Aims of the Lighting Designer

  Building with the Blocks

In addition to the properties of light, there are a set of guidelines that are called the "Aims of the Lighting Designer." These serve like a check list for the lighting designer to self-evaluate their work.

These aims inform how the designer uses the properties of light from moment to moment within the design of the show to tell the story.

Selective Visibility

The most important job a lighting designer has is to provide visibility to the stage and everything placed on it. Each audience member should be able to see clearly and correctly the things that they are intended to see. And they should never feel like they missed something because it was too dark, or feel like they are straining constantly to see what is happening. The lighting designer does have a freedom within these constraints though.

Selective visibility is like the cinematography equivalent to a live theatre show. It tells the audience where to look and when, and points out to the audience  what action, moment, details, etc. are important to the story. There can be big, full-stage looks revealing the whole of the environment and stage picture (like a wide shot would do in film). But there can also be quiet, intimate, close moments created through a smaller area of light onstage (like a close up).

This happens because of the physiology of our eyes. The eye will always be attracted to the brightest object in the field of vision. The lighting designer (along with input from the director and the other designers) will decide how to do this throughout the show and, as a result, is one of the designers most responsible for how the audience engages with the piece.

Revelation of Form

Hardly anything that is placed on-stage is ever two-dimensional. While lighting a person or object from just the front will provide an even visibility to the whole stage, everything will appear flat and uninteresting. Instead, lighting designers strive to make things on-stage appear naturally and in three dimensions. They strive to reveal textures on the walls, folds in the costumes, and the movement and shape of the actors in the space.

To do this, they must use one or multiple 'form revealing' lights and use angles of light that model and sculpt. Often a lighting designer is designing equally where there is light onstage but also where there isn't. The purposeful placement and use of shade and shadows are vitally important to revealing form.

 Suggested Reading

Angles of Light - taken from "Stage Lighting Design: the Art, the Craft, the Life" by Richard Pilbrow (7 pages) Download Angles of Light - taken from "Stage Lighting Design: the Art, the Craft, the Life" by Richard Pilbrow (7 pages)

Composition

The lighting design does not exist in a bubble. It relates to and shapes the audience's view of the entire stage and all of the action and other design elements that are onstage. The lighting designer must constantly ensure that the overall visual picture of the stage is both attractive and is what is intended. Is it the right balance of foreground to background? Are the actors the brightest thing onstage or does the scenery pull too much focus? How a light interacts with the scenery, costumes, action, and even other lights will form the overall composition of the stage.

The possibilities for a successful and dynamic composition are endless and varied. Lighting is a design element that is not static, like in a picture or painting, but rather one that can also change over time. Meaning it can constantly shift if needed and adapt the overall stage composition throughout the show to better serve the story or the action being presented.

Mood

Creating mood is the result of successfully achieving the first three aims for a given moment. Light can have an immensely powerful effect on our emotions and state of mind.

How many people get a little down when it is cloudy and dark outside? Or think about how you feel on a warm summer day when you feel the sunlight brush the side of your face. By using the properties of light and the other aims, a lighting designer can exploit the emotional and psychological effects that are inherent in light in order to create a dramatic effect onstage.