F17 TA434 LIGHTING DESIGN

For the site-specific blog I visited Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios.      Every year during the month of October, we are bombarded by the traditional color combinations and blends of purples, orange, green, and others to present the theme for Halloween. It becomes expected that any live, spooky themed experience will incorporate these color combinations. So, it may become a challenge to visually present a themed experience like this, while also engaging event goers to draw something new from this lighted presentation.           Horror Nights succeeded in balancing a spooky, cartoon-ish design, and more frightening, and threatening lit areas of the theme park. I love the mix of colors above and how subtly the outline of a creepy pumpkin on shown on the building. The designer(s) made great choices in determining the gobos used.   As I walked through this tunnel, I began to ...

    This beautiful situation was found and taken at my partner's grandparents house's backyard. It was around 3pm, and the angle of the sun shining the chair was too perfect to not document for the blog. The sunlight coming in diagonally on the chair looks nostalgic, and the warm color looks pretty on the wooden texture. How the sunlight is shaped through the roof is making it look more dramatic and theatrical. There is not a lot of light on the chair to pull the attention, but it is highlighted enough to bring your eyes onto it.  I could totally see this happening on stage on the porch of the house.  

This year (much like every year before it) I had the pleasure of visiting Universal Haunt. Words to describe the park at this time: scary, creepy, gross and disturbing. To achieve these goals lighting was used sparingly yet very effectively.    This is a photo of the front of the park from a line. It is very dim and many of the lights being used are colored like the red you see at the top of the building. Much of the spooky seemed to be lit in red. This picture is the space where people walk and near by is a seating area. There is just enough light to see figures yet there is no finding out whether or not the figures are monsters or friends before it is too late. This was probably my favorite part of the park because of the use of color. It isn't just red but blues and green as well and the added gobo made it more interesting.   These two pictures are pictures of what I saw while waiting in line for another maze called "Ash vs. Evil Dead". The outside was meant...

I was on my way back to the Griffith Observatory from the Hollywood sign yesterday when it got dark really quick. I had been up there all day and wasn't really paying attention to the skyline this time. But then I noticed that. The photo actually can't even capture half of the beauty of this moment. I stood in front of this not ending sea of lights and it was just beautiful. It felt like the city was covered in a million, different colored stars and the overall light was so bright, that it started to create a glowing dome above the whole city. Again I realized, what lights can do regarding moods and emotions. It not just gave me goosebumps, but made me really sad.  Next week will be my last week in Los Angeles and in this very moment I realized, how much I love the city and that I really don't want to leave at all. 

    This week I was in the middle of the "pre-production" of our final project. In the play there is a silver moon as a light source. When I was walking through the streets I saw exactly what I imagined of that moon light mentioned in the play. There was a silver moon shining through the clouds, creating a moody and at the same time glamorous and mysterious atmosphere. The clouds looked moody, but the moon by itself added the glamorous, mysterious atmosphere because it was shining so bright. Even if it was a cold color (silver/ very light, cold blue), the clouds and the dark bluish night sky created a warm, mysterious feeling and environment. Even if the street was lighted with street lights so that the moon wasn't the only light source, it felt like it was like the main or the source of light on a stage. I think that was caused by the higher angle, the brighter color and the higher intensity. So it combined all the "stronger" parts of lighting and was ...

This is a picture of the drivers side of my car. It was taken so early in the morning I was exhausted from working late the night before. I was getting into it and noticed the lovely rainbow! My floor is filthy but the rainbow is nice nonetheless. Usually I see rainbows on the tile on the floor in my house and the colors come out really light. This is the first time I've seen a rainbow this saturated! If only it was in a prettier location...

I took this picture at the Starbucks near my house last week. I go there very often but, I had never noticed the way they had their lights in this glass container. This light sits right in the container and is just flipped around, which I found very interesting. It is almost like the light is pouring out and washes all around the space. It’s a very warm amber light which makes it even more cozy, while you’re sipping on you drink and stressing about school. Still keeping that warm and “calm down you’re gonna pass your classes” vibe. It was also  interesting because these were the only 3, the others were coming from the ceiling.