#light techi

[sondheim-girly]

yesterday I called a show for the first time! It was just a run thru, they didn’t even have costumes or anything and they paused a lot but like I am not trained for this, yet I survived!!! I’m so proud of myself!!

[which-qsmp-egg-would]

which egg would sleep with every one of their stuffed animals, because they think that the left out toys would get jealous and lonely?

[starfleetshrimps]

i love star trek bc it's actually a high school theater production most of the time. We focus a lot on the over-acting, theatricality of the actors and the directors, and that's all well and amazing, but /I/ want to focus on the /TECH/ bc ASHAijnjsdnbhgaARREghghhuuagjkshdmhbAHJBSSHJHIEJBnkjsdjhbsdhjBmahbsjshsbHkjnswkjshsn yea.

FIRST THE SETS?!? they're so silly and stupid? i know they get a lot of shit but the amount of work (not to mention styrofoam) that went into building individual sets for each planet they went to? like sure about 50% of the away missions take place in the california desert (the arena, *cough cough*, etc) but the rest of them have individually made sets that look PRETTY GOOD MAN. they get the point across, they're FUN, and innovative, and they really don't reuse planet sets all that often as well.

PLUS they used traditionally /theatrical/ cycloramas with painted backgrounds and classical cyc lighting (reminiscent of mariano fortuny's domed cyc! i WILL talk more about lighting) which look really cool and once again get shit for being unrealistic.

it's not supposed to look realistic it's supposed to look cool as shit. and it does. shut up. <3

if you view the sets as being modern TV sets then yeah, they're weird, and they look sorta bad, but THEYRE NOT modern TV sets: they're THEATRICAL SETS FROM THE 60-70S. AND I LOVE THEM.

SECONDLY, THE

lighting

while it's true that some shows in the 60s were developing new lighting styles specifically for TV, remember that in the year 1950 less that 10 percent of US homes had a television. this shit was new. COLOR tv was ESPECIALLY new. nobody knew how to light these things! and actually why would you need a new lighting style, we already KNEW how to light dramatic productions, why would we ever need to reinvent the wheel Stanley Mccandles, Mariano Fortuny, and Gene Rosenthall already invented says Gene Roddenberry and Jerry Finnerman (the head lighting designer). and oh my god i am so ridiculously glad. because the lighting. is so good.

i HAVE seen others talking about how good it is in the super early episodes (Charlie X and the conscious of the King, etc.) and i do agree! but i disagree that the quality goes down. i think it just got a tad bit more subtle as the show went on and it gets less in your face, harder to notice. but i noticed. because I'M the WORST (and also a lighting tech)

the impossibility of listing every example of amazing theater lighting choice they made is absolutely horrific and nasty so i'll just lost some my my favorites:

the cyc! i mentioned before but the cyc they used on away missions was only painted when they needed a specific scene in the background, otherwise? that bitch was LIT. and i LOVE IT.

any of the scenes where they light spock's face have green and half pink? or even just washing the walls behind him? i eat that shit UP. the METAPHOR. the CONFLICT. i will acquiesce that green and pink are (and were) pretty goddamn industry standard gels (color-films) to add to lights, for subtle contrast, but this is not subtle. it is LOUD. was it purposefully done from a storytelling perspective? no idea. is it cool as shit and interpret-able as hell? absolutely. also sometimes they do it with just green when they want to emphasize his vulcan-ness and other him a bit. like they do it a lot when he's in his room in amok time. anyway.

whenever they shutter a light so they can emphasize a character's (kirk, we're talking abt kirk here. and *sometimes* spock, and also Charlie in Charlie X but yeah mostly kirk) eyes when they say something #Deep, or just pre-commercial break closure worthy line. it's so SHJSDJBFEJNKN. to add onto this, they'll do a striking half-wash over half of their face sometimes in conjunction and it looks So Good

The GOBOS. sometimes, they'll just throw light through a gobo, or wall screen, or something, for /visual interest/ and it looks so silly i love it sm. does it make sense from a realism pov? nO. but star trek is a theater production actually and they lit everything using mainly naturalistic techniques! amazing!

honorable mentions: the glowing time donut, and the entirely random colors in the hallway.

there are so many other examples but this post is long enough lmao. notice the lights next time you watch tos!!,! please!!! <3

[le-petite-ivy]

I think it's funny for people to assume the techies know what all the buttons do. Sure, we know what a lot of them do. We know enough to do our job. But, I've never met someone who knows what ALL the buttons do.

[abstractpenny]

I love going off the face of the planet for a month because I've had three shows to design in a row.

One a week for the past three weeks this month (essentially two 60hr unpaid work weeks and one lightly paid work week).

Anyways, we open this week's show tomorrow night! Super fun.

Oh, and then I have a FOURTH show to design next week. And then a week to finish and turn in homework and then the end of the school year.

Rad 😎

[omicroncetii]

my favorite alt girl for the first part in a band au series im planning!

[jays-supersonic-dynamo]

in my mind movie!cole is a theatre kid but the kind who’s a techie the whole time until senior year where he tries out for the male lead in the musical, gets the role, is the best part of said musical, and is never seen by anyone else in the department ever again

[koba-baboba]

[upstagetraveler]

Round 2 of our Shrek the Musical pics! Not my designs or pics. @mtishows-blog

[vitamin-zeeth]

HELLO YOU’RE A TECHIE AND I DIDN’T KNOW??? YOU’RE SO SO COOL FOR THAT I LOVE TECH

HIIIIIII YEAHHHH IM A TECHIEE my schools drama program is legitimately nonexistent tho so I get to do 0 tech :( but yea genuine career goal is theatre tech I'm applying for a theatre tech course in college next year and everything I love the pretty lights and the pretty sets and the funky wires :)))

[technitango]

[cucumbers-and-olives]

y’all i love getting to work with a professional theater after doing high school theater for so long

they’re so organized??? and there’s an actual rehearsal schedule??? AND you wash costumes after every show??? AND you honor conflicts??? AND we get a 5 min break every 50 minutes or a 10 min break every 80?????

literally just common sense lmao

but also union rules!!!!

[rinsstimz]

ELECTRIC ANGEL'S DELIVERY!

(plain text: electric angel's delivery! /endPT)

Mismagius stimboard with rainbow glitchcore for neco arc anon! 🌈👨🏻‍💻🌈 🌈👻🌈 🌈👨🏻‍💻🌈

[le-petite-ivy]

Dang I really gotta work on my spatial awareness. I dropped a wall on somebody today.

[deanpinterester]

well of COURSE my microcontrollor had to die on me Right when i wanted to test it with the rest of the project even though it was working perfectly the day before 🤡

here's a preview if anyone's interested

[floralovebot]

like not to make everything about racism again but i do Not trust when winx fans redesign musa and melody to be sci-fi themed like girl,, ahdljg