here's the first paragraph excerpt from an article recently published in Dramatics Magazine, January 2009. To read the entire article, please download this PDF: Dramatics_Dark_Stormy_Night.
Lighting Design is an art form unto itself. At the same time, lighting designers are part of a collaborative team with the director and the other designers, including Scenic, Costume, Sound, Projections, etc. It is the collaborative work of the design team and director that brings that art to the stage. This is the first in a series of articles that will discuss various methods used by theater lighting designers. I will start by explaining the importance of properly understanding the script and communicating that understanding to the audience. I will then discuss some of the technical steps required to be a team member in the theater production collaborative process. Methods of sharing our lighting design ideas will be explored during the discussion of visual image research (what?!) and our own need to be able to draw and sketch. I will introduce the use of image editing software, Photoshop, to build a color lighting rendering.
As humans we all are cursed by the need to view everything through our own personal knowledge and experience. If WE haven't heard of someone, then they obviously can't be important! It is worse even in the academic world where teachers fixate on the "hot" names from when THEY were in school. Certain people are thus somewhat arbitrarily designated as "stars" and then the astonishing contributions of everyone else fade to oblivion even though their contributions may in fact be even greater!
