Types

• The different ways to create low-angle stage lighting include front lighting, side lighting, back lighting, and down lighting. Front lighting is used for color and visibility and works best at 30 to 50 degrees. Side lighting is paired with bolder colors to highlight movements and contrasting colors from both sides of the stage. Back lighting and down lighting are both used to create depth on and off the stage.
  
  

Purpose

• Placing stage lighting at a low height creates a natural appearance rather than a theatrical one.Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  Onstage actors need to stand out from background scenery, so they are illuminated to a greater intensity than scenery. The main lighting for the setting is created by light that reflects off the floor and furniture within the auditorium.
  
  

Significance

• Footlights add shadows and character depth to the back of the stage.Siri Stafford/Lifesize/Getty Images
  
  Low-angled stage lighting can be viewed as a campfire’s natural angle, but in everyday situations this type of lighting is unnatural. If low-angle lighting is subtle, it can create a level of intimacy onstage and make people’s faces appear naturally glowing, especially people in a choir setting. Footlights, a rarely used form of low-angle lights, create shadows at the back of the stage.
  
  

Considerations

• Down lighting is used to create depth.Digital Vision./Digital Vision/Getty Images
  
  When designing stage lighting to create depth and the feeling of a silhouette, low-angle back lighting is the best method to use. To create the illusion of depth or separate people from one another, use down lighting. Also, lights shouldn't be positioned so they shine into the audience's eyes and cause discomfort.