Course topics include lighting composition, plotting techniques, digital static visualization and pre-visualization, and documentation, architectural/event lighting, verbal, graphic, and visual presentation techniques, and business management. The design program also offers the most current training in digital design including 2D/3D Modeling, Scenic & Lighting Rendering, and Digital Light Plot and Paperwork Creation.
Selected Class Offerings
Graduate and Undergraduate Lighting Composition:
The objective of Lighting Composition classes is to allow students to concentrate on varied projects in lighting composition. The classes are taught in The Robert Cohen Theatre, which is one of our black box theatres, and the two core Lighting Design Professors alternate years teaching them. Our Lighting Composition classes offer projects in creating lighting designs for dance, musicals, straight theatre, and industrial designs in Proscenium, Thrust, and Arena, as well as for alternative theater styles. The graduate-level class is taught every fall quarter, and Grad students take it every year of their training with UCI. Undergraduate Lighting Composition is taught every year, and undergraduate students can take it at least once during their time at UCI.
Every two years, the class culminates in a large project, known as the 24-Hour Final, utilizing Choreographers and Dancers from the Dance Department working with Lighting Students to create interactive projects. The Claire Trevor Theater, one of our large proscenium spaces, is set up with a full dance floor, cyc lighting, booms and a large moving lights rig. The students are assigned a song that challenges them in various ways, and they work with the choreographer and dancers to design a piece in a 2-hour period of time. In addition, Grad students work as moving light programmers for their peers. The entire project, from load-in, tech, performance/critique, and strike takes 24 hours and offers students the opportunity to face the challenges that they are likely to encounter in the professional world of Lighting Design.
This project is done with the support of a local Event Production company – Brite Ideas
Click here to see examples of past 24-hour finals.
Lighting Plotting:
The objective of this class is to expose first year graduate lighting and advanced undergraduate lighting students to the principals and practices of creating light plots for theatre. It is the objective in this class to narrow the gap between the conceptual ideas inspired by text, director and design team to the act of dropping lights on the plot. Tactics are discussed and practiced to bring a more full understanding of the process of taking an initial idea or ideas to the stage. One major component to this class is the Script Treatment; An in depth document written for the director to better help convey ideas and to eventually aid in creating the light plot.
This class is also taught in rotation between two lighting professors. After the graduate student’s exposure to this class in their first quarter of study, independent studies and fully produced projects help to refine their skills.
Click here to see samples of the design process taught in this class and also used for mentoring on production work.
Lighting Graphics:
The objective of this class is to be able to produce polished lighting Plots and Paperwork for productions. While Plotting centers on the ideas behind a plot and the implementation of those ideas on the plot, this class concentrates on the skills to produce all the varied paperwork needed to submit to a Master Electrician. VectorWorks Spotlight, Lightwright, Adobe Acrobat Writer and Microsoft Office programs are used extensively to create the information into a consolidated package. The class gives the students an opportunity to explore their own style of drafting and paperwork creation. A strong emphasis is put on graphics layout and clarity. The class teaches the foundations of 3D lighting sectioning, helping to improve the student’s accuracy in the plotting process.
Click here to see samples of light plots and paperwork created as a result of this class.
Projection Design:
The objective of this class is to introduce students of all backgrounds to projection design, providing a foundation towards understanding the problems and possibilities when layering cinematic images upon theatrical spaces. The class focuses on the collaboration between projections and other departments; strategies for sourcing content and evaluating aesthetic, narrative, and legal implications of use; developing proficiency with Photoshop, After Effects, and other tools for content generation; and culminates with a student driven projection design of limited scope implemented on a miniature set piece.
Beginning Lighting Design:
This class is required for Undergraduate Students at UC Irvine. The first four weeks of the class introduces actors, directors and beginning designers to the basics of lighting design and practice. They learn theatre nomenclature, electrical and color theory, lighting history and basic understanding of light plots. In the final six weeks of class each student is given the opportunity to compose light, exploring color, angle, intensity and cueing within the parameters of a piece of text. Graduate students act as teachers assistants for the class, helping with setups, mentoring undergrads and teaching a few lectures.
Digital Design in 2D, 3D and Rendering using VectorWorks, AutoCAD, and Photoshop:
UC Irvine is committed to the digital world of design. These classes expose students to 2D drafting, 3D modeling, 3D rendering through collaborative software and design projects. Scenic, Sound and Lighting students first learn how to draft in 2D in and model in 3D in Vectorworks, so that they can create fully textured 3D models. In the third quarter of a graduate student’s first year of study, students take a joint taught class with scenic and lighting professors. This class centers on communication skills with other designers and directors. By the end of both the VectorWorks drafting/Modeling Class and the Digital Imaging class, they are able to realize and modify their ideas in the computer prior to constructing their shows. Additional classes are offered in Photoshop and AutoCAD.
Once every three years graduate students from all design disciplines, as well as stage managers are brought together to collaborate on a theme park project.
To view samples of these classes, click here.
Lighting for Choreographers:
This class teaches better communication between graduate choreographers and lighting designers. The students study basic lighting principles and engage in lighting composition projects to better understand how to communicate with lighting designers and how to better accomplish their vision. Class time is also used as ‘collaboration days’ where graduate lighting designers, faculty choreographers and graduate stage managers discuss communication and what each part of the team needs from others. This class uses a Graduate Lighting TA to help with setup and to mentor the graduate choreographers.
Theories of Light:
This class was explores color theory, alternate solutions to site specific and other non-traditional lighting environments, musicals design, and Previsualization. The classes topics vary depending on year and interests of the students and trends in current design.
Lighting History:
This class explores the history of lighting creating connections to modern design techniques while paying homage to early designers and design techniques.
Advanced Plotting:
This class concentrates on particularly challenging projects in theatrical design, site specific theatre with limited dimming and inventories, and large scale projects.
Business of Design:
This class exposes third year graduate designers to business contracts, union guidelines, and tax strategies for the freelance designer along other business related topics. In addition, students create a website portfolio, resume and business cards, which are then used for thesis orals as a form of communication.
Architectural/Themed/Event Lighting:
This class exposes the student to lighting for architectural and themed environments.
Electrical Theory:
This class explores electrical theory and practices along with a study of control systems and modern trends in lighting technology.
The program emphasizes collaboration on all levels with graduate students in Scenery, Costumes, Sound, Projection, Direction, and Stage Management.
Please click here to see Sample Student Work
