Extra Credit Blog- Natalie Makel - Disneyland

I chose this photo for the overall feel of Disneyland for a couple key reasons. First, the Christmas tree is clearly whimsical. It has funny angles, is overly large, and looks like a cartoon. All of those describing phrases are what Disneyland is though. Disneyland is an escape for reality, so it makes sense that nothing would be realistic or normal. Next, the tree was a seasonal ornament- no pun intended. Disneyland was in transition from Halloween to Christmas; so, I liked that the tree was a spooky, scary, Christmas tree. The lighting is also mainly in the tree. The branches are almost too dark to see, but the beautiful purple and warm amber ornaments cast gorgeous shadows along the curving, spiral tree. The designer was successful in trying the capture a dark, fantastic, festive item.

The next area depicted is the inside of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. The chandelier’s lights were functional, but also dramatic. I really imagined that this chandelier was on board The Black Pearl. I could see and hear the clinking of the crystal as the ship would hit rough water. Pirates of the Caribbean is set in the early 16^th century and this chandelier very much envelops that time period. The designer was so smart to incorporate function lighting with a realistic period piece.

This next photo was taken inside The Haunted Mansion. The overall theme of the area was old and a little spooky. I think the stained glass is awesome because the lighting designer had to create the “sunlight” behind it – it was not positioned in a way where the stained glass had access to natural light. The purpose of this light was to add to the older feel of the mansion because stained glass is not an everyday occurrence. I think the designer’s intentions were successful in regards to this lighting element.

Week # 10 Yuting Zhang

People use fake candles to lighten the pictures of black who killed by the police at the center of quad. The light of candles is warm subtle which creates a sense of hope. The pictures are lightened from the bottom, which create a ghost feeling environment. This ghost feeling environment fits the fact that the photos are photos of dead people.  The intensity of light is so soft that makes people more sensitive and easier for them to feel mourning.

Week 10 - Rob Turner

This view drew my attention because of how the street light blended in a little bit with the sunset. My iPhone camera doesn't quite do it justice - but I am interested in how the fluorescent lights can blend well together with the natural colors of the sunset. Additionally, I like how the streetlights continue to travel down the cement path at an angle, while the colors of the sunset are almost perpendicular to the streetlights. What colors blend well together, to paint a complete picture on stage? Also, on stage, I would be interested to see how angles can have an impact on a particular scene.

Week 10 - Aiden Giuffre

This is light through the blinds in my room across my dresser. I thought it was interesting because it was so directional and well defined. We often use goboes in the theater to imitate light through blinds, but I rarely see the narrow striations and fade from top to bottom in artificial imitations of this effect. The other interesting part of this image has to do with color interactions between light on lit. Even though we know sunlight has a blue color to it, one could be forgiven for seeing this image and deciding the sun was golden or yellow. Contrasting the lit dresser, the skull, or the box of soda to the dark dresser reveals just how important lighting is to creating visually appealing scenes. For even more contrast her is the same shot by fluorescent light at night:

In my opinion the sunlight provides the "best" visual experience of a dresser, but each has their own message.

Week 10 - Adedoyin Domingo

This is a photo of my friend working at her desk. I found this lighting to be interesting because of how the warm light from the lamp directs our eyes. Here my gaze is not on her but the table and the things she is working on. This image has a very cozy but intriguing quality.

Since directing the eye is one of the jobs of a lighting designer, this image made me think of how practicals or on-stage lights can be used for this purpose. If you used a desk lamp to highlight something on stage that would direct the eye but also feel very intimate and maybe mysterious (depending on the colors of the light and scenery).

Week 10 - Alexander Waxler

As I was sitting outside my residence hall talking with my brother to other night, I noticed light spilling onto a tree:

While there are some other lights in the background of the picture, the only light illuminated the tree is coming from the rectangular window that I made sure was visible at the edge of the picture. The warm light on a mostly bare tree gave me the feeling of sitting outside a cabin in a haunted wood (a la Cabin in the Woods). While the dark tree and in a sea of dark night is itself ominous, the warm glow coming from the window signals that safety and warmth are not far away. If this were a horror movie, this shot would probably be closer to the beginning while the characters and audience still (wrongly) believe that the cabin/house would be able to protect them from whatever is lurking out in the dark. If this were done on stage, it would likely be accomplished by putting an amber-tinted Fresnel inside a set piece with a physical window. This would allow for the window source to be visible. If the source were offstage, I would use a Leko on a floor mount with a gobo, an amber tint gel, and a frosting gel to achieve the more diffused effect of a Fresnel.

Week 10 - Maricela Guardado

This is my job every weekend! Nights working at the taco truck are super fun, and was a lighting inspiration last week. There are already several sources of light; the street lamps, cars, and the truck; and I like that it feels a little bit more chaotic and urban. I like comparing the other sources of light too (lesson learned from last week!). The fluorescent lights from from the truck is cold and icy compared to the warm sunset orange from the street lamps. I really like that the street lamps light the top of the hood, clashing with the light from the truck.

Week 10

I was walking up to Keck Theater right around sunset and I noticed that the building was a totally different color than it normally was during the day. The top half that is normally white is a much more yellow/orange color from the warm sunset and it was really bouncing off the building. It reminded me of how much the whiteness of the set affected our picturization project. Since white reflects all colors when some sort of color is directed towards something white it ricochets off so that it's very bright. In addition, the shadow of the trees on the building give it a cool effect that could probably be found in a gobo.

Week 10 - Natalie Makel

For my blog this week I was inspired by my reading light. I decided to take a photo while I was reading a book at night. Although the photo did not capture the true color of the light, I thought it was useable nonetheless. The light is a blue hue which I find interesting for many reasons. First, we learned in class that on the Kelvin Scale, blue is the most intense light - daylight. Most designers make the mistake of thinking that sunlight is yellow, but it is not, it is blue. Also, years ago I read a study about colors of hospital rooms and how they related to patients' overall health. Rooms that were painted blue colors had significantly healthier patients than those who were in rooms with warm colors like red and orange. The patients in the cool-painted rooms also called for their nurses less than those in the warm-painted rooms. The blue light was indeed calming for me as well- it was easier on my eyes and made my book easier to read than the harsh warm light of my desk lamp. To achieve this color and effect I think I would use a fresnel as a top light, with a blue gel. My rationale for doing this is because the light in my room created amazing shadows and definition on objects all around my room; seemingly dull and ordinary things because interesting. A top light is fascinating to me because the contrast it creates on the actor's face. Also I would use a blue gel, because that is the color my reading light is.

Week #10- The Theatre at The Ace Lobby- Tasha Spear

I went to the Theatre at the Ace Hotel last week to see Ingrid Michaleson in concert and thought this view from the upstairs lobby had so many interesting lighting elements. Starting with the floor, there are these two strips of light that are brightening up the deep green of the floor. This light is coming from a small torch-type sconce on the wall to the left (not pictured). I find it interesting to look at how a small light can make such a difference. The lit parts of the floor have so much more dimension than the parts that are in shadow or even mostly in darkness. The carpet has such detail and when lit with just a little bit of white light, you can see the design much better.

Possibly my favorite lighting in this photo is the lighting through the banister/ railing. The railing has such an ornate design, and with the yellow, white and hints of purple lights shinning through, it creates this really beautiful effect. I think it would be cool to find a gobo that resembled this banister and try to recreate this type of lighting effect. It kind of reminded me of looking at light through tree branches.

The chandelier in the middle of the ceiling is obviously giving off the most light. Interestingly, although the light is mostly white/ yellow, the pink candles make the light seem to have a pink tinge to it. I would say that the emotion is more ethereal, than blinding. The chandelier is the main, functional light in the room because it is definitely what people are relying on to be able to see in the darkened room. I would imagine that because it is so grand, the designer probably wanted the focus to be on the chandelier. Although it is big and bright, the room still has a dark, club- like feel, which is I think what the designer was probably trying to go for because the Ace Hotel does seem to have that club- like feeling, however, the chandelier does add some class to the scene and I feel like the Ace is also a pretty classy place.  

The lights that are pictured behind the chandelier are multicolored Christmas-looking lights that are actually outside of the building and on the other side of the street. Even though they are outside, you can actually see their reflection in the mirror to the left. The multicolored lights kind of infringe upon the club-like/ classy feel of the Ace hotel. I personally don’t like the multi-colored Christmas lights. They seem tacky to me, but that’s probably because I like uniformity in everything, therefore I would prefer one color of light rather than many colored lights. The multi-colored lights evoke a sense of indecisiveness. (I realize that’s a bold claim, but I was always very against the multi-colored lights on our tree. I needed the lights to be all white twinkle lights).

On the left side of the picture, there are purple lights than can kind of be seen from downstairs. The entire bar was completely colored with purple light. I think that the intent behind this was to be fun and colorful, especially because the rest of the lobby was dim, or lit with white light/ yellow light. I really liked the purple color because it was pretty saturate. The saturate color definitely gave me a sense of nightlife and downtown LA.

Extra Credit Blog- Disneyland- Tasha Spear

Over the weekend, I went to Disneyland, and although the park wasn’t too decorated for Halloween, the Haunted Mansion ride was all decked out with a complete Halloween makeover. It was difficult to get a picture of the overall atmosphere, but what I did do was take a picture of the “grand finale” area inside of the ride that I felt encapsulated the vast majority of the ride’s atmosphere. The picture above shows a very brightly lit moon, with mostly white light. There are lights surrounding the set that look like torches, which illuminate the set pieces in this giant sculpture- type piece. The “Scary Christmas” sign in the front is lit by a lot of footlights, but not too much that they are overpowering the moon. There is also a lot of purple and lavender color throughout this area. By having the cobwebs in the back not illuminated by light, or at least specific light (only the moonlight helps you to see them), it makes the scene even creepier. Because this is toward the end of the ride, I think the designer was going for a mix between Christmas and Halloween (hence the Scary Christmas sign, the skulls, and the Nightmare Before Christmas characters scattered throughout). To be honest, I think if there would have been deeper greens and oranges used, I would have been able to get both the Christmas feel and the Halloween feel. I found the colors used to be a bit bland and I think the yellow torchlights are really overpowering in a sense. You have to really look closely to see all the detail in the set piece and I think if it had lit better, the characters would be pushed forward more. If there was more backlight, with some dark oranges and greens, this might have been achieved. The designer definitely did achieve a sense of nighttime with the moon. It is so bright and overpowering that it constantly reminds the rider that it is late at night, even if it isn’t. The full moon has many implications, one of which is bad luck. I feel like full moons are often associated with Halloween and Friday the 13^th, as well. This choice to have a full moon be so prominently placed and lit shows how important the time of day is to evoking a sense of scare in the rider.  

This was one of my favorite sections of the ride because of the lights. The deep orange lights inside the pumpkins really help to illuminate the faces carved into the pumpkins. In addition, the snowy, white mountain is a good contrast to the orange/ yellow light as well. The light really makes the pumpkins pop out and brings your focus right to them. I think, in this case, the designer was probably trying to achieve just that. The pumpkins are clearly the focal point of this part of the ride and the light helps to bring your eye to their faces. Also, the contrast of bright, blinding yellow/ orange light and the white with the blackness in the background is really nice. The black void also helps with the pumpkins popping out at the viewer. The only part of this section that I wasn’t sure about were the red, twinkle lights in the background. I almost feel like taking those away would have made this section even more powerful because of the orange, white and black contrasts. The red definitely brightens up the scene, but I don’t think it’s necessary. I really liked the blackness in contrast with the mountain and the red ultimately takes away from that. The theme of this area is clearly Halloween- other sections focused on Christmas, or specific characters from the Nightmare Before Christmas. I definitely think this theme comes through because the focus is on the pumpkins and not the snow on the mountain, which to me would be more Christmas related. The designer chose to keep the focus on the pumpkins, making this section all about Halloween.

This next part of the ride is the part inside of the mansion, where the dinner table is set up with the Christmas tree and the ghost dancers. The tree is in the corner and is difficult to see in the first picture, but much clearer in the second picture. The scene is very dimly lit, except for the myriad of small bulb lights and twinkle lights on the tree and the banisters. There were a lot of purple string lights around the room, but the majority of the lights were multicolored and I found because there was no color scheme, all the lights kind of blended together. I think I would have preferred the tree to be all one color. I suppose the designer could argue that the jumble of light color is supposed to indicate the chaos that happens inside the haunted mansion, but with the ghosts dancing and the scene seeming more peaceful than other parts of the ride, it would have been nice to have less of a jumble and much more uniformity with the color of the lights. Also, as far as function is concerned, it was difficult to see all of the details of this section because of how dim the lights were. I think the Christmas tree could have had a very bright, white light atop the tree and it would have helped with allowing the viewer to really see the whole scene play out. The theme of this area is definitely “Creepy Christmas Family Dinner.” I guess the jumbled lights add to the chaos of family coming together, but I still wasn’t sold on how many colors were present. It just didn’t set well with my eyes. I felt like because the scene was so dimly lit that it was almost a secretive scene, rather than a joyous one with friends and family, which is what I think of when I think of Christmas dinner. 

Other things I noticed throughout the ride were that certain presents were lit up when there were clusters of presents, which I found really interesting. There was a lot of light, specifically on the bright green presents, possibly because I think the paint was glow-in-the-dark paint and popped more, but I also felt like there was often more footlight on these presents. I found it interesting, however, that the lighting really directed your eye to specific presents by deciding which ones to focus on. I’m not sure if there were hidden Mickeys or why certain presents were lit up more than others, but I did find myself more drawn to the ones lit up than the ones that weren’t because those seemed duller. Also, I suspect that a lot of LED lights were used throughout the ride because there were so many and it would be really difficult to change them frequently since the park has such long hours.

Lastly, I took this picture outside and think it contrasts well with the inside of the ride. I especially love the clouds in this picture because the sky is extra blue and the clouds are very puffy. That blueness evokes a sense of early morning and happiness for me, which is interestingly contrasted by the overall aesthetic of the building, which is more downtrodden and supposed to be haunting.