Details

Abstract / Summary

Two thousand years ago theatres were lit by day light and mathematicians and sailors computed sums and directions with the abacus and the astrolabe. Since then there have been major advances in the development of stage lighting and in the development of the computer. These advances have culminated in an integration of the discoveries of both fields.The first computers and the first stage lighting control boards shared the similar problem of their cumbersome size. Efforts to reduce the size and increase the efficiency of stage lighting controls led to the use of fiber cards, mechanical templates and punch cards and to the development of the thyratron vacuum tube, magnetic amplifiers and ultimately the silicon controlled rectifier. The scientific discoveries of the micro-chip and miniaturization have empowered the use of computerized stage lighting control systems.These control systems offer several advantages that render them far superior to their predecessors and enable stage lighting designers to achieve a much more exact control over the intensity of light and its associated properties and functions. From Q-File through Channel Track and ProStar, today's lighting designer has available to him a virtual plethora of makes, models and options that purport to be able to actuate any design that he can conceive.When these computerized stage lighting control systems began to be adopted into general use in the theatre, it was commonly thought that the creative freedom that these machines allowed would revolutionize the entire design process including the very principles, practices and theories of stage lighting design itself. This revolution has not occurred because lighting designers in the professional, educational and community theatre settings concur in their opinion and use of computerized stage lighting control systems.

Field of Interest

Theatre

Author

Francine Evans Weston, fl. 1991

Content Type

Essay

Duration

0 sec

Format

Text

Page Count

533

Publication Year

1991

Publisher

University Microfilms International

Place Published / Released

Ann Arbor, MI

Subject

Lighting design, Theatre, Music & Performing Arts, Staging and Design, Lighting design, Theatrical design, Cenografia e Design, Escenografía y Diseño

Keywords and Translated Subjects

Cenografia e Design, Escenografía y Diseño