How to be a Lighting Designer (on a WAC show)
The lighting design process is pretty much always the same, no matter the size - just bigger shows will require more time spent on the creative process and programming it all!
Key Deliverables:
- Equipment Requirements from Tech Crew and WAC
- Lighting Plot
- Colour Call if using Gels
Getting Started
So, you've been assigned an LD position. What next?
The first step is to talk to the prod team. They'll usually have some kind of vision for the show which will provide a good starting point for you.
NB: One key thing to remember throughout is that you're the Lighting Designer, not Lighting Implementer. While your design should fit in with the directorial vision, you're free to come up with whatever design you thing would work well in the bounds of that - though if it's a Tech Crew co-production, you'll have even more freedom than this.
In some cases the prod team might dictate exactly what they want for each scene, don't feel obligated to follow that (unless you want to!). If you're ever unsure about what you can or can't do, or are strugglng with communicating with the prod team, talk to your TM - it's their job to help!
Try to get a feel for the show by turning up to rehearsals, reading the script, or even watching past productions online. Once you know the show and know what kind of vibe you're going for you can start designing the lighting!
I'll also add something to remember throughout - if you're ever unsure about something, just ask! You've got your TM, the Tech Crew Exec, other people in the society, and our contacts in the Arts Centre who are all more than happy to give advice, or past examples to reference.
The Pack and Panel
Hopefully, you'll be assigned to the show a few weeks before the pack submission and panel. The process is explained in more depth here, but for the purposes of this guide, the process is just trying to sell the show for it to get a performance slot and be put on.
At this stage, you'll need to come up with a rough idea of what your vision for the show is, and be able to answer questions on what, how, and why you're intending to do things in a certain way. You'll have to write this up for a short section in the pack. You can follow a very abridged version of the whole design process for this.
Based on your ideas, you'll also have to come up with an initial budget. While it won't necessarily have every single expense itemised (as you haven't designed the show yet), it should have a ballpark estimate of the main costs. Key things to consider include:
- Hiring any lighting - this could be some moving heads from the arts centre, some LEDs from Tech Crew, or something externally hired if you're looking for something more (past shows have hired more elaborate moving heads with framing shuters and starcloths among other things)! Try to get a price for these.
- Are you expecting to buy any gels and/or gobos? Check the Tech Crew stock lists first as they are likely to have what you need. If you need to buy, gels are about £10 a sheet and gobos £20 each.
- Are you using haze and/or smoke? Probably! Stick £50 on the budget to cover this.
Consult the Tech Crew and WAC price lists to help with this, and feel free to ask if you need any help!
Designing (the artsy part)
This is the most subjective, artistic part of the process. As such, it's quite difficult to just explain in a short wiki summary. I'd recommend looking at some of the resources at the bottom of the page by people who do this for a living!
However, here's a few key points to think about:
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Purpose - lighting can be there to make people visible, and/or to convey a certain feeling, effect, or emotion. Consider what you're trying to achieve at each point.
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Direction - play with light from different angles to provide a different look. Having most of your lights in a front wash can look flat and boring (but maybe this is what you're going for!). Many of the resources linked do a good job of covering this.
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Colour - using different colours can make a scene look more interesting, textured, and is quite fun! You can convey subtly different settings using different pale colours and colour temperatures, of emotions why using more saturated colours. If using intelligent fixtures you can change the colour on demand, or using gels (coloured plastic sheets) in generic lighting - Tech Crew has many!
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Gobos - gobos are (usually) metal discs with shapes cut out that you can put inside profile lights to shape the light coming out of a fixture. There's a big range of almost every shape possible (and you can even get them custom made).
The main types used are 'breakup' gobos, which provide a texture to light so it's not a flat beam (like you'd get walking under some trees outside), or 'shape' gobos you can use to project something onto the stage (eg a window, or some stars). Be sure to check the Tech Crew stock for any that might interest you, and remember you can always buy more if needed.
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Effects - you can create some unique looks using extra tools like haze and smoke, or by using a gauze as part of the stage/set.
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Followspots - in the theatre, you have access to two followspots (in a booth at the back of the auditorium), which you can use to provide a pretty tight light that can move around to follow actors, thanks to your followspot operators. Consider how you might use them
Come up with an idea of what you want to achieve in each scene, taking into account what the actors will be doing and the set.
At this point you can start writing a cue list, a numbered list of every lighting state, when it changes, and what happens in each one.
A helpful thing to do is come up with a numbering system that leaves plenty of room for adding more cues in between existing ones in a neat way as you go along. For example, starting each scene on a new multiple of 10, and only assigning even numbers (adjust to scale with your design!)
Putting it on paper (or a computer)
Once you have a creative idea of what you want to achieve with your design, the next step is to create a lighting plan. This is essentially a diagram of what lights you are using where in the space, and what for.
For each part of your design ideas, think about what fixtures can be used to make it happen. Consult the WAC stock lists for each space.
You'll likely come up with some combination of a general wash, perhaps split into different performance 'zones', plus some specials, single purpose fixtures for a specific effect - a spot in one place, or a gobo projecting an image.
There are many different ways to make a lighting plan, but the most common are Vectorworks, AutoCAD, and paper. For both software solutions, student licenses are available for free, and we have template files you can use.
Whichever method you choose doesn't matter as long as the plan conveys
- What lights are you using where
- Any specifics for each light - eg gels, frosts, gobos
- What each light is supposed to be doing
- A channel number for each light (not needed for rigging, but will make your life easier thoguhout the process) - this should be in a way that makes sense to you.
Overall, the purpose of the plan is to enable someone else to rig and focus all the lights you need without you having to be there to give extra directions.
In general, your TM should inform you when you need to submit the plan for the Arts Centre (usually 3 weeks before the show) - it is however worth sending something through sooner to get some feedback, to help you make it as good as it can be.
Alongside this, you'll need to submit a list of equipment you need - break it down by Tech Crew stock, Arts Centre stock (so they can prepare it for you), and anything being hired externally.
You'll also need a colour call if you're using lighting gels - a list of the gels you'll need and how many in each size, for yourself or someone else to cut. Also let the Arts Centre know what (if any) gels and gobos you'd like them to order for you.
Vectorworks
This is my preferred software, as it has a whole suite of tools dedicated to creating lighting plans. There's a lot of resources available for this, but the process is mostly choosing a layer, clicking on what fixture you're using, then clicking where you want it to point.
Vectorworks also comes with Vision, a visualiser you can use for pre-programming, as well as having good integration with ETC Eos, so you can export your design straight into the visualiser in the lighting console.
AutoCAD
I don't have any experience with using AutoCAD, but many people prefer it to Vectorworks as it has a much lower learning curve so it's easier to get started.
The downside is it is more of a general CAD tool without lighting-specific tools so you don't get a lot of the convenient extra features vectorworks provides.
Paper
If you don't want to get bogged down in confusing software, drawing your lighting plan on paper is completely fine! Tech Crew has a stencil with the various types of fixtures, so you can print off a blank plan and draw on your lights. As long as it conveys the necessary information, this is completely fine. You might have to add some more information as you may not have a unique symbol for each type of light you're using in the design.
Plotting (a.k.a. programming)
Once you have your lighting plan, it's time to plot (confusingly, in the US, the plan is also called the plot). Plotting is the process of recording your lighting states into your lighting console (in the Arts Centre this is most likely to be an ETC Ion Xe).
I'm not going to explain how to use the Eos software in this guide, so I recommend downloading it to your laptop to have a play around if you're not familiar. Most of programming speed is based on how familiar you are with your console. ETC regularly run free intro courses around the country so sign up to one if you can.
Below, I've explained some ways you can get at least a head start on this process by doing work on it before the show week, hopefully giving you less stress around the show.
Pre-plotting - useful, especially for more complex shows
On some simpler shows, it might be ok to do this during show week, but you'll very time limited, so in most cases you'll want to do at least some of the process beforehand. Fortunately, the Eos software is free to run on both Windows and Mac (as long as you're not actually outputting any control signal) so you don't need anything special to get started.
At its most simple, you want to build all the cues you expect to need into the file, with the rough brightness you want for each light. You have already assigned channel numbers to each light in the plan, so you can do this without actually patching in the DMX addresses into each virtual channel number (which you most likely will only be able to do after the lights have been rigged).
This is also a good opportunity to build some groups and label all your channels - which will make fixing issues in show week much easier.
Previz (pre-visualisation) - optional, but fun
If you've got a more complex design, or want to be able to experiment with some ideas with some visual feedback rather than just your imagination, it can be useful to setup some previz system. This involves creating a fully virtual copy of your lighting design, so you can program everything including moving lights and have it "just work" when you come to the get in (well, we can hope). There's a few options for this, which I've explained in more detail here, as I'm not sure how many people will actually bother!
Show Week
If you've followed this guide perfectly, you'll be going into show week with a detailed lighting plan to be rigged, and a showfile ready to load onto the console to run as soon as you're in. In reality, it rarely work out this way, not least because sometimes shows aren't blocked until 2 days before the week (or are changed during the show week). However, hopefully you're as prepped as much as you can be.
Paper Tech
Whilst not strictly speaking in the show week (usually a day or two before), I've put this in here as it fits in as the first part of the week. The naming is hopefully self-explanatory, a paper version of the tech run.
Each designer sits with the DSM, and you go through the script explaining when each cue (lighting state) is along with its cue number. This allows the DSM to add it to their script along everyone else's cues, work out coordination between cues, and make sure everyone is on the same page with the running of the show.
Ideally, you have a complete comprehensive cue list by this point, but often new cues crop up or are changed during the paper tech, so hopefully you have spaced your cues enough to not have a Cue 1.125!
Get-in
In industry, this is often also called a "load-in", and is combined with a "fit-up" immediately after. We refer to both as the "get-in" as our shows aren't that complex. The get-in is where you (and everyone who's come to help) rig and focus all your lights according to the plan.
You should create a list of tasks for people to do on the day, to make sure we don't have members standing around doing nothing, and make sure the time is used as efficiently as possible.
Once focussing is complete, you can start plotting, either recording all your cues or fixing up what you did before.
Tech Run
The specific timescales will differ depending on the show, having been agreed with the TM beforehand, but usually you'll have the next morning fix any known issues and finish plotting before the Tech Run begins.
The tech run is a start-stop run through of the whole show, allowing you to check each cue is timed correctly, and does what you want it to do, giving you the chance to fix any issues and do a section again.
If there's anything major to fix that you can't during the run, make sure to note it down to fix when you next have time.
Dress Run
As before, you'll have some time to fix anything you know needs fixing. If you don't - well done! You can probably enjoy the morning, or at least part of it, off.
The dress run is just like a normal show, just without an audience. If there are any issues, just write them down to fix after. Unlike during the tech run, the show should keep going as it would on the night.
It's worth getting someone else to operate the lighting for the dress run so you have the chance to watch the show from an audience perspective, which can be quite different.
There is usually some time after the show where you'll get and share any feedback for a variety of people, to improve your design further. There'll then be some more time you can act on that feedback before an actual show.
The Shows
Once you're at this point, you can (hopefully) just enjoy the fruits of your labour - if nothing breaks! During the show period, you'll have a time to come in early, turn everything on and make sure it works before you start the show. You can operate the show yourself if you like, or offer up the operator position for someone else to run instead.
Get-out
Immediately after the last show, we have the get-out (in industry, preceded by the "strike", the opposite to the "fit up"). Usually lighting doesn't have too much to do, but in general you'll have to return the space to how it was before the get-in, depending on the Arts Centre's needs.
Aaand you're done. Enjoy the afterparty!
Originally written by Adam Skrzymowski in January 2024