"Painting with Light"

photo courtesy of http://sleazeburger.tumblr.com/

Gels are a really interesting way to create saturated color with light. I have always been pretty fascinated by color and the way that colored light creates and shapes an environment. I collect websites and boards on pinterest entirely dedicated to light - especially neon light.
I associate neon light with a few different things: bad 80s movies, Miami, and sleazy bars. These things all fascinate me because of the mood (almost mysterious) created by all the wild neon light, in-your-face and vibrant. It's so tacky but also a really powerful tool in films and photographs.

Much in the same way that neon lights evoke specific scenes in my head, vibrantly saturated lights - created in movies and photos by powerful lamps and dark gels - aid in setting that scene. Directors like David Lynch use saturated gels and powerful lamps to create moody environments with sharp shadows and contrasting colors.
The way that we create color with light in theatre is much the same, and the lecture about how we do so was interesting because it taught us in a more tangible way about the nature of light. Being able to see how colors react with each other as well as different textures and patterns in a controlled environment is informative for me as a design student. And understanding the way color is created through by combining light versus gels is useful because I have a better grasp on how to use light to create the physical environment from the ideas in my mind.

photo courtesy of messynessychic.com

Websites and Pinterest board on neon light and more:
http://sleazeburger.tumblr.com/
https://www.pinterest.com/tessannbook/neon-signs/