WYSIWYG vs Reality

Photo of Wait Until Dark taken during photo call:

WYSIWYG rendering made before the set was up or any lights hung.

Using WYSIWYG to render what a show will look like ahead of time really cuts down on time adding or re-focusing or changing gels in lights.  Of course virtual will never quite be able to predict everything that shows up in reality, but its pretty close.  For Wait Until Dark WYSIWYG allowed me to experiment before I ever got into the space with how shadows would work on stage, as well as show the scenic designer what his wallpaper design might look like with different lighting and contrasts.  It also allowed me to communicate ideas with the director that other photos and/or verbal descriptions just wouldn't have worked for.

This rendering was done in WYSIWYG R26 using the shaded view and not the actual rendering wizard, which seemed to not be different enough to warrant the extra time it takes to complete.  Some shows this won't work on though, such as sets with shiny surfaces, transparent surfaces, mirrors, etc..  With Cinderella: The World's Favorite Fairytale, which I designed this summer, there were mirrors on stage which necessitated using the render wizard (see example here).

RENT Photo featured on JimOnLight's Blog

A photo of RENT at The Stage at Island Park (formerly Fargo Moorhead Community Theatre) was featured on JimOnLight's most recent Sunday Flickr Post.

Light Plot for Wait Until Dark

Click here to view larger.

Newer Rendering for Wait Until Dark

Here's a teaser of what the lighting design for Wait Until Dark will look like.  I've seen it in rehearsal a few times now, and can tell you that this rendering is really close to what it actually looks like.  Once I'm out of tech I'll post this alongside a photo from the same angle.

Mercury-Vapor Lamp

For Wait Until Dark, I want to have the effect of mercury-vapor streetlights outside the window, and not the  phosphor coated versions which are more white.  These versions of the lamps are hard to come by today, but they were really prevalent in the 60s. 

Mercury-Vapor Lamp on the side of a machinery shed near Bathgate, ND.

My grandparents farm still has one of these lamps in working condition, and fortunately I took a photo of it a while back.  From the photo I was able to come up with a gel combination that would re-create that light.  Combining R364 and R93 produces a very similar color with slight exaggeration of the green.