Introduction to Lighting Design

''This guide is designed to help people who have little or no experience of lighting design for theatre productions. Some elements of the guide may be overkill and hard to grasp for those with no experience, but hopefully they will be useful as you become a more experienced designer. Also feel free to make any changes to the guide.'' Jay Anslow 02:23, July 22, 2012 (UTC)



There are two main parts of a lighting design. They are the cue list and the lighting plan. The cue list is a list of all changes that are made to the levels of the lights (and other fixtures) during the performance. The lighting plan is a plan with the details and locations of all fixtures used for the performance, including the connections they are wired to.

Notes for first time designers
You may want to ignore the following topics for your first design: In addition, it is a good idea to get a more experienced person to help and advise you, especially during the get in. If you send a to TAFF, you will quickly get a flood of offers of help from members.
 * Soft patching (although make sure the Lighting desk is reset to a 1-1 patch.
 * Frosts, Irises and Gobos.
 * Dimmer capacities (but try to keep to a maximum of two lights per dimmer).
 * Complex timings (avoid delay and wait timings)

First Steps
Before you start designing the lights for a performance, there are a few things you need: If you are hiring equipment, it is important to know what power sockets are available in the venue, as you may need adaptors to connect the hired equipment. You can usually find all this information in the production pack for the venue, otherwise you may need to contact the venue. It is also useful to start to find ALDs and LX Ops. Also, it is advisable to get a few useful tools. See Useful Tools.
 * Blank rigging plan of the venue, with the lighting bars/grid and locations of sockets.
 * Equipment list, with all the fixtures and accessories (such as irises and gobo holders).
 * Dimmer information, such as the number of dimmers, dimming capacity and whether there is a patch bay.

Getting information about the production
Before you start your design you should meet with the Director and Set Designer to discuss what there ideas are and explain some of your own. It is useful to have a copy of the script to annotate and highlight potential lighting changes during the meetings.

Director
When meeting with the director, you should find out the following:
 * Actor movements and locations
 * Details of specific lighting effects which the director would like
 * What the director would like during scene changes (such as Blackouts or Blueouts)

Set Designer
When meeting with the set designer, the most important thing is to get a copy of the the set design (as accurate as possible). If they only have sketches, it is useful to have a plan of the stage, so they can indicate more precise positions of the pieces of set. You can then discuss their ideas for the lighting of the set.

Creating the lighting plan
Firstly decide what tools you are going to use to create the lighting plan. Some people prefer using a pen and paper, but one very useful piece of software is LXFree. LXFree allows you to import the blank rig, then add icons for each fixture. It keeps track of all fixtures, dimmers and channels, allowing you to generate useful reports when you've finished.

Choosing lights
You will need to choose what type of light to use for each fixture. In addition you will need to decide on various properties of each light, such as beam angle, direction, focus, colour and frost

Basic Plan
A good place to start with any lighting plan is with washes and face light. For a small venue (such as the BT Studio) you only really need three separate areas of FL and Washes, stage left, stage right and centre stage. Larger venues may need more areas, such as upstage and downstage, or more across the stage. It is also a good idea to have two sets of lights for each area, one set of cold light and one set of warm light. For FL, use either profiles or fresnels, depending on the venue size. For washes, you can use parcans, fresnels or floods Most venues will have house lights built-in or permanently rigged, but there is a chance you may need to rig your own. For this, use Par16s, washes or fresnels.

Custom Plan
Once you have created the basic plan, you can then adapt it for you performance. Using notes from your meetings with the set designer and director, add extra fixtures to your plan to help enhance the atmosphere of the performance. This may include extra profiles for monologues or pieces of set, back lighting, cyc lighting or more complex effects such as strobes or hazers.

Grouping fixtures into channels
Nearly every fixture can be controlled from the lighting desk using DMX, but each fixture needs to be given a channel number, allowing you to set it's level. Each fixture can only have one channel, but each channel can be linked to multiple fixtures. It is important to remember that all fixtures on a single channel will always be at the same level. This may cause issues with different types of fixture (or fixtures with different aged lamps), because, whilst the fixtures are at the same level, they may not output the same brightness. Whenever possible, group fixtures on to a single channel, as it makes it easier to control and help prevent the issue of running out of dimmers.

Linking Fixtures to Channels
Once you have decided on which fixtures are on which channels, you need to plan a physical connection between the two. There are usually two points between the two, sockets and dimmers. If you have a patch bay you will have a choice of how to connect sockets to dimmers, otherwise it will be hardwired, so you can't change it. Some venues, such as the O'Reilly Theatre, have a mix of both. On the rig plan, you can start to plan connections between each fixtures and sockets. Most fixtures only have short power cables, so you will need to choose sockets close to the fixtures, however extension cables can be used. If multiple fixtures on the same channel are near to each other, you can use grelcos and trelcos to connect two or more fixtures to the same socket. If you have a patch bay, you can then plan connections between dimmers and sockets. Remember that, like channels, all fixtures on the same socket and all fixtures on the same dimmer are always at the same level. Important: If you are connecting multiple fixtures to a single dimmer, ensure that the total power used by the fixture is not greater than the maximum capacity of the dimmer. If it is, spread the fixtures over multiple dimmers Finally, assign each dimmer a channel number.

Cue List
The cue list is a list of every single change to the lighting during a performance. One way to create the cue list is to create a spreadsheet with each cue as rows, then columns for each channel. Using conditional formatting to turn the channel levels into colours is a good way to help visualise the cue and spot patterns.

House Cues
Remember to start with some basic house lights for when the audience comes in. Usually the first cues are as follows: and the final cues are as follows: At least for the start of the show, you should have a 'preset' on stage, which is a (usually) warm wash, with any other lights to illuminate the pieces of set. Sometimes, you can create a more mysterious atmosphere by backlighting the stage, so that the set appears as a silhouette.
 * 1) HL
 * 2) Slow fade to BO
 * BO
 * 1) Encore (Neutral/Warm FL and washes)
 * BO
 * HL
 * HL

Cues
Going through the script, add all cues to the list. For each cue, give each channel a rough value (i.e., between 0 and 10) and make a note of when the cue is called and how long it should take. Make a note of any cues which are copies of others, as this can speed up plotting time. For example, blackouts and blueouts. Also make a note of all the major cues (with lots of changes from the previous cue). For example, after a scene change.

Final Preparations
Before production week, make sure you have the following items: Also remind any ALDs of the get in and organise who is operating the lights for each show. Important: Make sure you know how to use the lighting desk! You should be able to do the following tasks with the lighting desk you are using: If you don't know how to do any of these, either read the manual, our instructions (See List of Lighting Desks) or attend the get-in of another show at that venue. If you can't do any of these, try to find someone who has experience with it who can help you. Some venues, such as the BT Studio and the OP have staff who can show you on the day, although it can speed up plotting if you already know what you are doing. Finally, if you can, help at the get-out for the show before yours. This allows you to make sure you know where equipment is located and also leave equipment you know you will need (such as basic FL) rigged, or at least on stage, speeding up both their get-out and your get-in.
 * Lighting Plan. Make sure you have multiple copies and having an A3 copy is often useful
 * Fixture details. Including gels and sockets.
 * Patch information. A list of all hard patches (Socket -> Dimmer) and soft patches (Dimmer -> Channel)
 * Cut gels. Cut all gels to the correct size before the get-in, mark them with a thin permanent marker, then tape groups of them together in rolls, using LX tape
 * AJ and Stanley Knife/Scissors. See Useful Tools
 * Record, edit and delete cues. Including changing fade, delay and wait timings
 * Jump between cues, with and without fades
 * Clear all cues and the patch from the previous show
 * Soft patch the desk
 * Save the show file
 * Safely turn off the desk (and dimmers)

Get In
During the get in, you should perform the following tasks (if it is your first time, you should try to stick to the order below):
 * 1) Warning: ensure all dimmers are turned off, otherwise you may be electrocuted.
 * 2) Clear the lighting desk by deleting all cues and resetting the soft patch
 * 3) Soft patch the lighting desk
 * 4) Hard patch the dimmers, if you have a patch bay (See Hard Patch for help with hard patching)
 * 5) Get all of you equipment out and place it underneath where it needs to go
 * 6) If lights have them, open all shutters and increase the lense's beam angle (This will make it easier to focus and test)
 * 7) Insert gels and frosts into lights which need them.
 * 8) Loosen the wing nut at the top of the fixture (This makes it easier to rig the fixture)
 * 9) Set up the venue's scaffolding tower, tallescope or ladder, so you can reach the lighting bars/grid
 * 10) Rig lights
 * 11) * To rig a fixture, hook the clamp over the bar, attach the safety chain, tighten the wing nut, plug the fixture into the correct socket
 * 12) * For lighting bars (which can be lowered to ground level), lower one bar at a time, then attach all the fixtures as above, before moving to the next
 * 13) * Some bars have sockets in them (For example, at the OP), but others need the fixtures to be plugged in at the ceiling. In this case, once all fixtures are rigged, move along the bars and connect the fixtures to the sockets.
 * 14) * When you are up a tallescope or tower, it is useful to have a copy of the plan (including which fixtures are connected to each socket) and some spare extension cables
 * 15) Test all fixtures. From the lighting desk, test each channel individually to ensure each fixture works and is wired to the correct socket and the patches are correct
 * 16) Focus the lights. This is where it is useful to have multiple people, whilst one person controls the lighting desk, another person can focus lights, with others moving them (if you have a tower or tallescope).
 * 17) Check all the fixtures again to ensure you are happy with the focus
 * 18) Plot all major cues. Remember to copy repeated cues
 * 19) Plot all minor cues. By loading the previous cue, you can avoid having to create the cue from scratch and only have to make individual changes
 * 20) Set timings for all cues
 * 21) Run through all cues and make any changes to them. It may be useful to have the director with you at this point.
 * 22) Save the show file

Tech Rehearsal
The technical rehearsal is a time for all the technical elements of the performance (sound, lighting and stage) to check everything. Decide whether you want the director to give you notes during the rehearsal or to wait for the end/interval. For the tech rehearsal, you should be at the lighting desk, making changes to the cues as you go through. Remember that you can stop the rehearsal when you want to make changes or skip ahead to a particular line (assuming neither the sound designer or stage manager have a problem with it). After the show you should meet with the director and designer and discuss notes about the rehearsal. You can then make any relevant changes.

Dress Rehearsal
The dress rehearsal should be treated as a proper performance, so, if possible, you should not sit at the lighting desk, you should be in the audience taking notes. This can give an ALD or LX Op an opportunity to learn how to operate the desk. After the rehearsal, discuss notes with other members of the cue, then make the relevant changes.

Performances
You should turn up at least an hour before each performance, in case the LX Op for the night doesn't turn up. The first thing you should do is power all the equipment on, then perform a rig test. Whenever possible, get an LX Op to operate the desk during a performance, so that you can sit in the audience and make notes. This is especially important during the first performance. If you do operate a performance, do not make any changes during the show. This can cause problems with future cues (especially if you are using tracking) and may make a problem worse. There are a few exceptions to the rule, such as if a critical lamp fails and the stage is in darkness or there is an emergency. If the problem is minor (such as an actor's face being too dark), just leave it and make a note.

Get Out
During the get out, the following things should be accomplished:
 * Turn off the dimmers
 * Clear all cues and reset the patch, then turn off the lighting desk
 * Unplug the hard patch
 * Strike all fixtures (unless the next designer says otherwise) and store them properly where they belong.
 * Remember, for lighting bars, you may need to unplug fixtures at the ceiling first
 * Remove all gobos, gels and frosts from fixtures. If they are in good condition keep them (or add them to the TAFF gel collection), otherwise bin them.