Light Cue 23

A basic structural design underlies every kind of writing. The writer will in part follow this design, in part deviate from it, according to his skill, his needs, and the unexpected events that accompany the act of composition. Writing, to be effective, must closely follow the thoughts of the writer, but not necessarily in the order in which those thoughts occur. This calls for a scheme of procedure. In some cases the best design is no design, as with a love letter, which is simply an outpouring, or with a casual essay, which is a ramble. But in most cases planning must be a prelude to writing. The first principal of composition, therefore, is to foresee or determine the shape of what is to come and pursue that shape.
~Strunk and White, The Elements of Style

When Strunk and White set down their elementary principals of composition I wonder if they grasped how far reaching those rules might be applied. Good composition is good composition be the medium language, paint, music, or light. So too with good design.

There is a “basic structural design” which underlies every work for the stage and lighting that work requires discovering a visual expression of that structure. Sometimes the structure may follow the rhythm of a day: dusk, night, and dawn. Other times that rhythmic structure may be more psychologically driven like the transition from confinement to freedom or from apprentice to master. Still other times the structure follows an emotional journey from triumph to despair or love to grief.

While each work is unique, in every case the designer will “follow this design, in part deviate from it, according to his skill, his needs, and the unexpected events that accompany the act of composition.” In design, as in writing, “planning must be a deliberate prelude” to making the work. It is not enough to put lights everywhere with little thought towards the work and just figure it out in tech. Rather one must closely read the text, be it a text of words, music, or movement, to deduce the structure and essence of the work. One must have a plan going in as to how the work will be approached. The plan may change, it often does. But far from invalidating the need for a plan, those changes reinforce it. If you know where you are going, and you get lost, you have some sense of how to correct your course. If you don’t know where you are going in the first place you will simply become mired in confusion.

Knowing the rhythm and structure of a work allows the designer to approach it with a clear plan. Thus she achieves the first rule of composition: to determine the shape of what is to come and pursue that shape. The many detours, far from obstacles, are the exciting parts of design. The structure one creates and pursues is the map. The process of discovery in tech is the terrain. One is beautiful in its purity and ideal form. The other is beautiful in its complexity and challenge. The shape of the design is made of both the predetermined structure and the many deviations from it.

In the tech process the designer does not have the luxury to move in the order they would like. Typically one starts at the beginning of the work and moves through it methodically, clearly and slowly. Once the end has been reached we begin again at the top and repeat the process, refining what we had previously made.

While we go in with a plan, sometimes a work will not truly reveal itself to us until we are seeing it live on stage. As such the key to the piece may not be discovered until midway through the work in tech. In such an instance we go forwards with that new key in mind hoping to return and begin again with this new knowledge to guide us from the top.

So too with writing. The full shape of a work may appear in the first draft. More often the piece goes through numerous revisions and changes before its true structure is revealed.

From my own experience the act of writing is an act of design. I have a thought or idea I wish to communicate so I sit down to set it to words. From the first that process mirrors the act of creating with light for performance. In this way I have also found that leaps in my writing foreshadow leaps in my lighting. As my writing improves so too does my design work.

To some it is drawing. To others photography. For me, writing is a hobby complimentary to and symbiotic with my design work. I can work out ideas and concerns with projects specifically as well as generally improve my powers of composition. For anyone whose work is as central to their life as design is to me it is important and necessary to have a hobby that gets one away from that work and gives it space. At the same time, that activity should be one that in some way reinforces the basic skills necessary for the work such that they operate in concert rather than opposition.

Perhaps I could focus a bit more on Rule 17: Omit Needless Words. Perhaps I already do. I have explored minimalism quite deeply in the past and my essay last week dealt with omitting needless colors. Design is everywhere if you know where to look.