Reddit Reddit reviews A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting

We found 17 Reddit comments about A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

Arts & Photography
Books
Theater
Theater Direction & Production
Performing Arts
A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting
Focal Press
Check price on Amazon

17 Reddit comments about A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting:

u/Dooflegna · 23 pointsr/techtheatre

Three things are going to help you:

  • Thinking in terms of Systems and Specials
  • Specifically choosing how your lights are channeled and groupd.
  • Having a Magic Sheet


    Systems and Specials


    First off, you want to always be thinking about your lights in terms of Systems and Specials. A System is a group of lights that perform a single function together. The most common form of a 'System' is a wash. Your front light is a system. Your top light is a system.

    Specials are the individual lights that do 'special' unique functions. For example, you might have a light that shoots through a window to make the effect of moonlight. Or you might have a light that sits on a chair for a musical number.

    Let's imagine a really simple show where you have four systems, an RGB cyc, and two specials. Your systems and specials are:

  • Front Straight Amber Wash, R02
  • Front Straight Blue Wash, R62
  • Top Amber Wash, R16
  • Top Blue Wash, R80
  • RGB Cyc, each one individually controlled.
  • Firelight special
  • Moon Gobo special

    The first four systems are made up of 15 lights each, covering two dimensions: SR - SL, DS - US. Something like this:

    UR URC UC ULC UL
    CR CRC CC CLC CL
    DR DRC DC DLC DL

    You also want to individually control all the cyc colors so you can do mixing. The two specials each need to have their own channel.

    Specifically choosing how your lights are channeled and groupd.


    The next thing to do is to specifically choose how your lights are channeled and groupd. When you had a board with all sliders, you might just have assigned everything numerically, because you were limited in how many physical sliders you had (or perhaps limited by dimmers). The advantage of a modern board like the Ion is that you can use numerical mnemonics to visually identify/remember.

    Imagine your Ion screen is laid out something like this:

    01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
    21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
    41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60
    61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80
    81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

    Now if you just channeled everything in order, numerically, you'd end up with channels looking something like this:

  • Front Straight Amber Wash, R02 - Channels 1-15
  • Front Straight Blue Wash, R62 - Channels 16-30
  • Top Amber Wash, R16 - Channels 31 - 45
  • Top Blue Wash, R80 - Channels 46-60
  • RGB Cyc, each one individually controlled. - Channels 61 (R), 62 (G), 63 (B)
  • Firelight special - Channel 64
  • Moon Gobo special - Channel 65

    That's not a bad way of doing it, but it's not really optimal. For one, there's no easy way to visually look at the screen and see what things are doing. Your systems wrap across multiple lines, and everything is just group'd up with no rhyme or reason. It doesn't help you remember anything.

    Visually, the channels will look like this on your Ion Screen: http://i.imgur.com/YJca3Ff.png

    Instead, imagine channeling it something like this:

  • Front Straight Wash R02, Channels 1-15
  • Front Straight Wash R62, Channels 21-35
  • Top Amber Wash R16, Channels 41-55
  • Top Blue Wash R80, Channels 61-75
  • RGB Cyc, each one individually controlled. - Channels 81 (R), 82 (G), 83 (B)
  • Firelight special - Channel 91
  • Moon Gobo special - Channel 92

    Now look at that on the Ion Screen: http://i.imgur.com/3TXCGYx.png . Look at the nice neat columns and rows that let you easily see what's going on. What's more, the numerical mnemonics help you know where channels are:

    11: UR 12: URC 13: UC 14: ULC 15: UL
    06: CR 07: CRC 08: CC 09: CLC 16: CL
    01: DR 02: DRC 03: DC 04: DLC 05: DL

    You know that X1 is always DR. So 01 is DR Front Amber, 21 is DR Front Blue, 41 is DR Top Amber, 61 is DR Top Blue. You can look at the screen and see what's going on visually. Eventually, you'll be able to look at the channel screen and instantly understand what it should look like on the stage.

    Now, it does get tedious to select all the channels you want all the time. This is where Groups come in handy. You use Groups to select your systems so that you don't always have to type in [CHANNEL 1 - 15].

    Again, numerical mnenomics will help you out. Let's just think of our four front washes. You could group them 1-4:

  • Group 1 - Front Amber Wash
  • Group 2 - Front Blue Wash
  • Group 3 - Top Amber Wash
  • Group 4 - Top Blue Wash

    Problem is that way doesn't help you remember what your channels are at. Group 4 is... What? Oh, Top Blue Wash, my fourth system. When I make groups, I make them around channel numbers:

  • Group 1 - Front Amber Wash, Channels 1-15
  • Group 21 - Front Blue Wash, Channels 21-35
  • Group 41 - Top Amber Wash, Channels 41-55
  • Group 61 - Top Blue Wash, Channels 61-75

    That helps you remember what channel you're selecting. You can also add more groups to get more levels of control:

  • Group 5 - Down Stage Front Amber Wash, Channels 1-5
  • Group 10 - Mid Stage Front Amber Wash, Channels 6-10
  • Group 15 - Up Stage Front Amber Wash, Channels, 11-15

    And so on.

    Eventually, you'll have a selection of groups that let you quickly and easily select areas of the stage you want to isolate.


    What is a Magic Sheet?


    Once you know what your systems and specials are, and you've got them grouped/channeled, you can make your Magic Sheet. Your Magic Sheet is for you, as the designer, to help you remember what your systems and specials are. It's a quick reference to tell you what your systems and specials are so that you DO remember what you have to use. That way you can just look down and know what channels you need to call out. Magic Sheets are unique to you... you might make them look like color keys, you might have them visually laid out on the stage.


    Here's an example of a magic sheet I drew up for this show:

    http://i.imgur.com/5uOvjYU.png

    The magic sheet has all my systems with their appropriate channel numbers as well as my cyc numbers and specials. Because I'm using group number mnemonics, I don't have to write down group numbers... I can just remember that Group 1 selects R02 Front, Group 61 selects R80 Top, etc. etc..

    I hope those tips helped. If you haven't yet, you should get (and read) the Practical Guide to Stage Lighting, which will really help you get the most out of your designs. http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Guide-Stage-Lighting-Edition/dp/0415812003

    tl;dr


    Buy this book: http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Guide-Stage-Lighting-Edition/dp/0415812003

u/TheWoodsman42 · 6 pointsr/lightingdesign

First things first, different areas are going to call different things different names. Never be ashamed about asking what people mean by a term, as clear communication is critical in this industry.

Next, three books that will help you.

  1. Backstage Handbook while a little outdated, this is the stagehands bible.

  2. Electricity for the Entertainment Electrician and Technician this is a good reference for how electricity works. Less of a what things are and more of a how things are. Good book regardless.

  3. A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting also more of a how things are, this details more of the design and communication side of lighting. Also a very good read, as it details out paperwork for shows.

    As far as what equipment and systems you should be familiar with? ETC EOS family is a good starting point. It’ll get your mind familiar with how to program lights and is a pretty universal starting point. ETC Sensor Racks are also fairly standard for dimming. For moving lights, that’s really going to depend on what you’re able to get your hands on. If there’s a production shop nearby to you, call them up and see if they’re willing to take you on as an intern so you can learn things, or just ask them to spend a couple days showing you how everything works. Or see if there’s an IATSE chapter that’s nearby to you, they’ll also be able to help point you in the right direction.
u/kliff0rd · 5 pointsr/techtheatre

Vectorworks and Lightwrite are pretty standard for generating light plots and paperwork. WYSIWYG and AutoCAD are also used, along with manually created fixture/patch/color/etc schedules.

I'd recommend this book for an excellent, in-depth guide to the practical side of lighting design.

u/rigg77 · 5 pointsr/techtheatre

Check out Steve Shelley’s book Practical Guide to Stage Lighting. I learned a fair amount about contracts from it, enough to write my own.

The above comment about consulting a lawyer is also wise, but most lawyers are going to know your business like you do. If you come to them with something to look over, you’re more likely to get a positive and meaningful reaction.

u/44calibreloveletter · 3 pointsr/OkCupid

I really like this book: A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting. I think you'll appreciate how Steve Shelley lays his ideas out.

u/Pablo_Diablo · 3 pointsr/techtheatre

Steven Shelley's 'A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting is an EXCELLENT lighting design primer. It walks you through everything from the initial discussions, to placing the units on the plot, to focus and cuing.

Don't take everything he says as gospel, but it is a comprehensive place to start. (And Steve's a great guy, too)

u/birdbrainlabs · 3 pointsr/techtheatre

I've heard good things about this book: http://smile.amazon.com/Stage-Lighting-Design-Craft-Life/dp/0896762351/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408621466&sr=8-1&keywords=pilbrow (And I like Mr. Pilbrow a lot).

I would also push Steve Shelly's book (of field template fame): http://smile.amazon.com/Practical-Guide-Stage-Lighting-Edition/dp/0415812003/ref=pd_sim_b_6?ie=UTF8&refRID=17JEA99XS937A1M5TPEK

I'm not sure there's one solid book for it (but I'd be happy to be wrong). Are you specifically looking for live (e.g., busking) lighting design, or are you just looking for general lighting design?

u/ltjpunk387 · 3 pointsr/lightingdesign

A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting by Steve Shelley

Designing With Light by J. Michael Gillette

These are the two staple textbooks for any lighting design class.

u/fiatluxs4 · 2 pointsr/lightingdesign

It all depends on what kind of design you want to get into? Concert/music design is totally different than theatrical, even within theatre musicals and plays often have different design principals.
I'd check out Steve Shelly's book https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Guide-Stage-Lighting-Third/dp/0415812003/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0415812003&pd_rd_r=QMEV3MMX5JMSDAZPBNNT&pd_rd_w=uh8vJ&pd_rd_wg=jKgB8&psc=1&refRID=QMEV3MMX5JMSDAZPBNNT
as well as this one. https://www.amazon.com/Stage-Lighting-Handbook-Francis-Reid/dp/087830147X/ref=pd_sim_14_6?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=087830147X&pd_rd_r=YG5RCJMEPDWJ7E98CBCZ&pd_rd_w=QJmxz&pd_rd_wg=ZQ1Dr&psc=1&refRID=YG5RCJMEPDWJ7E98CBCZ

My biggest suggestion for someone who's just getting started is to not buy any equipment. Equipment is mostly cheap to rent, a PAR can is $3 or $4 a unit, and it's someone else's problem to fix it and buy lamps for it. You're not going to be able to afford quality gear, so you'll end up with cheap Chinese crap that's just going to disappoint you. The other thing to remember is that intelligent lighting is relatively new to lighting, lots of fantastic shows were lit without anything fancy. It's far better to master your color and angle work then get in to using movers than it is to just start throwing strobes everywhere and pray that it works. Learning to make choices and which choices are stronger than others will get you a lot further in life than being able to spit out flash and trash like everyone else can.

u/loansindi · 2 pointsr/techtheatre

Well, a lighting design text is probably a good place to start.

I also recommend this one because a lot of folks in the industry have limited knowledge about electricity, and that's not ideal (and is sometimes dangerous). It's pretty approachable.

I'm not aware of any really good general purpose stagecraft resources online. There's info out there but it's scattered and a lot of it hails from decades ago.

u/TuckerD · 2 pointsr/lightingdesign

Books I recommend / see commonly recommended.

    • -
      Show Networks and Control Systems

      This is a great book all about how modern lighting networks work using sACN and other protocols. John Huntington is a great speaker if you ever get a chance to see him speak. He should be doing a session or two as USITT this year. He is also a professor at CUNY and has a great program there.
    • *
      Electricity for the Entertainment Electrician & Technician

      Another great book by another great speaker. I got to see a panel with Richard Cadena a few years ago at USITT. I was very impressed with how he spoke about stage lighting and some of the practical experiments that he has done and shared with us. I haven't read this book, but I've heard great things about it. A big topic of conversation at that panel was inrush current, and he gave some really great and easy to understand answers. I suspect that his book is more of the same.
    • -
      Designing with Light

      A classic. Very very well respected book. It will probably be the text book for your first lighting class in college, if you choose to study lighting in college.
    • -
      A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting

      I see this book recommended most often. It's another great book. The title holds true, it is a very practical guide to stage lighting. How to do paperwork. How to write a contract. How to talk to people. Some nuggets of lighting knowledge. I didn't really get as much out of it though, as I am not trying to become a professional lighting designer.
u/bjk237 · 1 pointr/lightingdesign

Here's a great resource. Available as an e-book and at many libraries as well: https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Guide-Stage-Lighting-Third/dp/0415812003