WJEC/Eduqas GCSE Drama: Designing Drama

LIGHTING TRANSITIONS What is a lighting transition? In your own home, you simply switch a light on or off: you move from darkness to light and vice versa at the flick of a switch. You might have some rooms with dimmer switches, allowing you to gradually increase or decrease the light’s brightness. In the theatre, in a more sophisticated way, a lighting designer can use the lighting desk to control the speed at which each lantern is made dimmer or brighter. This is known as a transition . ASSESSMENT CHECK This design skill is included in AO2: ‘Apply theatrical skills to realise artistic intentions in live performance.’ FOCUS The critical skill of how to move from one lighting cue to the next. TASK 1.12 Harold Pinter’s play The Caretaker includes a long speech in which a man reveals his life story. It is not a happy one. This is the stage direction: During Aston’s speech the room grows darker. By the close of the speech only Aston can be seen clearly. Davies and all the others objects are in the shadow. The fade down of the light must be as gradual, as protracted [drawn out] and as unobtrusive as possible. Work with a partner to discuss: Why was this detailed stage direction about lighting given? What effect might it have on the audience? Choosing which type of transition to use The more gradually you fade or cross-fade, the less aware the audience will be of the transition. This creates a calmer atmosphere. At the end of a performance, you might fade the lights to blackout over about five seconds to give the audience time to recognise that the performance is over. A slow fade to black also gives the audience time to reflect on what they have just seen. On the other hand, a snap or cross-snap transition has a startling effect. It might jolt the audience and make a sharp contrast to the previous scene. Snap As the name suggests, a snap transition is a sudden movement of lights from on to off or vice versa. Cross-snap The sudden movement from one lighting state to another. Fade In lighting terms, this means making the lights gradually brighter and dimmer with a high degree of control. Cross-fade The gradual movement from one lighting state to another. This is achieved by simultaneously dimming one lighting state and brightening another until one is fully down and the other is fully up. Types of transition DESIGN TIP A seven-second cross-fade would be a good place to start your experiments. The stage darkens around Daniel Mays as Aston in The Caretaker at The Old Vic. Chapter 1 Practical Guide to Lighting Design 28