# Lighting Design Projects/Activities



## EustaceM (Aug 20, 2011)

Would you know of any projects and activities that can help teach students lighting design if they cant access the light board or performance space? Maybe using flashlights or other kinds of lamps and lights on a 3D model. Anything at all?


----------



## Amishplumber (Aug 20, 2011)

Can you get your hands on a few theater lights and some gel? I taught tech at a theater camp this summer and did an activity that might fit your bill perfectly.

Get 3 stage lights of any sort you can get. I just used a few PARs because they already had edisons on them and I didn't need to adapt anything. Hang them in a room on anything you can find, but not so high up that the kids or you can't reach them. Coat/ costume/ clothing racks work great if you're only using lightweight aluminum PARs like I did. Arrange them in a 3 point setup around a chair. Just run extension cords and plug them into the wall somewhere. Also setup a table close by with a bunch of scrap unsorted gel bits.

When the kids showed up I gave a bit of a lecture about stage lighting in general, passed out some swatchbooks and talked about color as well as directionality. Focused on how lighting is used to evoke different emotions, moods and locations. I then split them up into groups and had each group pick an emotion or location to try and evoke with lighting. They then went off to the gel pile and picked colors.

Once every group has done this I sat them all down around the mini lighting rig and each group would come up, drop their gels into the lights, one group member would sit in the chair and the rest of the class would try and guess what the emotion or location was. We would then discuss and critique their choices.

Worked well for me with kids 7-14 in groups from 9 kids up to 22 or 23. Lots of room to simplify or expand as well.

Hope that helps! I'd be glad to answer any other question you may have!


----------



## EustaceM (Aug 21, 2011)

Amishplumber said:


> Can you get your hands on a few theater lights and some gel? I taught tech at a theater camp this summer and did an activity that might fit your bill perfectly.
> 
> Get 3 stage lights of any sort you can get. I just used a few PARs because they already had edisons on them and I didn't need to adapt anything. Hang them in a room on anything you can find, but not so high up that the kids or you can't reach them. Coat/ costume/ clothing racks work great if you're only using lightweight aluminum PARs like I did. Arrange them in a 3 point setup around a chair. Just run extension cords and plug them into the wall somewhere. Also setup a table close by with a bunch of scrap unsorted gel bits.
> 
> ...


 

That is a great idea. Would it also work with Gobos and such.

Would another good activity is to give photos of a scene and have students identify the colors, lights and critique it about what mood and setting it gives the scene?


----------



## michaelburgoyne (Aug 22, 2011)

Related to the idea above, one of my favorite projects as a student was choosing a classical painting and "recreating" it in the light lab. Props and costumes aren't critical, any simple furniture will usually suffice. This project does encourage you to look very closely at hightlight and shadow and to discover where the painters "cheated" for the sake of composition. This offers a great lesson on lighitng angle, intensity, color and mood as well as a good introduction to artists like Caravaggio who had a strong sense of lighting (if not reality) in his work.


----------



## EustaceM (Aug 22, 2011)

michaelburgoyne said:


> Related to the idea above, one of my favorite projects as a student was choosing a classical painting and "recreating" it in the light lab. Props and costumes aren't critical, any simple furniture will usually suffice. This project does encourage you to look very closely at hightlight and shadow and to discover where the painters "cheated" for the sake of composition. This offers a great lesson on lighitng angle, intensity, color and mood as well as a good introduction to artists like Caravaggio who had a strong sense of lighting (if not reality) in his work.



Are there any cheap software that you recommend that can do that.


----------



## josh88 (Aug 22, 2011)

you just need a print out of a picture and some lights. where you compare the light in the painting with your physical lights on your staged version of the picture. IE get the mona lisa, put someone in a chair and try to light your person in the same way the mona lisa is lit in the painting. Shouldn't need anything other than that


----------



## shiben (Aug 23, 2011)

josh88 said:


> you just need a print out of a picture and some lights. where you compare the light in the painting with your physical lights on your staged version of the picture. IE get the mona lisa, put someone in a chair and try to light your person in the same way the mona lisa is lit in the painting. Shouldn't need anything other than that


 
Exactly. 

Another really good exercise that I have done a lot is to gather a group of people (probably your class). Get photos cut from dozens of magazines, books, the web, etc, all hard copies. Have each student select one, and then have them write three words that describe the emotion. Then read them aloud, and see if everyone else agrees. Discuss. Then get in the light lab and re-create the emotion using 3-5 lights and a small selection of gel. Preferably only N/D, CTO and CTB...


----------



## itie (Aug 23, 2011)

I took a class once and it was called light plot origami. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. The instructor passed a piece of paper out to everyone and showed us how to fold it in angles. Every fold was a different degree of light. Then we got up and looked down the paper at different objects to see what degree fixture to us. He also showed us how to turn it into a working plot to scale. I'm sorry the details are a little fuzzy its been a while. But im not sure if this helps the instructor was maybe still is the TD of columbus state university in GA. 

Giovanni Laucella

I'll look back on here for more tips like the above ones (they are really good thanks) but if you find any info or if any one knows more about the light plot origami trick please PM me!


----------

