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Lighting Designer
Creates the mood and atmosphere of performances, films, and architectural spaces through light.
Did you know?
The Luxor Sky Beam in Las Vegas uses mirrors to focus 39 xenon lamps into one beam that aircraft can see up to 275 miles away.
How subjects help
- Physics: Mix coloured light and aim beams at the right angles to light faces without harsh shadows.
- Art & Design: Paint a stage with light, using colour and shadow to show the time of day or a mood.
- Psychology: Use warm or cold light to make an audience feel cosy, tense or sad.
A famous name
Jennifer Tipton: Lighting designer for dance, theatre and opera; won Tony Awards in 1977 and 1989.
Try it yourself: Run a one-minute show with a cue sheet
- Plan a one-minute scene with three moments: a sunny start, a spooky middle and a happy ending.
- Write numbered cues: Cue 1, lights on; Cue 2, curtains closed and torch on; Cue 3, hat on.
- Run the show, calling "Standby cue 1… GO!" at the right moments while your friend performs.
- What went wrong the first time? Fix the cue sheet and run it again.
Stage managers, lighting designers and wardrobe teams plan every change on a cue sheet, so the show runs the same way every night.
Also try: Perform a trick where your mistakes are the magic.
Known for it in
USA, UK, Germany, Japan, France