Vanishing Visions
The peculiar thing about anything that you lose is that often times you don’t notice they’re gone until you go to seek them.
The Swami recently went looking for examples of automated lighting used to project images on set pieces and scenery for a new book. Such examples are now as difficult to find as water in the desert. There are oceans of video projections used along side automated lighting, LED and plasma displays fed by media servers used in conjunction with moving lights, and all manner of pixels spread around performances. But finding lighting projection on cycs and drops is like finding precious gems. The proverbial pendulum has swung away from using lighting as projection in favor of using projection as lighting, with lighting, and in place of lighting. Such is the way of the convergence.
That’s not to say there’s anything wrong. Progress is prerequisite. Growth is good. But before media servers, the best lighting designers could transform a surface with light, shade, color, contrast and texture. One of the Swami’s favorite lighting designers is Chas Herington, who once took ordinary automated lights and white set pieces and made a vision of light and color that shone to the heavens. There is a rich palette of looks in a handful of gobos and a bolt of cloth. Let us not forget.
