What do the Tony Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, Broadway and every popular late night talk show have in common? Your first guess might point to flamboyant personalities on stage and camera, the answer is a bit more subtle. It's well-designed lighting on a quality set.
Can you imagine watching the annual Oscars with a stark black background on stage. Awkward. Why should churches do the same? Lighting can create a captivating visual tapestry that can change the entire scope and feel of a room.
When we think about lighting as a unique and important art, we can then open our mind to look beyond the obvious. Think of it as music for the eyes.
Whether your worship space is small and basic or it rivals a full-fledged production, understanding the importance and style of lighting should be seen as an obligation rather than an afterthought. Attention to lighting is not about merely making sure a set is lit properly, it's about intentionally setting a mood, an atmosphere, and transforming a space into something new and captivating. While the concepts are not difficult, doing them well takes focus and looking beyond the obvious.
The case for contrast
In the original 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz, a tornado whips Dorothy and her furry Toto away from Kansas. After gathering herself and belongings, her home having been tossed and turned in the violent storm, the pivotal moment occurs–the moment any viewer vividly remembers from the film: Dorothy opens the door we are transported from a black and white world into the most beautiful scenery of color and contrast. The entire mood of the film instantly changes.
If a feeling from a movie can evoke such strong feelings, imagine what can happen when we achieve the same effect within our worship space. Much of this is due to contrast: the way we separate one stage element from another. The effect provides depth, dimension, and individuality. It can evoke feelings of comfort and confidence, not only those in person, but for a broadcast or video audience as well.
With this principle of contrast and mood in mind, how can we better utilize our set and lighting to work hand in hand?
Depth and dimension
Any lighting designer will tell you one of his/her goals is to make the environment look as big as possible. This is typically done by using various layers of light to create more depth. Whether you have a backdrop or just a back wall, many will opt to light this surface from the top or bottom bringing out single color washes or perhaps highlighting angles and curvatures of the architecture. Another common approach is to put a gobo on these lights, projecting various dimensions of texture. Think of this as a form of optical illusion. By drawing the eye towards texture and highlighting natural or fabricated patterns and lines, separation is created which gives the illusion of a deeper stage.
By drawing the eye towards texture and highlighting natural or fabricated patterns and lines, separation is created which gives the illusion of a deeper stage.
The same concept can be used to extend the stage area as well. Rather than confine the view into a potentially small space, extend backlighting on each side. Again, it will visually enlarge the depth creating the sense of an expanded area.
Stagger, size, and highlight
While this article is primarily focused on lighting, one thing that can greatly affect how your lighting translates is the physical arrangement of your space. Even if your stage area is small, placement of the pulpit, instruments and speaking position can have a profound difference.
One popular element that many stages incorporate is vertical standing truss. Simply shifting these pieces in differing locations front to back will further enhance a sense of depth.
Another approach when lighting physical pieces on stage is to vary the intensity. Even with a more monochromatic color pallet, varying the intensity levels front to back, side to side, or in random intervals, will break the two-dimensional monotony that can often plague lighting designs. Nothing fancy here, just experimentation and thinking in terms of depth and stagger.
A final aspect to consider is viewing the entire stage and its contents as part of the pallet. That drum set on stage? Light it up. Two or three small LED wash fixtures at its base will make the chrome hardware glisten and shine. Now we have a beautiful instrument in view the entire service rather than a blackhole in its place when the worship band has left. And your back wall? Place space wash, cyc, or other fixtures along the floor every few feet–or up above if you have secure rigging points–and employ colorful beam, texture, or wash looks.
It's not always obvious
When we think about lighting as a unique and important art, we can then open our mind to look beyond the obvious. Think of it as music for the eyes.
Treat your lighting design as a chance to set the mood, foster emotions, highlight shapes that are interesting, and a way to help those in attendance to feel comfortable and engaged. Once you look beyond the obvious, the possibilities for lighting design are endless in helping connect the intent of your worship service with those in attendance.
