Nora Lighting Research Paper

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Nora Lighting Review Paper When a woman is blackmailed and tries to hide from her husband that she had taken a loan behind his back, she uncovers the truth of her marriage through her web of lies. This is the story of Nora, originally a story about the struggles of a woman in 1879. It is a story that is quite realistic. However, under the direction of Stacy Ray, the play reached points of elevated realism. It was the lighting designers job to help translate this idea of heightened reality in his lighting, and that is what he did. Through the use of script reinforcement, mood, selective visibility, and rhythm Joe Governale created an effective and strong way to light Nora. One of the factors that made Nora such a great show was the cohesivity …show more content…

There are many ways to pull focus away from a scene. One thing a lighting designer should always look for is elements in the script that the lights should reinforce. Sometimes if the lights don’t match what the dialogue is saying it could cause an audience member away from investing into the story. Luckily our lighting designer stayed consistent with the script. Since most of the show was grounded in realism most of the lights focused in the performing circle used the McCandless method as a basis. In the McCandless method a mixture of cool and warm lights are used to emulate natural lights and shadows. Governale also used LED lights behind the actors to add some color and mood to the scene without pulling from its realistic …show more content…

Since Nora is a dramatic piece Governale probably focused on mood the most. There were many instances where lights were used to evoke emotion. One of the moments that I could recall was the use of blues on the mailbox that had a hint of red to reinforce the severity of the moment when Krogstad places a letter explaining Nora’s situation to Torvald. There was another moment in scene five where a purple light was used on Nora. I did not understand the use of the light the first time I watched it but, on my second go I saw that it was used to emphasize the guilt that Nora was feeling when torvald was criticizing Krogstad for the exact same thing Nora had done. Even in the first cue when Nora begins to dance to Meghan Trainor’s “Me Too,” Governale set the ambience of a club party feel using a purple light which faded into natural lighting seamlessly. This was an important cue because, it established the way that his lights would be used throughout the

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