Notes from Gillette’s Designing with Light

…the most dominant element the designer controls

…derived from light

quality that differentiates one color from another

Percentage of a hue in a color mixture Chroma

Lightness or darkness Tint

light colors are high in value

Shade darker colors are

low in value Tone

color with middle value (black and white)

Primary Colors hues that can’t be blended from any other

hues

Secondary Colors created by mixing two adjacent primary

colors

Complementary Colors any two opposite hues that when combined

create white in light or black in pigment.

•light creates white light …………pigment creates black.

Light receptor nerves Cones

red, blue, and green light wavelengths bright light

Rods faint or dim light interpret shades

Uncolored stage light can wash color out of objects on stage

Compatible colors of light maintain color choices of scenery and costumes.

Mood Temperature

• Colored filters only allow Colored filters only allow their hue to pass through. their hue to pass through.

• Subtractive color mixing Subtractive color mixing can also be achieved by can also be achieved by using two or more filters of using two or more filters of secondary hues. secondary hues.

• Reduces the intensity of the Reduces the intensity of the output.output.

Happens when several hues are seen by the eye, added together, and when interpreted by the brain, appear as a different color.

The hues created are purely results of the cones in our eyes; they really aren’t created on the projection surface.

Affects color blending Five instruments would blend according to the

amount of overlapping to light an actor from all sides.

Blending techniques: Double Hanging Alternating Colors

Two overlapping instruments colored with approximately complementary tints used to create a more vibrant white light.

Physiological reaction results in the eye seeing shadow colors that are complementary to the hue of the source light

Filtered Light when white light passes through any type

of filtering material (glass, plastic, air…)

Gel Originally made from gelatin and synthetic

dyes. Faded quickly, fragile when dry, dissolves when

wet Now made of plastic, but still called gel

Mylar or polyester Rugged, long lasting, heat resistant Variety of colors

Glass Infrequently used as a filter Long lasting and fade resistant Limited palette Expensive, heavy, will shatter if dropped Rondels – glass filters used in striplights

Red, blue, green, amber

Dichroics Newest color media Work differently than other color media

Ordinary filters allow their own colors to pass through filter and absorb the other colors

Dichroic filters reflect the unwanted colors Want red? Reflect cyan. Want blue? Reflect yellow.

Heat resistant, no tangible color fade, more effective filter (less light loss)

Diffusion Filters Diffusers – soften the quality of light

Soften edge of light and its shadows Reduce hot spots Reduce color fringes

Rainbow effect seen at the edges of some beams of light

Caused by refraction of the projected light Varying levels of diffusion R-100 Frost, Lee 216 White Diffusion

Diffusion Filters Focusers –

Striations or scratches on the surface of the media refract the light at right angles to the directions of the lines

Lee 228 Brushed Silk, R-104 Tough Silk Cyc silks

Color media manufacturers offer sample books

Gel swatches Show color Allow LD to experiment with halogen bulb flashlight

If two overlapping gels lit with a flashlight onto a piece of white paper produces a neutral gray means the colors are complementary

Transmission information Graph shows transmission of

light measured in nanometers Two gels with mirror images in

graphs are complimentary Transmission, Y, amount of

light passed through the filter compared to unfiltered light