WJEC/Eduqas GCSE Drama: Designing Drama

Practical special effects These effects are closely linked to the performers, who generally operate or wear them. Examples include: • a camp-fire flame made of a battery-operated red light, switched on by an actor • an ‘oil’ lamp with a flickering LED candle in it, again operated by the actor • a light on a costume or at the end of a fairy wand. Using key lights with special effects lighting In the illustration below, a key light is used alongside the practical special effect of a camp fire to complete the illusion. The key light illuminates the face of the performer because the practical effect is not bright enough. A key light like this could be positioned at the front of the stage or at a low level in the wings to shine up onto the actor’s face. This small fire-effect bulb can be used to simulate orange flames and embers with a flicker-effect control. This production of The Tempest uses red, green and blue lighting together with an eerie set design and translucent costume to present the other-worldly nature of the island. The opposite of key lighting is fill light, which is often softer. It could be another, less bright, light source, or it could come from general light reflected off surrounding walls, for example. Naturalistic special effects Naturalistic effects reproduce particular lighting that you might find in real life, and that the characters in their world would be able to see. Examples include: • a lightning strike, which can be produced by quickly flashing a white floodlight. (This would be enhanced by an accompanying sound effect!) • a disco effect, which could be created with LED lanterns or by manually flashing red, blue and green filtered spotlights. (Of course, it is also possible to use an automated moving lantern or a mirror/disco ball.) Non-naturalistic special effects These are the weird and wonderful, supernatural types of effect and could include, for example: • the use of red and green filters combined with a fog machine to suggest an alien planet • a slowly pulsing red spotlight focused on a character who is being aggressively questioned. In this production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child , the actors have practical battery lights on their wands, which they can turn on and off themselves. Flame- effect light operated by actor. Key light off stage focused on actor’s face. Chapter 1 Practical Guide to Lighting Design 27