

This method could use more front light angles, colours and face shadows were often filled in using floats (footlights). “Jewel” lighting refers to a phrase coined by Howard Bay, who described a method of lighting the actor like a jewel display – from as many angles as possible. 3 dimensions are sculpted by light from positions at the back and side of stage. Light arriving at 45 degrees up delivers lighting that is not too harsh, steep or flat. The thing to keep in mind is that the subject is front lit from two positions, from an audience point of view. If you want to learn about the McCandless method of lighting the stage, pretty much every book on stage lighting design has details. Warm and cold colours are used in opposite sides to create key and fill lights that can be balanced depending on the scene. Other lighting angles such as backlight and sidelight fill in, giving the actors on stage some form. Each light source arrives on stage from an angle roughly 45 degrees from the stage floor, and are seperated 45 degrees either side of “straight on”. The McCandless lighting layout is based on division of the stage into areas, with each area lit by two front light sources. The McCandless method for lighting the stage became the basis of lighting design in proscenium theatres and is still taught to students today.
#Stage lighting design overhead professional#
The book describes angles and positions used to light the stages of professional American theatres, and McCandless is credited with recording “the method”- though perhaps not inventing it. If you are really new to stage lighting, you probably haven’t heard of Stanley McCandless who wrote the book “A Method of Lighting The Stage” in the 1930’s. Image from gonc._a on Flickr The McCandless Method and “Jewel” Lighting While there are no rules, there are some traditional theatre “methods”… In theatre, this lighting is part of a “General Cover” – general lighting around the stage for visibility. This applies to “naturalistic” lighting, theatre stage and seating but the ideas also apply to conference lighting or products on an exhibition stand. Talk of lighting the stage, we really mean lighting the subjects (actors, furnitures etc) so they appear natural and can be seen clearly.

On Stage Lighting looks at basic front lighting for any venue or show. The question “How to light a stage?” seems to come up frequently among beginners. Stage Lighting (clue in the name), lighting the stage would seem to be it’s primary function.
