With the ethos of our company we try to reuse and reform unwanted items and objects into completely new and unique items. I believe we accomplished this with great success in If An Orchid Was All You Had, including the amazing design and structuring of the set. I knew that because of the level and amount of technology we had in the show, we would have to use theatrical lighting for the performance, however I wanted to include some level of up-cycling and creativity within the design aspect of lighting effects. I first did some research into some easy DIY lighting effects that included: make-shift spot lights, a laser effect, a light up cloud & an illusion mirror. I would like to have used all of these techniques however the laser effect was costly and the light up cloud we decided did not fit artistically with the narrative and atmosphere of our show, however the make shift spot lights were easily do-able and the illusion mirror really intrigued me and I thought it would fit nicely with the theme of our piece.
Although they were not used, the instructional videos for the laser and cloud are listed below:
Spot lights
Like I mentioned above I knew that we were going to be using the theatre’s lights and that we were doing intricate lighting designs so the need for extra spot lights were not needed. “Before trying to create pleasant light, always be aware of unpleasant light” (Mende, 2000 ,22). Instead of getting too caught up in trying to make cool lights I made sure we didn’t go too over board and create too much hassle than it was worth. However I thought that as a contingency we may need some kind of back up lights that we could use to brightly light up a specific area on stage if we needed to.
These small make shift spot lights were made by using two piece’s of empty toilet roll tubes and cutting down the edge and opening them up. Then we used LED circular lights donated to us by flat mates and family members. Simply wrapping the two toilet roll tubes around the light and taping it into place all that was left was to draw on a place that signifies the lights power button. These lights were useful as they provided a movable hook so they could be placed in all sorts of positions and were also powerful enough to light up a designated area with decent intensity. They were used during each scene in which Jacob Toon was on the bike, placed just in front of him on the bike/organ, helping to keep his face well lit as to be seen on the live feed. They were also used during Jacob Kay’s speech during the Sadism scene to light up his cue cards as the only light source came from a spot light above Jacob making the rest of the stage rather dark.
Illusion Mirror
I first found a video on YouTube instructing on how to make a mirror with lights around the frame and cause’s the reflection to create an illusion effect were the lights seem to go on forever. However in the original video he uses black window film to place over the mirror as its two way reflective so lets light through as well reflecting it back and this is what create’s the illusion effect. However the black window film was rather expensive and so I thought it best to sacrifice that aspect of the mirror, but I didn’t to drop the idea completely. “One cannot encounter innovative light without, in the end, possessing courage. One should not be satisfied with incidents that have been experienced. One must gain courage to see unknown light when passion and experience are put forth” (Mende, 2000, 22). Instead I took the frame apart and took the mirror out and attached LED strip lights around the frame, and then sawed a fraction of the frame to make a gap for the wire to thread through. I then cracked the mirror several times and refit it to the frame. The cracks in the mirror are designed to help portray the cracks between the worlds as well as the cracks within the man’s mind. The lights are designed to highlight the cracks within the mirror as well reflect the light back towards whatever is in front of the mirror; which in the show was the Orchid. The Orchid was placed in front of the mirror as to suggest that it was the reason behind the cracks.
Original Illusion Mirror Video
References:
Kaoru Mende, (2000) Designing With Light and Shadow, Mulgrave: Images Publishing.
HouseholdHacker, (2016) How to make a cloud light, Available from: www.youtube.com/watch?v=07m0e7NwzKc , Accessed [May 4th 2017].
2010DeanoRiordan, (2010) How to make a simple laser show, Available from: www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7Mc3o2MD3s , Accessed [May 4th 2017].
Mist8k, (2014) Make an L.E.D Illusion Mirror!, Available from: www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2bvWArORSc , Accessed [May 4th 2017].