WJEC/Eduqas GCSE Drama: Designing Drama

The importance of lighting design You will find that, as lighting designer, you have a unique power to influence the focus and mood of the audience. You can ‘create’ sunlight or moonlight, fires and lightning. You can be really creative and your work is an extremely important contribution to a harmonious world for the audience. Lighting styles Different genres, styles and forms of performance call for different types of lighting. Bertolt Brecht, for example, often flooded the stage with harsh white light. He wanted the audience to be constantly aware that they were watching a play rather than real life. For the same reason, he would keep lanterns in full view and sometimes leave the house lights on too. On the other hand, Konstantin Stanislavski developed a style of theatre that sought realism in every aspect. He used lighting to focus the audience on, for example, an item of set. In today’s theatre, backlighting , and projections of, for example, clouds would add atmosphere and realism. TASK 1.2 Watch some different styles and genres of film and/or television. (Here are a couple of example scenes where lighting makes a powerful impact.) Pay particular attention to the lighting effects. Use the following chart to record what you notice about the effects created. Include, for example, the use of colours and intensity and the mood of the scene. Title Genre Special effects Time of day / season of the year / weather How atmosphere is produced and impact it has Chicago Musical comedy/ drama Overhead spotlight picks out the character and creates a halo effect on her blonde hair. She is the star! Stage conditions – general coverage of blue light on the stage creates a cool effect; the character stands out. Blue lights in the background with possible use of fog machine help the main character to ‘shine’. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back How can I design lighting as part of this course? You can opt for lighting design in either or both of the practical sections of the course. If you choose to work as lighting designer in Unit/Component 1, you will work in a small group and help to develop the piece, but your specific responsibility will be to create a lighting design for the performance. Unit/Component 2 is similar, but you will work with a script. Unit/Component 3 is the written exam. Working practically with lighting will give you the knowledge and understanding to write confidently about lighting in your set text or a performance you have seen. DESIGN TIP The best designers and operators are so skilful that the audience is not consciously aware of the stage lights at all. Unless the designers specifically want them to be…! Chapter 1 Practical Guide to Lighting Design 17