Light to Song Project Two:

For the premises of this project, my professor assigned me a random song from a musical, and I received “Higher Love” from Honeymoon in Vegas.

Inspiration:

This professor asked the class not to watch any live performances of the song. I looked up and asked people who had seen the musical what the song was about and what the setting was. With the background information I received, parashooting Elvis’s persuading Jack to marry Betsy at an airport.

From this information, I drew a lot of inspiration from original footage of Elvis performing, Elvis impersonating shows in Vegas and Memphis, Rocky Horror Picture Show: “Sweet Transvestite”, and Dolly Parton’s aura.

From this, I decided to use a lot of burnt yellow, orange, and red as the main color palette to evoke the original Elvis look, with spot lighting on the main characters to resemble an Elvis or Elvis impersonation show. At the same time, during what could be large dance breaks or full-stage accompaniments, I made sure I had full-stage washes to revert to large musical and performance looks like Dolly Parton.