In order to mimic the setting and feel of a casino, we will create an inviting social space where the passage of time is non-existent. In order to achieve this, our team needs to create warm dim lighting, hide the windows, and loop audio of people speaking with very distant music playing. We will also need to make the players attracted to the individual games by casting lights on the tables to bring them in, and give them direction. When more of the story and game gets developed, we will make sure that the lights and sound correlate and exaggerate events as they occur. For example, turning off the audio when we want to create tension amongst the room or possibly making the lights flicker a little to create a more shady ambience when players first enter or while playing a game.
Our work will be tested during the dress rehearsal where we will finally see the game come to fruition, and feel out how everything works together. During rehearsal, our team will run through any lighting cues to guarantee the lighting works and hits the tables the way we want, the music/audio is effectively implemented, and the actors are always in the right positions.
With sound and light, we will make the background music upbeat and fast-paced. We will play music for the whole duration of the game, unless the plot calls for the sound to stop. Besides the music, we will have to rig any necessary sound effects, such as the sound of slot machines and people cheering, as is necessary for the performance. We have yet to decide when they will play but will when the writing is complete. As said above, our job during the performance consists of controlling the light and sound during the game, which means we can satisfy the plot designers’ or characters’ specific needs. If they want to design any lights and music changes, we can concert with them.
In the room where our game takes place, we will need speakers. We will cut our selected music into clips so that it will be played immediately when people need it. As for the lights, we have to figure out a way of installing warm dim controllable lights in the room if possible. I think this is the primary problem we have to solve. We might buy the outlet’s emitter lights instead of the white lights in the room. Our producer, Eren, is meeting with Ben Chandler from the cage this week to discuss potential options for how to solve our lighting issues with the limited space and rigging options we have available to us.
Our job will mostly exist just before and after rehearsal time, which may pose some scheduling challenges. Before the rehearsal, we have to prepare all the sound and lighting settings. We will also have to collaborate with other producers and teams for their special requirements of light and sound. During the rehearsal process we currently have only three people and may need more people to control the lights and sound, depending on how intensive the cues end up being.
