Week #4 - The lighting of raindrops reveal the truth

ITS RAINING IN LA!!!!

I originally took this picture because I liked the wall art of Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley etc... When I looked back at it, I realized just how fun lighting plays a role in this picture. After the gloomy day of rain, you can see light seeping through the cracks of the clouds. The light then uses the clouds to reflect off of which make the sky look a bit brighter in some parts of the sky.

But that's not all......

If you look closely at the picture, you can see the spots of rain on my windsheild! You can also trace the water lines that my windshield wipers made across the glass. If you didn't already figure out that I took the picture from my car, the lighting of the raindrops surely revealed the truth to you. If the water didn't obscure the light, one probably wouldn't have been able to tell whether or not this photo was taken outside or within the confines of a car.

Muy Romantico!

Have any of you guys have ever been to a resturant called Sevilla in downtown Long Beach? If you haven't, it's a very romantic spot that serves Spanish food and provides really great entertainment such as flaminco dancers and Latin guitarists. While I was enjoying a delicious dinner, I noticed that the lighting definitely provided a romantic feel to the room. The entire resturant was dimly lit with hanging light fixtures and small candles on the tables. The only area that was given brighter light was where the entertainment would be placed. This reminded me of what we learned in class about focusing light on performers and allowing the house to be more dim so that we would know where our attention should be given. That night I was having dinner with my mom, so I had no real reason to feel all romantic. It was then that I realized that the lighting was having an affect on my mood. This makes me wonder about how lighting affects my mood in everyday situations. I've been noticing lately that with the rainy weather I had been feeling kind of sluggish and as soon as the sun would come out, I'd feel more cheerful. This also makes me re-think my choices for going on dates. I'm thinking that I want to go somewhere more brightly lit so that I know that the lighting isn't creating that artificial "romantic" feeling for me rather than my actual feelings for the guy. Light is playing with my emotions!

Week #4 Watch That Sun Set

I was at Newport Beach this week and while there I was able to capture this picture. The colors remind me of the complementary tint system. I know that there isn't any light that is being shown from two sides to create that look, but the warm and cold colors are what I am referring to. I think that the warm yellow and orange glow work well with the cold blue/gray from the sky. Maybe it is because we are used to seeing this color scheme in natural light that it looks like it is normal, but by looking at it it works well. This also reminds me of the lighting that I have been exposed to while working on scenic crew for Dance Visions. For one of the dance numbers, there are bright orange/yellow lights as well as a darker blue being shown from different sides and I think that that also complements the dancers well. It is weird what light can do to certain colors. The crew is dressed in black but with certain lighting, our pants look like a dark red, or some shade of red.

Week #4: Techies Deserve Pretty Lighting Too...

This week, I had an evening rehearsal for an MFA thesis in the Cal-IT 2 building. We spent a large portion of the rehearsal observing the space and its features. Its a building with a lot of character. When you walk in to the "grand foyer," you can't help but notice the mile high vaulted ceilings and office windows, that tower just as high as the ceilings, that are set in the cement walls to your left and right. The is a staircase glass and steel hand rails that crawls along the right and back wall, that make a balcony. And on top of that balcony are more balconies stacked on top of each other with the glass and steel guard rails. It is an odd, yet interesting space that you would expect to find in a courtyard, yet is enclosed and indoors.

Unfortunately, I noticed that the light was not as positively stimulating as the space. It was dreadful. The vaulted ceilings had lots and lots of hanging, hooded, fluorescent lights that emitted a green tone. Under the balconies were recessed(?) lights that were also fluorescent. These emitted a pinkesh tone. And the hallway that was visible through the windows on the left had whiter lights. Yuck. I hate fluorescent lights! Everyone's skin looked greyish and ashy. All of us were tired, and the lights emphasized the exhaustion on our faces. To make matters worse, the entrance walls were made of a lot glass, so, the light of the night became apart of the space... and so did the ugly orange outdoor lights that you see on most streets. Greenish light, pinkish light, white light, night light, and orange light made the location draining and uninspirational. All the lights were big even washes/floods, so it wasn't showing off all the cool features of the space. Don't these technology peeps deserve pretty lighting too?

We are supposed to be performing there the first week of next quarter- I hope we get a lighting designer to help make this space more appropriate for performance.

See you all in class,

Politeia

Week # 4: Wizard of Oz Lighting

This weekend I saw a childrens theater group's production of "The Wizard of Oz" in Northridge, L.A. While I have seen and been in many shows with this group, i never really paid attention to the lighting until now. Whether it was because Im learning stuff in this class or because there was a new lighting designer for this show, I noticed myself paying a lot more attention to the lighting. The first time I found myself drawn to the lighting was during Dorothy's first song, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". While it looked like she was in white light, the haze in the air showed that she was actually being light by four different colored lights. The four colors were the three secondary colors, yellow, magenta and cyan, and, if i remenber right, blue. Through additive color mixing those four colors were being mixed into the white light that was lighting Dorothy.
In this groups version of the play, they took the black and white part of the movie and adapted it for the stage by making everything in Kansas really dull, with different shades of tan and brown so that when she gets to Oz the colors pop out like they do in the movie. So when I saw those beams of colors in the Kansas scene I got really excited because it maybe was the new lighting designers way of showing that even though she is in this really dull colored place, her dreams, like the place she is singing about, are actually really colorful or it could also be a form of foreshadowing through lights. While the normal lighting designs for our shows are more natural, I was very impressed the new guys look of the show. From what i could tell, they were using eight of those moving lights, that we saw in the studio theater, in almost every scene throughout the entire show. I was really impressed with how when he designed the lights and how well they helped tell the story.

Week 4: Simplicity's Effectiveness By Comparison

Since I talked about lighting in a show for my last blog I will only talk briefly about the lighting I observed this afternoon in Gypsy and how it relates to the pictures I ended up taking. Overall I did not like the lighting design in Gypsy. At times it was hard to tell whether the stage manager was calling cues too late/unresponsive board op (don't get me started on how long the scene changes took) or whether the cues were put in odd places by the designer. But the one thing that stuck out the most was the preposterous overuse of heavily saturated colors throughout the entirety of the show, particularly hot pink. At times I could easily see why hot pink was a good choice. Gypsy is very "showy" so having obnoxiously colored light during the showy scenes makes sense. But during the scene in the desert at the beginning of the second act does not. I'm pretty sure the two hot pink side lights were on for the entire show. It got old, it was distracting, and it made me wish for more variety and softer lighting shifts.

Then I got home and I noticed the color of the sky outside my house. I thought it was interesting because it was so simple and easy to look at. It reminded me of that time around 5AM where it's not dark anymore but the sun hasn't come up yet and there isn't any kind of warm colored sunrise. The color in these pictures reminded me of this time (especially the second one that doesn't include the street light being turned on) even though the actual time these pictures were taken was in the PM. It was calming and a nice change from IN-YOUR-FACE-Gypsy (and yes quite literally there was light in my face because they put a special on Rose standing downstage center at the very end lighting her from above upstage right and shooting out into the house).

Week #4

One of my favorite things about living in Orange County are the beaches. I absolutely love the beach and even more amazing is that it's hard to believe that this picture was taken on winter day. I love the contrast of color in this picture. Usually in a picture when I see two contrasting colors, the picture is split in half (with the lighter color on top, and the darker one on the bottom) but in this case the contrast is seen in the middle of the photo; where the sun is shining on the ocean water and creating a bright reflection, then surrounding it is the dark blue ocean water. It's amazing to see the affect sunlight has on the color of the water.

Week #4

So, last night I drove from Irvine all the way to my hometown, Arroyo Grande, to see a show that was playing for just this weekend. My favorite part of this drive is the area of highway, known as "The Screaming Eagles Highway" according to the sign, where the road is parallel to the beach on one side and faces the mountains on the other. I make this drive frequently, and I always look out my window to watch the sun as it sets over the ocean. It was hard to capture the beauty of what I saw with my camera, especially since I was taking the photo one-handed while trying not to drive off of the road, but I was once again amazed at the spectacle of colors I saw.

The clouds were the most beautiful shade of pink and the sky surrounding them was a mix of red, orange, and yellow. You can't tell from this picture, but the ocean was stunning as well. The area that was reflecting the rays of the sun was a much brighter blue, and the rest of the water expanding from that point took on a slightly darker shade. It's funny now that I know a little bit more about lighting and the way colors work- in terms of transmission and how much white light is being pushed through- I couldn't help but think about these things in the back of my mind as I viewed this sunset. I admit that sometimes it still hurts my brain to think about why I am seeing the color I am seeing, and what makes this orange sky appear orange, but at least I know that what I am learning and studying in this lighting design class is at least in some respect impacting my everyday life and changing the way I view the world around me.

Week #4: Candle Light Bulb

While I was cleaning the apartment up before my mom visited me with my 2nd cousin from Japan, for some odd reason the light that was shining through my air freshener caught my attention. So I took off the part that releases the scent, and I noticed that the light-bulb that heats up the wax in the part I had removed looks like a C-type light-bulb. I remember during one of the lectures that Lonnie had said a "candlelight bulb" runs under the C-type category, so i thought why not analyze this bulb, haha. Because this light bulb has 2 pieces of burning metal I can tell it is incandescent, and it is an Edison plug.

After taking a picture of the lightbulb, to my surprise the picture shows a color effect with the warm orange slowly becoming darker and darker. It makes me wonder why this bulb has such an orange light? When I think about how the warm color has an affect on how I feel and how it relaxes me before I sleep, I get the sense that night-lights are made a certain brightness and tint to affect us. It's funny how it is only week 4 and this class is already changing the way I look at my night-light air-freshener.

Week #4 - Look Closely: There's Two.

 

After the gloominess of last week’s storms I was so relieved when the sunlight came out again. After the sky being dark and gray for so many days, it was interesting to see how the sun peeking through the clouds could really have such a positive affect on me. To top it off, I was so happy when the day after the storms I saw a magnificent rainbow out the window of my friend’s car. But what was especially interesting and beautiful was that there was a double rainbow running parallel with the first. The one rainbow was very bright and noticeable, while the second one was very dim and you could barely see it. It is difficult to see in the photo, but if you look closely you can see the second rainbow to the right of the bright one. I was especially excited about this because it was the same week that we were learning about color theory in class. Seeing the different colors in the spectrum right there displayed in nature was stunning. It was interesting also to experience how witnessing colors in lighting could be so pleasing to the eye. 

WEEK 4 Entry

One of my favorite places in Orange County is the Cuban restaurant/bar called Habana located in Costa Mesa. When I went for the first time, I fell in love with their interior design and their creative effort of lighting. This picture is of a tree of candles used to actually light the front part of the restaurant. It created an intimate feeling using many lowly dimmed light to form one giant source of light. There are actually two of these trees located throughout the main dining area of the restaurant. Another great use of lighting that I unfortunately did not capture, is their ceiling wall. The wall on top of the main wall had an LED projection lighting images and sceneries that gave this sort of futuristic, yet real setting. I thought that was a great use of an LED screen and I genuinely appreciated how they used so many different types of lighting to put this interior design together. Again, I am really intrigued by technology and use of futuristic lighting and ideas, and I thought that this restaurant captured that essence very well.

-Ricky Wang

p.s. everyone should try this place out. It's delicious!

Week 4 Posting: Silhouettes

I love silhouettes. I think that there is something so sexy and mysterious about them. I also, no matter how cliched they may be, love sunsets. I don't think they could ever be overrated. The combination of both a sunset and the silhouettes created in contrast to it was so immediately striking to me, that I just had to take a photograph. This was taken in Newport, after a friend and I had gone on a bike ride along the ocean to find a place to eat. As we were locking up our bikes I finally took in that beautiful sunset alit with fiery pinks, flashes of yellow, and the dark washes of gray sky that seems to loom in stark contrast against it. I find this particular contrast of something rather dark and eerie next to something bright and magical to be one of my favorites in nature because there is just something so majestic and fantastical about it. It is truly hard to tear your eyes away, I had quite a difficult time going into the restaurant after taking in this particular view.

Week 4 - Refreshing Lights

I was standing outside on my balcony getting some fresh air, and I had a moment in which I felt revitalized. It was as if the world has just refreshed itself. In fact, I felt renewed, but then, I began to notice something. The sky was brighter than usual. All of the trees and leaves were greener. All of the colors outside were very bright. It had just rained, and it was not unapparant to me that this happens after rain. Then, I realized my body was being physically affected by the colors and light outside. I just never understood the details on why.

As I had stated before, it had just rained a little bit. Therefore, the sky was brighter than usual. All of the leaves and trees were greener. The cement was so much more fresh and lighter. It was as if the problems that had bogged down any the objects were gone. If these objects were people, they would have been extremely happy today. All of the dirt had been washed from the ground, the trees and the cars. Every object had a stronger shine. The point to this was that I was feeling invigorated by these numerous colors and lights affecting my senses. It was as if my body became lighter and easier in its movement. It felt amazing. By seeing the cleanliness in all of these objects accompanied by the bright shine from each object, I was refresed. It shows how powerful light and color can be since it affects our bodies and mind.

Another interesting factor was the blue sky. The sky looked so much bluer and cleaner. This made me wonder how the light was affecting the color of the sky or if the sky just changed color. Plus the clouds were so much whiter. I also began to relate to the idea of how we are attracted to different levels of white light. I wonder if we feel more comfortable in certain white lights than others. It is a fact that everything we see goes back to a white light however, and I was think how much white light these colors had.

WEEK #4: Modern Day Limelight

Last Thursday I was outside UCI's Little Theater, waiting to go see The Wiz. I was alone, so of course, I was people watching. Gazing around the groups of people standing in the dark, one particular girl in one particular group caught my eye. Why? The girl's face was blue. Amidst all the people socializing, laughing, making small talk- this girl was fixated on her cell phone. Holding the phone close to her face, in the dark, the light being emitted from her phone hit her face, illuminating it to a pale blue.

And it hit me.

We are living in a time now where everyone is a star. Your friends flock to your facebook page to see your status update about what you ate today, strangers rate your youtube video. You can blog, you can email, you can chat. Technology has created stars within all of us. We are popular, we attempt to be witty, we strive to be loved and appreciated by all.

A long, long time ago (okay, maybe not THAT long ago), the stars of the theater demanded to be in the limelight. Though a ghastly green, they yearned- and often demanded- to be the brightest thing on stage. Now, everyday we sit in front of computers, use our cell phones way more than we should, in order to make sure we are being seen in the virtual world. Technology may have advanced to where the lime mineral does not need to be used to light the star- but some things never change, it seems. Instead of striving for the limelight... we seem to be living in the bluelight...

(The picture comes from same moment I captured of my boyfriend during a failed snowboarding trip this past weekend. While the moment I noticed initially is what sparked this blog topic.. I was not about to try to take a picture of a stranger. SO.. I was thankful I noticed the same effect in the dark car and was able to give a photographic example!)

Week #4 Dancing Light

I was at my friend's house for a small game night when I saw how the light fixture hanging from the ceiling was making patterns on the wall. When the light fixture would move, it would make the patterns on the wall dance. I thought it was really neat because the movement made really interesting shapes. The lighting was kind of dark in the room, but the reflection of patterns on the wall, really stood out. I thought it was really cool so I decided to take a picture of it for my blog.

Week 4- Reflective Surfaces

So I'm in my room studying for the lighting midterm (no joke), when I yawn, scratch my head and get ready to take a break. I look over at my boombox (where I have recently been playing a Cirque Du Solei soundtrack: Varekai) and look at a strange image on my wall. At first, I had no clue what was making that image until I looked closer at the ghostly looking thing and realized it had an upside down SONY spelled backwards on it. I instantly knew it came from my boom box,... but why??? It never did that before under regular household lighting. But then I realized my window blinds were open and the sunlight hit my boombox with such a strong beam, that it reflected the curves of my boombox. I don't know what it was about the image, probably the abnormal shape, but I swear I was there for 3-4 minutes just staring at it before I figured I should grab my camera and take a picture of it. Who knew a boombox could act like a reflector?

Napa Valley Sunset

I was wine tasting in Napa Valley over winter break and I fell in love with the area. Since it's winter, the vineyards weren't as green and lush as they are in the spring but it was still beautiful none the less. On the way back from one of the vineyards I look to my right and see the sun setting behind the mountains, creating bold rays of light shining from behind the mountains and through the clouds. Coming from Orange County most sun sets I see are over the ocean, so to be able see how the light from the sun setting was able to shine through the gloomy clouds and lighten the sky was a wonderful change of scenery. The light blue and golden colors in the sky created an amazing contrast against the dark mountains and roads. This picture doesn't nearly begin to capture how beautiful the sky looked but hopefully it can still give you an idea =)

Puddles!

I have always had this strange fascination with puddles. Ever since I was a child, it has been difficult for me to fight the urge of taking the strongest, highest leap into the largest puddle I could find and completely drench myself and everyone around me. Tonight, as I was rushing home from work, the rain was transitioning from a heavy pour to a light mist. I turned off my windshield wipers and noticed the gold glimmers reflecting off the dark pavement of the road. The intesity of the shining gold changed as every puddle differentiated in shape and size. My hectic mood from trying to get home suddenly started to change into a calm mindset. I started to see the puddles as more than just my childish fascination and began to admire them as a beautful, natural formation that becomes even more evident with a blanket of light. The night sky was subtly brightened from the captured golden light of the puddles.I have never noticed how pretty reflections of color could be developed from what I have always considered a boring street light.

Here is a picture very similar to what I saw tonight: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/241/461539323_5e32346689.jpg?v=0

I Love L.A.

Going to school & working take up a lot of my time. I don't often get to step back and enjoy the day. But sometimes, an unexpected opportunity comes up and my day gets just a bit brighter.

Being inside for the majority of my days does not allow for much natural light to illuminate my life. However, today my roommates and I got to take a little trip up to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. We got there just in time, before the rain hit. As we walked through the exhibits, we came to a hallway with a long window overlooking the 405 freeway and Los Angeles. We stopped and stared out at the city, with its layer of visible atmosphere hovering over it, about to be broken through by rain at any moment. The light hung over the landscape as if you could really see every atom and particle that made it up. The sun and clouds were fighting each other, but the sun was still winning, if only by a slight margin. The clouds were not nice enough to let the sun color the earth its usual sunny yellow. Instead, only a layer of grey was cast over the city.

I usually hate rainy weather, but from this point, atop a hill, overlooking the city I have lived in all my life and love with all my heart, I began to appreciate what gloomy weather does for the beauty of the earth. Not only does it replenish and revive it, but it also allows us to view the world in a different light--literally; a light that is often under-appreciated, but when given the proper attention, can be beautiful in its own unique way.

Pictures like this (http://twitpic.com/ymgqe) are the reason I love Los Angeles... minus the smog :) (Sorry, I had to upload it somewhere else. For some reason it wouldn't let me upload a photo straight to the blog :(.)

Week #2

The past week, I've been really trying to soak in different lighting situations. It has been especially stimulating and informing because this week, we have had a wide variety of weather climates. I was going to write about an experience I had a few weeks ago, (3am walking from my car to my house), when the sky was crystal clear. And despite the fact that it was late, it was "bright" out, and the stars were glimmering away. Unfortunately, I didn't know we needed pictures, so there goes that blog!

I noticed a few others pulled old photos for this blog, so I am going to do the same. Over summer break, I went to Hawaii. I know it has been a while, but I remember the particular experience from the photo VERY vivdly because it was my first time in a helicopter, and duh, it was Hawaii!!! The experience was almost out of body for me.

The sky was fairly cloudy. It had a mixture of chunk clouds and even fog style clouds. This caused the light to be a brighter white to me, neither on the warm or cold side. I LOVE how chunky clouds cause beams of light and shadowing on the ground. You can not really see the beams of light through the sky in this photo, but you can see its effect on the floor below. The textured, uneven ground below was so interesting. If the light was cast unobstructed by clouds, you would have seen the actual dimensions of the ground with its highlights and shadows caused by the afternoon, angled, sun. But because there were chunks of light, it created a different texture and landscape below. I was amazed at how some areas could be so dark, while others so bright and vivid. Everything was in "soft focus". I did not photoshop this picture at all, so all the shadows, bright areas, etc. are all natural! I cannot pinpoint how particularly the lighting made me feel because there were so many other elements that were so stimulating, but I know, if everything was gray it would have been less breath taking.

So I guess an area of question for this experience could be the effectiveness of drastic, yet soft contrasts to a given scene.

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend,

Politeia

Disney Magic

I know it's cliche and I know that many many people have commented on the wonders of disneyland, but I have to say that as far as lighting goes there aren't many things that are more impressive. I went to Disneyland last Saturday and had a phenomenal time, however I did find myself constantly trying to find the light sources throughout each ride. Possibly the most interesting thing for me was the fireworks, though not in the usual sense. During the show I found my eyes drawn towards the castle more often than the fireworks themselves. It seemed like each section of the castle had it's own light and each light could do any range of colors. When I saw dancing ghosts on the walls of the castle I immediately started looking around to try and find something that looked like a LEKO in the countless raised lights around the square.

It really boggles the mind to think just how much wattage is used during a single performance, and then to think that they do the same show night after night after night. During the show, there was one moment that really drove this home for me. There was a pirate themed portion, and as soon as the pirate music began, I saw a giant skull and crossbones illuminate the side of the matterhorn. I would really like to know just how powerful of a light it took to do this. Well, here's to happy light hunting. Till next time.

Week # 2- Fire in the sky

My family always loves to admire the sunset, living in San Diego by the beach, it's a perfect place to see the sky light up. However, there was one sunset that stood out in my mind the moment you informed us about this assignment. I remember walking down the stairs and seeing the whole room lit up with reds and oranges, once I reached the bottom of the stairs it felt almost like downstairs was warmer than upstairs because there was so much light streaming in through our glass window. Out of all the sunsets i've seen this one was the most spectacular, usually the sky is lit with more pinks and purples, this was a rare instance that lingered in the sky for a while, making it appear as if it was on fire.

Week 2 - The Japanese

Call me lame, but I love Japanese entertainment when it comes to cartoons or shows on tv. I always notice that the Japanese have a strong sense of color and light. Whenever I look at this picture from the show known as "Kamen Rider Decade," I always get so many mixed emotions. The show is based on a character who is able to transofrm into a robot that fights crime while traveling to different worlds to save our world. This picture of the Kamen Rider features the newest rider and is part of the introductory scene for the show.

The pink, green, and black color of the Kamen Rider in this picture always gives me this feeling that I

am being introduced to a sleek and a high tech crime fighter. There is also a shine from the rider that gives me the impression that this is the latest and most high tech of the Kamen Riders. There have been over twenty Kamen Riders in the series. This rider is the newest one. In the introductory scene, we also notice that the background is usually white as it is in the picture. This white light always makes me feel as if the world has been erased, and the only remaining entity is the Kamen Rider. It makes sense since the Rider is always accused of being a destroyer when actually he tries to save the worlds and the human race. Therefore, the introduction could be using this white light to give the audience an impression of loss of life. The shine from the picture that was mentioned earlier also gives me this feeling that the character is a hero since the shine makes me think of a ray of hope. Therefore, I also get this feeling of an epic battle since the shine of the Rider conflicts with the white backgroud meaning that the character is going save the world or destroy it.

I find the color and lighting schemes to be very useful in entertainment as they add so much. Without light, half of the emotions that we receive from a show would be lost.

Week 2: The Elephant Man

So for the past two weeks I've been stage managing The Elephant Man and I'm just now getting around to writing my blog about it. I got pictures of the lighting this morning before the actors showed up but it looks like the SD card in my camera is corrupted. So unfortunately there aren't any pictures.

My favorite moments in the play as far as lighting is concerned were in Scene 16 and the following dream sequence. In Scene 16 the lighting designer created a couple of very subtle yet affective cues. When Treves is describing a patient of his to Merrick he starts off by telling a story about how this patient almost died but then came back suddenly. Merrick asks Treves if this patient saw heaven and Treves then quotes her "It was neither heavenly nor hellish..." At this point I call cue 116 and the stage suddenly looks warmer. It wasn't a very drastic change but the warmth helped emphasize Treves' story about the woman who almost died. The stage seemed to glow softly. Almost like the kind of lighting that you would see at sunset. When Treves finishes his story with "It had hints of becoming a kind of bliss. She fled" I called the next cue and then the stage went back to the original harsh white lighting it was in before Treves' story. This lighting was stagnant and reminded me of an office. The other moment in Scene 16 that is notable is when Merrick asks Treves if Kendall will come back. When Treves says no the front lighting on Merrick's face goes out so only the top lighting remains. This made Merrick's face darker because it was shadowed and helped create the crestfallen look that Jennifer was going for. At the end of this scene Treves falls asleep and the next scene is his dream.

After the blackout the lights come up again and the stage is blue and white with some kind of abstract pattern thrown across it. The gobo Jennifer used on the most offstage lights made the stage look like broken glass to me. It was sharp, angular, and very disjointed. Part of what made this scene dramatic was the fact that it is one of the few scenes to use color. The blue helped signify that it wasn't reality as did the texture on the floor. Overall it helped create the absurdity of the dream.

Week #2 - Miss Chinatown Fashion Show

Sadly I cannot provide a picture along with this post, but this weekend I attended a fashion show that my apartment-mate partook in. One of my friends who was also in attendance was adamant about taking pictures during the show but made a comment about the ceilings being too high for the flash on his camera to be effective. After talking about the poor lighting in the ballroom, I looked for the lights that would be used for the runway. When the models began the show I noticed that unlike a traditional fashion show where the room is near dark with the exception of the lit up runway, the room remained fairly lit, and they used a spotlight to draw attention. However, after having played with the lights the other day during class, I realized that whoever was working the spotlight did not do their job properly. The light was not focused on the runway, but very dispersed. Basically, the light was diffused and lit up areas that were unnecessarily lit. And I never realized how much of a difference a proper spotlight made, but I definitely noticed that my attention was not as focused on the models because other areas were lit up. If a crew member walked near the stage I saw him/her and that took away from the focus for a bit. With the lack of a properly handled spotlight, the models definitely lost some attention from the audience at random times during the show.

Week #2 - Always Loved & Never Forgotten

I know what you may be thinking... "is that a headstone?" "Oh, wow" "how sad". This may not be the typical picture you'd expect someone to post for their lighting entry, so let me explain...

I took this picture early this morning after church. I lost my grandma over winter break and so my whole break consisted of visiting her in the hospital, picking up family from the airport, cooking, mourning, etc...

Today was the first time we saw her headstone so I proceeded to pull out my sidekick and take a picture of it to send to my cousin in Honolulu. I tried my best to get a clear picture of it and made my family step aside so I wouldn't get legs and feet in the picture because it would be a distraction. It wasn't until after when I was looking at the picture during the car ride home, that I noticed the shadows (I guess my picture wasn't as clear as I thought?). Mr. Sun was shining behind me thus creating our images on the ground.

Starting from the left: my mom, my little sister, & me holding my sidekick.

I didn't get upset over the sun's rays. Lighting snuck in and played a little trick on me, but I didn't mind. As a matter of fact, it ended up being a comfort to me. I'm not quite sure how to adequately explain this, but it reminded me that sometimes you have to let go of perfection. I wanted the perfect shot of just her headstone & flowers, but I also ended up being in the picture (as well as my mom and little sister).

The shadows in the picture were proof that people were in fact there. I found comfort in the thought that although my grandma is no longer here with us on earth, her shadow still remains... the light from the sun just isn't shining from behind her to prove it.

My grandma lived by this passage:

In your recipe for living,

include a large measure of love

It is not what we have,

but what we give that makes us rich

Week #2: Heavenly Sky in Japan

On one of my trips to Japan, I took a few random pictures of the sky while paying some respects to my grandfather's grave. To my surprise, the sun was just about setting inside the cloudy sky. The photo shows a cool effect of the dim sunlight mixed with the fluffy clouds to create a heavenly feeling. Something else that caught my attention was how the lighting caused the silhouette affect on the electrical post. For some odd reason, that specific electrical post is very distinct to me when I visit Japan, so seeing it so negative/black in the left hand side of the picture makes it stand out even more. The asymmetry of the picture plays an important role with the lighting of the picture because it shows a gradual light-dark movement (right-left).

The moment of taking this photograph is still amazingly vivid in my memory today because when i took this photo, it added to the respect we were paying our grandfather. It made it a day of warmth and made us feel that the sky was this certain color for this reason. I even remember my grandmother tearing up when she was kneeling and praying. This photo represents that day in Japan and when i look at it i undergo a "feeling" rather than "seeing."

This was a definite moment of when I noticed my appreciation for the natural light provided by the sun. This reminded me of the sky of the Greek gods...when i was in Japan...weird, haha.

Lady GaGa Lighting

I recently attended the Lady GaGa concert, and was immediately captivated by the brilliant use of lighting. This picture was taken in her opening act as she stood behind a screen of green lights that formed a grid. I feel like I share very similar views with Lady GaGa, in that I am very much into futuristic lighting. I thought that her recent tour was very avante garde in terms of lighting. Even without the music, watching the lights that she uses in the show speaks so much.

I am definitely gaining a deeper appreciation of lighting already because I never realized how much power and attention it can gain from an audience perspective.

In addition to the use of her stage lighting, her outfit is actually lit up in sort of a Christmas lighting. You can tell from this image from where she is standing, that she clearly thought out her great use of lighting for both the stage and her costume. This is another example of why I think her forward way of thinking is so amazing. I have never seen a costume light up like that, and it definitely made me appreciate such great use of that. The rest of her show displayed a wide spectrum of such futuristic thinking that I was in such awe. This was a great show both in terms of music and lighting, and I would say both are almost equally powerful in the way that she used them. I would like to take inspirations from this concert and all this artificial lighting for my future work from now on. I feel very inspired looking at this image every time I glance at it.

Happy Sunday,

Ricky

Holiday Glow

I came home for the long weekend, and of course our Christmas Tree was still up and running- lights, ornaments, everything. The leaves are browning and dying, but the feeling that I associate with that decorated tree remains there. This photograph does not come remotely close to capturing the beauty of the image, but one of my favorite things to do is to sit in my living room around Christmastime when all of the other lights are off and everything is dark, lighten up only by those tiny twinkling lights. The colorful glow created gives me a feeling of calm, warmth, and happiness to which not much else can compare. There is an air of magic created for me by these little lights, which gives me peace and contentment. It is one of the things I love most about the holiday season, and miss most when it is gone.

Week 2

This is my favorite source of lighting of all time. I am sure all of you have ventured to Disneyland after dark when the entire park is finally lit up and have found yourself mesmorized by the castle. This picture was taken on January 3rd, which was the last day that the Christmas decorations were up, and I found the castle to be even more gorgeous than ever. Disneyland does an excellent job of drawing the attention of it's guests to this castle. It is located directly in your line of sight if you are walking down the middle of Main Street, and, particularly at Christmas time, there are strings of lights and garlands lining this street and essentially creating a path toward the castle, which of course remains the brightest thing of all.

On this particular night, my friends and I saved seats in front of the castle an hour before the fireworks show started to make sure we got a good spot, and I had no problem admiring the castle for that long. It may just be because I am a huge Disney fan (who wishes she was a Disney Princess), but I always find this castle to be a great source of inspiration. No matter how stressful life gets due to school, work, family, etc, taking a trip to Disneyland with a close friend or two and just stopping to look up at this castle gives me an immediate sense of calming and I am able to momentarily forget about all of my troubles. The sky around it is so black in contrast that you can't look away from it. It is so brilliant that you can't help but feel a moment of empowerment as you gaze up at it. It just allows me to again recognize the beauty of the simple pleasures in life. It is so easy these days to get too wrapped up in things like grades, tests, and auditions, that we lose sight of the joy and wonder that just being alive can bring. Anyway, before I get too swept up, my point is that Disneyland uses lighting all over its park to create this world of fantasy, to provide us with an escape and live up to its title as the "Happiest Place on Earth."

Week 2 Assignment

Last night while working at Disneyland's world famous Jungle Cruise I requested to use a spotlight on my boat. This spotlight seems to be a PAR, it looks similar to a headlight. Much like light used in theater the use of the spotlight allowed me to direct exactly where I wanted my guests to look. I was able to divert their eyes to places they never would have thought to look otherwise, thisis something I never would have been able to do without the spotlight. The jungle Cruise at night without the spotlight is reminiscent of what theater was before the advent of theatrical lighting- people looking anywhere they wish while carrying on side conversations. The spotlight enables me to legitimize my spiel through the Jungle as a performance rather than merely a scenic night time boat ride.

Week #2: Firey Sky

When I received this assignment, I immediately thought of this picture i took over winter break in Vegas. I walked onto my friends balcony in the evening expecting to look out into the boring desert land and this beautiful sunset was filling the sky. It looked like the sky caught on fire. I quickly went to take a picture and captured proof of this outstanding moment.

The fact that the road is round makes it look even more three dimensional.It makes me feel like the light is guiding us to meet in one area and that the sky is moving too. It was soo cool and breath taking. It was a one in a million sunset.

Week # 2; Rainbow Cloud

So i was looking through my pictures and found this one, taken about two years ago. Even though it was taken two years ago, i still know exactly when and where it was taken because it was a perfect end to a great show with a really close group of friends. As we were walking out of theater and into the parking lot, we all looked up and saw this random rainbow cloud. I don't even know how it was there because it wasn't raining and we couldn't see any other part of the rainbow. It was just a little lost rainbow cloud. Since the end of that summer, our same group of friends has not been able to get everyone back together in the same city and at the same time again. I like this rainbow cloud because it reminds of how special and fun that summer was with everyone there and working on the same show.

Week #2: A New Beginning

I will admit that this picture is a few months old- but it was one of the first things that came to mind when this assignment was introduced. So at least for this first blog, I am going to use it. Hey, at least I am being honest!

This photo was taken at far too early in the morning, immediately walking outside of my apartment on my way to my first day of class at UC Irvine. Sure it's a gorgeous sunrise, and sure- any sunrise can make any moment feel unique or more beautiful. But for me, this picture, this moment in time that I captured, just too perfectly fit the timing. To make a long story short, it has been quite the long path to where I was on that day- heading as a 3rd year transfer to my first day of school at UCI. I am 24 years old, and honestly just couldn't settling on any major, any school. So I went to film school after highschool, I went to community college for far too long. I took classes that interested me, rather than necessarily "got me anywhere" in terms of where California academics are concerned. But here I was... finally.. at a "real" school... ready for these next two years to fly by so that I could begin a new chapter in my life.

And well.. This sunrise gave me hope. It was a new beginning for me. It was a light at the end of a tunnel. It was a moment, at 7am, that I don't necessarily get to see that often but occurs every single day. So in the most poetic, cliche, cheesy and ridiculous way one can interpret it- the sunrise right outside of my apartment, with it's silhouetted palm trees, brilliant colors, and warming glow, is constant reminder for me to continue on- to persevere through these next two years.

Week #2 - Nature's Gobo

This afternoon, as I was wondering what I would write about for my first blog, I happened across something beautiful that only the sun could produce. It was a gloomy, rainy day today, so when a tint of orange encroached into my apartment through the blinds of the sliding glass door I couldn’t help but peek outside. I was so glad that I did.

I live in an apartment on the second story, so the little balcony outside is at about the same height as the tops of some neighboring trees. When the sunlight led me outside I noticed the most beautiful design on the stucco wall created by light. The sun was shining in the trees in such a way that the leaves created a marvelous shadow on the wall. It struck me so much because it looked almost exactly like a gobo that was used in a show I was in a couple of years ago. It made me look back and appreciate the reality of that lighting design for that show even more than I did at the time, but I also just loved how beautiful this shadow looked. I was truly stunned at how light in nature can be so marvelous. 

Week # 2- Dead Yet Alive

There's this large, old, pomegranate tree in my backyard that I've had at my house ever since I can remember. It started off as a stick and over the years it flourished to the point where it took over the backyard. When the season is right, this particular tree is outstanding to look at. Come Spring the leaves are a bright lime green, in summer the leaves turn a dark green and as fall hits the leaves turn a gorgeous yellow color. Unfortunately, when winter arrives the tree loses all of it's leaves and becomes a poor, naked looking wretch. Right now this eye sore stands in my backyard as some looming, grotesque thing with spiked, sharp edges for branches that point in every direction. It resembles a tree you'd typically find in a horror movie. If I didn't know any better, I would say it was dead and lifeless. Yet when I walked into the backyard, late this afternoon after I got home from school, the sun hit the tree in such a way as to give life back into the seemingly "dead" tree. Usually the "life" of the tree is shown with the countless leaves it has during the Spring to Fall seasons. So I was fascinated to see such an unusual sight of how the "life" of the tree was brought back just by how the sun's warm glow hit it. It ceased to be a dark, morbid looking tree and became a vibrant tree once more.

Seeing the Light in Breakfast

About a week ago, I woke up and said to myself, "bacon and eggs. Yup, that sounds good." So off I went to the kitchen to make said breakfast. Now, at this point, I should point out that the ventilation in my kitchen isn't the best, so midway through cooking the bacon, the fire alarm goes off and I was forced to leave the stove and deal with that. After shutting the alarm off, as I was going back to the now-burned bacon, I saw something beautiful. The light streaming through the blinds of my window was making wonderful shapes in the smoke that remained. It was really stunning - the light had almost a tangible quality to it. Anyone who's seen a heavily hazed dance concert knows something of the quality of light I mean. But in my kitchen, in my house, the effect seemed so out of place, and that made it somehow special - maybe simply because it was unexpected. I stood for a bit and watched how the light was streaking and flickering in the air and on the wall, until the rest of the smoke dissipated and that little moment ended. I don't actually think I had breakfast, but it was still a nice morning.

I wasn't sure what to write for this blog until this evening, as I was walking back to my room. I saw out of the corner of my eye the view outside my roommates window and was awe-struck. I quickly ran to my room and grabbed my camera and started to shoot the sunset through the screen.

From the window there are apartments on either side of this wide walkway and in the background was this gradient of heavenly colors. From the bottom I could see a rich, soft, rustic orange that blended to this blush pink then to a mystic lavender then to a cool blue that filled the rest of the sky to the blackness of outer space. It might be hard to see from the photo, but you had to be there to really appreciate the feeling of the moment.

Welcome to 50c Blogging for Winter 10

The intention of these blogs are to help you develop your eye for light not just in the theatre but in your life.

In order to more effectively understand how light can alter the perception of the audience; we need to first understand how it alters our perception on a daily basis.

As we move through the quarter, I hope that this blog will help you to discover light in ways that you have not seen before.

Perhaps you'll see colors you've never noticed before, you may recognize the angle of a certain light, and maybe you will find ways to articulate how a light makes you feel.

In order to assist with this process, I've created this blog so that all of you may contribute a short piece each week on an aspect of light that you have noticed throughout your journeys.

This can include a particular moment in a play, a beautiful sunset, a great rock concert or a well lit store, or just what happens to your emotions when the sun moves behind a cloud. Anything and everything can be included.

Your postings do count towards your final grade.

Please include photos with your post to help us see what you are describing.

Whether or not you continue in lighting design after this class, I hope that this online journal will help you to discover inspiration for you art in daily life.

Thanks and Happy Blogging!!

Lonnie Alcaraz