Unit
in Technical Theatre Mini Units Curriculum
Lighting
Created by Josh Hatt
This is an introductory mini-unit to lighting that can be achieved whether or not you have a lighting system. Students will work toward being able to demonstrate their knowledge of lighting effectiveness.
The questions of the unit include: How can light affect a scene? How can lighting affect the audience? What is the mood of the scene? How does lighting play a part in creating mood? How can you use shadows onstage? How does color impact the scene?
Start here
The overview lays out the objectives for the unit and reviews the content of each lesson.
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1Lesson 1Introduction to LightingStudents are introduced to lighting through video demonstration, discuss the impact of lighting on a scene, address lighting safety and complete a vocabulary activity.
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2Lesson 2Colour and AnglesStudents will explore how lighting can affect a scene through colour and angles. Questions include: What is mood? How do shadows affect a scene? Students are given a lighting assignment to apply colour and angles by drawing a simple light plot.
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3Lesson 3Lighting EffectivenessStudents continue to work on their lighting assignment. They will rehearse their scenes, continue to discuss lighting effectiveness and reflect on their work in class.
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4Lesson 4Tech Rehearsal and PerformanceStudents are given time for a tech rehearsal and then perform their scenes. The emphasis is on the groups demonstrating a knowledge of lighting effectiveness.
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5Lesson 5ReflectionStudents watch the scenes from the previous class and reflect as a group on the process.
Standards Addressed
Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work - Grade 6
Perceive and analyze artistic work - Grade 6
Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work - Grade 7
Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work - Grade 8
Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work - High School Proficient
Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work - High School Accomplished
Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation - Grade 8
Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation - Grade HS Proficient
Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation - Grade HS Accomplished
Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work - Grade 6
Refine new work through play, drama processes and theatre experiences using critical analysis and experimentation - Grade 7
Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work - Grade 8
Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work - Grade HS Proficient
6.TH:Cr1 Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work
6.TH:Re7 Perceive and analyze artistic work.
7.TH:Cr1 Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work
8.TH:Cr1 Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work
Prof.TH:Cr1 Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work
Acc.TH:Cr1 Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.
8.TH:Pr5 Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation.
Prof.TH:Pr5 Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation.
Acc.TH:Pr5 Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation.
6.TH:Re9 Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work.
7.TH:Cr3 Refine and complete artistic work.
8.TH:Re9 Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work.
Prof.TH:Re9 Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work.
Sixth Grade
- DT.6.1.1.b Students Can: Identify possible solutions to design challenges in a drama/theatre work.
- DT.6.3.1.a Students Can: Describe and record personal reactions to artistic choices in a drama/theatre work.
- DT.6.3.4.b Students Can: Analyze the production elements used in a drama/theatre work to assess aesthetic choices.
Seventh Grade
Eighth Grade
- DT.8.1.1.b Students Can: Imagine and explore possible solutions to design challenges of a performance space in a drama/theatre work.
- DT.8.2.2.b Students Can: Implement a variety of technical elements to create a design for a rehearsal or drama/theater production.
- DT.8.3.4.b Students Can: Analyze the production elements used in a drama/theatre work to assess aesthetic choices.
High School - Fundamental Pathway
- DT.H1.1.1.b Students Can: Explore the impact of technology on design choices in a drama/theatre work.
- DT.H1.2.2.b Students Can: Use research and script analysis to discover the impact design has for a drama/theatre production.
- DT.H1.3.4.b Students Can: Evaluate the aesthetics of the production elements in a drama/theatre work.
Speaking and Listening
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.1 Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.2 Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.3 Evaluate a speaker's point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.
Language
Critical Thinking & Reflection
- TH.68.C.1.4 Create and present a design, production concept, or performance and defend artistic choices.
- TH.68.C.1.5 Describe how a theatrical activity can entertain or instruct an audience.
- TH.68.C.2.2 Keep a rehearsal journal to document individual performance progress.
- TH.68.C.2.3 Ask questions to understand a peer's artistic choices for a performance or design.
- TH.68.C.2.4 Defend personal responses to a theatre production.
- TH.68.C.3.1 Discuss how visual and aural design elements communicate environment, mood, and theme in a theatrical presentation.
- TH.912.C.1.3 Justify a response to a theatrical experience through oral or written analysis, using correct theatre terminology.
- TH.912.C.2.1 Explore and describe possible solutions to production or acting challenges and select the solution most likely to produce desired results.
Historical & Global Connections
- TH.68.H.1.1 Explore potential differences when performing works set in a variety of historical and cultural contexts.
- TH.68.H.1.5 Describe one's own personal responses to a theatrical work and show respect for the responses of others.
- TH.68.H.2.4 Discuss the differences between presentational and representational theatre styles.
- TH.68.H.2.5 Compare decorum, environments, and manners from a variety of cultures and historical periods to discover and influence historical acting styles and design choices.
- TH.68.H.2.6 Describe historical and cultural influences leading to changes in theatre performance spaces and technology.
- TH.68.H.2.8 Identify and describe theatrical resources in the community, including professional and community theatres, experts, and sources of scripts and materials.
- TH.68.H.3.3 Use brainstorming as a method to discover multiple solutions for an acting or technical challenge.
- TH.68.H.3.6 Discuss ways in which dance, music, and the visual arts enhance theatrical presentations.
Innovation, Technology & the Future
- TH.68.F.1.1 Manipulate various design components to imagine the world of the character.
- TH.68.F.1.4 Survey an aspect of theatre to understand the ways in which technology has affected it over time.
- TH.68.F.2.1 Research careers in the global economy that are not directly related to the arts, but include skills that are arts based or derive part of their economic impact from the arts.
- TH.68.F.2.2 Identify industries within the state of Florida that have a significant impact on local economies, in which the arts are either directly or indirectly involved in their success.
- TH.68.F.3.2 Develop a list of line items that would typically be found in a production budget for a performance.
Organizational Structure
- TH.68.O.1.2 Discuss how color, line, shape, and texture are used to show emotion in technical theatre elements.
- TH.68.O.1.3 Explain the impact of choices made by directors, designers, and actors on audience understanding.
- TH.68.O.1.4 Discuss how the whole of a theatre performance is greater than the sum of its parts.
- TH.68.O.2.1 Diagram the major parts of a play and their relationships to each other.
- TH.68.O.2.2 Explain how a performance would change if depicted in a different location, time, or culture.
- TH.68.O.2.5 Explain how the contributions of significant playwrights, performers, directors, designers, and producers from various cultures and historical periods have influenced the creative innovations of theatre.
- TH.68.O.3.1 Compare theatre and its elements and vocabulary to other art forms.
Skills, Techniques & Processes
- TH.68.S.1.3 Describe criteria for the evaluation of dramatic texts, performances, direction, and production elements.
- TH.68.S.1.4 Discuss the ways in which theatre experiences involve empathy and aesthetic distance.
- TH.68.S.2.1 Discuss the value of collaboration in theatre and work together to create a theatrical production.
- TH.68.S.2.3 Analyze the relationships of plot, conflict, and theme in a play and transfer the knowledge to a play that contrasts in style, genre, and/or mood.
- TH.68.S.3.2 Use the elements of dramatic form to stage a play.
- TH.68.S.3.4 Lead small groups to safely select and create elements of technical theatre to signify a character or setting.
Grade 6 - Performing
Grades 9-12 - ADVANCED DRAMA LEVELS I-IV -Performing
Grades 9-12 - MUSICAL THEATRE LEVELS I-IV - Performing
Sixth Grade Connect
Seventh Grade Connect
Seventh Grade Present
Eighth Grade Connect
Eighth Grade Create
Beginning High School Create
Beginning High School Present
Intermediate High School Create
Intermediate High School Present
Advanced High School Create
Advanced High School Present
Beginning High School Standards - Aesthetics
Intermediate High School Standards - Aesthetics
Advanced High School Standards - Aesthetics
MS 117.211 LI - Foundations: Inquiry and Understanding
MS 117.213 LIII - Creative Expression: production
- B.3.A recognize and select specific technical elements to suggest environment, establish mood, and support character and actions for performance.
- B.3.B create theatrical elements such as scenery, properties, lighting, sound, costume, makeup, and publicity using the principles of design.
- B.3.D use technology in theatrical applications such as live theatre, video, and film.
HS 117.315 LI - Creative Expression: production
- C.3.A develop and practice technical theatre skills.
- C.3.B apply technical knowledge and skills safely to create or operate theatrical elements such as scenery, properties, lighting, sound, costumes, makeup, current technology, or publicity.
- C.3.C perform a role such as actor, director, designer, technician, or editor in production decision making and collaborate with others in a production role to tell a story through live theatre or media performance.
HS 117.317 LIII - Creative Expression: production
HS 117.318 LIV - Creative Expression: production
Technical Theatre/Design 10-20-30 - Lighting
- 1 demonstrate understanding of the purpose of stage lighting
- 10 demonstrate safe and proper care in handling and maintaining available lighting instruments
- 2 recognize the importance of illusion in lighting design
- 3 demonstrate understanding of the important of artistic unity in lighting design
- 4 demonstrate knowledge of appropriate safety procedures
- 5 demonstrate understanding of functions of standard lighting instruments: flood, fresnel, ellipsoidal, follow spotlight, border lights
- 6 demonstrate understanding of functions of gels, barn doors, gobos, c-clamps, shutters
- 7 demonstrate understanding of basic functions of lighting control systems
- 8 demonstrate understanding of symbolism and psychological implications of colour, angle, intensity and timing in creating mood
- 9 demonstrate understanding that gels affect the way colour is perceived in scenery, costume and makeup
Junior Orientation
- generate imaginative and creative solutions to problems
- listen effectively
- meet deadlines and follow through on individual and group commitments
- share ideas confidently with others
- support positivity the work of others
- understand that technical elements enhance verbal/physical communication
- work cooperatively and productively with all members of the class in pairs, small groups and large groups
Junior Goal I Objectives
- develop a sense of responsibility and commitment
- develop the ability to initiate, organize and present a project within a given set of guidelines
- develop the ability to interact effectively and constructively in a group process
- develop the ability to offer and accept constructive criticism
- develop the willingness to make a decision, act upon it and accept the results
- extend the ability to think imaginatively and creatively
Technical Theatre - Levels I, II, III - Awareness
- 1 recognize the basic terminology associated with the component being studied
- 2 demonstrate understanding of the basic functions of the component being studied.
- 3 show awareness of the importance of research
- 4 show awareness of available resources pertaining to the component being studied; e.g., supplies, libraries and theatre companies
- 5 demonstrate understanding of the various conventions of the components being studied
Technical Theatre - Levels I, II, III - Readiness
- 10 demonstrate understanding of and use appropriate methods and tools for designing the project; e.g., makeup charts, cue sheets, working drawing
- 6 demonstrate understanding of the importance of planning and organization
- 7 select a project appropriate to the component being studied
- 8 demonstrate understanding of the use of colour, shape and texture to achieve a desired effect
Technical Theatre - Application
GRADE 9 - DRAMA - Exploring and creating
GRADE 9 - DRAMA - Reasoning and reflecting
GRADE 9 - DRAMA - Communicating and documenting
GRADE 10 - DRAMA - Explore and Create
GRADE 11 - DRAMA - Explore and Create
GRADE 11 - DRAMA - Reason and reflect
GRADE 12 - DRAMA - Explore and Create
GRADE 12 - DRAMA - Reason and reflect
Technical Theatre
Technical Theatre
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