Terra's Lair

Part of series: Seven Layers of Scare: http://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/terra/528-seven-layers-scare.html



Detailed look at layer five of Seven Layers of Scare....

Lighting

Lighting (IMHO) is one of the most powerful but least appreciated elements in setting up a haunt. I've been one of those haunters that just gave it a cursory thought. Hey, there's a spot light on the house, right? Well, yeah I was happy with it until I saw pictures from the haunts of Skull and Bone: http://skullandbone.com/ , Pumpkinrot: http://www.pumpkinrot.com/index2.htm, and toured The Darkness. Uhhhh....WOW! Not only are their props and set-ups outstanding but so is the way they are lit! And the colors! The haunting, emotion grabbing colors. They aren't painted that way, they are lit that way.

Since I'm not that knowledgeable about lighting a haunt...time to hit the books, Google and eke out the little bit I do know of coloring. So, here we go.

Emotions, mood and setting are tightly coupled with a color. So, with that in mind we can telegraph what we are trying to set up in the room. Blue for ethereal and sadness. Red for violence, gore, intense, fire. Green for strange and unnerving. Yellow for savage. White for shock. Black for evil and powerful. Purple for exotic and unnatural. I mean, you can attach an emotion to every color in the rainbow! You can also combine color. Yellow and green together is good for a sick and twisted feel. When a haunter combines a fantastic room filled with great props and adds the layer of colored light....it reaches for the sublime. The more vivid the color, the more intense the mood. No wonder we Halloweeniers love those deep vivid colors. We are, after all, trying to set an emotional mood and we need it at Setting 11!

Now, color isn't the only secret to the magic of lighting. In fact, there are four: Color, Brightness, Distribution and Movement.

Color

Well, just talked a ton about that...

Brightness

How bright or intense is this light gonna be? This is important to consider because contrast is as powerful as color. If you use a bright small light, that will create dramatic shadows but not color it much. A subtle wash fills a room with dread and vibe but you will lose contrast. So, it depends on what you are trying to achieve. There's another aspect you can use to adjust brightness and add awesome shadows: cuculoris/cookies/gobos:

Distribution

Where are the light sources going to be in the room? There are four types of light distribution: General, Task, Decorative and Focal. General is used as the overall lighting in the room. But when you also use Task, Decorative and Focal lighting... well now you are helping to tell your story.

General: General lighting is what replaces the sunlight in a room. It's the overall light level. The big question here is do you even want to use general lighting? Nothing kills terrific shadows faster than general lighting. But, there are some general lighting that is useful. Large strobe lights, black lights, fire/water illusions are types of general lighting used in a haunt.

Task: Like we talked about in the previous layer, Accents... this helps to tell the story. If there is a desk lamp or a TV in the room simply turn it on. If the light is too bright you can dim it down. But turn them on. They are important tricks that add reality. Other types of task lights: chandeliers, lanterns on a tree branch...

Decorative: I love decorative lighting because you can have a lot of fun with it. Examples are light washes that help to show texture on a wall, moonlight streaming through overhead branches, sconces on the wall or sewer lights down a hall. Candles are powerful mood setters as well as being decorative. Silk flames really amp up the excitement.

Focal: A powerful tool in your scare lighting arsenal. This is where you can force the ToTs to look where you want them to look. For example: you want to focus their attention on a certain area or static prop so they'll be looking the other way from the scare prop in the other corner? Light it.

The basic way to focus a light on a prop is straight on. But after research I discovered that approach basically sucks. It flattens the object and isn't that interesting. Instead, think of how you can reveal the object. Use an up-light to make a face appear even more monster-like, grotesque and even taller. Use a side light to showcase the entire form of the prop. Put the sidelight up high and it will reveal the top side of the head and upper torso... good for muscular chesty monsters (think Hulk). A pin spotlight can be used just to light the toothy mouth of a ferocious werewolf.

Another great focal light is the use of back-lighting. This will make your prop stand out from the background and seem even closer. Imagine the back-light showing through the ribcage of a skeleton in front of them. If you can get away with it, try to do several color layers of back-lighting. Like lighting spider webs hanging on the ceiling in purple and washing the wall in red. Doesn't that say VAMPIRE? It will also make the room appear much deeper. Though back-lighting isn't technically a focal light I think it's almost a necessity.

Finally, try to use a lot of contrast and hard light. Dramatic is the goal here. Look at what sharp contrast can do to heighten the fear in this scene:



Movement

OK, you've decided the color of your light, how bright it'll be, what type of light it is and now the final question... Do you want the light to move or change? What I mean is do you want it to Strobe or dim, Change color or Flicker? You can make a somewhat scary prop truly come to life using light movement. I went to DMX lighting for this ability. When the lighting is alive it will make a static prop look alive also. A strobing light is excellent for making unmoving objects appear to be moving. Dimming or brightening light adds drama. Color changing light helps tell the story. Flickering light makes fake candles look real, white flood lights in the graveyard look like lightning and fluttering silk look like fire. A simple rotating beacon light can give a sense of alarm or look like a prison yard. Moving light livens up the room. Heck, discos were centered around a mirror ball. "Shake, shake, shake. Shake your booty....shake your Boooooooty!"

MiniSpotlights

Anyways....

I am very excited about these little darlings:




These tiny little lights are becoming a haunter's dream. This houses one colored LED light and, as you can see, can pretty much be put anywhere. And look at that fantastic saturated color! I love LEDS for that. The color is utterly brutal. The glass aquariums above are diffusing the light a bit and that's something to keep in mind. If you've got glass containers try to light it. It will just rock!

Now, check out how it looks when it's pointed at an object:



SWEET! Remember we were just talking about the power of shadows and contrasts? Look at the drama one little doll sitting on a shelf has.

Unlike incandescent lighting, LEDS have a limited beam of light. That is why you will see specs of LEDS showing things like '30 degree beam angle'. But, that's NOT a drawback. Small beam angles create those sharp light edges. It's just perfect!!! Well, if I haven't sold you on these babies yet....how about this? They are low-voltage - 12 volts. And you can hook up 60 of them on one power adapter. I mean COME ON!

The farther away these are placed, the broader and softer the light becomes. If you want something more intense there are similar units that have three LEDS or even 12 LEDS in one housing. I really need to get some of these!




Hope this was helpful in upping the quality of lighting in your haunt. Thanks for reading!




One source for miniSpotlights: http://shop.minispotlight.com/

http://www.rosco.com/us/filters/roscolux.asp: Great list of moods/colors

Skull and Bone's site has a great article on haunt lighting. It has set the standard for all of us. http://skullandbone.com/tutorial_01.htm