out of the desire of the individual artist or whether the art is commissioned by another and/or created for commercialism. This interest brought the artist Thomas Kinkade to my attention, because many consider him to be a "sellout" artist that pumps out his paintings without any need for substance and that his works are purely commercial. However, this class got me thinking about his self proclaimed name as the "Painter of Light". It made me wonder if it is this understanding of light that makes his paintings so popular. On his personal website, Kinkade proclaims "My mission is to capture those special moments in life adorned with beauty and light. I work to create images that project a supreme simplicity that can be appreciated and enjoyed by everyone. That is what I mean by sharing the light." While it is difficult to tell if this statement is referring to actual light (the light we talk about in this class), light as a spiritual or hypothetical concept of knowledge and understanding, or a combination of both, it can be easily concluded from observing Kinkade's paintings that he focuses a great deal on the contrast between light and shadow, and warm and cool light. Nearly all of his paintings have a single bright yellow light source that seems to glow with warmth, which contrasts with a surrounding cool light that fades into shadow. This creates a calm, orderly effect that suggests a soft flame of fire that gently warms the cool room around it. This made me wonder what kinds of light would achieve this effect, since many lights that I have observed that have this contrast between the warm and cool do not seem to achieve this effect. My best guess is that a fresnel might be able to achieve this bright light, though it may not pack the kind of punch that would be needed. After my observations, I have decided that it is this punch of warmth that fades into a cooler toned light that makes Kinkade's paintings so comforting and universally appealing, and therefore what makes his art so successful commercially.

(By the way, if anyone wants to observe Kinkade's paintings, his online gallery is located at www.thomaskinkade.com/magi/servlet/com.asucon.ebiz.catalog.web.tk.CatalogServlet?catalogAction=ArtHome)

Disneyland Product Placement

I went to Disneyland the other day. The pain at the back of my neck right now is definitely from craning my head upwards from looking at the lights; during every ride and while walking throughout the park I was able to recognize Fresnels, source-4s, and par cans.

Once entering the ride It's a Small World, I was weirded out by the captain obvious product placement smack in the middle of one's sight:

I laughed uncontrollably, and it wasn't because of the loud Christmas remix of the memorable tune. Sylvania is a company that makes light bulbs, and I'm guessing Sylvania light bulbs were used for this attraction. I find any apparent advertising or consumer marketing funny because small attempts at convincing people to buy a certain product actually work; it doesn't work on me, and that's another reason why I chuckle.

The ride was beautiful, lighting-wise. I don't know if Mexican penguins did it for me though.

Kristine

Water

I'm sitting here at work, and I found myself staring through a water bottle trying to make out the shapes on the other side. I realized just now that the light shining through it making a very faint rainbow in a lot of different places, and my first thought was to tell my lighting class about it! The light is shining through the water and hitting the plastic, and it is being separated into all the different colors that make up white light. It's really interesting to me that this probably happens very often in multiple places, we just never pay attention to it!

EDU

So I went to this on campus rave... hosted by the Electronic Dance Union on campus.

The music was punctuated by lights. Which I always thought was really interesting because I've always associated light with sound so it's kind of interesting to have studied light by itself.

The booms and accents were accompanied with bright flood lights attacking the audience with bright lights. There were lots of multi-colored moving lights - the club also passed out refracting glasses to separate colors in the lights so it made the movement of the lights even more intense. The on and off rhythms of the lights was dictated by the beats in the music.

Vin

Transforming the Little Into the Underworld

Over the weekend the show I've been costuming, Eurydice, opened in the Little Theatre. When I could finally see the whole show from start to finish I was astonished at the design talent that the director harnessed. The lighting designer in particular did an amazing job in helping to transform the set into the Underworld of the play. In the show, water is constantly used in reference to the Underworld from the deceased being "dipped into the river" to the sound of a raindrop when the people are forced to forget. With this idea in mind the lighting designer used gobos to help transform the stage making it look like rain was showering into the center of the set. She combined warm colors for the floor with cool colors for the walls. The design was very abstract, but also very communicative of the ideas put forth by the play.

Street lights

So, a couple weeks ago, I went home to Sacramento. As I was driving home, I noticed that the streets looked kind of weird, like the color was off. It was brighter and just a completely different feel. Well, that's because they changed the light bulbs in the street lamps. It looked like the picture on the right.

It was just so weird because it was so bright. It was almost more eerie because the different between the light and dark were more contrasted and the dark felt darker. If that makes sense.

But then, I turned the corner, and the lights were different (picture on the left). Again. I seriously had one hell of a time trying to take these pictures, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to comment on the change. It was just so different and so much more amber than the street before. I guess this is what is happening with all the LED's and CFL changes.

Anyhoo, that's my story for today.

-K

Television

So, here I am, sitting at work, watching the television that is here. After a couple minutes of watching, not realizing anything, I realized that the screen has a green tint to it on the bottom half. It took me a while to figure it out because I wasn't looking for it, but after I noticed it I couldn't keep my eyes away! I think it has to do with the lightbulbs of the screen losing color or something like that, I'm no TV person so I've no idea. All I know now is my boss asked me to fix it. Hopefully I'm right, but we shall see!

Autumn light

Obviously, Daylight Saving Time ending effects people a lot, but this year is the first time I thought about it in terms of how the change in light is affecting people. All of a sudden my walk home after class feels later in the day, because the sun is already starting to go down. The time I can go out and spend with people also feels later now, because it is always dark by the time I am free. This makes me feel like I’m not getting as much done as a used to; I used to, subconsciously, time my work by when it got dark, I think. Now I feel like I’m staying up later to finish things than I used to. I’m starting to get used to it though, and then when Daylight Saving Time begins again I will have to adjust all over again! Also, for a few days after the time change, I drove a lot more carefully in the afternoon, because it seemed to be that some people might not expect the change in visibility, and there might be more accidents.

As the weather has been changing and people have started to talk about how it just “feels” like autumn now I realized that part of the cause is the change in light. The difference between a bright day with no clouds and a bright day with the sun shining through a layer of clouds is big! With the latter the light seems cooler and, maybe because it is reflecting differently due to the clouds, but it creates a glare that seems to come from everywhere, as opposed to a glare from one direction. Also, the longer nights are something that I definitely associate with winter and Christmas; not only because that’s just the way it is this time of year, but because we use the nights differently! People light up their houses, and they can be seen for longer, since it gets dark sooner. Autumn and winter make me think for holding up inside somewhere, staying warm, when it’s dark and cold outside. The time change and the change in light due to weather, dramatically shape how we feel about this season!

That Color-Changing Building Off the 5

So when you're driving up the 5 right by the Disney/Harbor/Katella exits, there's this like iridescent building off to the side of the freeway that's covered with a bunch of tiles that change color as you drive by it. So that's one of the cool lighting things about this building. As you drive up to it, the tiles reflect green, but as you pass it, the tiles go blue.

Anyhow, while that's really interesting and all, my favorite part about this building is actually the other side of it, which is painted this super bright hue of yellow. Apparently, the story is that the building, located behind Toontown if you're looking at the Disneyland Resort map, was painted yellow as a design choice to help

enhance the atmosphere within Toowntown itself. They say that the sun hits the building, and that yellow hue is reflected off the building into Toontown, which is supposed to make all the colors of the cartoon buildings appear even more cartoonish and vibrant.

Now if that's real, that's like one of the coolest things i've ever heard and Disney Imagineers are completely brilliant. And if it isn't real, well then it's nice to pretend it is.

Morongo

So I went to Morongo Indian Casino last night... and the lighting was definitely designed.

We weren't allowed to take any photos inside the casino, but there were lights EVERYWHERE. Some of the newer machines you could tell were using LED lights. It was interesting how the slot machines - even though they were manual spinning ones - still had lights behind the rolling slots to make it more appealing and like it was a screen. There were bings and high pitched noises - I guess to make it more like a happy place.

I went with some friends and we spent a lot of time at a roulette table, and it was interesting because the roulette was outlined with color changing LED lights - super appealing. The only problem was that when the lights became blue and green, sometimes it was hard to tell right away if the ball landed as black or red.

Those lights made the casino super appealing.

Vin

Bouncing off the walls

I've been reading at least two plays every weekend this quarter. My room only has a floor lamp and a ceiling fan light. The ceiling fan is probably the worst source of reading light besides moonlight. My floor lap uses those lovely energy efficient fluorescent bulbs and they are obscenely too bright for my silly, sensitive eyes. I can't stand having them pointed directly at me, especially with the glare of my glasses. Oh, astigmatism. Anyway. My walls are white, so I basically used them as reflectors to diffuse the light to where I was reading in bed. I remained headache free as I read The Spanish Tragedy. Pretty sure that lowered my procrastination levels significantly, having a more pleasing light intensity.

No pictures for this post. Sorry. Maybe next time.

Jess: the (a)bad one

My neck hurts

I've seen a few plays this quarter, and I find myself craning my head upwards sometimes unintentionally; it's built in my sub-conscience now. "Romeo and Juliet" at my old high school was nice to watch, but the fact that I already knew the eventual outcome of the play, the lights kept me intrigued by being critical over them; how clever...a moon gobo to represent the moon! Projected onto the cyclorama! Except, the characters were evoking their passions out toward the audience. And so, any mention of the moon "Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon," I would point upstage and say out loud obnoxiously, "The moon is over there!"

Thanks to lighting design, I've developed a need to looks at lights. It fascinates me to know the origins of light sources in different rooms and places outside. Light is everywhere! Right now I yearn to go to a rock concert and observe the par cans.

Kristine

Disney Sun

I have learned a lot about the importance of how light can affect the mood of a play, it is one of the most important aspects of theater. This picture that I've chosen to share with you guys is me at Disneyland a couple months back, when it was still really hot. I decided to go and play in the water along with a bunch of 5-10 year old children. I don't think you can see it very well in this picture, but the sun was hitting the water particles, which created the "rainbow" effect, and it was very beautiful. The water looked like dust because the sun was hitting it very hard. The reflection off the wet ground was extremely bright. To me personally when I look at this picture, it portrays the hot sun hitting the wet ground very well.

Light where we don't expect it

So far I have been enjoying this class and how it has changed my awareness of light in the world around me. However, I noticed recently that every day we use light resources that we may not appreciate for their lighting qualities. The other day, the power went out in my apartment for about two hours. When it was completely dark, my roommate and I realized that the only devices we had to light our rooms were our laptops and our cell phones. We ended up using our phones to light the outlets as we checked our electronic devices and used the laptops to light our rooms. This got me thinking about the unique kind of light that is emitted from these devices. While both give strong light sources, neither have visible lamps and the light seems to come from the screen and the keys. The light isn't obvious in daylight or electronic light, but in darkness it is possible to notice the slightly bluish glow they give off. This got me thinking how difficult it would be to imitate this kind of light with theatrical lighting. Most of all, this made me wonder where the light comes from in these electronics. Funny how studying lighting in theatre can make me notice light even in devices I take for granted every day.

Lighting and Film

Over the weekend I was filming a short, and it never ceases to amaze me how long the whole lighting process takes. It is arguably the longest process in the filming process, to light something or someone just right so that the camera picks up the right amount of light that is being projected is an incredible task. Words cannot express the gratitude towards the cinematographer, and director for their efforts. Here are a couple of pictures from the film.

Theatre lights...?

So, I was at a seminar at my church a couple weeks ago. And we were taking a picture of the group that was there, and they decided to turn the stage lights on, the 2 lights in front was what happened when they said to turn the stage lights on. Haha.

There was basically just a row of lights, and the circular orb things were the lights that lit the rest of the cafeteria. Everyone thought I was kind of crazy for taking a picture of lights, but I thought it was too good to pass up. Compared to the stage lights we are so used to. Hah. Church lighting is awesome.

Lighting the World of Harry Potter

I was watching the second movie of Harry Potter and I noticed that Lucius Malfoy, one of the bad guys, had a shadow on both the top half and bottom half of his face, but not in the middle. The use of shadows reveal that Lucius' character is not apart of the good guy club. When this scene is shown in the movie, his character is being thought of as a criminal. This way of lighting is reminiscent of the way a detective would have the lighting in a criminal interrogation. The use of both top and bottom light give an unnatural feeling and makes the audience believe that this character is not a good guy and should definitely not be trusted. I think the reason they leave his middle face lit would be to give contrast to his face and draw attention to his eyes. Because some people say that windows are the gateway into souls or something, the audience can see Lucius has a bad guy.

The Art of Lighting Architecture

For some reason I have always been interested in how people choose to light architecture. What I like about the new building in the Art's Department at UCI, the infamous CAC, is that the designers put a certain amount of thought into this. The designers made the building attractive not only in daylight, but at night as well. Instead of creating a sign horribly backlit like the majority of businesses tend to do on their marques they separated the light source from what is meant to be seen. The name of the building is lighted by playing artfully with shape and light. This technique creates a series of fun shadows and highlights on the letters that look beautiful during the daylight too. I like this technique for signage because it only adds light when it is truly needed, instead of during the day when there is plenty of daylight to be used.

This play with like made me think about how lighting designers can not only conserve light by using natural sources to their benefit, but also how they can play with the natural shape of the object to create an interplay of shadows and highlights. I think this technique is very befitting for an arts building.

Little Mermaid

So a few weeks ago, I went to Disneyland, as is my habit. Late at night, we went on the new Little Mermaid ride, and this beautiful picture is at the entry of the ride. One of my friend's immediate response to this was "Holy crap, Ariel's Jesus." I thought it was very interesting, to see how there are strong connotations dealing with light in every day life. As in, you may think you are lighting a painting artfully, but the chosen method for directing focus onto the face of a princess has a strong resemblance of Medieval representations of Jesus Christ.

In any case, it's light being used to direct the eye and enhance art, which I think is pretty neat.

How Do You Dew?!?

Oh, wow. That is the cheesiest title I've ever come up with! So, my brother's birthday passed recently and we went to the Redondo Beach Pier for some fishing and fun and whatnot. It was a day full of marine fog and it was chilly and gray. When the sun started to set and it got closer to dinner time, we headed to a nearby Red Lobster restaurant where we ordered endless shrimp! The end. JUST KIDDING. When we left the restaurant, the fog was so heavy that it felt as if it were raining when you walked! I could see the dew in the air! IT WAS AWESOME. I knew from a previous "Roomie Dancing in The Rain" photo session that if you took a picture of rain with the flash on, you'd be able to see the rain drops in the air. I busted out my camera hoping that because it was dew and not rain it would look even cooler and it did! I think it's because the light is reflected off of the drops of water? I'll ask in class...

Because my job at Panera Bread owns my soul sometimes, I wanted to talk about the important role that lighting plays! I only noticed this when we were preparing for our routine inspection from corporate management. One of the things we worked the hardest at was making sure all of our lights were properly cleaned and that all lamps were replaced and in proper working order. The dusting of the lights was probably the hardest and the messiest part, I know because I was the one who got the pleasure of sweeping what was dusted from the lamps! After that, I started noticing that on our daily checklist, the lighting was constantly asked about! If there were any lamps out, we would lose a "point" on our daily checklist. We talked about in class how lighting affects the way people feel in places in terms of comfort and safety. It's such a big deal to us at Panera because one of our main goals is to make out bakery/cafe feel welcoming and making it "An everyday oasis" for our guests. I thought I would include a picture of the cool lights just near our bakery display, making our pastries look extra yummy for your tummy!

Follow the Yellow Brick Gobo.

I was just in a production of The Wizard of Oz in Fullerton which closed on the 30th of October. I was late and running to the theater one night, about halfway through the run and I noticed that there were lights on the actual theater front. I hadn't noticed them before, and i figured i was already late and don't go onstage until half an hour after the show starts anyways so I went to take a look at these lights.

What was presented was exactly what i think lighting should do for a show. And this is a great example because it puts the audience in the mood WAY before they even get into their seats. The yellow brick gobo leads you to the front door and into the theater, which itself is lit with green, which parallels Dorothy and her friends' journey down the Yellow Brick Road and up to the Emerald City. And then on top of that, literally, they have another gobo showing the name of the piece with the iconic image of the four friends. I just thought this was so clever, not to mention absolutely stunning. It puts you in the mood right from the start, and draws you in, really making you a part of the show once you walk up those yellow brick steps to the emerald Plummer Auditorium.

Haze

A few weeks ago I was at the service for my great-grandfather at the San Fernando Mission. Towards the end of the service the priest ignited incense and the smoke curled upwards. The light from the high windows came down and I watched the haze curl and bend. Then I remembered what haze was- the particles in the air that we can see. It was nice to be able to focus on that, and instead of thinking about how I hate the smell of frankincense, I can look on it in a different light. (pun intended)

Gaslamp Quarter, San Diego

I was in San Diego a little while ago, visiting a friend and we hit the Gaslamp Quarter at nightfall. I had never been there before and it was a very lively, "party-atmosphere" sort of place. The many different lights (especially neon lights) added to the colorful vibe of Downtown San Diego. As we were walking around taking in the sights, we came across the answer to why this place is called "Gaslamp." I don't have a picture of it but it was as actual gas lamp instead of a modern electric street lamp. It was very tall, presumably so passersby don't mess with it and set something on fire. It emitted hisses and waves of fumes as it burned. The air around it was a bit stifling and we could feel the heat emanating from it. It gave me just a hint of what audiences in the past must have experienced when theaters used gas, before the use of electricity became more prevalent. 

The X-Factor

The lighting design on the T.V. show The X-Factor (Fox) is ridiculous.

There are lasers, the entire stage is outlined with LEDs (?) and there are blinding spot lights aimed at blinding the audience and creating shock factor. There are blinding dots of lights (PARCANS?) that shimmer (turning on and off at different times). There are purple spot lights moving around. There are huge screens on the sides of the stage with faces of the different contestants. There is so much flash and spectacle.

The background has moving lights on the screen (LEDs).

What's interesting is that the lights make so much noise and causes the audience to be truly in the dark -- raising the contrast between the performers and the spectators. The loudness of the lights adds to the excitement on the stage.

-Vin

Light up the sky

I visited my high school friend a couple of weeks ago with my fiancé, and while we were eating dinner, we saw this. It's a mountain (my friend told me the name of it, but I've forgotten by now) in San Luis Obispo, and all I could think was how beautiful it was because of simply the lighting. I feel like it's got this mysterious vibe because I can only see the silhouette, but it also has a comfortable, slightly romantic feel. The colours in the background are warm tones with blue hues, and even though the foreground colours--of the trees, powerlines, and mountain--are black, it doesn't have a frightening feel because we associate the background colours with a sunset, evoking emotions such as calmness, comfort, and confidence (as in confidence between friends, confidence following the vulnerability of sharing a secret).

The small bits of pink that are highlights on the cars in front of the mountain make the photo deeper and maintain the homey feel of it all. It's almost wistful, and certainly full of imagination.

Around two weeks ago, as I was walking home from a long day of Drama 101 for Waiting for Godot, I came across this tree by the Albertson's on Campus Rd. It is illuminated by a footlight, which I thought was interesting because in class, we discussed how the angle of the light is unnatural, so it usually gives off a scary effect. It was not the case for this tree at all--in my opinion, how it was lit up amidst the darkness was magnificent. There was also this enchanting quality to it, as if gentle otherworldly beings would come out from behind the tree and would start doing magical things. This was definitely a treat to see after a long, exhausting day.

Light, color, and distance

Lately, I have been a little bewildered by my apartment's view of the golf course across the street. When I look at the golf course through the window, I can see the wide field adn the trees in the background, but for some reason the color seems off. Although the grass is a very bright green right next to the street, in the distance the grass seems to change color, but this doesn't seem to be from natural causes. The coloring of the trees also seems off. The trees and grass in the distance seem to almost have a whitish haze over them, making them lighter colored than the closer foliage. This seems odd because the fact that they are in an open space would mean that more light is hitting them, which I would expect wound make them brighter. My only guess is that this lighter color is due to reflection. Since a golf course needs to have high quality grass, I would guess that the grass gets watered often and thus would probably still have some water droplets on it. My guess is that this affects the reflection of light in some way, possibly allowing it to reflect more colors and give a whiter color. However, this doesn't seem right because the trees would not have the same amount of water on them. I also can guess that this fading of color is just due to the distance, but I do not know that for sure. This made me wonder how distance could be applied to theatre and studio art, and I realized that designers and painters generally use a color change to signify distance. I would just like to know how this works exactly so that I can use the technique in my Our Town project.

Lightbulbs

Earlier today my dad came into my room to give me new lightbulbs because he took mine the other day. I got hands on and started changing my lightbulbs, and I started thinking about lighting class! (Cheesy, but true.) My lightbulbs are A-type and they have a white powder on the inside of the glass so the filament isn't seen. I looked at the old lightbulb and I realized that the powder was fading and at one spot on the bulb it was even gone. It made me wonder how that happens. At least now, I have light in my room!

Apartment Hallway Lights

The hallways in my apartment building are yellow and kind of blank since there aren't really paintings on the sides of the walls.

But the lights on the ceiling make it so there are upsidedown "U" shapes on the wall, making for texture in the halls, and making the halls a little more architecturally dynamic. I thought this was especially interesting because otherwise, the halls would look flat, and even though the walls are flat, the upsidedown "U" shapes make the hall kind of "pop." (not sure if that's the right word).

-Vin

Shocktoberfest

I don't know where my original post about Shocktoberfest went, but here's another.

What I found interesting about the outdoor stage lights at Shocktoberfest, was that since they were set up day of the event, they were all generally spotlights (maybe Lekos?) that had strong colored gels on them (bright yellows, magentas, purples, greens)that were set up as side lights for dancers. However, what happened was that the side lights washed out the colors of the costumes of the dancers, so all the dancers just looked like splashes of color and a lot of black on stage. This effect got worse as the night fell and took out the natural sunlight that still preserved some of the color of the costumes.

-Vin

LACMA

My friends and I went to the LACMA, the LA County Museum of Art, and the most touristy part of the museum that doesn't cost any money are the street lamps that are outside the museum. During the say, the lights are not exactly visible, but when night arrives, they are some of the most beautiful lamps I've ever seen. The contrast between the night sky and the lamps are amazing. A lot of the light is visible throughout the whole museum so when we walked back to the parking area, the lights around the lamps glowed, giving an angelic glow to the lamps. It was really a great sight to see and I'm glad that the LACMA uses light as an art form.