Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1991 - 63

A Revised
Standard
Graphic
Language
for
Lighting
Design
PATRICK GILL,
C HAIR
LIGHTING

U SITT

GRAPHIC

STANDARDS
COMMITTEE

OSt lighting designers and
elecrricians feel that standards in the nomenclature, characteristics and
use of stage lighting
equipment provide clear critetia for
training and for professional use. However, in a large area like entenainment
lighting technology, the task of creating
such standards is both complicated and
ongoing. There are many areas where
standards can apply, from lighting equipmenr manufacturers' specifications ro the
system of communication between
designers and elecrricians. It is also difficult ro determine how much detail ro
include in a standards statemenr.
The work of a previous lighting
graphics standards committee that culminated in 1985 with the publication of the
current lighting graphics standards
enabled USITT ro offer a communication framework for lighting design information that was acceptable ro the professionallighting community as a whole.
However, as in all areas of technology,
rapid change usually dictates a resrrucruring of guidelines. The currenr USITT
lighting graphics standards commirree
includes professional designers and electricians from academic and commercial
thearre. Ie became our task ro update the
existing lighting graphics standards by
incorporating new technology, finding a
method of accurate scale represenration
of symbols, and providing more concise
drafring guidelines. Also, since it would
be cumbersome ro represenr all manufacturers' instrumenr profiles on lighting
templates, the USITT standard symbols
.
. .
connnue ro represenr generIC lI1strument
rypes.
A poinr ro srress is that young designers do emulate both the professionals
who rrain them and those whose commercial successes they adopt as role models. In terms of the rraining and of the
clarity of our indusrry practice, it is
important that a common means of communication exist between all profession-

als that does not inhibit the developmenr
of a personal style of graphic represenration. The currenr committee endeavored
ro solicit the opinion of all inrerested
lighting professionals in USITT by generating and distributing a survey at the
1991 conference in Bosron. What follows is an assemblage of the committee's
work and the survey results.

THE

LIGHT PLOT

A major reason for doing scale lighting
drawings is ro presenr a clear, consistenr
and efficienr picture of the instrumenrs
and how they fit into the represenred
space. All eleCtricians have tried ro hang
lighting instrumenrs in places where the
symbol will fit on the drawing but the
real unit won't fit in the real space, or will
just fit but then can't move in the desired
direction for focus. Also, lighting drawings that are inconsistenr or that have roo
much information on them just confuse
the process and waste time.
The light plOt is a horizonral offset
section in which the cutting plane inrersects the theatre at whatever level gives
the most descriptive view of the instrumentation in the Stage configuration.
The only information clearly represenred
on the light plot and (usually) nowhere
else is the actual position and size of the
insrrumenr. Even in a repenory situation, accurate pictorial information
about insrrumenrs is critical for standard
hangs and for special designs or ro communicate unusual rigging ideas.
[n the general description of the light
plot there are several items essenrial ro a
clear understanding of the designer's
intenrions. These are the cenrer line,
rransverse and/or longitudinal scales, a
line-set index with designations, a represenration of the apron, the edge of the
Stage or the edges of the playing area, the
inrerior walls of the stagehouse or of the
flexible theatre space, all masking, all
architectural and scenic obsrructions, the
proscenium arch, the plaster line, the
TD&T

1991

FAll

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1991