Week 10- Angela C- Obsession

Last blog for Lighting Class. I have to say that I have learned a lot about what a lighting designer goes through to be creative, come up with concepts that fit the world of the director and colors, colors, angles and colors. I was talking with Juliette that I have learned how my blocking can affect lighting ie positions and angles along with the use of colors to stimulate some emotion. It has been a fun class to challenge myself in. Now we go on to OBSESSION:

The photo above is from my production of In The Heights. I am mad obsessed with this show. It fulfills what I have longed for since I have been part of theatre... to see someone that looks like me on stage or a story that is like my own. In this production the lighting designer Donny Jackson knew the aesthetic I was going for. We discussed moments of surrealism versus realism. This moment during the song "96000" is toward the end of the song where everyone is saying "We'll get the dough n' Once we get goin' We're never gonna Ninety Six thousand". We both knew that this moment needed to reflect surrealism. The thought of having that much money and the many things that could be done is endless. Mr. Jackson created a moment that literally slows down time and movement. The colors he used were purples, blues, greens and ambers. Along with the projections and the spotlights; this is one of my favorite moments in the musical. 

My final picture is one from 12 years ago when I was in undergrad at UCSB. This was a passion production of mine "Ni Una Mas". This is a play about the femicides happening in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.  It is somewhat performance art with movement based motivated monologues. Each character dies in the same way but we get to learn who the young lady was before she was murdered. Let's look at the simplistic lighting that I created... not knowing that I was designing a lighting concept at the time. I knew I wanted the focus to be the actors voices hence why their faces are covered in black veils. The lighting that I did was to highlight every body as if this was in real time. Meaning if someone was walking by desert Bravo and saw a dead body on the ground. You would have to look at it to see if it was real, what their position is like and what they went through. While they all wore black, the lights add a mysterious feeling. It was fun to wrap their bodies in light and darkness. If I could do this play again the lighting would be eerie, dense and dark. 

I suppose my obsession is creating a moment. As a director, I want to visually feed your eyes with every moment I create on stage. With lighting, I have realized I want to feed your eyes and soul with emotions and wonder. I want to see what I can contribute to a story with lighting. How does the color I choose affect the audience? Does it make you feel sad? Can you feel the colors affect how you see a story? I am still learning but obsessed to see what else I can learn from this and how it will add to my directing.