"Light is the 3rd actor on stage."
The lighting designers are truly inspiring! Even though they were only talking on and on about their "life" in this theatre industry, I felt that they were actually telling us what's so special about LIGHTS. They really really love their lights. I guess it was their passion that kept them in this path. From today's talk, I learnt to appreciate lights more.
WE MUST PLACE LIGHTS ON A EQUAL BASIS WITH THE OTHER SKILLS!
"I'm a painter, I paint with lights. I'm an artiste."
Lights: To express emotions. To tell a message. Has the power to change the show.Unlike the olden days, technology has made lightings easier to be configured, etc. now. We have more knowledge, aesthetics and references that allowed us to have more options such as accessibility. However, technology is used for 'support' only. We can't depend on it too much that we lose focus on the lights itself (the expression here is abit weird...hehe...) We need to learn to put our creativity into use! Creativity > Technology.
"Lights mustn't steal the show, it compliments."
Sometimes having more lights doesn't necessarily means that it's a good thing! LESS = MORE! In Singapore, we* believe that a great performance should consist of "boomz" lights. We often expect more lights cause' we think that it means more coverage (face value!). But we must really change that thinking. Less is usually more beautiful as compared to more. Hehe.*: 'We' means the Singaporeans, not referring to us hahaha.
"Lighting is a language itself."
Xiao Li Heng, a China lighting designer. (as mentioned)Some experiences that influenced their way of working with lights.
- Precision is not really necessary. Sometimes, being anal is not good!
- It's important for lighting crew to "feel" the show so that the lights can have the right "feel".
- We need to get back to basics!!! This will help us to really appreciate our lights more.
- Images helps one to be more visually stimulated. Keep a book of pictures!
- Kuo Pao Kun: Attitude is important.
- Christian Jade: Break away from conventions!!!
- Concept is more important than face coverage, etc. CONCEPT CONCEPT CONCEPT.
- Challenge: Using light intensities to create feelings.
- Light = material. Feel the texture.
- Experience is key!
- DARE TO EXPERIMENT!!!
"We learn when we bang walls."
Texture of lights is more of an emotion, not really physical texture. It depends on how you interpret it. And also, lighting doesn't take influence from any culture but from the designer himself.When there is no artistic direction, there will be no life. So, light design needs to suit all the other designs for the perfect piece!
Advices:
- EXPERIMENT. Only when you see and experience it in real life will you be able to understand.
- PLAY. Play with layers. Play with intensities. Play with colours.
- BE SENSITIVE. Your environment (light sources) is a great source of inspiration :D
- ENJOY. You must first enjoy the play before you can pick the correct lights.
- KEEP A BOOK. Jot down ideas, put in images.
- DAYDREAM. It opens up many possibilities.
- RECALL. Personal experiences can help.
-Rachel Boo
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Sound Talk- Republic Poly
Sound Talk
The sound talk at Republic Polytechnic did not exactly give us the desired learning points we had hoped to gain by the end of the day. Even though many of us were disappointed that we did not learn anything much about sound DESIGN per se, there were some points in the talk where I though we could at least incorporate into our productions.
The speaker was very technical about his work. He taught us how to set up a sound system and how to overcome their respective environmental difficulties. For example, setting a system outdoor provides different challenges that when one is inside. In a room, one has to take into consideration how absorbent or reflective the surfaces in the room are to sound. Foam usually makes a good sound proofing material. For the outdoors, the temperature difference between the ground and the air is also important. If the ground is hotter, the sound waves travel upwards. The converse is true for the opposite situation.
In this way, if we were ever to perform in say… the ampitheatre compared to the blackbox, we at least know how the sound waves would travel. Setting up the sound system was something else altogether.
Another learning point was that direct sound (as opposed to indirect sound) was the ideal kind of sound we want. Indirect sound comes from echoes and the like whereas direct sound is pure and natural. With different frequencies, we also find that some sound waves (especially bass) hits harder and further than higher pitched sounds. However, based on contextual knowledge, I figured that we need a balance of both of course. By adding in more sound proof materials, we are able to cancel out the indirect sound. That added with clear speech and a balanced “EQ” of our voice, the audience should be able to at least enjoy and understand what we are saying very clearly.
I actually propose putting in more sound proof (or at least soft) materials in our black box so that we won’t have to worry about 2 different things: Sound leakage to the outside world, and echoes reverberating throughout our little dungeon.
All in all, the workshop was useful in the essence of giving us a better understanding of how sound in general, works. In the aspect of design however, there were little or no insights. I guess all we need to do is make use of that technical information to design our sounds in the way we want and need it to be. Maybe that’s what’s lacking in us. The desire to do the “correct” thing makes us forget what Theatre could be all about: doing what we can with what we have. Perhaps, like lights, there is no “theory” to sound. Just technicalities. It’s the painter’s paint, the puppeteers’ puppets, the musician’s instrument. What we create with it is entirely up to us.
-Mark
The sound talk at Republic Polytechnic did not exactly give us the desired learning points we had hoped to gain by the end of the day. Even though many of us were disappointed that we did not learn anything much about sound DESIGN per se, there were some points in the talk where I though we could at least incorporate into our productions.
The speaker was very technical about his work. He taught us how to set up a sound system and how to overcome their respective environmental difficulties. For example, setting a system outdoor provides different challenges that when one is inside. In a room, one has to take into consideration how absorbent or reflective the surfaces in the room are to sound. Foam usually makes a good sound proofing material. For the outdoors, the temperature difference between the ground and the air is also important. If the ground is hotter, the sound waves travel upwards. The converse is true for the opposite situation.
In this way, if we were ever to perform in say… the ampitheatre compared to the blackbox, we at least know how the sound waves would travel. Setting up the sound system was something else altogether.
Another learning point was that direct sound (as opposed to indirect sound) was the ideal kind of sound we want. Indirect sound comes from echoes and the like whereas direct sound is pure and natural. With different frequencies, we also find that some sound waves (especially bass) hits harder and further than higher pitched sounds. However, based on contextual knowledge, I figured that we need a balance of both of course. By adding in more sound proof materials, we are able to cancel out the indirect sound. That added with clear speech and a balanced “EQ” of our voice, the audience should be able to at least enjoy and understand what we are saying very clearly.
I actually propose putting in more sound proof (or at least soft) materials in our black box so that we won’t have to worry about 2 different things: Sound leakage to the outside world, and echoes reverberating throughout our little dungeon.
All in all, the workshop was useful in the essence of giving us a better understanding of how sound in general, works. In the aspect of design however, there were little or no insights. I guess all we need to do is make use of that technical information to design our sounds in the way we want and need it to be. Maybe that’s what’s lacking in us. The desire to do the “correct” thing makes us forget what Theatre could be all about: doing what we can with what we have. Perhaps, like lights, there is no “theory” to sound. Just technicalities. It’s the painter’s paint, the puppeteers’ puppets, the musician’s instrument. What we create with it is entirely up to us.
-Mark
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)