Stage lighting design is mainly for the lighting design of theatrical stage performances, and studio lighting design is for the lighting design of TV program recording. The stage lighting design faces the live audience during the theatrical performance; the studio lighting design mainly faces the audience in front of the TV, and more importantly, takes into account the effect of the TV screen after the broadcast. Below, UNCUCO Film and Television Lighting will share with you the difference between studio lighting design and stage lighting design.
1. Avoid “black areas” on the TV screen
“Dark area” refers to the large dark part in the filmed TV picture, which makes the picture appear depressing and empty, and affects the broadcast effect of the TV program. Generally speaking, there is no concept of “black area” in stage lighting, because stage lighting only needs to consider the comfort and appropriateness of the visual picture of the human eye. When designing studio lighting, the lighting engineer should fully communicate with the director and cameraman, and know the angle of view and composition of the camera angle in advance to avoid “black areas”.
2. Different exposure requirements of lamps and lanterns
As for the exposure of lamps and lanterns, the stage requirements are relatively strict, especially the realistic dramas performed on the framed stage, such as “Tea House”, “Thunderstorm” and other drama performances, the lamps and lanterns should be hidden as much as possible to avoid disturbing the view due to the exposed lamps and lanterns. viewer’s visual experience. For studio lighting, many studio lamps are directly exposed, because the camera only shoots a certain area in the studio, as long as the lamps do not appear on the TV screen.
3. The use of “hard light” and “soft light”
The use of “hard light” and “soft light” is a very big difference between studio lighting design and stage lighting design. Hard light refers to light with strong direct sunlight, large difference between the light and shade of the subject, bright highlights, and clear shadow edges, such as LED spotlights; soft light generally refers to strong scattering, small difference between the light and dark of the illuminated object, and high light points. Softer light with softer shadows, such as LED TV panel lights.
On theatrical stage, spotlights are usually used for top lighting, but if the studio lighting uses LED spotlights for top lighting, the shadows of characters will be stiff, which is not suitable for the picture requirements of news or interview programs. For small and medium-sized studios, the lighting usually requires the characters to be soft, and there should be no blunt shadows and black areas. Therefore, soft lights are generally used, and the degree of diffuse reflection of the lamps is relatively large. In studio lighting, LED video panel lights are usually used to give characters surface light, side light, etc., while LED spotlights are used as backlight lamps for character modeling.
The difference between studio lighting design and stage lighting design is mainly due to the different audiences faced by TV programs and drama programs. The main difference is that the studio lighting should avoid “black areas” on the TV screen, and the stage lighting design should pay attention to bare lamps. The problem, in the end, is that the studio uses more soft light, while the stage lighting uses more hard light.
