The difference between a lighting designer and a lighting designer. Job Description for Chief Lighting Designer

Job Description for Chief Lighting Designer[name of company]

This job description was developed and approved in accordance with the provisions of the Unified Qualification Directory of Positions for Managers, Specialists and Employees, section “Qualification characteristics of positions for workers in culture, art and cinematography”, approved. by order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation of March 30, 2011 N 251n, and other regulations governing labor relations.

1. General Provisions

1.1. The chief lighting designer belongs to the artistic staff and directly reports to [name of the manager's position].

1.2. The chief lighting designer is appointed to the position and dismissed from it by order of [name of position].

1.3. A person who has a higher professional education (theater and set design, artistic, technical) and work experience as a lighting designer for at least 5 years is accepted for the position of chief lighting designer.

1.4. The chief lighting designer must know:

Laws and other regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation relating to the activities of performing arts organizations;

Technical parameters and stage capabilities;

Parameters and technical characteristics of lighting equipment;

Basic techniques of artistic lighting in relation to scenographic solutions;

The latest achievements of science and technology in the field of stage lighting;

Electrical engineering;

Electronics;

Computer technology;

Flower science;

Mechanics;

Rules for operation, storage and transportation of lighting devices;

Experience in performing arts organizations and specialized organizations in the field of stage lighting;

History of material culture and theatrical and decorative art;

The specifics of creative work in performing arts organizations;

Fundamentals of economics and management in the field of performing arts, labor legislation;

Internal labor regulations;

Labor protection and fire safety rules.

2. Job responsibilities

Chief Lighting Designer:

2.1. Creates lighting design for new and major productions in accordance with the director’s plans.

2.2. Together with the production designer, he develops the principles and style of artistic lighting solutions for performances, and ensures the required level of artistic lighting design.

2.3. Develops lighting effects, necessary technical means and rules for their operation.

2.4. Participates in the acceptance of the stage design layout of the performance, gives specific proposals for mounting and use of the necessary technical means.

2.5. Conducts lighting rehearsals for performances with fixation of the installed artistic lighting on the scores.

2.6. Controls the accurate implementation of artistic lighting of performances of the current repertoire.

2.7. Supervises the work of lighting designers and provides them with the necessary assistance.

2.8. Promotes the professional growth of lighting designers.

2.9. Organizes the study and implementation of the latest achievements in the field of theatrical production equipment and technology.

2.10. Develops long-term plans for modernizing stage lighting.

2.11. [other job responsibilities]

3. Rights

The chief lighting designer has the right:

3.1. For all social guarantees provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation.

3.2. Receive information about the activities of the organization necessary to perform functional duties from all departments directly or through the immediate superior.

3.3. Submit proposals to management to improve your work and the work of the organization.

3.4. Get acquainted with draft orders of management relating to its activities.

3.5. Sign and endorse documents within your competence.

3.6. Take part in meetings where issues related to his work are discussed.

3.7. Require management to create normal conditions for the performance of official duties.

3.8. Improve your professional qualifications.

3.9. [other rights provided for labor legislation Russian Federation].

4. Responsibility

The chief lighting designer is responsible for:

4.1. For non-fulfillment or improper fulfillment of the duties provided for in this instruction - within the limits determined by the labor legislation of the Russian Federation.

4.2. For offenses committed in the course of carrying out their activities - within the limits determined by the current administrative, criminal and civil legislation of the Russian Federation.

4.3. For causing material damage to the employer - within the limits determined by the current labor and civil legislation of the Russian Federation.

The job description has been developed in accordance with [name, number and date of document].

Head of HR department

[initials, surname]

[signature]

[day month Year]

Agreed:

[job title]

[initials, surname]

[signature]

[day month Year]

I have read the instructions:

[initials, surname]

[signature]

[day month Year]

Here is the first lesson for beginning lighting artists. The author of this training series is Neil Fraser, curator of the Technical Faculty of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. In this article, the author identifies five main aspects of stage lighting and suggests ways for lighting designers to improve it.

Neil Fraser: “In writing this article, I have attempted to list what we aim to achieve with stage lighting. Of course, not everything said will be true in each specific case; the resulting list is my attempt to answer this question as fully as possible.”

So, stage lighting:

  • gives us the opportunity to see what is happening on stage,
  • characterizes the place and time of the play,
  • tells us about the mood of the scene,
  • highlights those places that are especially important to see,
  • gives the scene the necessary attractiveness,
  • emphasizes the genre and style of the play,
  • captivates us with special effects.

The job of a lighting designer is to know how to achieve all this in the most effective way (of course, in collaboration with other people: director, production designer, etc.) This knowledge includes several aspects that we We will discuss in this course, namely:

  1. corner,
  2. shape,
  3. color,
  4. movement
  5. and composition.

To begin with, let's note that the first three points (angle, shape and color) characterize the light itself, while the last two (movement and composition) describe how we use this light to create light paintings.


Musical Theater named after. Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko,
director Alexander Titel,
lighting designer Damir Ismagilov

All five components are vital: with their help we tell a story, create a mood, or simply convey certain information to the audience. How we do this depends on what we have learned about the nature of light, how it works - we receive, accumulate and systematize this experience throughout our lives, from birth.


directed by Francesca Zambello
lighting designer Mark McCullough

Based on this knowledge, lighting designers decide at what angle each scene will be lit, what the color and shape of the beams should be, how it will all line up, and how it will change in accordance with the design of the play. The audience doesn't stand aside either. They become experts at interpreting light patterns, although they often don't realize it. From this point of view, we can talk about effective lighting, that is, about lighting that allows viewers to grasp the meaning and feel the mood of the light scene.


Scene from Tatiana Baganova's play "Sepia",
Yekaterinburg troupe "Provincial Dances"

For most lighting decisions there is no “right” or “wrong”, and this is very important because it allows the lighting designer to implement his own understanding, his own style. However, Neil Fraser strongly advises aspiring lighting designers to refine and develop their ideas towards effective lighting. There are several ways to do this.

1. Practice. Take every opportunity to test your ideas, try something new, explore and create,

2. Observation. Everywhere - indoors and outdoors, in film and in the real world - pay attention to the light and determine how it was created and how you can recreate it on stage.

3. Education. Learn from painters how to use light and structure the composition of their paintings.

Good examples would be the works of Rembrandt, Caravaggio or David Hockney.

The most important thing is to start thinking about how light “works” and how we can use it. This is the first practical task for those who want to become a true professional in the field of stage lighting.

In the next installment of the series - "Getting an angle on lighting" - Neil Fraser talks about how to choose the right angle for lighting. We wish you creative success!

Part 2: Find the right angle

Here is the second lesson in a series for beginning lighting artists. In the first article, Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts Department of Engineering curator Neil Fraser looked at the five main aspects of stage lighting.

In the second lesson, Neil Fraser answers the question of where light should fall on a stage, talks about different lighting angles, and offers a number of useful exercises for creating light paintings.

When choosing the angle at which the light falls, it is important to find a compromise between how clearly the audience sees the illuminated object and the dramatic perception of that object. It's great when both ideas come true, but often one of them crowds out the other. For example, this happens when someone tries to make an object more visible to viewers and removes the shadows that give it the desired character.

Usually, by looking at the angle at which light falls, we can guess where its source is located. It is more difficult to determine which source of light is emitting: the sun, a table lamp or a street lamp. Thus, when interpreting the light on stage, the audience may not draw an analogy between the angle of incidence of the light and the real light source with which it is familiar.

Basic lighting angles

Below are the five main angles that characterize the location of the light source in relation to the illuminated object:

  1. Horizontal (flat) light - light falling directly on the object along the viewer's line of sight
  2. Back light – light coming from behind and above
  3. Side light - light from the side at the level of the object
  4. Overhead light – the source is located directly above the subject
  5. Ramp light - the source is located in front of the object from below

By combining some of these areas, you can also get:

  • Top front light - light from above and in front of the subject
  • Diagonal light - light from above away from the subject

The choice of lighting angle depends on what we want to communicate to the viewer. So let's imagine the emotional meaning of these angles.

Flat stage lighting is often dull as it produces almost no shadows. Only in a certain context (when a strong impact is required) can it be mysterious and interesting.

Rear the light can be described as ominous or mysterious. It is rarely used separately, in its pure form.

Side light has a strong effect, like something abstract (rarely found in natural conditions).

Upper light can be perceived as oppressive; it seems to press down on the illuminated object.

Ramp the light on stage seems the most strange, uncanny and unusual of all. It is not surprising that it is used less often than others.

Upper front the light well models the light sources known to us - it is at this angle that sunlight, light from street lamps or from a room chandelier falls. In addition, it most harmoniously combines good visibility and a certain drama.

Diagonal the light is not as familiar as the top front light, but more natural than the side light, because falls from above.
The effect that light has on the viewer depends not so much on the light itself, but on the shadows it creates. It is chiaroscuro that can show the outlines and shape of an object and arouse interest in it.


Combining lighting angles

Using multiple light sources on a stage makes the lighting scene more interesting. Below are a few notes on this:

  1. The effect of light sources positioned at fundamental angles to the subject can be very different from what is achieved by combining them. When combining different lighting angles, we must remember how each light source contributes to the overall picture. For example, one angle is used to give clarity to a painting, while another is used to create dramatic light.
  2. Every lighting designer knows that having a strong, dominant light source in a lighting design makes the lighting look more attractive. It can be assumed that a strong key light is perceived by us as pleasant on a subconscious level (as it happens on a clear sunny day). This can be used: making one light source stronger than another is not difficult, and it looks good.
  3. Keep in mind that using too many lighting angles makes the overall picture blurry or overexposed. It looks good, but it's not interesting to watch. Here (as in many other situations) the saying “less is more” applies.
  4. Light on a stage is capable of “moving” an object, for example, bringing it closer or further away. This is very noticeable when you use backlighting, which when combined with other lighting angles has a real power: creating a halo around the object, it seems to push it towards the viewer, emphasizing its shape, demonstrating its three-dimensionality.

Typically, the way an artist implements lighting on stage is based on how it works in the real world. If the stage object looks familiar, the viewer can easily guess the light source he knows. Then we can talk about natural (realistic) light on the stage.

When working with lighting angles, you need to keep in mind some general principles regarding working with light:

  • it is light that reveals the shape of objects,
  • identical light patterns quickly become boring,
  • insufficient number of light sources impairs visibility,
  • the presence of shadow enhances the effect of light.

As a rule, lighting designers improve their skills every time they simply do their job. However, sometimes it is useful to experiment with light without being tied to any project. These exercises can be done alone or in company with colleagues.

Neil Fraser recommends that aspiring lighting designers keep a diary or journal with ideas, references, diagrams and sketches, photographs, postcards, etc. Such a magazine can become a kind of treasury of ideas and a source of inspiration. It will be helpful to include your notes regarding the suggested exercises.

EXERCISES

Most of the practice exercises here will require multiple light sources. Of course, theater lamps are best suited, but in some cases you can get by with the help of floor lamps. Some exercises can be simulated in miniature using small light bulbs and a table surface. Non-practice exercises will help you fill your notebook or journal with ideas.

Exercise 1. Finding the right angle

1. Find an interesting inanimate object to illuminate, such as a pyramid of chairs or a fabric draped over the legs of an upturned table.

2.Select a viewpoint.

3.Take three light sources and place them at different angles to the subject.

4.See what the lighting from each source looks like separately and describe it

5.See what the lighting looks like when combining light sources in pairs, describe your impressions.

6.Look at the effect of turning on all three sources at once, describe your impressions in a journal. If you have the ability to change the brightness of your fixtures, use it to create combinations of key and fill lights.

To make the effect of each light more noticeable, use different color filters for each of them in rich shades, such as red, blue and green.

Exercise 2. Painting with light

1.View the list of basic lighting angles:

horizontal light,

rear light,

Side light,

overhead light,

Ramp light.

2.Take a stack of old magazines and leaf through it, looking for illustrations where the light falls in one of the above ways.

3. When you have a sufficient number of such examples, arrange them in ascending order: from the best to the worst application of a given lighting angle.

Some lighting angles will be seen more often than others, and they are rare in their pure form. Therefore, you can repeat this exercise when you have old magazines again. File your best photos in a folder so you can refer to them in the future. This exercise can be done while watching television or video images.

Exercise 3. Learning to see the light

1. Take a list of the main lighting angles:

horizontal light,

rear light,

Side light,

overhead light,

Ramp light.

2.Visit several different places, such as your bedroom, classroom, library room, park, etc.

3. Make notes in your notebook (location, time of day, etc.) and record the angles at which the light hits each of these locations.

4.If you can draw, make some sketches.

Come up with a symbol for each angle (this may be useful for later notes).

Exercise 4. Three against one

This exercise is similar to Exercise 1, but instead of lighting an inanimate object, you'll be lighting a living model. Again, an important part of this exercise is to verbally describe what you will see. This exercise will become even more useful if you conduct and discuss it with your partner.

1.Place the model in the center of the illuminated space.

2.Choose an observation point - the place from where you will look at the model.

3.Select three light sources and place them at different angles in relation to the model.

4.Look at how each of them illuminates the model separately. Describe your impressions: what it reminds you of, what atmosphere they create, what emotions they evoke.

5.Do the same for pairwise combinations of light sources.

6.Turn on all three sources at once and record your impressions.

7.If you can adjust the brightness of your lights, create a key light and a fill light. Or go to Exercise 6 (which expands on this topic).

Exercise 5. Working five

Create a lighting scheme for the model placed in the center of the selected space using five light sources. Each of them should shine at one of the basic angles:

horizontal light,

rear light,

Side light,

overhead light,

Ramp light.

Of course, you must very clearly define your own point of observation. When you create your diagram:

1.See how all five lights work on their own. Describe your impressions: what it reminds you of, what atmosphere they create, what emotions they evoke.

2.Combine light sources in pairs and write down your impressions.

3.Do the same for various combinations of three light sources.

4.If you can adjust the brightness of the lights, create several variations of key and fill lights.

5.Answer the following questions for yourself:

Do you like how the model is lit from one angle or another? Choose your favorite single light source: why do you like it?

Which of the light source combinations you've created do you like and which don't? Why? Can you use your design to make the model look a certain way (like a hero, like a weak person, like a prisoner, etc.)?

Can you create a certain atmosphere with your design? Try the following: mystery, horror, anxiety, fun, drama, heart, hopelessness, excitement, boredom, depression.

Exercise 6. Realistic light

1.Place the model in the center of your room

2.Choose three light sources and position them so that your model is illuminated as if on a bright sunny day (do not use color filters). Check the result by asking someone to comment on the resulting picture. Ask, “What natural light does this remind you of?” If he answers “noon” or sunny day,” ask him to say where the sunlight is coming from (i.e. which light source is simulating sunlight).

3.Repeat the experiment, recreating the picture of moonlight.

In this exercise you will create a strong, bright key light. The main difficulty is to strike a balance between the key light and other sources. Achieving this is twice as difficult without using colored light, but it is much more useful.

Exercise 7. Improvisation

Creating an effective and "natural" key light is easier if you can use color to impact the viewer. But the main point of this exercise is to coordinate the levels of light directed at different angles.

Again place your model in the middle of the room and create a lighting scheme using the following ideas:

Sunlight in the forest

Frosty winter day

Formal interior at noon,

City street corner at night,

Cabin in a submarine,

The landscape of an unfamiliar planet,

hospital ward,

tropical island,

North Pole.

This list can be continued endlessly. You can add your own ideas to it or ask someone else to think about them. By working in a group, you will be able to find more options that suit your needs. Discussing your ideas with your partners will be very useful to you in the future, when you have to implement the director’s or production designer’s plans on stage.

Exercise 8. Dramatic atmosphere

Creating a truly dramatic atmosphere is an important function of stage lighting. You can use color in this exercise, but only if you absolutely cannot do without it. Again, you need to place the model in the center of the room and light it so as to create an atmosphere:

Liberation,

Envy

Cruelty,

Peace.

Again, the list goes on and on. For example, all seven deadly sins could be included here. You can have fun with your colleagues discussing options. The number of ideas you can implement will depend on the resources available (time and equipment). But it wouldn’t hurt to at least write them down.

Exercise 9. Lighting an area of ​​the scene

Many of the previous exercises focused on lighting the model. In this exercise we'll take it a step further and illuminate not only the model, but also the area of ​​the scene around it.

1.Select an area of ​​the scene where you will place your model. It should not be too large (2 square meters is enough).

2.Now choose some minimal lighting scheme from the previous exercises (for example, for “sunny day”, “North Pole”, “anger”, etc.) and light an area of ​​​​the scene in such a way that your model can move even when this is to remain in a given atmosphere.

3.Pay special attention to the lighting of the model at the boundaries of your site. Obviously, in some cases you will have to redirect your fixtures or add additional light sources.

This exercise is the first step to lighting the entire scene. It will help you gain confidence that you are lighting all the space you need. You should also be able to feel the difference between lighting a static model and a moving model. Be especially careful to ensure that there are no unwanted shadows or highlights in your area.

Part 3. Rainbow on stage

The third lesson for beginning lighting artists is dedicated to colored stage lighting. Neil Fraser, Curator of the Technical Department of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, talks about the emotional impact of color and offers 9 exercises to develop skills in working with colored light.

Theatrical light is a full participant in any performance, be it a realistic production or a fantastic story. Often it is the light that sets the context of the action or immerses the viewer in the desired psychological atmosphere. Moreover, the strength of the influence of light largely depends on how it is painted.

It is important to understand that all light is colored - there is no light that does not have a color tint. True, sometimes this shade is not striking (for example, we rarely perceive ordinary sunlight as colored). However, if we are careful, we will notice that the slightly yellowish midday light clearly adds optimism to us, and the bluish-gray twilight lighting plunges us into a state of anxious foreboding.

As for theatrical light, we can distinguish its warm and cold shades.

WARM LIGHT is considered more suitable for comedies and romantic stories. Typically, various shades of straw, light pink, amber and gold are used.

COLD LIGHT is suitable for “sad stories”: tragedies, nightmares and detective stories. Common cool colors are steely blue, light green and plain blue.

Theater lighting can also vary in color intensity. Light and delicate colors are used much more often. With their help, you can highlight the desired area of ​​the scene, emphasize skin tone, highlight a costume favorably, or indicate the time of day or location of the action.

Richer, darker colors can be very dramatic and usually convey more specific messages. Thus, green can be interpreted as the color of envy or illness, blue creates an atmosphere of serenity and peace, and red denotes passion, blood, war, rage or love.

When we see a certain color, we proceed from the impression that the rays reflected from a particular object make on us. Our eyes recognize different wavelengths and interpret them as color sensations.

The names we give to different colors are subjective, because the colors of the spectrum smoothly transition from one to another without any clear boundaries between them. In fact, the seven colors we use to describe the rainbow are too rough a way to describe all the countless shades that the spectrum contains.

However, in the theory of color perception, several primary colors are distinguished - their choice depends on the color mixing model used.

If we put RED, GREEN and BLUE filters on three spotlights, then the intersection of all three rays will give us white light. In this case, the three primary colors complement each other, so the process is called additive color mixing (from the English word “add” - add). With additive color mixing, more light and a brighter color are obtained at the intersection of rays.

If you put three filters (YELLOW, PURPLE and BLUE) on one spotlight, each filter will retain light with a certain wavelength, this process is called subtractive color mixing (from the English word “subtract” - subtract). It is clear that in this case we will get less light and a darker color.

So, the most important thing to remember when working with colored theater lighting is:

  • Any light is colored
  • Color is a powerful tool for conveying emotional states
  • Color helps determine the place and time of action
  • Rich colors have a powerful impact
  • Lighter colors also set the mood, but not so clearly
  • Color can be interpreted differently in different contexts (for example, red can represent anger or passion)

Exercise 10. Assembling a collection

1. Stock up on old magazines with lots of color photographs and illustrations.

2. On a large sheet of paper, draw a rainbow (in the form of an arc or just a flat spectrum): red - orange - yellow - green - blue - indigo - violet.

3. Cut out small pictures from magazines, colored in rainbow colors, and paste them onto your sheet.

4. When you're done, flip through the swatchbook of color filter samples and write next to the pictures the numbers of the colors that appear on your diagram.

Do the same exercise with your favorite color. See how many shades of color fit between the lightest and darkest options (for example, between light blue and dark blue).

This exercise trains color perception. The human eye is capable of distinguishing several million shades of color, and lighting designers must continuously improve in this art.

Exercise 11. Painting with light

1. Using three spotlights with red, green and blue filters, direct three beams painted in primary colors onto a white surface - a screen or a white canvas (it’s best to do all this in a darkened space).

2. Note what color you get when all appliances are turned on at full power.

3. By varying the brightness of the spotlights, find the best version of “white” light available. Record the device settings.

4. <Используя материал, подготовленный в Упражнении 10, выберите какой-нибудь из цветов и воспроизведите его с помощью трёх прожекторов. Снова зафиксируйте настройки.

5. Repeat the experiment with other colors.

Do this exercise using the yellow, cyan, and magenta filters.

Exercise 12. Chameleon color

1. Find several objects or fabrics that are dyed in rich colors. They can be single or multi-colored.

2. Using the diagram from Exercise 11 and the primary color filters, direct the colored rays one at a time onto your “still life”. This exercise is useful for comparing different colors with each other (again, this experiment is best done in a darkened space).

3. Write down how each of the primary colors affects the appearance of your chosen items. Be sure to note what the original color of each of your objects was under normal lighting, but in the space where you then lit them.

Repeat the experiment, replacing the primary colors with any other rich or more subtle shades. Those objects that look exactly the same under a certain light may change greatly when illuminated by rays of a different color. This is because the material they are made from reflects light at different wavelengths differently.

Exercise 13. All shades of black

1. Find a few objects or pieces of fabric that appear black to you (don't worry that they may look slightly different in colored or even normal light).

2. Again use the filter pattern and primary colors from Exercise 11 and direct the colored rays one at a time to the black objects.

3. Write down how each of the primary colors affects the way your chosen objects look.

Try to make a good mixture of shades of "black" - so that some of them do not reflect any color, and others appear black in normal lighting, but reflect some color when illuminated with rays of certain light. Most likely, such a reflected color will be quite dark in any case.

Repeat this exercise with "white" objects made from various materials (this could be paper, fabric, laundry detergent, feathers, etc.)

Exercise 14. Emotions and color

1. Make a list of emotional states you know. Try to make it as complete as possible, first add:

ANGER / JOY / HATE / ENVY / LOVE / JEALOUSY / COMPASSION / HOPE / CONFUSION / PEACEFUL / EXCITATION / SURPRISE / GREED / MADNESS / SUSPICION...

2. Now, opposite each word, write down the color that you associate with this emotion or feeling.

You can do this exercise based on any other list, such as a list of people or animals. You can also test your friends - in this case, it is best to read out the list, demanding an immediate answer - the one that comes to mind first. You shouldn’t think too long; it’s better not to have an answer at all than to force it.

This exercise is about developing your imagination, not about getting the "right" light. As with many things, there are no wrong decisions here. The only wrong action is not to find a single solution.

Exercise 15. Random selection

1. Take the list of emotions compiled during the previous exercise and write each word on a separate card.

2. Place all the cards in a bag or hat.

3. Take out any card from there.

4. Now, on a white screen (or on a sheet hanging vertically), create lighting that illustrates one of your chosen emotions. Naturally, you can change not only the color, but also the shape, intensity and size of the projected beam. Although the dominant color should still be.

5. Once you have built this scene, show it to someone and ask them to guess what emotion you illustrated. If this person cannot answer immediately, ask him to choose one emotion from the list.

This exercise can be attempted using less equipment (gradually reducing it until only one spotlight remains).

You can repeat this exercise many times. Some emotions are easier to express than others. Remember that we are not looking for the “right” answers, but rather developing our imagination.

Exercise 16. Real color

1. Arm yourself with a swatchbook of color filters from some manufacturer.

2. Look among them for colors that can be found in real life (most likely, these will be light straw, amber, pink, blue and possibly green shades).

3. Over a period of time (a day or a week), choose several moments when you can stop and carefully look at the colors present in natural or artificial light. These include morning light, rainy day light, evening light, street lights at dusk, fluorescent light in your kitchen, night light in your bedroom, light from a running TV, etc.

4. Always try to match the color of the light source with one of the samples in your swatch book. When making notes, be sure to include the light source, time of day, weather conditions, and filter number.

Record your findings in your lighting designer's journal. If you haven't started one yet, now is the time to do so. Notes like these are invaluable when you're looking for inspiration or just looking for a color you like.

Exercise 17. From dawn to dusk

DAWN

NOON

TWILIGHT

Do this exercise by lighting a small area of ​​the stage (no more than 1 square meter) by placing a single object (for example, a chair) on it.

Notes:

1. Obviously, you will feel a huge difference when doing this exercise on a plane and in space. In the second case, you need to find suitable light direction angles. If we work with a flat screen, color plays a major role.

2. The colors you choose can range from completely natural to downright romantic shades. And it depends on your decision what exactly you will depict: a cold winter or a warm summer day.

3. As is often the case, there are no “right” solutions here, only more or less effective ones.

Exercise 18. Four seasons

1. Prepare a small white vertical screen or white sheet.

2. Direct the light onto the screen to depict one or more of the seasons (SUMMER, AUTUMN, WINTER or SPRING).

Again, try this exercise on a small area of ​​the stage with only one object (for example, a chair).

This exercise forces you to remember your ideas about the seasons, and to recreate the essence of these impressions on stage. It is clear that summer and winter look different in different places and at different times. However, it's worth trying to capture the essence of each season and convey your ideas through certain means without getting too bogged down in the details.

Part 4. Creating the mood on stage

The fourth lesson in a series of articles for aspiring lighting designers is dedicated to creating the mood on stage. Royal Academy of Theater Arts curator Neil Fraser talks about how to use light to convey the character of a scene and highlight the emotions of actors.

What is the mood of the scene?

The picture you paint on stage can be concrete, abstract, or somewhere in between. For example, you might want to create lighting that simulates a cold, moonlit autumn night (a very literal use of lighting) or conveys a sense of tragic horror (a more abstract concept). Or all together: A COLD AUTUMN NIGHT, IMPACTED WITH HORROR!

Thus, with the help of light you can not only determine space or time, but also create elements (fire, water, air) or moods. Each of us has an understanding of how to visualize emotions such as anger, joy, sadness. It is important to understand that there are no right answers here, but only the most preferable ones (from your point of view, as well as from the point of view of the director, production designer, author of the play, etc.).

At the same time, it is imperative to take into account the expectations of the audience - after all, they also have certain ideas about what this or that lighting looks like in the real world. This performance helps them interpret what is happening on stage, even if they are not aware of it. That’s why it’s so important to work through your own ideas in detail, achieving their maximum effectiveness.

How to create a mood?

Conventional methods of constructing light paintings work to create a mood. It all depends on your specific decisions: which devices and where exactly to put them, what color, intensity and beam shape to use. Just like the notes in a piece of music, lighting fixtures offer many possibilities depending on their relative position and settings. Each combination makes its own unique contribution to the atmosphere of the performance.

The process of creating such light paintings is reminiscent of a walk through an unfamiliar city. On the one hand, you have basic knowledge that allows you to ask yourself the right questions. You know the basic angles at which you're going to point the fixtures, you have a certain palette of colors, and you can change the intensity of different light sources.

On the other hand, only practice will help you determine what you like best and what you want to get in the end. To make such an assessment as objective as possible, you need to constantly practice the following:

Observation. Look at the world with wide open eyes, consider the world around you as a kind of school of working with light. Learn to see how light forms the shape of objects, how it reflects from different surfaces. Train yourself to associate this or that lighting in the real world with your well-being or mood.

Education. Feel like an artist who is building the composition of his painting. Learn from the great masters - Embbrandt, Caravaggio, Vermeer, Hockney. You must develop your own taste - an understanding of what exactly makes a good light picture.

Experiment. Use every opportunity to test your ideas, gain some benefit from them, and draw practical conclusions. The more lighting options you work through for each scene, the easier it will be to choose the best ones.

Below Exercises will help you develop the necessary skills in working with light and learn how to create stunning light scenes on stage, full of drama and emotion. It is very useful to keep a journal where you write down ideas, links, paste drawings, photographs, postcards and any other results of your exercises. Such a magazine can become your assistant and source of ideas.

Exercise 19. Imitating reality

1.Select one or more scenes from the list (all of them take place on the street):

Afternoon in the desert

Night forest

Leaf fall

Sledging

Sea beach

City lights

2.Choose a small area of ​​the scene (about one square meter) and place any object there: a chair, a houseplant, or anything you have on hand.

3. Light the area, trying to create the scene you chose in Step 1. Pay special attention to the color choice and how it works when using a different beam shape, its intensity. Don't worry about who or what exactly you're covering. Concentrate on getting the right mood.

The important point of this exercise is to create a strong and defining key light - it can imitate the sun, a street lamp, or something else. The better you do this, the more realistic the result will be. You will also have to decide where you will watch the results of your efforts (where the audience will sit). This point of view also plays an important role in the following exercises.

Exercise 20. Light inside a building

1.Select one of the indoor scenes presented in the list:

Morning in the classroom

Underground crypt

Evening service in the temple

Prison cell

2.Do the same steps as in exercise 19.

Unlike “street lighting,” indoor lighting consists of the light of many natural and artificial light sources. Its effectiveness will depend on how well you combine them. And of course, on your understanding of how it works in the real world.

Exercise 21. Focus on mood

2. Place several devices so that your “actor” is in one of the following moods:

Depression

Danger

Serenity

Awe

Righteousness

As in the previous exercises, it would be nice if you ask your friends and colleagues to guess what kind of mood you had in mind. Your “actor” should not help you, his job is to simply stand or sit still. The setting is also not critical - it doesn’t matter where exactly you create this scene or what light sources you use. The use of a key light and a good balance with other light sources should remain a priority. Then you can create effective, dramatic and exciting lighting.

Exercise 22. Everything is relative

1.Ask your friend or colleague to stand in the center of the light beam

2.Use a light directed from below to illuminate your “actor”, as is done in horror films

3.Add a few more fixtures to enhance that mood.

4.Now remove all devices again, except for the low light

5.Make the lower light dim and warm

6. If you can, find a way to add flicker, as if there is a fire on stage.

It is important that you understand the importance of context when staging a particular scene. The same low light that terrified, in a different context, can create quite nice and even friendly lighting.

This exercise is worth doing both for yourself and to show others. When a group of people observes the first (and very convincing) effect achieved with a downlight, there is hardly a single person who can imagine that the same light can create a comfortable and optimistic impression without changing the focus, just adding color. Sometimes it is worth asking your “actor” to make one gesture - to warm his hands over an imaginary fire. This once again proves the importance of context.

Exercise 23. In contrast

1. Select a small area of ​​the scene and place several ordinary objects in it - a table and chairs, a stack of books, coffee cups, a hanger, etc.

2.Select one or more pairs of moods listed below

3.Create two scenes in which objects are in two contrasting states:

Horror/Fantasy

Freedom/Imprisonment

Good bad

War/Peace

Fast slow

Hot/Cold

Big small

One of the problems of the Russian theater lighting designer And illuminator, says Vladimir Lukasevich, chief lighting designer of the Mariinsky Theater.

What lighting designer- this is not a person who knows thoroughly only lighting technology, it became clear to Vladimir Lukasevich a few years after starting work in the theater. Therefore, he and his friend Mikhail Mikler, now the chief lighting designer Maly Opera Theater, came to the production department of the Leningrad State Institute of Theater, Music and Cinematography (LGITMiK) in 1977 and asked to teach them according to the program that they had compiled for themselves. To the general subjects traditional for production designers, they added color theory, electronics, physiology of vision, and psychology of perception, which were not previously available at this department. Now this and much more will be taught in the new course of the production department at the Theater Academy. On the course " Lighting designer", created on the initiative of Lukasiewicz and the head. Department of the production department of V. M. Shepovalov.

Other people's mistakes

Lighting designer creates his own “role” Sveta” in the performance, which in theory should (like all other components of the “role”) make the viewer both cry and laugh, which is what the theater as a whole serves. How, in fact, will you make the viewer cry if you do not know how to press his tear glands, if you are not familiar with the psychology of perception? There is the physiology of vision, for example the law of dark adaptation. How to make a change when “cutting down” on stage so that the audience does not notice it? Maybe just turn it off light, but it will not be enough, since there is no complete darkness in the theater - after all, there is an orchestra pit, lamps emergency exit, etc. It may be more correct in this case to adapt the audience’s vision to some increased brightness in order to prolong the viewer’s feeling of “darkness” until the onset of dark adaptation. These are very real tools... What if you don’t want complete darkness, but want a state in which the viewer sees what is necessary for the action, but not what you wanted to hide? Of course, you can practice for a long time empirically, looking for to what extent, to what brightness and for how long you need to adapt the viewer’s vision, or you can simply know how the adaptation curve works... Well, the psychology of color perception goes far into history, the roots of which you will find in Tibetan philosophy and Buddhist culture. Ancient Indian theater, for example. When a backdrop of a certain color, say green, was lowered in an Indian theater, the audience immediately understood that we were talking about melancholy. It was both a symbol and a sign to the viewer. Well, and so on. Such things, of course, need to be known and understood from the beginning. This is why fundamental education is needed - so as not to start from scratch every time, using our favorite method of our own trial and error.

Unfortunately, in Russia there was no school where the entire amount of knowledge needed was collected in one place modern lighting designer. There has always been a transfer of craft from master to apprentice. But masters such as Klimovsky, Kutikov, Diaghilev, Drapkin, Sinyachevsky, Barkov, Volkov, Simonov, who worked in the fifties and seventies, always said: “Watch what I do - and learn.” Naturally, that's why they left few students. And today, it would probably be correct to say that for the most part all current Russian lighting designers- self-taught. Relying only on their own experience and intuition, they start again and again from the same scratch from which the previous generation began. This is the essence of the concept of “professional school” - it accumulates the experience done.

At annual seminars for Russian lighting artists Lukasiewicz more than once heard about the practice of working in some theaters, which was completely unthinkable in work lighting designer: “And in our theater the director says: “Filter this lantern with red! This one with green! Point it here, I said! And this one – there! Do as I said...”.”

This is what I would call work illuminator, - we’ll light it where they say.

Modern theater cannot work like that. This kind of practice became outdated a hundred years ago, and these are, of course, the rudiments of 19th century theater. But surprisingly, it exists safely in quite a large number of places. Perhaps this is due to the fact that our directors and artists traditionally receive insufficient education in matters of “scenography” and Sveta and how poorly educated people are convinced that they “know everything.” The problem, of course, is two-sided. Insufficient education on both sides creates situations of mutual distrust when the director does not believe in creative potential lighting designer, lighting designer - shines, where they will say, thereby initially impoverishing the created work.

No one, of course, argues: the stage director is the creator and generator of the idea and concept of the performance as a whole. But it’s not the director’s question - which flashlight where to send. The director has other tasks - to deal with the actors, mise-en-scène, and so on. The question is that the lighting designer works with the director initially, when the concept is still being formed, before the performance begins to rehearse on stage. By the time he goes on stage, the artist must have everything ready. Absolutely everything for rehearsals, where the “role” is checked and verified Sveta", to the same extent as any acting role. It's too late to come up with ideas. That is, he must give birth to a score Sveta, which is based on the concept of the performance, developed together with the director. Construct your own work - create a light-color scheme that is in harmony not only with costumes and decorations, but also with the characters, and with the music, and everything else. In a word, he must do his own accurate and aesthetically verified work, work out the lighting score. Otherwise, the results are half-finished performances - “works”. According to Lukasiewicz, one of the problems of Russian theater is that we very often do not distinguish between what lighting designer and what is illuminator, which at the request of the director will illuminate the actor - “so that it can be seen”, and the scenery - “so that it is beautiful.”

Education standard

The impetus for starting work on opening a course at the Theater Academy " Lighting designer“was Vladimir’s invitation to the University of Connecticut to give lectures on the history of the subject in Russia. Americans, by the way, involved in vocational training lighting artists since 1936, the Russian experience seemed interesting. And Vladimir, in turn, envied the way their training was organized. After all, the drama department of the university has four of its own, well-equipped theaters, in which 6–8 full-fledged performances are staged a year, by all students of the department. Thus, at lighting artists, just like actors and directors, there is an opportunity - and this is even obligatory - to work and illuminators, and assemblers, and assistant directors, that is, to master the theater from all sides. During the course they manage to graduate independently as lighting designers 5–7 performances. Accordingly, upon completing the course, they already have a decent portfolio and can present something interesting to employers.

Vladimir Lukasevich had experience teaching theater in the past (12 years). lighting engineers at the production department of LGITMiK, and even several courses were issued in the specialty “Artist-technologist” with the specialization “ Lighting designer" Ultimately, it became clear that theoretically, without a decent technical base, this probably did not make sense.

You see, it turned out to be such a wrong thing. All attempts to create some kind of normal class at the faculty and at the same time at the Mariinsky Theater were unsuccessful. And it turned out that people came to us to study, we taught them, they graduated from the university, received a diploma " lighting designer” and were confident that what was written in the diploma was true. But this was not so, or not entirely so. At a minimum, because they did not have the opportunity to master the profession in practice. And it turned out that we told the person that he was red, but he was actually bald. But it’s still not good to cheat. Actually because of this, preparation lighting artists was stopped, but easy to read lighting technology it wasn't very interesting anymore.

And further. After teaching in America, I was tormented by envy: why is it possible to study with them, but not with us? After all, today the situation has long been different, and there are opportunities to obtain a certain technical base, you just need to work on it. And we agreed with the Theater Academy to open a corresponding course at the production department.

It is in the specialty " Lighting designer»?

Here lies another, big and at the same time funny problem. The main idea was that from the very first course it should be a course lighting artists. Without any specializations, because these are still different things: specialization and profession. But then we came across something interesting. It turned out that in the list of professions available in our country, lighting designer yes, but not on the list of the Ministry of Education. That is, it turns out that this is the profession, but no one understands who and how to train specialists. Complete nonsense.

In order for this profession to appear in the above list, there must be an approved Education Standard. We wrote this standard, but there is probably no one in the ministry to work on it and approve it (due to 8–15 graduates per year).

What is this Education Standard?

A list of all subjects and knowledge that a student must master in order to become a professional. I invited my friend Jim Franklin to do this work, who once organized a similar course at the University of Connecticut (now one of the leading schools of our profession in the USA). At the same time, he lectured at the Theater Academy for a whole semester. At the same time, this topic was actively discussed at meetings and round tables of the Association lighting artists Russia. They broke spears. It started with nonsense: What should it be called? Lighting designer or something else? But what is lighting designer? I don't understand who he is lighting designer. What is design in general in our understanding? After all, in English the word “designer” does not directly correspond to the word “artist”. It's more of a constructor. Although this is also not entirely true. Ultimately, we are talking about a creative profession that creates a certain visual sequence - that is, an artist. After all, outside of our disputes, it exists in the register of professions. Lighting designer- this is right.

On the other hand, how to teach to be an artist? This is probably impossible, it’s more likely from mom and dad. I think that at our Academy (as at any other creative university) we are talking, first of all, about giving a person a craft. Craft techniques for living in the profession. And what he does with these techniques, how he realizes it, depends on his creative potential. But the profession needs to be learned. History of Russian and foreign theater, history of material culture, history of fine arts, philosophy, theory of scenography, history of Russian and foreign literature, perspective, drawing, calculation of theatrical structures, painting, drawing, psychology and physiology of perception, history theatrical light and theatrical costume, computer modeling and the theory of the spatial solution of a performance... Yes, we included a lot more in the Education Standard. Long list.

For what lighting designer study so many humanities subjects?

To be educated, modern. How do you expect to work on a play, say, or an opera, without knowing the history, material culture of the era that is discussed in your performance? Narrow professional knowledge, in my opinion, was what Karl Marx called “professional cretinism.” For the sake of broad knowledge, of course! Later, Jim (I was on tour at the time) presented our program in Munich at a seminar lighting artists, where monsters of our profession from Europe and America traditionally gather. And, according to Jim, his colleagues were slightly amazed: the program looks even more serious than the one that exists today in the States. The fact is that for a number of reasons, for example in the USA, it is not possible to provide such a wide range of items. And the St. Petersburg Theater Academy has a huge resource in this regard. And I did this deliberately, because in the American school I was greatly embarrassed by the limited knowledge of history, experience of world and European theater, and general outlook. They probably don’t know anything about the Russian theater except the name Stanislavsky. There, at the university, students came to me and told me about crazy ideas that they came up with on their own. And I had to give a lecture about our compatriot who worked for Dalcroze in Hellerau in 1912. “...This has already happened. In 1414, Nikolai Zaltsman already did all this...” So lighting designer- it's not just knowledge flashlights. This is detailed knowledge of the subject from all sides.

What requirements did you have for the entrance exams?

Due to the fact that the course is open specifically at the Theater Academy, we, like all creative universities, have the opportunity to select students in two and a half rounds. According to the principle you want.

So which one?

I want the student to be smart and talented. The first qualifying round went like this. Each applicant received a reproduction of a painting - classical painting. Based on this picture, it was necessary to draw a plan, a side section - to make a supposed theatrical scene - and stage light. In hands only a pencil and paper. It didn’t matter to me how they knew how to draw layouts - they would be taught how to draw for four years - it was important to understand, firstly, how much a person sees space and, secondly, how much he sees light in this space. This is the Jesuit task I set for them. And for the second round, you had to either take a photo yourself, or find clippings from magazines with pictures in which light played a certain role. And talk about it. And not the simplest spectacular pictures, where, say, the sun rises behind the forest and a powerful “backlight” is visible, but something more complex, multifaceted. There were also a couple of problems from school physics and drawing. Then - an interview, when all the teachers of the department asked applicants about theater, literature, and music. To understand how theatrical a person is and from our team. Thus, eight people were selected (although initially I expected a course of six). We really hope that some good will come of them.

And your graduates will bet light in the best theaters in the world?

Of course I would like to. I think it primarily depends on them. I think we will do what depends on us at the faculty. And then - how life will lead. Maybe not the theater, who knows. The point is that lighting designer- This lighting designer. AND light he can stage anywhere: in a casino, in a theater... Illuminate the Kazan Cathedral or museum exhibitions. This is a profession. And she can apply herself to anything. The question is that the person understands what he is doing. Of course, there is specialization - architectural lighting, theatrical light, concert light. But all these are different course subjects. A lighting designer I have to figure out how best illuminate this or that. For example, I would like to see architectural lighting St. Petersburg is not the same as it is today. After all, St. Petersburg is an amazing dramatic environment. Well, Dostoevsky’s Petersburg can’t be illuminated just like Pushkin’s Petersburg - these are different cities! AND light, and the environment in these different cities must be done differently. Well, at least for aesthetic reasons. And we have all the lighting - flashlights: it was dark, it became light - that’s all the progress. It's the same with the theater - the problems have the same root. But this period will pass someday. I hope not without our help.

Vladimir Lukasevich was born in Odessa in 1956. At the age of fifteen, he entered the Leningrad Film Technical School to major in “Theater Lighting Designer.” At the age of seventeen he made his first performance as a lighting designer at the Ryazan Regional Drama Theater. Graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Theatre, Music and Cinematography. He staged performances in many drama theaters in Russia. He worked at the theater. V. F. Komissarzhevskaya with People's Artist of the USSR R. S. Agamirzyan. He taught the discipline “Artist-Technologist” at LGITMiK with the specialization “Lighting Artist”. Since 1985 he has worked at the Mariinsky Theater as chief lighting designer. Teaches at the University of Connecticut. He sets the lights for performances staged not only in St. Petersburg, but also on the stages of opera and ballet theaters around the world. He has produced more than 300 performances, classical and avant-garde productions: “Boris Godunov”, “The Nutcracker”, “Lohengrin”, “Parsifal”, “Sleeping Beauty”, “Samson and Delilah”, “Corsair”, “Firebird”, “Petrushka”, “La Traviata”, “Copelia”, “Carmen”, “Theme with Variations”, “Manon”, “The Tale of Tsar Saltan”, “Ariadne on Naxos” and others... The performances designed by him were and are being performed at many venues around the world - Spoletto Festival USA, La Scala, Bordeaux Opera, Royal Opera Covent Garden, Opera Marseille, New Israeli Opera, New National Opera in Tokyo. Eight years ago, based on his project, a unique reconstruction of the lighting equipment of the spotlights was made at the Mariinsky Theater, and lighting equipment with fully automated control appeared in the theater. Vladimir Lukasevich is one of the board members of the Association of Lighting Artists of Russia and, under the auspices of this association and the Theater Academy of St. Petersburg, conducts annual advanced training seminars for lighting artists. And this year, on his initiative, the production department at the Theater Academy for the first time enrolled students in the “Lighting Designer” course.

List of subjects for a 5-year course of study in the specialty “Lighting Designer”
Foreign language
Physical Culture
National history:
World historical process in Russia
The history of homeland
Philosophy:
Fundamentals of philosophical knowledge
Philosophy of Art (Aesthetics)
Cultural studies
Psychology and pedagogy
Russian language and culture of speech
Sociology
History of Russian literature
History of foreign literature
History of foreign drama
History of the theater
History of foreign theater
History of Russian theater
History of fine arts
History of foreign fine arts
History of Russian fine arts
History of material culture and life
Drawing and painting
Theater buildings and structures
Organization of theater business in Russia
Theatrical make-up and pasting Materials science
Life safety
History of Russian music and musical theater
History of foreign music and muses. theater
History of St. Petersburg
Theater safety
Stage equipment (lighting)
Dramaturgical analysis
Theory of scenography
History of theatrical lighting
Scenographic composition
Decoration technology
Theater production technology
Stage structure and equipment
Basics of Perspective and Layout
Calculation of theater structures
Stage costume creation technology
Technology of artistic lighting design
History of theatrical and decorative art
History of the costume
Architecture Basics
Drawing and descriptive geometry
Theater lighting equipment
Light and color
Light score, graphics
Psychology of perception
Theater lighting technology
Electronics
Aesthetics of light
Computer simulation of light
Specialized software
Lighting in musical theater
Lights in a drama theater
Lighting design of architecture
Lighting design for concert programs

Books

Reference book on lighting engineering

Moscow House Sveta and the publishing house "Znak" are preparing for release at the end of 2005 the third edition of the "Reference Book on lighting technology».
The first two editions were published in 1983 and 1995. During this time, the “Reference Book on Lighting Engineering”, published in a circulation of 65 thousand copies, has become a reference book for most specialists and at the same time a textbook in many areas of lighting engineering.
The new edition is distinguished by significantly greater completeness of materials, presentation of the latest regulatory data, methods and means of calculation, design and lighting design, full-color design and printing on high-quality paper. In the new, third edition, the sections “ Sources of light", "Controlling devices and lighting control systems", methods of calculation and design based on the widespread use of computer technology have been revised. New sections have appeared in the book: “ Lighting design», « Light and health", "Energy saving in lighting installations", " Underwater lighting", "History of lighting technology".
"Reference book on lighting technology» is intended for a wide range of specialists - lighting engineers, electricians, architects, hygienists, doctors, labor protection workers associated with the use of natural and artificial lighting, development and production lighting products, design, installation and operation of lighting installations.
"Reference book on lighting technology"will also be released on CD.
You can order the “Reference Book on Lighting Engineering” at the House of Light. His address:
Russia, 129626, Moscow, Mira Ave., 106, office. 346
Tel./fax: (095) 682–19–04, tel. (095) 682–26–54
E-mail: Light– [email protected]

Ballad of Light

“She is over 120 years old, but she doesn’t look her age. No matter how much new light sources compete with her, she remains the most beautiful of all. A thing that remains unchanged in its classic form, an example of perfect design, to which there is nothing to add and from which there is nothing to take away. In many cases much more beautiful than all the lampshades and lamps, with which they now decorate and cover it.”
So begins a new book, just published, dedicated to the first ever widely used electrical device. The book contains more than 200 illustrations. The text is organized around three main topics: technical aspects of the introduction of light bulbs, advertising and graphics from many previously unpublished documents and, finally, “words about light" - the view of poets and writers on the object of study.
This book is a 144-page paean to the light bulb, with a superb minimalist cover that replicates a 1912 poster by Peter Behrens commissioned by AEG. The book does not pretend to be a technical treatise or a textbook on lighting technology; it is an “illustrated atlas”, which is a pleasure to read. Even the title reminds of the property Sveta bring fun and joy.
The text opens with poems by the Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, dedicated to an electric light bulb and its fiery heart. The book ends with lines from the great American neurologist Oliver Sacks: a fragment of autobiographical prose about his favorite metals - osmium, tungsten and tantalum, from which filaments in lamps are made. Between these two luminous rods stretch five parts of the book: “Myth and Beauty”, “Edison and His Kind”, “The War on Gas”, “Workshops of Light”, “Our Time”. Workshops of Light contains six biographies of major companies and comprehensive descriptions of countless commercial brands. The author is not new to such publications. In 1995, Lupetti published his Signs of Light, now virtually out of print. Accompanied by illustrations, it's easy and enjoyable to wade through the history of light bulb advertising, with a smattering of technical details and cultural excursions. In fact, a third of the volume - its final part - exalts the charm Sveta on a high pedestal created by the words of poets.
Materials provided by the Portal Sveta
www.lightingacademy.org

You can find out where you can get the magazine...

Light Artist Day is celebrated on July 11th. People of this profession are irreplaceable in the theater - in many ways it depends on them how the audience will perceive the performance. Artistic director of the Royal Theater for Young Spectators Yaroslav Ermakov told RIAMO in Korolev about the intricacies of a lighting artist’s work, experiments with chiaroscuro and the use of light projections on stage.

- Yaroslav Igorevich, tell us about your experience as a lighting designer.

I used to work in electronics, my first education was technical. He worked in television for a long time - first as a simple assistant, then as a second director. Conducted a huge number of live broadcasts. This was due to the fact that I am well versed in technology, I quickly grasp everything and can navigate on the spot. I was constantly learning something new. This helped me a lot.

Initially, when the Royal Youth Theater was first created, it was a studio theater, and everyone contributed what they could to the common cause. There were professional lighting workers here, I just looked at their work, memorized it, and learned. I was interested in this, and I gradually came to the conclusion that I myself began to work with light.

I believe that a lighting designer is a collaborator with the director. He must have a very good idea of ​​the concept of the performance, understand it and, with the help of technical means, achieve its implementation on stage. I can note that quite a lot of directors came from lighting designers. We can say that this is a mixture of professions. It's good if you draw, it's good if you have spatial imagination. And most importantly, you need to love the theater and the show you create.

- How do you work on staging the light for a performance?

If I know the play, roughly understand the director’s idea and what he wants to get out of it, then I get involved in the work right away. I watch the rehearsals and imagine the style of the future performance. As a rule, the feeling comes immediately. And the first feeling is always the most correct! Then I select the equipment available in the theater.

Everything is done depending on the depth of the concept and the funds allocated for production. Also, everything depends on the desire of the director. You can use an insane amount of equipment, or you can make a good show with one single light bulb - play everything around it. So the organization of light very much depends on the agreement with the director, on his ideas and plans.

For example, before, when the firefighters gave permission, we played Hamlet by candlelight. We carried out various experiments with shadows.

- Does equipment often break down? What do you do in this case?

Equipment breaks down depending on the complexity of the system. We can have one device “fly out” every three or four performances. In general, we can say that approximately 2% of all equipment is constantly not working. In large theaters there are duplicating systems that even duplicate the lighting control panel. We don't have that.

When a breakdown occurs during a performance, the main thing is not to panic. And this depends on the corresponding qualities of the person. To cope with force majeure, you need to know your system very well and correct everything reflexively. Hands must be faster than thoughts. The performance never stops.

© provided by Yaroslav Ermakov

- Tell us a couple of interesting stories from practice.

We have a lot of interesting stories! One of them happened when I was working in television. We had filling devices, the lamps in which sometimes exploded. And one day during the news, when the presenter was on air, one of the backlight lamps exploded. It was a bright flash, and sparks fell from above behind the presenter! Everyone fell into a kind of stupor. But I think the audience thought that this was how it should be, since it looked quite beautiful. Although it was very dangerous.

There are also plenty of stories in the theater. Local lighting is often used on stage - different places between which the actor moves are illuminated. It happens that the artist does not fall into the beam of light. For example, he doesn’t reach the required half-step mark, stops in the dark and plays further. At the same time, there is no light on his face at all! And you mentally shout: “Step a little more, there’s a spot of light on the stage!” But there is no way to quickly move the device, since everything is programmed and is associated with significant difficulties. All that remains is to grab your head and hope that the actor will not make a mistake at the next point.

-Have you ever made lights for city holidays?

At city festivals, invited professionals work with their own equipment, designed for use on the street and, as a rule, already assembled for a specific show. Such equipment is much more powerful than ours. Sometimes, of course, we do our own stage lighting for evening events. However, this happens quite rarely.

© provided by Yaroslav Ermakov

- What do lighting directors do in the off-season?

We are engaged in equipment maintenance. Everything is washed, cleaned, repaired. The stage is a very dusty place. In fact, every device is like a vacuum cleaner!

In addition, lighting designers usually work seven days a week and seven days a week. So they have a very long vacation, and they can only use it in the off-season.

Finally, many earn extra money - for example, in Moscow. The work there practically never stops; one or another site is always working. Lighting designers go to festivals, work on professional development, and attend seminars.

- What awaits the Royal Youth Theater in the new season?

In the new season we will have a new lighting designer, we are currently training him. So, I think he will bring something new, his own, to the theater.

We also plan to use more light projections. It will be possible to try to make several projections simultaneously on different planes. Projection and animation are now much cheaper than making actual sets. However, in my opinion, nothing can replace real theatrical scenery.

© provided by the Royal Youth Theater

- What would you like to wish to aspiring lighting designers?

I can tell beginners: don’t expect someone to come and teach you everything! No institute, no courses will give anything if there is no desire to understand every detail of the chosen specialty. We need to watch more performances, festivals, concerts - both domestic and foreign. Read special magazines, communicate with professionals on forums.

If you are lucky enough to work with an experienced colleague, then you need to follow him, watch, remember, ask. Try to “get into” the profession, “get into” the plan. Listen to how he talks with the director, how he works on staging the lighting. You have to be passionate about what you do, only then will something work out. In due time I learned everything, I was lucky enough to work together with a real professional who had extensive theatrical experience. And when the mentor understands that you are really interested in this business, he begins to communicate with you as an equal.

Today, a lighting artist is one of the rarest, most interesting and sought-after professions. I encourage young people not to chase profit, but to take initiative, create and be creative!

Who is a lighting designer, lighting designer, regulator, “gunner,” “tablet operator,” “electronics engineer,” and technician?

When did these professions emerge? What are they for? What is the difference? Is it possible to master these specialties on your own? How to analyze experience?

In general, are these specialties creative? How harmful are “random” people to the profession?

Let's try to understand all these issues together and sort out the basics of our specialty.

Who are lighting designers?

Let's look at the situation using the example of a “neighbor by genre”.

Painter. Agree, it is not enough to define a painter as “a highly qualified draftsman who applies pigments to a primed plane in a sequence determined by him,” since this definition is suitable for a painter, a designer, and an icon painter, and these specialties are completely different in their tasks. The icon painter works according to certain canons; his work is intended primarily for God. The designer's task is to satisfy the tastes of the vast majority of consumers. The artist works primarily for himself and for his viewer, if, of course, he has something to say.

As you know, in the beginning there was the Word, and our profession was captured by this word. “Artist” defines the entire essence of the existence of our craft, gives a starting point and meaning to further existence. Otherwise, it is better to be called a master or lighting designer. At least it will be honest and in its own way worthy of respect.

This book will be an attempt to study the profession of a lighting designer from an artistic perspective, since there is catastrophically little relevant literature, unlike technical literature, in Russia. Apart from D. G. Ismagilava, E. P. Drivaleva and, of course, N. P. Izvekov and V. V. Bazanov, I cannot remember the authors who devoted themselves to creating textbooks on lighting and theatrical technology. I don’t know how well the format of this book will correspond to the concept of a textbook. In any case, I will try to walk with you along the golden mean, without going to the extremes of “highly artistic exaltation” and without leaving the artistic part at the mercy of technocracy.

In the fine arts, there are a huge number of soulless paintings made in filigree painting techniques, and countless masterpieces that have been lost irretrievably due to violations of painting technology. Therefore, let’s discard empty talk about the primacy of the egg and the chicken and start learning together.

Scope of activity of a lighting artist

Art production lighting. The difference between staged lighting and household or interior lighting is that it is installed depending on specific tasks. Light installation is an artistic process that results in the appearance of lighting staging performance, concert, variety or circus act, exhibition installation or light show.

Definition of the profession “lighting designer”

In my Soviet-era work book the following is written:

« A highly qualified illuminator who develops staging lighting schemes for performances, concerts and other cultural events that are complex in design, selecting staging lighting means, determining the location of these means and their management».

In principle, this entry can be taken as the basis for defining the specialty “lighting designer”.

Indeed, we have some knowledge, experience, developments, a system of artistic values ​​- everything that is called qualifications.

Based on the technical and financial capabilities of the performance, concert or other installation being created, he selects the equipment required for a particular event, rejecting unnecessary hardware and insisting on purchasing the necessary equipment, creating a technical rider for each production.

A lighting designer supervises technicians (installers, planners, riggers) during the installation of light and compiles lighting plans, renderings of light scenes and other technical and artistic documentation.

Yes, he manages a complex of lighting equipment or supervises operators (regulators, video engineers, gunners).

For a clerical definition it is quite enough.

If we consider the profession of a lighting designer from the creative side, then he, firstly, is the curator of the entire visual perception of the work: “In the dark you will understand more clearly who is more important than everyone else in the theater” (an old theatrical saying). Secondly, he is a co-author of a work created by a creative team (theater, musical group, installation company, etc.).

The division of functions and spheres of influence within a team is a very individual and specific thing. Here everyone chooses for themselves the scope of functions and responsibilities that they can handle. In any case, the artist is obliged to bring his worldview, emotions, tastes, and life experience into the overall work. Another question is how organic, appropriate and tactful such “stuffing” is. To be honest, in my practice this has not always been possible. I met too many different bands and musical groups. The leaders of these groups have different charisma. There is too much difference in the theatrical and concert specifics of creating a work and many other factors influence co-authorship.

Thirdly, often the lighting designer is the monopoly author of the artistic lighting of the work. Recently, there has been a steady trend of light and multimedia performances with light as the main character.

Education

From a legal point of view, our profession does not seem to exist. At its core, it is a working specialty that does not require special training: in fact, for the personnel department of a government agency, it is synonymous with a profession electric light However, many of my friends have various positions recorded in their work books, from lighting console operators to heads of the theater lighting department. Paradoxically, in many state theaters, lighting technicians are required to have a certificate in their specialty. The fact that there is no secondary specialized educational institution in Russia where theater lighting specialists are trained is of little concern to officials.

To get out of the situation and at least somehow conduct an “educational education” for the staff, advanced training courses are being created, where an employee of an enterprise with any secondary specialized education can receive the coveted certificate. I also teach such courses. The trouble with such training is not only that such courses are not cheap, but also that they take the format of weekly or two-week seminars for cadets with different levels of training, experience and needs. Creating an educational institution in which yesterday’s schoolchild could enter and master from the basics the entire range of knowledge and skills in the profession in order to gain valuable knowledge for the future remains an insoluble task today.

The oxymoron is aggravated by the fact that in theater institutes training takes place in the specialty of artist-technologist, which includes, in addition to lighting designers, makeup and costume artists, set designers, post managers, etc.

The teaching staff of higher education also raises questions. The fact is that our profession is very specific and rare. Famous masters with extensive experience cannot always be presented as teachers due to many reasons: lack of formal education, technological lag and conservatism of the “theatrical” sphere from the “concert” environment, lack of established techniques and, in fact, an integral school of staged lighting, like art, scenographic or directing Russian schools. If continuity of the profession exists in domestic universities, it is presented in a very one-sided and monopolistic manner.

The most unfortunate thing is that the gap between theatrical and concert lighting is becoming catastrophic. Theater artists, just beginning to master the technological capabilities of modern light, often pass off practices that have been developed for years in the concert environment as their own revelations. The experience accumulated over decades in the concert and musical environment is practically not transferred to the theater stage. Concert artists often do not have artistic baggage and theatrical methodological base. As a result, where symbiosis could arise, snobbery and mutual rejection arise.

The lighting designer's task

Creation of artistic and production lighting for a theater, concert, exhibition, architectural or other production (installation).

Hierarchy of professions

The lighting designer is both a subordinate and a leader. The implementation of his ideas will depend on how he builds his relationships with his superiors and subordinates.

The owner of a collective work in a theater or group concert is the stage director; in solo concert practice, it is the band leader or producer (to be honest, in my rocker practice, producers are a little less common than Bigfoot).

The director is the initiator, ideologist and leader of the creation of the entire work as a whole. He selects the creative team, is responsible for everything and has the right of veto.

In the visual part of the work, the director formulates artistic and utilitarian tasks for the production designer (set designer). And the set designer directly forms the visual part of the work (scenery, costumes, makeup, etc.).

The lighting designer reports directly to the production designer in all creative matters. The amount of freedom and restrictions received by the lighting designer as a creative unit depends on the set designer.

In organizational and general technical matters, the lighting designer closely cooperates with the head of the production department (head of post). In different organizations, the functions of post managers differ significantly.

Subordinate to the lighting designer:

  • Technicians (tablet workers, gallery owners, riggers, etc.) - those who install the equipment and configure it;
  • Operators (regulators, video engineers, gunners, etc.) - directly controlling various devices;
  • Visualizers are computer specialists who create demonstration computer light models of a work and computer light scores;
  • Engineers - ensuring the uninterrupted operation of equipment or creating this equipment on special order.

Please note that neither actors nor musicians are organizationally included in the structure of production lighting, i.e. are neither superiors nor subordinates of the lighting designer.

A lighting designer is also present in organizations involved in the rental of concert equipment or technical support for entertainment events, but his functions are determined by the specifics of the organization and vary greatly in different organizations.

I don’t know about the rest of the concert industry, but in Russian rock, not without my many years of participation, a new position has appeared-lighting designer (video) of the group. In concert practice, the functions of a set designer and a lighting designer are often combined, as happened to me when working with DDT and Picnic, despite the fact that both Yu. Shevchuk and E. Shklyarsky are artists themselves, and DDT from birth had a very interesting the artist of the group, V. Dvornik, who, after I left the group, began to engage in scenography and, quite unsuccessfully, stage lighting.

The functions of director, set designer and lighting designer merged into one for me while working at Aquarium and especially at Alice. In “Aquarium” I was the first artist of the group, and in “Alice” a similar tradition developed under my predecessor A. Stolypin. Now, as far as I know, K. Kinchev’s wife is in charge of directing and scenography, and the lighting is handled by the young artist A. Lukashev. A similar situation has developed in the Leningrad group, where the lighting designer is my student D. Raidugin.

Pre-electric period of stage lighting development

Background of staged lighting. Pre-theatrical rituals.

In fact, stage lighting has been around since the birth of Homo sapiens and is inextricably linked with religious rituals. As soon as the first actors appeared on the stage of humanity: sorcerers, priests, shamans, etc., the need arose to illuminate them and illuminate the background against which they played out their action. Shadows from sunlight, twilight of huts or caves, artificial light from fires and torches helped create the mystical mood of the rituals. To this day, in the architecture of a temple of any denomination one can find elements similar in their functions to the elements of a theater. It is enough to compare the canons of temple construction with the classical box stage.

Ancient theater

Ancient theater

We see the first outlines of the appearance of the stage already in the ancient Greek theater: initially a round platform for the actor and choir - orchestra, was surrounded on three sides amphitheater for the audience. The amphitheater could consist of several levels separated by a wide passage - diazome. Later, behind the orchestra there was a room for changing the actors’ clothes - skene, choir area – Proskenius. Skene and the amphitheater were separated by a passage - parod. As the theater developed, this was especially evident in ancient Rome, the orchestra lost its stage significance and became a kind of stall for senators or other high-ranking persons of those times. The skene grows in size and height, becoming a full-fledged background for the actors positioned on the enlarged proskenium.

Ancient theater. Proscenium.

Actually, from this moment it becomes possible to manipulate lighting. There is information that fabric awnings were attached to the portico of the skene, which sometimes made it possible to cover almost the entire theater from bad weather and the sun; painted awnings created daytime colored lighting, unusual for those times.

Obviously, not wanting to limit the duration of the action to daylight hours, the need arises for utilitarian artificial lighting of the stage.

It is characteristic that it was precisely from the time of Rome that the need for scenography - the art of stage design.

The porticoes of the skene are decorated with columns and sculptures; flat painted shields are installed in the openings of the columns - pinaki. At a later time, triangular prisms began to be used to quickly change the scene of action - telluria (telaria, periacta). Appears a curtain, which was originally pulled out from a special slot in front of the proscenium. It is logical that the need for scenography, and then for effective lighting, arose with a change in the aesthetic canons of all art as a whole. In ancient Greek art, the description of the scene of action is often very conditional and not expressed. In Rome, it was more specific and, as a consequence, the appearance of scenery and stage effects.

Theater of the Middle Ages

The true development of scenography and its integral part - stage lighting - continued several centuries after the collapse of the Roman Empire. Approximately after the 10th century, a new form of worship began to develop in the church of medieval Europe - liturgical drama. An action based on gospel stories, taking place directly inside the church. The places for the actors to play were located in different parts of the church and were covered with curtains until necessary moments. Thus, in fact, not one scene appeared - but several, which later received the name simultaneous. The lack of daylight gave rise, on the one hand, to the need for additional artificial lighting in the form of many candles, oil lamps and torches, on the other hand, which made it possible to invent various lighting effects.

Please pay attention to the fact that in the Middle Ages, as in previous cases, the general aesthetic needs for an unusual, mystical description of the scene of purgatory, heaven and hell, gave rise to the need for the development of scenography as a whole. The scenery of individual episodes, props, flight devices, mechanical monsters, etc. were created. There was a need for effective lighting and its control. Thus, a large number of lamps could be lit almost simultaneously using a fuse cord. Use special caps to extinguish them or shade them with special curtains. Using lifting mechanisms and many candles, create the illusion of a starry sky or celestial radiance. Designs with candles or lamps were hidden for the time being and appeared when necessary.

Some parts of the scenery made of tow and cotton wool were soaked in alcohol, which made it possible to achieve a flash effect. Pieces of resin produced beautiful sparks. Flashes were made by igniting a mixture of resin and gunpowder. Using the simplest devices, illusions of lightning flashes and reflections of fires were created.

With time church theater began to move from the church to the square in front of the church, and then to the square altogether, giving way to street theater.

Street theater

With the release of the theater into the streets, church liturgy is replaced by mystery, an action based on religious themes, using, as a rule, three locations: hell, earth and heaven.

Unlike the church theater, the street theater did not have permanent buildings and was erected in squares for some event. Need for a change of scene

necessitated the need for specially equipped stage areas. It is logical that there is a need for qualified craftsmen who can quickly install the necessary equipment.

The mysteries did not have a single stage solution, except for one thing - they were all simultaneous. One of the options was a two-story stage, equipped hold, where the scenery was prepared and the actors and lifting hatch, with the help of which new scenery quickly appeared on the stage. Sometimes the stage simply consisted of three floors covered with curtains: the bottom floor was hell, the second was earth or purgatory, the top was heaven. Often the three action scenes were mounted horizontally rather than vertically. Often, special two-story carts were used to change scenery - pegents. The number of carts corresponded to the number of places of action. To change the scenery, the carts simply moved.

Naturally, the design of the mysteries required magnificent decoration and various effects. Mechanical animals, lifting mechanisms, and obviously pyrotechnics enhanced the mystical sensations of the audience, creating a feeling of magic.

Gradually, street theater is losing its exclusively religious theme, being replaced by street comedy theater - farce.

The pinnacle of this movement was the Italian comedy born of the Renaissance. del arte, the origins of which can be traced back to the ancient Greek mask theater and street carnivals.

Formation of the box stage and fundamental principles of stage lighting

It was from the Renaissance that the laying of the main components of modern theater and concert art began. If we carefully observe, we see how the architecture of ancient, especially Roman theater begins to form the canons of stage construction: the amphitheater becomes the main place for the viewer, the orchestra becomes a place for the nobility, the proscenium turns into a stage.

Skene becomes a backdrop and an additional (rear) backstage.

The action begins to take place on one stage. At the same time, the experience of the medieval theater is taken into account: the hold, lifting hatches, stage mechanisms, scenery and props are preserved. A classic curtain appears, behind which a change of scenery takes place, although a large-scale change of scenery will develop somewhat later.

From the 15th-16th centuries the theater gradually became covered. At first these were temporary wooden buildings, then stone permanent theaters at palaces. Naturally, there is a need for utilitarian artificial lighting of actors and scenery and lighting effects.

In addition to the experience of previous generations, it should be noted that the Renaissance theater also introduced new elements. Stage mechanisms and systems for changing scenery have developed. The best and most famous painters are beginning to be invited to design performances. Picturesque appears perspective backdrop,“destroying” the back wall and creating a complete illusion of stage depth.

The creation of illusory space developed widely in Renaissance painting.

The discovery of the laws of perspective, which were widely used in the painting of those times, found fertile ground in the specific conditions of the theater.

The invention of perspective scenery is attributed to an Italian artist Bramante, and further development of theatrical and decorative painting techniques - to the artist and architect Sebastian Serlio. Thanks to him, an inclined tablet(stage floor). The artist moves the horizon line of the picturesque backdrop from the border with the tablet much higher, directly to the center of the picturesque backdrop, which significantly increases the illusion of depth. In addition, the artist first made a model of the stage - layout, where I checked my calculations.

In addition, Serlio gives a classification of staged lighting, dividing it into three categories: general lighting, decorative and effective. All these achievements of the great theater artist are often used by modern theater.

The theater was not deprived of its attention by the great Leonardo da Vinci, who not only painted theaters, but also improved the oil lamp by placing a tin tube over the flame, which increased the draft and, accordingly, the brightness of the lamp.

The emergence of full-fledged painting in the theater necessitates high-quality lighting. Appear berezki - opaque, shields blocking the light source itself from the viewer. Banks are often supplied reflectors, increasing the luminous flux of candles and oil lamps. Chandeliers are made up and down for ease of maintenance and lighting. The first ones appear soffits-devices for overhead stage lighting. It's obvious that ramp - location of lamps along the front edge of the stage – proscenium, which already existed from ancient times undergoes improvement, obviously appears horizon ramp – the location of the lamps along the rear edge of the stage, which serves directly to illuminate the backdrop.

In the Renaissance theater, colored lighting also developed: lens flasks filled with colored liquids were placed in front of the lamp. The details of the scenery were also illuminated with similar lamps. Theater windows were often covered with colored paper or colored glass.

It is worth noting that the court theater of the Renaissance, which existed exclusively for the nobility and at the expense of this nobility, was at one time an example of luxury and fantasy.

Baroque theater

By the beginning of the 17th century, a new genre appeared in theatrical art. Sideshows- insert numbers that entertain the public are transformed into independent works, opera and ballet appear, which require an even more enchanting, magnificent and luxurious design. The Renaissance theater, with sedentary scenery and a small cool tablet, does little to satisfy the sharply increased needs; the need arises to accommodate an orchestra. There is a need to change scenery and hide stage mechanisms and changeable scenery.

Appear front and rear ditches(orchestra pits and places for scenery changing mechanisms). Portal arch– limiting the stage from the front, backstage(often picturesque) and holly - covering the ceiling, a system of soffits and ramps is developed.

Theater machines reach their dawn. Flying characters, enchanting clouds in the sky, entire streets on stage, floating ships, fantastic animals, transforming scenery, fountains: all this was already in the theater baroque.

Baroque Theater

By the middle of the 17th century, the scene acquired very real features. classic box scene, a scene that still dominates today, being the most common form of stage.

However, the change of scenery occurs either in a sliding way, or antique ones are used Telari, which have received their new development. The ever-increasing need to quickly change a large number of decorations leads to the creation backstage scene.

It is necessary to name several names associated with a genuine revolution in theatrical technology. These are: German architect Joseph Furtenbach, English theater technologist Inigo Jones, Italian “magician and stage wizard” Giacomo Torelli, worked a lot in France and of course an architect, artist and mechanic Giovanni Servandoni.

Simultaneously with the development of the stage, the auditorium was being modified; the Renaissance amphitheater theater, designed for a small circle of nobility, could not accommodate a large number of diverse spectators, and the idea of ​​publicity and accessibility of the theater required new configurations. This is how the tiered or ranked theater arose. Where the nobility, who attended the performances, did not intersect with the rest of the public and had the most advantageous, central, low and isolated places separated from the rest - boxes. The public of modest means was content with the upper tiers and side boxes.

The tiered system significantly separated the quality of individual seats in terms of scene visibility.

The structure of the auditorium of modern theaters significantly averages visibility from different points, but the trend remains. Therefore, the perspective construction of scenery and lighting are still calculated from the central point of the auditorium.

Classic theater

The 18th century is characterized by the appearance of space above the stage, where the rising scenery of the so-called could be hidden. "double attire" covered with a lattice ceiling of the stage - grate bars, equipped with blocks – columnar shafts, with horizontal pipes suspended on them for attaching decorations - with fly bars. By the 19th century, the poles began to be equipped with balances - counterweights that made it easier to lift the scenery. In fact, the era completed the formation of the classic box stage.

And only stage lighting, before the invention of electricity, had not undergone any qualitative changes since the times of the Baroque theater.

The changes concerned only the quantitative part; often up to 8,000 candles were used at particularly lavish performances. The chandeliers were made up and down, lowering the chandelier meant the beginning of the intermission, special servants - chandeliers, removed carbon deposits and adjusted the wicks. Chandeliers were lit with a candle on a long stick and extinguished with a wet sponge or special caps. In the 18th century, chandeliers began to be lifted for maintenance into special rooms under the ceiling. By the 19th century, candles began to be replaced by oil lamps equipped with burners and reflectors.

But candle and lamp lighting did not allow for flexible light control. It is also worth considering the cost of oil and candles, as well as the ubiquitous soot. Only by the beginning of the 19th century in England, and then throughout Europe, gas lighting began to spread.

The control was carried out from the first prototype of the light control panel - a gas table, with gas tubes extending from it. By regulating the gas flow with valves. It was possible to control the lighting, but it was impractical to completely turn off the burners, since it was impossible to light them again during the performance. I had to leave a minimal light.

With the advent of gas burners, a system of colored light began to develop; filters were made of colored silk impregnated with varnish or oil to increase transparency. Around this time, the first prototype of RGB appeared, color sources were divided into groups of red, blue and green, and “pure” color was often used. The change in light occurred by decreasing the intensity of groups of one color and increasing the intensity of other groups. However, gas lighting is not widely used due to its high cost, bulkiness and, of course, fire hazard.

It should be noted that it was not only the difficulty of controlling candle, oil or gas light that hampered the development of stage lighting. The low light output of the sources did not allow the widespread use of directional light, thereby making it impossible to distance the light source from the illuminated object.

Classic theater

Therefore, a true revolution in stage lighting occurred not with the beginning of the use of electricity, but a little later with the advent of directional spotlights and, of course, dimmers.

Electric period of development of staged lighting

The final formation of the classical theater mid-19th - early 20th centuries

By the middle of the 19th century, the main features of the classical, backstage box stage, born in the Italian theater of the 17th century, received their completed forms. The classical stage became dominant in the theater world. Of course, other types of scenes continued to exist in parallel with global trends. The variety of different types of scenes has survived to this day, but the laws of scenography and stage lighting are formed specifically for the box stage and only then adapted for other, non-standard venues. We will turn to a detailed study of the stage-box architecture in the following chapters of the textbook.

The advent of electricity. Arc lamps.

It should be noted that the discovery of electricity in itself did not make an immediate revolution in stage lighting; moreover, the world's first voltaic arc, created in St. Petersburg by the Russian physicist V.V. Petrov, back in 1802, as often happens in Russia, it was forgotten for several decades. Only 10 years later the same experiment was carried out by the English scientist H. Davy.

Several more decades passed, the theater continued to use candles and gas lamps. Only in 1849, at the Paris Grand Opera, at the premiere of Meyerbeer's opera The Prophet, the first electric arc spotlight appeared. It was equipped with a parabolic reflector and simulated a fire and sunrise. Interestingly, a few years later the first “driving” spotlight was used in the same theater.

Initially, bulky batteries were used as a power source. With the advent of the dynamo, arc lights began to proliferate in theaters. Despite the fact that arc sources flashed and sparkled strongly, the effects of lightning, sun, and rainbows created using electricity differed significantly in brightness and color from candle, oil and gas sources. As for directional lighting of actors, electrical devices had no competitors in this area.

A full transition of theaters to electric lighting became possible only with the advent of the incandescent lamp.

Incandescent lamp

Like any fundamental invention, there are several authors, and there is still controversy about the name of the discoverer of the incandescent lamp. Obviously, the idea came to mind independently from several authors. Belgian Fobar in 1838 heated a coal plate in a vacuum, the Englishman de Moleyn from 1841. used a platinum thread, his compatriot Gebel in 1847. I used hairs of charred reed. Our compatriot, Alexander Ladygin, received a patent in 1874 for a lamp with a carbon rod in a vacuum. Finally, in 1879, Thomas Edison received a patent for the invention of incandescent lamps with carbon filaments, and a year later he began serial production of relatively inexpensive lamps. With the creation of the Edison and Swan United Electric Light Company (together with Joseph Swan), the era of the spread of electric lighting begins.

Aesthetic prerequisites for the need for electric lighting in the theater

It is important to note that any technical, even revolutionary, innovation goes through several stages in theatrical and concert life. The same thing happened with electricity. The theater, as a paradoxical junction of two extremes: innovation and conservatism, for a long time either did not notice electricity or used it as an effect. World practice first spread to the lighting of streets, parks and various entertainment venues, and only then gradually began the penetration of electricity into the theater, exclusively as an attraction.
In Russia, as always, they went their own way. Until the 1990s, electricity was used only sporadically. This happened against the background of the practical absence of electricity in everyday life and public life; the use of Yablochkov, Ladygin, and Edison lamps in the theater was akin to an elitist miracle. And only in the last decade of the outgoing century did a “fashion” for the use of electricity appear. Until the end of the 19th century, electricity in the Russian theater remained a fashionable, expensive attraction.

Technological concept of electric lighting in the theater

By the beginning of the 20th century, electricity in everyday life and public life was becoming more commonplace. The theater is gradually getting used to incandescent lamps; their versatility, low cost, and ease of use make it possible to create a general lighting solution, using both the spectacular capabilities of the lamps and their utilitarian properties. The appearance of switches, and then rheostats, begins the stage of formation of modern principles of lighting the theater space.

Properties of electric light (in relation to the theater)

Brightness and color temperature

Small-sized, numerous light sources illuminate actors and scenery with bright rays, the emission spectrum is closer to sunlight, compared to candles.

Remote location of the lamp relative to the object of illumination

Even an ordinary lamp can be located much further from the object of illumination.

Directional light. The emergence of full-fledged spotlights

Using a reflector, lenses and other devices, it becomes possible to direct a narrow, focused beam at an actor or set without exposing neighboring areas.

Colored light

The advent of cheap colored glass, and then celluloid, made it possible to widely use light filters. The possibilities of light on stage have increased by several orders of magnitude.

Adjustable light

It became possible to easily and quickly turn on and off the light from a remote point, and most importantly, from one place. The advent of rheostats made it possible to smoothly change the intensity of the lamp.

Expanded light source placement options

There is no need to have direct access to lamps. Theoretically, the spotlight could be placed in any optimal location. The classic “hanging” of lighting equipment began to take shape. To the traditional ramps of the proscenium and horizon, lighting boxes, spotlights, galleries and side beam trusses were added.

It can be said that in the first half of the 20th century, the arrangement of the stage lighting set and the principles of light construction received modern, complete features, and to this day there have been no significant changes in the aesthetics of stage lighting.

In the following chapters, studying the box stage, lighting principles, etc. we will actually get acquainted with the foundation laid in the first half of the twentieth century.

Artistic concept of electric lighting in a theater

I would like to note that the development of staged lighting in particular and theatrical art in general does not occur in isolation from global artistic practices.

Various genres of theatrical art, from the very beginning of theater to the present day, place different demands on the stage in general, and on light in particular.

In different eras, the requirements for light varied widely: from maximum realism to maximum fantasy. Various genres of performing arts also presented their own demands.

The advent of electricity made it possible to consider light as a universal but very flexible tool, easily adapting to different requirements.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the very concept of art had finally emerged as a separate area of ​​human activity. Gradually, over the centuries, poets, musicians, painters, directors and choreographers began to recognize themselves not as utilitarian artisans, but as creators. It was the turn of the twentieth century, when art finally realized itself, that gave a powerful, previously unknown impetus to the development of the latest trends in art. Artists, directors and composers finally came to the theater, eroding, or rather expanding its artistic boundaries, creating fundamentally new criteria for perception and construction of visual space. A huge number of modern techniques, ideas and concepts were born at this time.

First experiments with light and sound Scriabin’s instruments, light and sound paintings by composer Čiurlionis, Wilfried’s “music of light”, theatrical lighting experiments and techniques for lighting sets by A. Zaltsman, A. Appiah, A. E. Blumenthal-Tamarin, E. F. Bauer, projection device - electrotachiscope by Ottomar Anschutz - These are just a few examples.

Worthy of special mention Moscow Art Theater, led by chief director K. S. Stanislavsky and director V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko. The quantity, and most importantly, the quality of new techniques and approaches to staging a performance, has actually shaped the modern world classical theater school.

The revolutionary upheavals of the first half of the twentieth century in public life were also reflected in art. Different theaters in different styles posed different tasks. Electric light made it possible to solve various artistic problems by such diverse theatrical charismatic figures as: Vs. Meirhold, A. Tairov, M. Reinhard and of course B. Brecht.

From theater artists the beginning of the 20th century, I will give only selected names: G. Craig, K. Malevich, L. Bakst, A. Golovin, N. Sapunov, F.-T. Marinetti, E. Prampolini, I. Bilibin. The topic of the development of scenography goes beyond the scope of this textbook, being a special layer of theatrical culture.

It is extremely important that technological progress first created new devices. Then these devices were integrated into the entertainment and general household sphere. And only after a long process of artistic comprehension of the opportunities provided, a whole layer of artistic figures was formed who were able to organically apply technology in the artistic field.

Mid-twentieth century. The emergence of the profession of lighting artist.

In the twentieth century, a fundamentally new approach to solving the space of the stage arose - the creation of scenography itself in the modern meaning of the word. The variety of genres and various theater schools required the emergence of artists who knew how to work with space, using in their works not the planes of the canvas or the backdrop (although it was they who cultivated the illusion of the depth of space), but a truly three-dimensional space filled with three-dimensional scenery and electric light. The new set designers required knowledge of engineering technologies in the fields of mechanics, chemistry, optics and electricity. The required amount of knowledge increased exponentially every year. Naturally, an artist, even a narrowly theatrical one, could not thoroughly study all the technologies. Engineers and technicians, in turn, could not fully understand the artist, since the communication criteria were different.

As a result, specialists, artist-technologists appeared, located at the intersection between art and technology. Lighting specialists began to be called lighting designers. De facto, the lighting designer is a “translator” between hardware and art.

As far as I know, a similar trend exists to this day in all genres of performing arts where a stage director and set designer are present. The exception is when the set designer or director has the profession of a technologist or the functions of the director or set designer are taken over by the lighting designer.

The emergence of a new profession also required the creation of a school of stage lighting. In the mid-twentieth century, more precisely in the 40s, the first Soviet textbook on lighting by Nikolai Izvekov, “Light on Stage,” appeared. In the 60s, Vadim Bazanov’s “encyclopedia” of theatrical technology “Stage Technique and Technology” was published. These books, along with the publications of my teacher B. Sinyachevsky, the founder of the artistic lighting services of the Leningrad Bolshoi Drama Theater and the Great Concert Hall, have not lost their relevance and are reference books for many artists to this day. Unfortunately, there are catastrophically few books on the world. Only 40 years later, already in our time, Russia saw a new textbook on theatrical lighting by D. G. Ismagilov, E. P. Drevaleva “Theater Lighting” and my notes. M. Keller’s book “This Fantastic Light” is very popular.

It’s very tempting to read it from cover to cover, but I want to keep different angles of view on the staged lighting, so I’ll refrain from reading it for now. In any case, I strongly recommend that readers read both textbooks to find a middle ground for themselves.

I can’t help but note the “school” of stage lighting, which is still preserved in the St. Petersburg Theater of Youth Creativity and its teachers E. Chernova and V. Bulygin.

Cinema and theater

With the advent of the first “magic lantern”, it became possible to use dynamic and static projection.

Since the advent of the Lumiere brothers, the two eternal rivals and antagonists of theater and cinema constantly influence and complement each other. I’m almost sure that in the pre-cinema period, the camera obscura was used not only by painters, but also by theatergoers. The appearance of projection devices, and then film projectors, immediately found their application in the theater. Titles, projection backdrops, close-ups, the entire arsenal of cinema was used in the theater long before the advent of video projectors. It is enough to give an example of an epidiascope, which allows you to “live” display a close-up of an actor’s face on the screen. The true flowering of projection technologies and the artistic interpretation of these technologies is associated with the mid-twentieth century and the Prague Theater “Laterna Magica”, under the leadership of I. Svoboda. Almost all artistic and technical techniques used in modern video projection have been tested many times in this theater. Obviously, with I. Svoboda the countdown begins for the emergence of the light theater itself as an independent art form.

Light in the twentieth century as an independent art form

The technical boom and aesthetic eclecticism of modernity and post-modernity of the twentieth century gave rise to new genres of fine art:

Light music. Color music.

Ideas that occasionally appeared in the “colored hearing” of some composers, in particular Rimsky-Korsakov, were developed by two brilliant composers of the early late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Composer and painter M. Cherlionis created musical works and paintings of the same name.

A. Scriabin expressed the thesis about the correspondence of notes and color tones, thanks to him, the genre of color music appeared. This genre received powerful development in the 60s-70s thanks to I. Vanechkin and B. Galeev and their Kazan SKB “Prometheus”. Further development of the idea belongs to B. Sinyachevsky (Leningrad), Y. Pravdyuk (Kharkov) and S. Zorin (Moscow).

The artistic techniques and engineering developments created by these authors are still used today.

Many combined filming operators became the “forerunners” of computer graphics, in particular, another of my teachers, B. Travkin (Mosfilm).

In addition to light music, the genre of light installations, video art and architectural light performances is emerging.

Concert light

From the moment musicians “emerge” from the orchestra pit onto the stage, especially with the development of jazz and various pop genres, there is a need for their coverage. Musicians are gradually losing touch with the theatrical world. Lighting techniques remain purely theatrical or utilitarian. With the advent of rock and roll, the need for concert shows arises. The theatrical foundations remain, but musical specificity is added. In fact, since the advent of the rock show, the profession of “lighting designer” has become relatively independent and acquired its own characteristics.

It is important to note that the basis of the profession remains theatrical. The further development of musical trends: rave, rap, alternative - does not bring new impulses for the development of the profession, but leads to a simplification of many of the functions of a lighting designer.

Trends in the development of theater and concert technology from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day

The searches and discoveries of theater artists at the beginning of the twentieth century determined the development of world theater for many years to come. Modern technologies are only developing directions laid down decades ago. The ideas of stage designers who worked at the beginning of the twentieth century are far from exhausted and provide enormous space for experimentation for today's stage designers.

In my, perhaps controversial, opinion, all modern artistic lighting techniques were finally formed by the first half of the twentieth century.

Fundamental innovations were the appearance of lens spotlights and a multi-channel mechanical light control system.

Since that time, intensive development has proceeded exclusively in the technical direction. The artistic component developed only extensively. Despite the seemingly titanic breakthrough in lighting technology, during the entire second half of the twentieth century, no fundamentally new lighting technologies appeared that significantly changed the artistic process.

I can only cite one indisputable factor that influenced the change in the aesthetics of light. The advent of powerful, small-sized aircraft headlights in the 60s made it possible to create an entire backlighting system, which led to the birth of the PAR64 device. This technique was reinforced by the invention of glycerin and then “oil” “light smoke”, which replaced the caustic rosin “pavilion smoke” or “heavy smoke” creeping along the ground.

The rest of the variety of technology either serves classical tasks, is used as an effect, or is still waiting in the wings.

As mentioned above, the general development of technology gives impetus to the development of the artistic component. There is also a reverse process. The increasing complexity of artistic tasks stimulates the development of specific theatrical and concert technologies.

The development of lighting theater technologies conventionally went in four directions:

A) Brightness boost(luminous output) of light sources. Increased efficiency light sources. Downsizing light source. Improvement of optical systems light sources.

Stages of development: voltaic arc, incandescent lamp, low voltage lamp, halogen lamp, xenon lamp, metal halide lamp, LED.

b) Expanding Diversity lighting devices. Height versatility multifunctional groups of devices and an increase in the number highly specialized, monofunctional lighting devices.

Stages of development of multifunctional devices: spotlight with hood, lensless spotlight with cut-off and counter-reflector, PISI type lens spotlight, color changer, moving head.

Stages of development of monofunctional devices: dividing luminaires into spotlights and floodlight devices.

Stages of development of spotlights: spotlights were divided into PAR64 type spotlights, profiles, projection devices, and tracking light devices.

Stages of development of “flooding” devices:“filling” was divided into multi-chamber ramp and horizon lamps, “beating” devices, and architectural color changers.

V) Improvement of lighting control systems.

Flexible control began with the advent of a simple switch, then rheostats appeared that made it possible to change the voltage and, accordingly, the heat of the lamp. Rheostats were replaced by autotransformers with variable output voltage. The advent of autotransformers with a common core and multiple brush shells made it possible to create an adjustable multi-channel control system. Mechanical lighting regulators appeared, and the division of regulators into power and conditional control parts began. The appearance of tube thyratrons, and then thyristors, made it possible to finally separate the remote control and the power part. The advent of the “control voltage” of the thyristor made it possible to first create a remote control with “manual programming”, then a remote control with electronic memory, and finally - computer-controlled remote controls.

G) Creation of effects and fundamentally new lighting devices.

The advent of powerful film and slide projectors made it possible to create projection sets. The advent of video projectors, video cameras and computers has made it much easier to create dynamic content. The power and mobility of video projectors made it possible to use them as a special spotlight, directing the light flux not only to the screen, but also to any necessary object. The creation of pseudo holographic films allows you to “suspend” an image in the air.

The emergence of panels and garlands of “running” lamps in the mid-1930s preceded the creation of LED screens 70 years later. With the advent of LEDs, the brightness of screen images increased significantly; LEDs could compete with solar lighting. In addition, the LED panels could be arranged in any way you wanted, allowing you to “escape” the traditional “big TV” screen on stage.

“We are seeing painful attempts to use LEDs as a light source for traditional spotlights in our time. Once the color temperature is corrected and cheap blue LEDs become available, the situation may improve dramatically. Perhaps it is the LED that will give impetus to a new approach to building light.”

The above lines were written several years ago. To date, the problem has been completely resolved. Good light temperature, high luminous efficiency and convenient control have placed LED technology among the leading technologies.

The mid-twentieth century produced a revolutionary light source - the laser. Unfortunately, in theater and concert practice, the use of lasers has been reduced to an attraction. Flash lamps suffer a similar fate. The strobe light that uses it has become the “disco” curse of the theater and concert venue.

Ultraviolet lamps and luminescent paints made a real splash in stage design in the 60s and 70s. Nowadays, in theatrical productions they are used more restrained and organically.

“The emergence of intelligent dynamic devices of the “scanner” type, and then devices of the “moving head” type, contrary to expectations, has not yet brought significant, expected fruits to the general aesthetics of artistic light. Perhaps this is precisely Russian specificity. The fact is that the “moving head”, originally created as a universal theatrical device with remote control, is not used enough in the theater. There are at least four reasons:

  1. Low preparedness of directors, theater artists and theater staff.
  2. 2. The reputation of the “moving head” device has been spoiled by the concert environment (a merchant’s habit is to buy “moving heads” and use them as scanners, undeservedly abandoning the latter).
  3. 3. The presence of a mechanical dimmer and a halogen incandescent lamp, which is rarely found in “movieheads”.
  4. 4. Expensive.

Nevertheless, the aesthetic component of dynamic intellectual light is already beginning to be polished in concert practice, next to the theater.”

And these lines were written 6 years ago, in the previous edition of the textbook. During this time, in the theatrical environment, a qualitative shift in consciousness finally occurred and conservative theater artists finally began to use this range of devices in their practice.

In conclusion, I would like to more clearly summarize what was said above:

The final formation of classical theater.

By the middle of the 19th century, the main features of the classical stage received their completed forms. Only the architecture of the stage has been formed. Stage lighting was awaiting revolutionary changes.

The advent of electricity. Arc lamps. Incandescent lamp.

With the advent of incandescent lamps, switches, and then rheostats, the stage of formation of modern principles of stage lighting begins.

Properties of electric light(in relation to the theater) .

  1. Brightness and color temperature.
  2. Remote location of the lamp relative to the object of illumination.
  3. Directional light. The appearance of full-fledged spotlights.
  4. Colored light.
  5. Adjustable light.
  6. Expanded options for placing light sources. The beginning of the formation of the classical “hanging” of lighting equipment.

By the first half of the 20th century, the location of the stage lighting set and the principles of light construction received modern, complete features

The advent of electricity made it possible to consider light as a universal but very flexible tool, easily adaptable to different requirements.

Technological progress first created new devices.

Then these devices were integrated into the entertainment and general household sphere. And only after a long process of artistic comprehension of the opportunities provided, a whole layer of artistic figures was formed who were able to organically apply technology in the artistic field.

Mid-twentieth century. The emergence of the profession of lighting artist

Primary utilitarianism of the profession. The lighting designer is an intermediary between the director, set designer and equipment.

Light in the twentieth century as an independent art form

The emergence of the lighting artist as an independent creative unit.

Mutual integration of cinema and theater

Concert light.

The beginning of some separation of concert and theater lighting. At the present stage, the situation, unfortunately, is only getting worse.

Staged lighting of our days. Brief assessment of the current situation.

By the end of the 20th century, the concept of stage lighting. It is necessary to consider modern staged lighting from both a technological and artistic perspective. Many components exist inseparably from each other and are so intertwined that sometimes you don’t know where technology ends and art begins.

The searches and discoveries of theater artists at the beginning of the twentieth century determined the development of world theater for many years to come. Modern technologies are only developing directions laid down decades ago.

The general development of technology gives impetus to the development of the artistic component. There is also a reverse process. The increasing complexity of artistic tasks stimulates the development of specific theatrical and concert technologies.

The direction of technology development in the twentieth century follows the following directions:

Technological directions

  1. Increasing the brightness (light output) of light sources. Increasing the efficiency of light sources. Reducing the size of the light source. Improvement of optical systems of light sources.
  2. Expanding the variety of lighting devices. Increased versatility of multifunctional groups of devices and an increase in the number of highly specialized, monofunctional lighting devices.
  3. Improvement of lighting control systems.
  4. Creation of effects and fundamentally new lighting devices.

Artistic directions

  1. Aesthetic understanding of modern, rapidly developing technologies. Awareness of the presence of appropriate and inappropriate techniques and devices, as opposed to the presence of good and bad devices and techniques.
  2. Creation of a unified theory of stage lighting. Methodologies. Philosophy and ultimately the creation of a unified modern school of stage lighting with numerous directions.
  3. Bridging the gap between theater and concert.
  4. Creation of a fundamentally new scheme of unified staged lighting using video projection.

To describe the features of modern stage lighting, it is necessary to navigate the variety of the offered arsenal, both technical means of stage lighting and artistic techniques.

In parts III-V of this textbook, the current stage of development of stage lighting will be discussed in detail.

Prospects for the development of lighting technology and the artistic component

The advent of video heads and video scanners, an increase in the luminous flux of video projectors, the creation of LED and, in the future, laser video projectors, connected into a single visual system with a system of video recording and video processing in real time, now makes it possible to create a fundamentally new scheme for a unified stage lighting. The principle of the new approach lies not only in the video projection capabilities expanded to a reasonable limit, but also in a fundamentally new video beam control system. The shape and color of the beam becomes not only a private characteristic of the beam, but also carries an image that can be changed as desired. Video mapping, which has already become a classic, has yet unrealized prospects: for now it is only frontal, but what prevents us from applying the principle of three-point lighting to video projection? LED screens with a small pixel pitch, freely divided into clusters and, if necessary, transparent, now allow you to create not just scenography, but multi-layered and dynamic scenography. Controlling video streams and synchronizing with light and mechanics allows you to create not only pseudo-volume images, but also improvise with images in real time.

Conclusion of the first part

Staged lighting of our days has the following peculiarities:

Technological: preferential use of powerful electric directional light sources with increased luminous efficiency and a flexible control system.

Ergonomic: light sources are located at a distance from the object of illumination, local lighting sources are rarely used.

Artistic: o Again, artistic lighting has remained unchanged since the mid-twentieth century. Mainly technological methods are being developed. The exception is the use of dynamic lighting in the form of moving rays and the widespread use of concert video.

Immediate development trends: the emergence of powerful, small-sized projectors makes it possible to fundamentally change the principle of forming the shape and color of the beam. Until recently, the shape of the beam was formed by a classical optical system and various mechanical devices, and the color was changed, mainly by light filters. Then, with the advent of video projection, the shape and color of the beam is created on the projector matrix and changes instantly within absolutely unlimited limits. A gradual departure from the “classical circle” of the beam will cause a qualitative leap in staged lighting.

The advent of video projection also significantly affects the fundamental approach to creating stage lighting. Firstly, a very strong dominant appears in the scenography in the form of a “self-luminous” video image, which, moreover, is not static. As soon as set designers and directors comprehend the possibilities of video projection and overcome the inertia of stage video, in the form of a “big TV” on stage, fundamentally new complex scenographic solutions will arise.

Secondly, the rapprochement of two professions: a lighting artist and a media (video) artist, will allow the first to apply the capabilities of video directly to light, and the second to apply their knowledge and taste in creating a common light space.

As an example, I will give the so-called “mapping” - a video projection technique that made it possible to project onto an object its own image, edited and dynamically changed using computer graphics. Actually, the mapping process is the process of “stretching” a texture onto a “smooth” volumetric object.

By applying mapping not only from the front, but also from the side and back points, we obtain a fundamentally new, truly spatial scenography.

Video heads also significantly diversify the lighting designer's options.

The only limiting factors for such a scenario are conservatism of thinking, the relative high cost of the video projection component and the relatively low luminous flux with the relatively large dimensions of the equipment.

In fact, we are on the verge of a fundamentally new approach to stage lighting and scenography.

Long-term prospects are seen in the development of hologram technology. The consequence of which will be the use of self-luminous, instantly changing, volumetric decoration not subject to any restrictions