Austin Powers the musical

[Big Jay]

hi im new to this forum, I am a lighting design student at newcastle college performance academy, I am designer for austin powers the musical, I need help in new ideas, I have accesss to a load of thomas par64 and 6mac 250 wash and 6mac 250 spots with 2 700 spots but I dont want to use them if I dont have to any ideas please would be greatfully appriceated

[pritch]

I would say it largely depends on what look you need and what set you've got to deal with. Without knowing this, there's no way anyone can give you useful advice.

[heinz57]

Bright hippie 60's colours would not go amiss with those pars and then create a gemeral wash with the other lanterns. Perhaps if you got hold of some sort of gobo that has a 'groovie' 60's shape and put them in a profile with bright colourd gels.

 

Hope this helps you.

 

Matt

[woody74]

Ideas by themselves are worthless; ideas that fit the show are meaningful. Whatever you do, make sure that it fits the show, and is not just lighting for the sake of showing off.

 

Also, you didn't say if the kit you have access to is your entire rig, or just the gear you'll be using for effect lighting. As is always my approach to any show, make sure the audience can SEE the show first, then worry about stepping it up.

 

-w

[gareth]

Some good advice above.

 

Presumably you're lighting this show as an academic exercise? In which case, I'm surprised you haven't been taught something about the basic process of devising a lighting design for a show. It's not simply a case, as your original question seems to imply, of "I have all this kit, what can I do with it?". You need to consider things like the text, the director's 'vision' for the piece, the set and costume designs, the practical aspects of the space in which you're designing (and other spaces, if the piece is touring), the equipment you have at your disposal, the budget you may or may not have to supplement that kit, and the time and human resources that you have at your disposal in ordser to make your design a reality. Only when you, and therefore we, know more about some or all of the above can we begin to make meaningful suggestions aimed at helping you with this.

[paulears]

Surely, if your college are spending money on a big production, then the lighting designer role goes to the best person for the job? When I did this kind of thing, the biggest and most complex shows went to the already skilled, not those just starting out. If your teachers have put you in the very awkward position of having to ask for help here, they've not been very kind to you!

[mac500]

As much as we'd help you give you help with any ideas you have we can't do the lighting design for you thats your job at the end of the day.

[Tomo]

Gareth is right.

 

You never light a show by saying "I have all this kit, what do I do with it?"

 

You light a show by saying "The director, creative team and I have these ideas, how do I achieve them?"

 

The very hardest part is coming up with those ideas - you can only do that by talking to the director, set designer and the rest of the creative team, and (hopefully - it's not always possible) attending rehearsals to see how the director is starting to achieve his vision with the cast.

 

Once you know what the director wants and understand his vision and concepts for the show, you can start to produce the design.

 

And that design will include a great many compromises - the venue has certain limitations, your budget is never big enough for everything, and you never have enough manpower.

Some ideas won't be completely achievable - however there is usually a way to do something 'close enough' within the show limitations.

 

There are many books on the subject of Lighting Design - have a look here.

[WiLL]

All valid points. My tuppence-worth;

 

The mac 250's have a funky pink and white spiral gobo in them in their standard gobo wheel. Could be very Austin powers-like with 6 of those rotating and moving across the stage. Of course, that's just one 'look', and if it's a full blown musical you'll need dozens. But hey-ho, we only learn this trade by doing it. Make sure you have plenty of time to play with any fixtures you are unfamiliar with, you can't expect to achieve nice states with fixtures you don't know very well.

[woody74]

I'll add one more thing: watch the movie, but pay attention to the lighting. You may not feel like you want to copy/re-create the movie, but people will have an expectation going into a show called "Austin Powers", and if you don't meet that expectation, even if what you did is brilliant, they will think you didn't do a good job.

 

Watch for color choice, pattern/gobo styles, and direction of lighting ("are the go-go cages up-lit, or side-lit" for example). Also, every era has a specific color pallete; what was London in the 60's? I'm pretty sure I could figure that out.

 

Now, the 80's in America, that was more pink on men than I have ever seen...

 

-w

[Ken Coker]

I am a lighting design student

 

So why do YOU not have any ideas? Disagreeing with my learned friend above, I would say that any idea matters....write it down and maybe you can use it later. To link with another thread, no one is paying you to use any instuments at all; they are paying you for your ideas. Frankly, if you can light a show with integrity using only two sixty watt light bulbs and an anglepoise you'll be in work forever.....or at least, the pointyheads at the Almeida will employ you forever .

 

To have a little rant, what the #### are you doing on a lighting design course if you can't even break down a script? (Yes, I lit my first show once.....as no one was around to teach me, I read a book....Pilbrow I think.)

 

Sit down, read the script and THINK.....What happens here? Where does it happen ?, Why does it happen?....look at the set model; talk to the set designer; talk to the director.......go for a walk.........repeat the process.....THINK again....is it a straight "Austin Powers" or is it a parody of a parody? What did the 60s look like? Did it look like an AP film or did in look like "Get Carter"?....go for a walk....go to the pub....THINK some more .....go and shine an anglepoise at the set model....talk to the set designer and the director at the same time.....always good for a laugh....go for a walk....read the script..................

 

Yes I am very grumpy......hard weekend and my cricket club lost yesterday...grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

Think I'll go back to the wireless bass thread............

 

KC

[Just Some Bloke]

I agree entirely with everyone above who says that breaking down the script is the place to start. But I'd like to use a word that no-one has included yet - mood.

 

What is the mood in each scene? Happy? Sad? Scary? Silly? Serious? Faux serious? Pastiche? Energetic? Intimidating? Sexy? Romantic? Repressed? With mojo or without? All of these, and many others, might be appropriate at different times. How are you going to achieve them? Once you've got that sorted in your head then, and only then, can you start to think about whizzing some toys around in the one or two places it might be appropriate.

 

There are two ways of asking for help from fellow LDs:

 

1) Help - where do I start?

2) I need to create these states/moods and am thinking about doing it the following ways. Do you think I'm on the right track?

 

If I was going to suggest who was the most likely to succeed as an LD, I'd go for those asking questions like number 2 above every time.

[klemay]

watch the films, see if theres any colors, effects, moods etc that can inspire you or you could perhaps try to recreate.

[paulears]

Well, it's been over 24 hours, and we've generated an awful lot of comments - many rather good advice. The trouble is, the OP hasn't been back or fed us any more info - so I'd suggest we perhaps wait a while before chipping in much more. I hope he comes back, but it was a'first post' - and hopefully, not his only one!

[younglighttechy]

ok, wait a min I'm 14, and I do all the lx design and lx operator, I could do this easily with what I've got up the school, 4 mac 250s and 2 mac 300s with some profiles and parcans, With the set up u've got, its pretty much simple, like people have said before use the physco gobo in the mac 250, maybe buy some more gobos in, but use vibrante colours in the par cans. (Pinks, Cyan) maybe add a bit of smoke in, or bubbles, to give a more retro kind of feel. Perhaps some pan and tilt sequences or colour/gobo sequences or dimmer sequences with the par cans. Oh and an other thing which I have seen which is quite good, use the mac 250 wash's doing some CMY changing, program some stuff in with the CMY and it looks amazing

Can I Ask What Controller You Are Using??

Cheers Zak