Light Of The World, a large event production for
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; lighting
design by John Featherstone |
If you can, does that mean you should? When it comes
to lighting, more is not necessarily better. Recently, Stage
Directions spoke to three experienced lighting designers who
weighed in on the topic of restraint.
John Featherstone has lit everything from museums to rock concerts.
He says, “There’s a great line in Jurassic Park.
Jeff Goldblum’s character says, ‘You spent so long
trying to figure out if you could, you didn’t even think about
whether you should.’ Just because you have a moving light
with a feature doesn’t mean you have to use it!” With
an increased availability of moving lights, there has been a sense,
notes Featherstone, “that the kids have been in the crayon
drawer. [Good lighting design] is often more about the cues you
don’t do than the ones you do.”
“The key to a truly inspired design is whether it’s
appropriate,” says Featherstone. He allows that it’s
difficult to go over the top when lighting a group like KISS, but
one wouldn’t light Norah Jones the same way. Citing another
example, he says, “A design for a new, hip car by Pontiac
would be inappropriate for the reveal of a Cadillac.”
A designer has to see the bigger picture. The question, according
to Featherstone, is “What is the client trying to communicate?”
Musicians want to connect with the audience emotionally, and corporate
clients have a key message. In either case, the designer’s
job is the same—to understand what the client is trying to
achieve and to help him reach that goal. If he doesn’t have
a grasp of the overall objective, he will fail both the client and
himself.
Featherstone, like many designers, learned that lesson through trial
and error. He remembers an instance early in his career in which
he was asked to design a system for a charity event that featured
a number of Chicago artists. “Instead of focusing on the bigger
picture,” he recalls, “I leaned on the vendor to provide
the biggest, flashiest rig possible. Not only was it entirely inappropriate
for the event, it took ages to install, and [ran up] labor costs.
At the end, I didn’t have any time to program—it was
a big mess! I definitely learned to walk with style rather than
trying to run and fall on my face.”
Featherstone counsels young designers to “ask questions. Try
to understand what your client is really trying to say. Get them
to talk about their feelings and think about how you respond emotionally
to light—especially natural light. Make big boards of images
from any source that ‘speak’ to you and use them for
inspiration. Use the same boards to find points of connection with
your clients. See every kind of event. Don’t be a snob, you
can learn something from every genre. Most importantly, spend as
much time thinking about the cues you can cut from a show as the
ones you leave in.”
The Concert for World Children’s
Day, featuring lighting design by John Featherstone |
Rob Bell is a designer and programmer who currently
works for Horizon Control, a company that makes both software and
hardware for lighting. In other words, he and his colleagues are
the ones who fill the toy chest. “Manufacturers get ideas
from designers,” he says. “Or, they say, ‘This
is possible, let’s build it.’ It’s cool to see
designers use something in ways not originally intended.”
That said, using something because you can, according to Bell, “is
the mark of an amateur. It’s a much more mature approach to
refrain.” His rule of thumb is, “If the narrative doesn’t
justify it, don’t use it.”
A designer who is prone to excess will be pulled back by the director,
if he’s lucky. Bell once lit a tour of the sketch comedy group,
The Kids in the Hall. He wanted to use bold colors, but the director
wanted white light, commonly thought of as “comedy lighting.”
The director also asked Bell why there were certain internal cues
that were eventually omitted. Bell realized that while he was concentrating
on lighting particular moments, the director wanted to showcase
the script as a whole. Bell saw that the director was right. “It’s
important to remember,” explains Bell, “that the lighting
designer works for the director.”
Ideas can always be modified. Bell remembers a cue in a design he
created for a production of Starlight Express that “engulfed
the auditorium in open white light.” The producers thought
it was too much, so Bell added a saturated blue, and that worked
for all concerned.
“Presenting ideas,” Bell says, “is always a selling
job. You want those ‘oohs and aahs.’” Nevertheless,
with any new client, there’s always more politics than design,
maintains Bell. “You may be technically correct, but first
you have to build trust. Then you can make a statement as a designer.”
Lighting director, designer and programmer Benny Kirkham has lit
industrial shows and such musically diverse clients as the Pat Metheny
Group, the Dixie Chicks and Aerosmith. He thinks that there can
definitely be too much of a good thing, even in rock concerts. “You
have to be appropriate to the song. Don’t show off just because
of the [capabilities of the] console,” he says. He’s
noticed that whatever is newest is what’s overused. “For
a while, all the gobos had to rotate. Then there was cross-fading
colors into a rainbow chase. I can’t wait to see what they
do with the new video stuff,” he says ruefully.
Kirkham developed his own aesthetic by working with more experienced
designers. Peter Moore, who he cites as an influence, “works
in layers.” Kirkham’s style is “very dynamic without
being tacky.” He says that any lighting textbook will talk
about color, intensity and distribution, but “don’t
move a light unless you have a reason.”
Kirkham doesn’t make a big distinction between corporate and
music clients. “Everyone wants a good show,” he says.
“You won’t light Nine Inch Nails like a Century 21 show.
But [realtors] go to concerts, too.” Kirkham, who built his
reputation on lively designs, says that the key is to care about
what you’re doing. “It makes all the difference in the
world to the client.”
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