Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2012 - 15

View sample
projects

Identify
client needs

Objective
analysis

Visit sites
Subjective
analysis

Compose
visual
hierarchy

Evaluate
total design

Supplement
for tasks

Field verification

Light each
space

Begin
fixture
selection

Working drawings

Complete
specification
set

Ramp of understanding

A lighting design process diagram by Howard Brandston.
HB: McCandless was an architect. He served his apprenticeship with the
famous architectural firm McKim, Mead & White. He was always
doing architectural projects; a lot of them were new theatres. So
we were doing the architectural systems for the theatres, designing
how the footlights and cyc lights were to be installed, developing
new methodologies. I had to learn a bit about architecture. He
suggested that I go back to school to study architecture; and I did.
Whatever he said, I'd do, out of pure respect. It became clear to me
that a play I had designed could close in one night-and a couple of
them did. There was no turning the work down. You took the work.
The fee was peanuts. . . . The challenge of working was artistically
rewarding. If it ran, you could get residuals. I would do whatever
came down the pipe. Since I worked with Stanley McCandless, I was
exposed to working on all these great jobs. It became clear to me that
architecture was the way to go. Architectural lighting design was in
the dark ages because there were so many rules.
The reason I did well in architecture is because I grew
up in the theatre where there were no rules. One simple rule:
"Rules are a substitute for thinking." The only rule is that you are
looking to do the best possible job. The lighting that you are doing
is reinforcing the drama that will unfold. There are no rules for
achieving that. You just have to find that, whatever it is. Whereas to
be in lighting practice today, there are so many rules, guidelines,
codes, myths, fads. From the late forties to today, it's the same
thing, you will do whatever it takes to get it done. The metric in the
end is how well was the show received. If it wasn't well received,
figure out what the heck it was, theatre critics, technical critics,
there are all kinds of people, but you need to make a measure of
what they are saying and see if it applies to whatever led you down
the path that you choose to go on this. It depends how disciplined
you are in your work methodology. I have a method that I wrote
that is included in the lighting portion of The Architect's Handbook
of Professional Practice. They wanted to see what a process
was, an example of a process. [See diagram above.] It is just as
McCandless wrote: it is a method, not the method. If you violate

some of that stuff, you may not do too well, but if you adhere to it
religiously, you may not do too well either.
DL: Theatre gave you a background in collaboration.
HB: Working in the theatre was a wonderful lesson in collaboration
because there were all the different arts that made up the final
performance. The director, stage managers, designers, actors,
everybody was doing something that was working to a common goal,
the outcome.
DL: So, this open minded approach came from your theatre training?
HB: It all stems right from my theatre training. No preconceived notions.
If you have a preconceived notion of what you need to do when you
start the job, you will never do a good job. You are starting without
an open mind. Any preconceived notion and you are bound to do a
second-class job.
DL: I have observed how you have remained consistent in your viewpoint
on professional practices. In an editorial in Lighting Magazine
(12/1988) written by the editor, Bryan S. Rogers, he quotes you on
use of technology: "It's a mistake for designers to see something in a
magazine and say, 'Lets try that.' It may be very wrong for their own
application. Designers should start at the beginning with an open
mind, looking at all new light sources as a potential for benefit, but
not a benefit for all designs." Today's technology seems to be creating
a need for specialists.
HB: Specialization is the downfall of good practice. "If the only tool
you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." So if you are a
specialist in lighting gambling casinos, you may not do too well in
lighting hospitals. You wouldn't want to take a gamble in going to a
hospital; it's a different kind of gamble. It's that attitude, using that as
an analogy, you really have to think, What am I doing here? Lighting
a racetrack. Let me see, I've never lit a racetrack before. People will
ask me, "What kind of experience do you have lighting supermarkets,
lighting shopping centers?" I said, "None, but I have a lot of
experience lighting this and that." Whatever I did, it didn't matter if
I'd done it before. I found out what was needed for this particular
racetrack, this particular shopping center. That worked well.

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2012
