Final Lighting Design Project

You will take everything that you have learned about Lighting Design and put it into action. Below you will see the steps to complete your final lighting design project. 

Step One: Choose a piece of music from the resources on Freemusicarchive.org or similar royalty free music site.  It is best to choose an instrumental without lyrics and words.  Make sure the piece you chose suggests a strong mood or theme and involves some sort of change or dramatic build.   You will be asked to create a light design by  imagining a story suggested by the music including details such as the time of day and location.  Finally you will be creating a lighting design by imagining a story for this music and designing lights to support the telling of that story.  Add your name to the file name for the music and put it in your digital notebook folder.

Step Two: When a lighting designer works with a script and a director's concept, they begin with a good idea of the story they want to tell.  For purposes of this exercise, you will need to create the story to create the story and design concept yourself.  Use internet research to help you determine the genre of the music.  Find a picture or pictures that help inspire you to imagine a story and mood.   Here is an example of music and the backstory imagined by a student who participated in a lighting design lesson like this one. Add the story and the images to your digital notebook and submit the google doc link to this assignment. 

Step Three: Creating a Story with Light 

For the final exercise you will use the Light Lab for Dance program.  In this program, several figures stand on a traditional stage.  You will be able to light them from several angles, light the cyclorama along the back of the stage, add gobos and use the addition of special lights for effect in the main areas of the stage - UR, UC, UL, RC, CS, LC, DR, DC, DL.  This program offers a sampling of some of the basic tools a lighting designer has at their disposal to create lighting and lighting effects to support the story. 

Using a light cue sheet (which is attached to the module) and the Light Lab for Dance program, design 4-6 cues that tell the story of your piece of music.  Write down the light settings for each of the cues and take a screen shot.  Now add this and your music to your portfolio.  Use the rubric below to help guide your work.