Scenic Design and Lighting Techniques. A Basic Guide for Theatre

394 Pages·2007·42.51 MB·English

by  Chuck Gloman and Rob Napoli (Auth.)

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About the Authors
Chuck Gloman: Chuck has been actively working in the field since 1980 when he
graduated from the Pennsylvania State University with a BA in film. While persuing a
Master’s degree at the same school, he worked a variety of jobs in the industry, gaining
valuable experience (and little money).
With MA in hand, he found a new field in its infancy called video. After selling his
Master’s thesis film, The Butler Did It, to HBO and Cinemax (where it remained for
nine years), he worked for PBS before landing a job as an instructional designer and
scriptwriter for a cutting-edge community college. Creating, shooting, and editing inter-
active videotapes displayed on an Apple II, he was hurled into the video industry and
computer technology. After a three-year stint in Virginia working as a director shoot-
ing interactive videodiscs for the U.S. armed services and the government (traveling the
country and visiting almost every base and post in the United States), he moved to
Pennsylvania and became a producer, creating videodiscs for Federal Express, IBM,
Turner Network, Simon & Schuster, the Singapore Ministry of Defense, the United
States Department of Defense, and Ford.
In the mid-1990s he was creative services director at an NBC affiliate.There he wrote
and directed over 600 television commercials. Moving back to corporate videos in the
late 1990s, he handled most of Armstrong World Industries’ video presentations (over
200) and shooting how-to installation videos for Lowe’s. Still active in the freelance
market, he moved out on his own in 2001 as a producer/director of photography, cre-
ating over 100 documentaries, 200 commercials, and dozens of corporate videos for
clients such as ESPN, Fox Television, Rite Aid,Weis, PAX Network, Coca-Cola, FEMA,
UGL, March of Dimes, Fuji Corporation, the History Channel, and Lockheed
Martin.
His love of lighting led him into education, as adjunct faculty to Bradley Academy for
the Performing Arts, where he taught production and lighting courses. Currently, he is
a full-time member of the faculty at DeSales University, where he teaches TV/film
courses and met his coauthor, Rob Napoli.
Chuck is also a contributing editor to Videography and Government Video magazines and
has published over 300 articles for TV Technology, Television Broadcast, Philly Tech, Mix,
Sound and Video Contractor, Digital Cinema, Miata, 911 Magazine, Erosion Control, Sports
TV Production, System Contractor News, Videography, and Government Video. He has also
published the following books: Placing Shadows: Lighting Techniques for Video Production,
2nd ed. (Burlington, MA: Focal Press, 2000); No Budget Digital Filmmaking (New York:
McGraw-Hill, 2002); 303 Digital Filmmaking Solutions (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003);
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About the Authors
202 Digital Photography Solutions (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003); Placing Shadows: Light-
ing Techniques for Video Production, 3rd ed. (Burlington, MA: Focal Press, 2005).
Rob Napoli: Rob has been working in technical theatre for 20 years, but he didn’t
know that was he was going to do it for a living. After earning two acting degrees and
touring the country with acting troupes, he was sure he was destined to be the cult
favorite jumpsuited sidekick comic relief on some network buddy-cop show. While he
enjoyed acting, being the son of a jack-of-all-trades and good research technician he
found himself wandering backstage more often than not to find out how things worked.
Soon he was spending just as much time backstage as onstage, until he was backstage
more and more. After a few years of freelance acting and tech work, he became the
assistant tech director at DeSales University and worked with the Pennsylvania Shake-
speare Festival as the production manager for several seasons. It was there he met Chuck
Gloman and suggested that Chuck write a book on stagecraft.
Chuck, being the persuasive devil he is, suggested they write it together, and the rest
is history. Rob is now designer and technical director at Penn State Berks Campus, and
teaches acting and technical theatre in their theatre department. He lives in the Philadel-
phia area with his wife and family in a house that constantly breaks—and he repairs;
however, the repairs only seem to last until the tech week of the current show.
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Acknowledgments
Rob Napoli: I would like to thank my mentors Bob Mond, J. Kline,Vince Campbell,
Tom Donahue, and Chuck Gloman for putting up with my questions and offering their
sage advice. I would like to thank Bob Napoli for taking me to the hardware store
with him and teaching me that there is no harm in walking up to a complete stranger
and asking him what he was doing and how he was doing it. Also, I would like to
thank all of the wonderful designers and theatre professionals I’ve worked with and
learned from over the years, especially those I met at DeSales University and the Penn-
sylvania Shakespeare Festival. I’d like to thank those organizations as well as my col-
leagues at the HAAS Division at Penn State Berks Campus for their contributions to
this book. My students over the years have taught me as much, if not more, than I ever
taught them; many, now my colleagues, I continue to learn from. I’d also like to thank
Cara Anderson and Focal Press for this opportunity to spread my educational madness
across the world. Lastly, I’d like to thank my greatest teachers and biggest fans: my wife
and family. Without their support, I’d be lost.
Chuck Gloman: I would like to thank everyone that my partner in crime, Rob
Napoli, thanked (that saves me from typing their names again). This book was also a
great learning experience for me. I have a background in lighting (I’m so bright my
father calls me Sonny) but very little experience in scenic design.Through writing this
book with Rob, he has educated me on many things I never knew, so now my expe-
rience is far greater in these areas, thanks to him. My biggest thanks in this book does
goes also to Rob Napoli, whose enthusiasm, drive, talent, and the same interests in
mundane things keep our friendship strong. I’ve written other books by myself and
with other individuals, and Rob is a pleasure to work with, in that he meets deadlines,
has the ability, and, when you propose a book, actually finishes it with you. Although
it may sound like I’m talking about him as if he were dead and this is his eulogy—he
has a gift and I’d never tell this to him—he will go far with his abilities and I am
looking forward to writing again with him (then I can pay back the 20 bucks he loaned
me).
In addition, I would like to thank Cara Anderson at Focal Press for her help through
the process; my students at DeSales University, who let me photograph them as guinea
pigs . . . I mean talent; Bob Mond, at whose party I got to know Rob better propose
a book and who has been a great help with this book; Scott Paul, who let me spend
the time necessary to write this book and whose guidance I appreciated; the many great
people (faculty, staff, and students) at DeSales University who make teaching enjoyable,
challenging, and fun; my parents, who guided me in the right direction (although the
electric cattle prod was a little much); my wife, Linda, who let me do what I needed
to get done when I needed to get it done (after I took the trash out); my in-laws, who
xi
Acknowledgments
stand behind me in whatever I do (hopefully not to push me); and many others who
helped me get where I am today—semihealthy, overweight, undercooked, and employed.
Most of all I would like to thank God for the ability he has given me to work in a
field I am passionate about . . . if I could just remember what that field was.
xii
Introduction
The most attractive thing about technical theatre is that we are constantly
creating something out of nothing. When you begin, there is a dark, empty stage
and an idea. Then you build it, light it, and they come. They watch the show, they
leave, and you take it all down. The stage is bare, the lights are off, and the circle
of life continues. How to get from empty stage to empty stage is what this book is
about.
Still, even if you read this book cover to cover (which you will) and memorize every
term and concept (you might), you still will need to practice the craft (not that kind
of craft!). Practice makes perfect, and although nothing is perfect, through experience
you will get better. Face it, we never stop learning. And if we ever do, we have stopped
living. Technology might change the way we do things, but it is still the knowledge
that creates the craft, not the tools. The tools are important and necessary, but it is the
use of these tools that will take you places.
This book is divided into three sections: how to build scenery, how to design it,
and how to light it. Some might want to skip around and go to the section where
they think they need the most help. That’s fine, but at least you will have reference
to the basics that you can always turn to if you forget something. All the parts of
this book are necessary to learn the basics and fundamentals of set design and
lighting. It’s great to specialize at something you might do best, but without a
properly built set, the greatest lighting in the world won’t help. In the same way, if
poor lighting does not allow anyone to see the characters or set pieces, that too is
useless.
What we hope is that once you have the building blocks at your disposal and the fun-
damentals of construction, you’ll have a better understanding as to how to design and
light the set. While the ideas we discuss are basic, they shouldn’t be thought of as ele-
mentary. Sherlock Holmes was always telling that to Watson—maybe that was because
he never quite caught on either.
As the authors of this book, each of us draws on the strengths and knowledge of the
other. Neither of us alone could have created this text.Through the writing, rewriting,
updating, and fact checking, each of us has actually learned something we did not know
before. Since we always tell the truth (except when we lie), all of the information pre-
sented in this book was accurate at press time. All of the captions in the photographs
credit the individuals or companies listed. If any have been omitted, it was an oversight
and we apologize. Websites will come and go, but most of the manufacturers listed
should be around for a while.
xiii
Introduction
A wise man of theatre once expressed this aphorism: K.I.S.S.: Keep it simple, stupid. The
majority of the time, you don’t want a complex solution. What separates the world of
theatre from that of television and movies is that 90% of what we create is in the audi-
ence’s imagination.We simply give them the suggestion of a reality and they fill in the
blanks. If you have ever seen a show yourself, you have contributed to the show’s tech.
So since you already have some technical experience, we’ve also given you real-world
tips and solutions as well as links to various resource websites. And of course we give
you puns—lots of really bad puns. If you are going to be around technicians, you’d
better get used to bad puns and strange humor. We’re just trying to help—or is it that
we’re just trying?
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Chapter 1
The Basic Scenic Building Blocks
Let’s face it. There are really only two basic scenic forms that all sets are made from:
vertical and horizontal. Of the two most basic and familiar forms, we call the vertical
ones flats and the horizontal ones platforms. Any variation of shape, structure, or design
does not alter the fact that we have to have something vaguely horizontal for people
to stand on and something sort of vertical behind them to create a believable envi-
ronment to tell our stories. Even if you were to find the perfect location with the right
size and shape of interior and you put your talent in front of one of those perfect walls,
for our purposes it’s just an overbuilt flat.
In this chapter we discuss flats, platforms, and drops and backings.
Flats
Why a Flat?
Why do they call these things flats? No one really knows for sure. A wall is one of the
most familiar objects that flats are meant to represent. Walls aren’t the only thing that
flats can represent, but for this discussion we’ll use them as an example.
Perhaps for this reason, flats are quite often rectangular or square, to imitate a wall’s
shape. Flats also create the illusion of a wall’s solidity but use less structure, cost less,
and take less time to build. To get a better understanding of how this is achieved, let’s
look at a flat more closely.
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Scenic Design and Lighting Techniques
The main difference between a wall and a flat derives from our need to make scenery
lighter and more portable than a wall.Walls are meant to be permanent.Walls are often
built where they are meant to stand. They get stored in the structure they are holding
upright, right where you left them last (if not, you may be in big trouble). Quite often
the scenery is built somewhere other than where the scenery is used; it gets stored until
it’s needed, it gets loaded, transported, and then set up in its final location.To do all this
we don’t build flats the way a wall is built; their construction is more compact, or flat.
Hmm. . . . Could this reveal the name’s origin? But before we get ahead of ourselves,
let’s look at the types of flats. Flats can be grouped in two different ways: by their cov-
ering and by their structure. We’ll start with the type of covering.
Covering: Soft Versus Hard Flats
Flats can be covered in two ways, with a hard material and with a soft material. These
types of flats are named by the type of covering, i.e., hard-cover flats or soft-cover flats.
Soft-cover flats are the ones the average person is most familiar with. Hard-cover flats
are more of an industry specialty.
Soft-Cover Flats
Whether we’re talking about the type of flat you used in high school or the ones you
see on TV sitcoms when they go backstage, this type is pretty much thought of as the
quintessential flat (see Figure 1.1). Its structure is not unlike that of an artist’s canvas, a
cloth covering stretched over a wooden frame.
Advantages of the Soft-Cover Flat
• It is light. It may look like a wall from the front, but the fabric covering adds
comparatively little weight.
• Because of its weight, it can shift (move into place on stage) and be braced easily,
making quick scene changes and setups possible.
• It is cheap. Depending on the type of covering, these flats are relatively inex-
pensive to build and recover.
• Because the covering is similar to an artist’s canvas, it’s a medium that is easily
painted, allowing the scenic artist a variety of finishes.
• Because the covering is soft, it can be removed, stored, and restretched or replaced
easily, allowing the frame to be recycled.
Disadvantages of the Soft-Cover Flat
• Because of the soft covering, the flat works like a sail when air currents are dis-
turbed nearby (e.g., someone walking behind it or slamming a door next to it).
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Chapter 1: The Basic Scenic Building Blocks
Figure 1.1: The quintessential flat.
While this movement is not noticeable on a theatrical stage, it can be quite
obvious in television and film.
• Any appliqués, which are anything you would add to the surface of the flat, such
as molding or hung pictures, require additional structure behind the flat, increas-
ing build time.
• Sometimes the flat structure creates a lump that snags the paint of a not-too-careful
scenic artist, much in the way a crayon rubbing over thin paper reveals the texture
of a leaf or tombstone, someone’s head, or whatever you can get underneath it.
• By its nature, the surface material tends toward translucency. When backlighting the
set, additional steps must be taken to prevent light transmission, such as back paint-
ing (literally painting the back of the flat with black paint or another color to make
it opaque) and double covering (putting a second covering on the backside of the flat).
• While these flats may last for years, one out-of-control piece of scenery at some
later time and you have a gaping hole that’s not easy to fix.
Hard-Cover Flats
Hard-cover flats are the next step in adding believability to our imitation wall.The idea
is the same; it is an attempt to create a lighter, more portable version of a wall. This
version takes the idea of solidity to the next level (see Figure 1.2). Its frame may be
5