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Any suggestions?  I am producing my one-act play in my classroom, which is a black box theatre and we have to record it for our competition, no live performance.  It is a relatively small space, and currently, I have no front light for actors.  I have tried reorienting them, but with the location of the grid, the placement of the booth, space needed for a camera, it can only be laid out and the actors can only face the way they are.  I need to add some front light.  I do have outlets to plug instruments into that I could connect to the board, however, I do not have any spare instruments.  The only spare instruments I have have no bulbs, and I can't get any in time (school purchase order thing).  I was thinking those foldable desk lamps with a really bright bulb might work if pointed at the stage, but I'm not sure if they'll be able to light where they need to, considering where I'd have to place them.  If I place them on the floor, pointing up, we're going to get weird up light.  If I place them behind the camera, I'm afraid they'll not throw far enough.  And if I put them on a table in front of the camera, it's going to block the view.  For the zoom performance, I'm not that bothered, I know our audience will be forgiving, but I would like it to be better for the judged recording.  

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

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Marie Miguel
Chespeake, VA
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First of all, are there any other lights around in the building you might be able to borrow?

Otherwise, consider Halogen work lights. Some of your students may have some at home in garages or basements.

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Nathan Rosen
Atholton High School
theatre teacher/director
Columbia, MD USA
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-24-2021 13:39
From: Marie Miguel
Subject: Front light on the quick and cheap

Any suggestions?  I am producing my one-act play in my classroom, which is a black box theatre and we have to record it for our competition, no live performance.  It is a relatively small space, and currently, I have no front light for actors.  I have tried reorienting them, but with the location of the grid, the placement of the booth, space needed for a camera, it can only be laid out and the actors can only face the way they are.  I need to add some front light.  I do have outlets to plug instruments into that I could connect to the board, however, I do not have any spare instruments.  The only spare instruments I have have no bulbs, and I can't get any in time (school purchase order thing).  I was thinking those foldable desk lamps with a really bright bulb might work if pointed at the stage, but I'm not sure if they'll be able to light where they need to, considering where I'd have to place them.  If I place them on the floor, pointing up, we're going to get weird up light.  If I place them behind the camera, I'm afraid they'll not throw far enough.  And if I put them on a table in front of the camera, it's going to block the view.  For the zoom performance, I'm not that bothered, I know our audience will be forgiving, but I would like it to be better for the judged recording.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

------------------------------
Marie Miguel
Chespeake, VA
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Can you ask a neighboring school to lend you a few lighting instruments for the filming?

Sent from my iPad


Original Message:
Sent: 3/24/2021 1:40:00 PM
From: Marie Miguel
Subject: Front light on the quick and cheap

Any suggestions?  I am producing my one-act play in my classroom, which is a black box theatre and we have to record it for our competition, no live performance.  It is a relatively small space, and currently, I have no front light for actors.  I have tried reorienting them, but with the location of the grid, the placement of the booth, space needed for a camera, it can only be laid out and the actors can only face the way they are.  I need to add some front light.  I do have outlets to plug instruments into that I could connect to the board, however, I do not have any spare instruments.  The only spare instruments I have have no bulbs, and I can't get any in time (school purchase order thing).  I was thinking those foldable desk lamps with a really bright bulb might work if pointed at the stage, but I'm not sure if they'll be able to light where they need to, considering where I'd have to place them.  If I place them on the floor, pointing up, we're going to get weird up light.  If I place them behind the camera, I'm afraid they'll not throw far enough.  And if I put them on a table in front of the camera, it's going to block the view.  For the zoom performance, I'm not that bothered, I know our audience will be forgiving, but I would like it to be better for the judged recording.  

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

------------------------------
Marie Miguel
Chespeake, VA
------------------------------