Week #8. In-vuitt-ed.

I took this image at the Louis Vuitton store - South Coast Plaza. From a distance it looked as if the bags and shoes were floating. The lighting for this display came from down-lights as well as side angled-lights. This light is reflected by the gold flowers that attract the eye from a distance. I think they made a good choice of lighting the gold flowers in a way that makes them sparkle, it definitely makes draws the eye and one ends up looking at the retail products. I like the fact that the display is surrounded by complete black, the black makes is pop. This is a great way of focusing the light and controlling the gaze of the audience. I think I would further support this lighting with a soft cool blue to give it a less harsh appearance. In addition, I would rethink the positioning of the side angled-lights as they make the background a bit too bright, taking away from the main focus, which is the Louis Vuitton products on display.

Week #8 - Andrew and the Crimson Bridge

Please tilt your head....

This is the bridge that links the medical sciences and the science library at UCI.  I find this picture interesting because the lights isn't really that functional.  It is isolated in alternating pools of warm light.  They mimic streetlamps on an avenue more than they actually illuminate a pathway.  Also, the light turned up on my camera as much more of a saturate red than the simply warm-yellow I was seeing with my eyes.  

The light makes me feel lost.  As if I was wandering block to block in a tireless city, depressed, broke, and hopeless.  The colors of the sky in the back however give me a sense of the past.  The light in this picture reminds me that life goes on no matter what we do.  What we experience are comparable to pools of light.  Our paths are not fully illuminates; we must take steps into darkness to get to the next pool.  

Summary of my feelings from this light: Drudgery, wandering, dwindling.

   

Week #8 - Ancient Grizzly Legend....

Back at Disneyland. I'm actually glad I went back because the first time I went and noticed lighting around the park there were so many things I wanted to post on here about. This is a view of the river rafting ride Grizzly River Run. Every attraction has a different story, and the lighting is definitely one of the main effects that Disney utilizes to fully transport the guest into whatever story they are trying to create in an environment. The setting for Grizzly River Run is a former mining operation turned thrill-seeker's rafting route running through the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains (yes, it's really that specific). The mountain, which looks like a howling bear, comes with a legend which says that the great bear's spirit can still be heard roaring at those who dare to intrude upon the sacred mountain. This story-telling language, with words like "legend" and "sacred" and "spirit," is quite rich and descriptive, which I'm sure helped whoever did the lighting design for this attraction to bring the story to life. The use of the mist with the lighting, especially at night, as seen in this photo, helps to create the feeling of the "great bear's spirit" and an ancient legend surrounding the mountain and the river. Mlondi and I were actually just discussing something else in regards to mist and light onstage... It is difficult to actually see a "ray" of light or a strong "beam" of light coming across a stage, and a way to be able to see this is by using fog or mist or haze. So haze can be utilized to help the viewer see rays of light, or as an effect in themselves, to create a sense of mystery, or whatever feeling the piece is calling for.

Week #7: Andrew and the Midday Moon

Okay, so whenever I take a picture of a celestial body, I swear that technology conspires against me to mute how spectacular balls of burning gas actually are.  Anyway, I took this on my way to school (lavender sky pic #2).  I found it intrigued by the color of the sun, how the sky and the clouds seemed to filter it into cold colors.  It reminds me of shadow puppeteering in Bali.  There is a light source behind a screen and silhouetted puppets tell a story in shadow.  This evokes a sense of mystery and playfulness.  I would love to do a silhouette dance using this form of light (like Mlondi did with Celeste) where we stack up on each other to make new shapes.  A perfect example : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKHP1usw0wQ

Week 7 - Vintage Instagram Tree

This picture was taken by a friend in the park on campus. To me this picture speaks of playfulness, happy memories, and Fall! The patterning of light created by the tree could be interpreted easily onstage with a gobo, to create the feeling of Fall in a piece. The photo is "instagrammed" which I am not particularly a fan of, as it makes it difficult to see the actual colors of the moment in time. But it is a comment on stylization and color. For this "instagram filter" it kind of creates a more brown look than the original image, which, to me, makes it feel more vintage. Perhaps this could be used to inspire a vintage feeling in lighting for a piece on stage as well.

Homework#7 Wade in the Water Children!

 I looked at the sky and what I saw made me smile. It reminded me of the sea. I took these pictures while walking on the bridge that connects the dance studios to the Mesa parking structure. What strikes me in these photographs is how the bright orange sun lights and highlights the moving clouds. This image is rich with contrasting colors. The sky looks bright and blue while some clouds appear white and some appear gray. This contrast evokes a mixture of emotion to me. The blue gives a sense of water and cleansing. The gray is more morbid. The tint of orange makes the clouds pop and gives them character. The clouds look like crashing waves of the ocean. I would use this kind of lighting in a choreography that had a mood change that goes from happy to morbid or visa versa. I would change the mood by adding and omitting the orange tint.

Week #6 : Andrew and the adventurer's path

Taken on the daily walk to school on a sunny So-Cal day!  I took the picture primarily because of the designs cast by the shadows, but I like the lens flare through the center of the photo.  This lighting fills me with a sense of playful adventure, like a ten year old going off to save the world.  It reminds me of a video game I used to play, "Tales of Symphonia" and traveling through levels fraught with monsters.  The animation is slightly comical, but the plot and storyline are sophisticated and complex, encompassing racism, deception, and manipulation by the more powerful.  In any case, this lighting is a single snapshot in the day of an adventurer.  I'm certain a gobo could create a similar design to the shade, but in order to get the brighter look, I would need to fill the stage with side lights (probably both shins and pipe ends).  

Week #6 : Vivre Dans le Luxe et Fantaisie

I went to Sunset Boulevard  and I was taken by this window display at the Louis Vuitton store. I was curious about how they lit the octopi-looking red design pieces. I saw how light is coming from the top as well as from the sides, making these design objects look 3-dimensional. I think the image would've fallen flat without the lighting that comes from the sides. It is lit subtly with a warm color. I like how I appear as a silhouette when I am standing in front of it and I started getting curious about how the image would change if i was in it and not just standing in front of it. This lighting exudes the luxury and sophistication that goes with the Louis Vuitton brand.

Week #6 - Christmas lights

This picture doesn't capture it too well, but these are the Christmas lights that I have strung up on the railing of the balcony of my apartment. Stringed lights have started to pop up all around the apartment complex and it makes me so happy! I have had my lights up for a long time, not just recently with the upcoming holiday season. I love bright colors. I have an orange desk, pink phone, red tv, purple guitar... you get the idea. I put these lights up as an expression of my personality, which I think of as bright and colorful. This example shows yet another purpose of light. In a lot of the pieces we have created in class we have used different colors to represent different characters, like I did with Andrew in my midterm project. I think it is quite a useful lighting technique to have a different color/feeling for different characters. It makes things very clear, usually, for the viewer.

Another thing this makes me think about is how much we use light in various ways at different times of year. Christmas lights all over the place in winter, putting a candle into a pumpkin at Halloween to create an eerie glow, birthday candles on a cake to make a wish on our birthdays. Light is so much more a part of important occasions than I have really ever thought of before. Not only is it the warmth of a fire that can bring people together on a cold winter night, but it also the warm glow. I think people tend to naturally gravitate to light. I know this post seems a little bit ramble-y, but I guess my point is that I think light has the power to bring people together, to help us express ourselves, and to help us celebrate life's occasions.

Week #5 AHH- Warmth from the Fog

While walking to campus on a foggy morning, the lamps just illuminated into the morning.  Each beam of light seemed to be tightly pulled into a string by the atmosphere and called me in towards the light.  What I like most about the light was its eminence (which is not fully apparent in the photo unfortunately) and the warmth of the light.  It awakened a sense of curiosity, like a moth to the flame and sucked my attention into one point.  This reminds me of how we talk in class how our eyes are attracted to warm light first.  Also, although I consider this morning to be "dark," it is actually quite bright.  The fact that the light has such warm colors means that my eyes are registering another source as brighter (we see the brightest light as white.  If the lamp was the brightest, it would look like white light).  Hence, I suppose that in order to get this warm, curiosity inducing light in a stage setting, I would have to either have a brighter source of light with it.  Or I could introduce the audience to bright light first so that they recognize that as white, take that light out and have the lamp be the primary source on stage.  I feel like the first would be more successful (spots perhaps?  Shins?) so the dancers could be seen.

Week #5: A Musical Composition

I recently went to downtown Los Angeles to catch up with an old friend. As we were driving in-between the tall skyscrapers of downtown LA I couldn't help but notice how the sunset looked behind LA  city hall. The color of the sky in this picture is a cold pale cyan with a tint of pale green that adds a warm atmosphere. This color of the sky represents creativity to me. It also brings a mood of serenity and tranquility to a somewhat dark city where tall buildings block away the light. I look at it and I can hear Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata in my head. This also made me think of how in class we spoke about cold colors needing a bit of warm colors in order to gain depth and visibility. The way I would interpret this in the theatre is I would light the top half of the cyclorama from a high angle with a combination of pale warm and cold colors. This would create very elaborate silhouettes, especially if I have a big set on stage. This type of lighting would work for big ballet works or operas with big sets to establish time of day and mood.

Week #5 - Reflection

This photo is a still frame from a dancefilm I am currently working on. The day that I filmed this part was one of those wonderful, sunny California days. The sky was beautifully blue (which makes me think of my first day in this lighting class when I asked "Why is the sky blue?" I have yet to google that...) I love how saturate the blue is in this picture. This is a fountain on campus at UCI. Emotions that the lighting in this photo make me think of are refreshing, renewed, fluid, reflective, soothing, thirsty, alive, and vivid. I totally see movement in this photo, even though it is obviously a still photo. I, obviously, know how this photo was taken and what it is a picture of, but it makes me wonder if someone saw this picture without any explanation what they would think is going on... I would love to create this feeling onstage with lighting, with some blue color and maybe a gobo of some sort to create the wavy look. I wonder how else water can be portrayed onstage using lighting... I've definitely seen it done in some plays, but now I am sitting here trying to figure out how it was achieved. Possibly some kind of moving light or playing with the light reflecting off of some set or costume piece to create the movement of ripples.