Cover lesson · Drama · Year 10 · Intermediate

Debugging a lighting cue sheet

DCF: Data and computational thinking → Problem-solving and modelling

Name: Class: Date:

Cover teacher: you need no subject knowledge

What this is: WJEC GCSE Drama (Made for Wales), Unit 3: Interpreting Theatre, content 3.1.2: how a designer communicates meaning to an audience through lighting. It also builds the cue sheet skills that lighting designers use in Unit 1: Devising Theatre and Unit 2: Performance from a Text. The scene is invented; this is not NEA work.

Print: this sheet, one per pupil, and the stimulus sheet “Golau’r Harbwr: the lighting pack”, one between two. No computers or lighting equipment are needed. Pupils may read the scene aloud quietly in pairs.

Run: 10 min pupils read the scene and the rig in pairs · 8 min Step 2, the parts of a cue · 15 min Step 3, finding and fixing the errors · 12 min Step 4, writing new cues · 10 min Step 5, the exam-style answer, alone and in silence. Total 55 minutes.

Collect: this sheet. There are 5 errors in Rhys’s cue sheet; the worked example lists them.

What you are doing

Rhys, a Year 10 lighting designer, has written the cue sheet for a short scene. A cue sheet is an algorithm: the operator follows it exactly, in order, and does nothing else. Rhys’s sheet has 5 errors. If it is run as written, the audience will see the wrong thing, or nothing at all. You will work out what each part of a cue does, find and fix the errors, write new cues for the director, then explain how lighting creates meaning.

Step 1: read the pack

Read the scene, the rig and the rules in the stimulus sheet. The rules matter most:

The operator works down the sheet from top to bottom. A cue lists only the channels that change; every other channel stays where it is.
A fade must finish before the next cue’s GO.
A repeating pattern can be written once as REPEAT … UNTIL ….

Rhys’s cue sheet

LX	GO point (time and line)	Channels that change	Fade (s)	Purpose
0	Preset, before the audience comes in	Ch8 100%, Ch6 20%	0	House lights on, blue glow on the sky
1	00:00, house lights fade	Ch8 0%, Ch6 0%, Ch1 70%, Ch5 80%	10	Warm sunset
3	01:50, lighthouse starts	Ch7 100%	0	Lighthouse flash
2	01:30, “The sun sinks”	Ch1 0%, Ch5 0%, Ch2 60%, Ch6 70%	30	Sunset to night
3.1	01:51	Ch7 0%	0	Flash off
3.2	01:55	Ch7 100%	0	Flash
3.3	01:56	Ch7 0%	0	Flash off
3.4	02:00	Ch7 100%	0	Flash
3.5	02:01	Ch7 0%	0	Flash off
3.6	02:05	Ch7 100%	0	Flash
3.7	02:06	Ch7 0%	0	Flash off
4	02:20, Taid walks down stage left (line 11)	Ch2 20%, Ch6 40%, Ch3 90%, Ch4 60%	5	Memory: Taid alone in the fog
5	03:20, after “I knew we were home” (line 12)	Ch3 0%, Ch4 0%, Ch6 70%	4	Back to night
6	03:40, “Taid. There. Red and green.” (line 15)	All channels 0%	0	Blackout

Step 2: the parts of a cue

Every cue is a small algorithm with an input, a process and an output. Fill in the grid for two of Rhys’s cues that work correctly.

Cue	Input: what triggers the GO?	Process: what changes, and how fast?	Output: what does the audience see, and what does it tell them?
LX 1
LX 4

Step 3: find and fix the 5 errors

Check the order, the timings, the channels and the GO points against the script and the rules. For each error, say what the audience would see if the sheet were run as written.

	Cue(s)	What is wrong, and what would the audience see?	The fix
1
2
3
4
5

Rewrite Rhys’s 8 lighthouse cues (LX 3 to LX 3.7) as one cue using REPEAT … UNTIL ….

Step 4: the director’s note

“I want the audience to see the boat before Elin does. Bring up the red and green boat lights, Ch9 and Ch10, slowly and low while Taid sits down, so they are fully up by the time Elin points. When she points, the harbour should feel a little warmer: this is hope. Then the blackout, 3 seconds after the last line.”

Write the cues from the end of LX 5 to the end of the scene. Use point numbers to slot new cues in. Check every fade finishes before the next GO, and make sure the blackout really does turn everything off.

LX	GO point (time and line)	Channels that change	Fade (s)	Purpose

Step 5: exam-style question

Explain how a lighting designer could communicate the meaning of Taid’s memory speech (lines 11 and 12) to an audience. Write 80 to 100 words. Use at least three lighting terms from the glossary, and say what the audience should feel or understand.

Step by step

10 min: Read the scene, the rig and the rules with a partner.
8 min: Fill in the input, process and output for LX 1 and LX 4.
15 min: Find and fix the 5 errors. Rewrite the lighthouse as one REPEAT cue.
12 min: Write the new cues for the director’s note. Check every timing.
10 min: Write the exam-style answer on your own, in silence.

Success criteria

I can identify the different parts of a cue, the trigger, the change and the fade, and explain the purpose of each.
I can detect and correct errors in a cue sheet, and explain what would go wrong on stage if they were left in.
I can spot a repeating pattern and replace it with a loop, REPEAT … UNTIL …, to make the sequence more efficient.
I can create a correct sequence of cues from a director’s note, checking the order and the timings.
I use lighting terms from the WJEC glossary accurately to explain how lighting communicates meaning.

If you finish early

Rhys used a 30 second fade for the sunset. What is the longest fade LX 2 could have and still obey the rules?
Design a different lighting state for Taid’s memory without using the special, Ch3. What would change in the meaning?
Count the lines on the whole cue sheet before and after your fixes. How many lines did the REPEAT cue save?