Week 5 One Acts

During a rehearsal for the week five one acts, our lighting Designer was tinkering with lighting for the transition when he seemingly accidentally created this effect in the Nixon. Those ugly backstage curtains looked satin and luxurious out of nowhere. I don't think we ended up using this particular look at any point in the show but it was enough to make me stop and take a picture in the middle of tech.

The sun!!!!! NOT REALLY DOE

So this is an image from a filming project that I was working on with a friend and I don't really know what it is but while I was taking a snapchat it was turned on and I saw a beautiful light. In person it has a clearer shape and you can see the lantern details but from my iPod all that could be seen is the rough outline of the lantern and this gorgeous white light. Look at how much area it covers and that's with the lantern on, I bet without it it would just be binding, literally :P.

Hahahaha that's Kristen!!!!!!!!!!!

So this is a snapchat that I took when we were taking a break in class hahahaha. I changed it to black and white because I never use that filter and when I made the switch I was like "DAMN. Look at those shadows." I really like how the light creates a big shadow and washes a majority of the floor. It reminds me of like a noir film and things are getting intense.

Don't say anything hahahahaha

So this is a picture of a ring my brother gave me with a clear crystal in the center and what I really like about this picture is the way that the light shines off of the ring. One minute I'm talking to a friend at a table and the next I'm blinded by this light that seemed to come from nowhere then I checked to see that my ring was trying to tell me something :). I can see my shirt in the reflection hahaha

Gel Reflection Lightning! (Blog #5)

Just the other day I left my laptop sitting on a table with some gels in front of it and when I came back I saw this. This isn't exactly the kind of thing I've seen on stage, but I 'm now quite curious to see if it would be possible. A cursory web search tells me that my laptop is made out of aluminum, so I'm wondering if the same or a similar effect could be achieved by papering the back wall of a stage with some aluminum foil. I'm also wondering about what would happen if I attached some gel and/or aluminum foil to an I-Cue. I'd definitely need to do a lot of experimenting before I tried applying this to a light plot, but I think it could be fantastic in the right play.

What intrigues me about the light here is not so much the colors reflected, but the appearance of these weird white wisps. I think they could look really good for something electrical or magical. Perhaps different levels of polish or roughness on aluminum, or other materials all together could produce some different and equally intriguing patterns.

Illumination and Comedy

My bother and I are participating in a film festival this week, so this weekend we had to shoot a 7 minute comedy. Because this film festival requires that the films must be made over the course of one week with no budget, using professional-level lighting was out of the question leaving us to the mercy of natural lighting to provide enough illumination for our movie. This became problematic later in the day, once we started losing a bit of light, because even though the actors were still clearly visible, the jokes were no longer playing well because of the quality of light. Comedy is heavily reliant on subtle reactions in order to maintain its humor, so even subtle changes in lighting can drastically affect the comedic outcome of a moment. For example, as the sun was on its way down, one of the last shots which we had to get for the day was of our actress reacting to a stranger being at the door. When we started her face was well lit and her performance was playing well, but several takes and a quick lens change later and the room was now a few shades darker and shadows had begun to creep into frame. This moment which was comedic several minutes prior now suddenly felt unfunny at best and creepy at worst. We ended up getting the shot the next day, but this instance really helped me realize the fragility of comedy and the extent to which a subtle change in lighting can drastically change the way a scene is perceived.

Santa Barbara - Post 5

I took this picture in Isla Vista, CA during a Shabbaton at UCSB. The weather had not been wonderful and the waves decided to take advantage of the beach. It was so dark and tumultuous, yet so interesting and beautiful. The unsafe feeling of waves crashing on land that people normally walk on is mimmicked in the cold and dim colors. Erosion at work. Very unsettling.