Week 10 - Creepy and the Unknown

As my last blog of the quarter, I wanted to take the chance to study something that really always intrigued me. As we all know, when we are children, the darkness always feeds our imaginations and can produce some scary images that can really trigger our emotions and make us react in very astounding ways. Unto this day, I am still afraid of the dark. Even in my own house, I will begin to doubt myself and really ask whether what is in the dark is completely known. When the imagination is on fire, our behaviors can change dramatically. In fact, I still lock the door to my room when I go to sleep at night. How can so much tension be produced through darkness? I took this picture because it is somewhat the epitomy of what I am talking about. Many lessons for lighting I have learned from this picture.

First of all, what is amazing is how this picture was taken in broad day light and still managed to produce so much fear in me. The picture was taken at two o'clock in the day. It is probably a safe time of day for most. It is for me. I know for a fact there are people inside my house. Therefore, I am pretty sure nothing is in this dark corner. Still, I am blown away because I am just so frightened by this image. I still think there can be something lurking in the corner waiting to grab me. Even though I know this garage very well, it is still dark enough for me to wonder if there is something in the corner. This really stresses the idea of angling and tension. The angle of the shadows is in the corner of the garage. I can't really see all of the angle, and therefore, I begin to wonder if I am missing something in that corner. Shadow can also really spark our imaginations. This goes for a show as well. If I were to brighten sections on a stage and retain a small sense of shadow in a certain section, I could probably produce fear from my audience since I will get them to wonder what is in that section of the stage. Plus, if I were to add shadow effects around the stage and brighten everything up to a good percentage, just because everything is revealed I am still causing tension because I am keeping the audience in a place that is still borderline mysterious. I am hoping to make a horror show, and I would love to play with shadow effects. I also notice how white colors also add to that terrifying effect. The only colors in the garage seem to be white and black. The white is obviously more revealing. Since the white is not the dominating color but is the most visible, I begin to draw into the borderline mysterious area. I can only see these objects. What else is in the garage... I know what is there but is there something more? Since white is so visible, I can probably really begin to play with brighter colors to reveal a few objects on stage and make the shadow a dominating effect. I can draw the audience in and really get them scared.

Shadows produce so much tension. It just goes to prove how we can create a feelings in the human being that can defy logic. We might logically know there is nothing in the theater that can hurt us, but we have the power to overcome that logic.