Hello there.

My name is Mr. Burt, and welcome to your drama lesson.

Now this is the third of five drama lessons looking at the roles and responsibilities of the creative team in a theatre.

Now in our first two lessons we looked at the role of the director and the role of the set designer.

And in today's lesson we're going to look at the role of the lighting designer.

But before we do that, let's just have a quick check of what equipment we need before we get going.

So in this lesson you will need the following pieces of equipment.

You will need an exercise book or a piece of paper and you will need a pencil or a pen.

So make sure you've got those pieces of equipment before we get going.

All right, so the rundown of our lesson is as follows: We're going to start with looking at some keywords that we need to use to succeed in our lesson.

Then we're going to move on and learn about the role of the lighting designer.

We're going to learn a little bit more about lighting design itself.

We're going to have a go at creating our own lighting design, and we're going to finish with a quiz.

So let's look at the keywords we need for this lesson.

The first keyword is lantern.

A lantern is what lighting designers call stage lights.

These are held above the stage on what is called a lighting rig.

Intensity, colour and direction, these are the words that lighting designers use to describe the use of light on a stage.

And finally, production style.

Production style is the overall look and feel of the production as defined by the director in their directorial vision.

Now, before we go on, let's just check our understanding of some of that keywords.

So in theatre stage lights are called torches.

Is that true or false? Tell me the answer now.

That's right.

It's false.

In theatre, lighting designers call stage lights lanterns.

And for the rest of this lesson so shall we.

Let's start by looking at the role of the lighting designer.

There is a lot more to lighting design than simply bringing the lights up and then taking the lights down on a stage.

It can really help communicate the atmosphere and the feel and the mood of the performance.

Lighting has practical purposes, of course, it can communicate to the audience the time of day and year.

It can place emphasis on certain characters, moments of action or even dialogue.

And it can communicate the location of the play.

But lighting can also influence the look and feel of the play.

It can help create the mood and atmosphere of the play.

It can direct and make the audience look at different parts of the play and become the lens to which the audience will look at the play through.

So we talked about intensity, colour and direction being the three words we describe light.

Now, intensity is the light's brightness.

So harder or brighter light can make the feel more intense, whereas soft or dimmer lighting creates a more mysterious and sinister atmosphere.

But we can also describe lighting in terms of colour.

And so colour can communicate the time of day or the year and the location of the play.

But it's also really important because of the symbolism of colours.

And then direction.

Lighting the stage from different directions create different effects.

Now, normally the stage of lit from the front but moving the lights above or below the actors creates interesting shadows.

Now most drama studios have three types of lanterns.

The first lantern is a profile spotlight.

Now a profile spotlight casts a sharp beam of light onto the stage, Just like the one in the image that's on the screen now.

I want you to pause the video for a moment and I want you to write down what effect do you think this profile spotlight is having on stage? Pause the video now, make some notes and resume once you've finished.

Now, for me this profile spot is really isolating this girl singing.

And because there isn't enough lights around the outside of her, the rest of the stage is in relative darkness.

And because the profile spot is so powerful we can see the beam of light coming down from the lantern.

It really highlights and profiles the singer on stage.

Another type of lantern that you might find in your drama studio is the fresnel spotlight.

A fresnel spotlight cast so much softer light and several of them are used together, and they can be good for adding colour as well.

Take a look how the lighting used in the picture on the screen now.

And I'd like you to pause the video again and just write a few notes on what effect do you think this fresnel spotlight is having on this stage.

Pause the video now and resume once you've finished.

Now, as you can see on this stage you've got about six, maybe seven fresnel all working at the same time, all with a balloon gel in front of them to make the colour, the light blue.

And they're not very harsh.

They're quite soft light but they're all coming together enough to light up the silhouette of the girl singing.

'Cause the lights are coming up from behind.

Added to that and you've got some smoke effects to be able to carry the light as well.

It all creates a much darker, much sinister, much moodier atmosphere.

And perhaps the spotlight did in the first image.

One last lantern that you might find in a drama studio is a floodlight.

Floodlights are large lanterns that throw light over a large space.

They can be used with colour or they can be used in combination with other lights, as we see in this image here.

So on this stage, we've got a combination of a floodlight and a profile spotlight.

So pause the video now for a moment and write some notes what you think this combination of floodlight and profile spotlight has on the stage.

Pause the video and resume once you've finished.

Excellent.

Now I think this image is almost the exact opposite of the first image we saw where we had one single profile spot on the woman singing.

Here, instead we've got the whole stage lit and that's coming from that floodlight.

And if you look at the way the light comes across onto the stage, there isn't a dim area.

There's either areas which are lit and there's areas which are not lit, but there isn't a change in intensity of that light.

But then we've got the floodlight on the character who's standing up.

And in fact, we've got two.

Now, how do I know we've got two? Because we've got two shadows there.

We've got one bright light for a spotlight shining down and creating a really dark shadow behind the actor.

And then on the other side we've got another light coming down, shining on them and that's creating then a slightly less tense shadow behind them.

One final thing that you might've come across in your drama studio are gobos.

A gobo is a small metal disc that slots into a profile spot.

And they have a picture of a pattern cut into them, so that when the lantern is turned on, that pattern or picture is then projected onto the stage.

And we've got an example of that on the screen now.

So we've got a young actress leaning back against a wall with her eyes closed and a projection of a window or two windows on her face.

So pause the video now and just write a few notes on what is being communicated to the audience with this gobo of a window projected onto the girl's face? And press Resume once you've finished/ Now, in my mind this creates quite a powerful image because the windows are barred.

And so she can't get out.

So perhaps suggesting that she's in some sort of prison, maybe that might be a metaphor.

And actually she's not in prison physically but she's in prison mentally and she wants to become something else, she wants to change.

Or perhaps she is actually in a physical prison and she cannot escape.

But the fact that it casts a shadow across her face and the fact that she's got her eyes closed also suggests to me that she's thinking about what is going to come next, of the things that will happen if she manages to break free from either the physical prison or the metaphor of the prison.

Do you see gobos can be a very important and powerful tool to help you communicate to the audience the themes and issues within the play? So before we go on let's just match up these keywords with their definitions.

So match up the lanterns profile spot, fresnel spot and floodlight and gobo with their definitions.

Do that now, please.

Okay, let's see if you've got those right.

So the lantern profile spotlight is a spotlight that cast a sharp beam of light onto a stage.

Whereas the lantern fresnel spotlight is a spotlight that casts a softer light.

A floodlight is a large lantern that throws light over a large space.

And a gobo is a small metal disc that slots in a profile spotlight.

Working as part of the backstage team in theatre can be very dangerous, and there are some really important health and safety rules we need to follow.

And although today we are looking at the design element of things, at some point in the future you may go on to do some stage design and be working on the stage.

So we need to be aware of the health and safety regulations we need to follow.

The first and most important one is that you shouldn't work at heights using ladders or scaffolding unless you are trained.

You should be careful lifting heavier equipment not to injure yourself.

You should wear protective shoes and gloves.

And falling objects can be a risk, so never work on stage when someone else is using a ladder or a scaffold.

So we are going to be doing some design work.

Now, when we're preparing for design work we need to think how our designs are going to meet these four requirements: content, style, dramatic games, and atmosphere.

Now all of these will be detailed to you in the director's vision.

But content is making sure your designs match the time period the play set in and the details of the scene, such as what time of day it is and where they are.

Style is making sure you are aware of the style of the production, whether it is naturalistic or minimalist.

Now make sure that your design meets the dramatic aims as well.

Make sure your designs reflect the aim of the performance.

How the audience will enjoy the performance and what they will gain from it.

And atmosphere, make sure your designs reflect the atmosphere of the piece of theatre.

So it's time for you to step up as a lighting designer because you have been commissioned as a lighting designer to design the lights for the forthcoming production of "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time." Now the plot of "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time." is about a gifted boy called Christopher Boone.

Christopher also has Asperger's syndrome.

In the opening scene Christopher discovers a dead dog in his neighbor's garden.

Christopher wants to investigate the death of the dog further, but his father warns him off it and asks him not to get involved.

Christopher decides to do so anyway, and in doing so starts and adventure of self-discovery.

Now the style of the performance is minimalist and symbolic.

Now the set will be fairly minimal and we want the atmosphere and mood to be created through the lighting and sound.

The production aims to entertain the audience through comedy and tension, but also to highlight and educate the audience on what it is like to have Asperger's syndrome and to reflect on how they might have dealt with others who have Asperger's syndrome in the past.

Now we need a lighting design for the first scene of the play that takes place at night in the neighbor's garden when Christopher finds the dead dog.

In our theatre we have a mix of profile spotlights, fresnel spotlights and floodlights.

And we'd like you to use a gobo in the first scene, but you need to design that gobo.

We don't have any gobos in our theatre.

We also want to create a mysterious atmosphere to support the tense and important moment of the play.

So this brings us up to our first task which is to design a gobo.

You remember, in the commission you're asked to create a gobo for the first scene? So design a gobo that you could use as part of your lighting design for the first scene of "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time." Think about what would be something that you could project onto the stage over the action to help communicate either the time of day, the atmosphere you're trying to create or some of the themes of the play.

Now I put on here, an image of a circle with a moon, that's what a gobo might look like.

It's a circle disc with a design in the centre.

So pause the video now, design your gobo and resume once you've finished.

Excellent.

This brings us up to the final task of your commission.

So to complete your commission you need to come up with a lighting design for that first scene.

So the task is, complete your commission to design the nights for the first scene of the play that takes place at night in the neighbor's garden when Christopher finds the dead dog.

Make sure that you aim to achieve communicating the context, aims, style and atmosphere of the production to the audience.

And uses as many of the lanterns as you think appropriate.

And don't forget to make sure that you use your gobo in your lighting design as well.

So pause the video now, completing your lighting design and press Resume once you've finished.

How did that go? I think lighting design can be trickier than you first think, because you've got to be able to communicate so much to the audience through just a few tools.

You've only got those three lanterns and some colours and perhaps a gobo to communicate the context, the aims, the style, and the atmosphere.

But when we go to the theatre and we see those lights come up and the atmospheres they create, I think it can be absolutely fantastic.

So thinking about what you've created, have you been able to communicate the fact that it was at night? And what about that tense moody atmosphere? How were you able to create that with your lighting design? How did you use the gobo? Did you use it to tell, to show the time or to create some of the themes within the play, or maybe to add to some of the atmosphere of it? Maybe review what you've done.

Is there any tweaks that you need to do, any changes to make sure that you're communicating the context, aims, style, and atmosphere of the performance? Well done on your work today.

Lighting designers I said can be really tricky.

So your work, you should be proud of.

Why not share your lighting designs with Oak National? If you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Twitter tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.