By Holly Heinrich

Contributing Writer

They operate behind the scenes, behind the lines and behind the lens. Whether they’re filming action on the field or capturing a moment onstage, they blend into the background. Yet at most Westlake High School events, the Westlake Technical Entertainment Crew creates your view – that instant replay on the Jumbotron after a touchdown or the spotlights illuminating ballerinas in the Nutcracker. The pulsing lights during Battle of the Bands, the lights bending with the dancers’ movements at Hyline’s show Zenith – it’s all their work. But what does lighting really do for a show?

“What does seeing do for your life?” junior Robert Jameson said. “OK, that may be exaggerating, but it does add a lot, or subtract a lot. Imagine watching Avatar, except instead of when the plants and flora light up during the night, it’s broad daylight. Sure, they’re still cool-looking, but there’s no longer that same feeling or atmosphere. Lighting – in bare bones– provides visibility. But if you tweak it a bit, take away some here, add some there, it makes you feel like you are there—inside the dungeon, outside in the rain, shocked by the bright lights just as the characters are. Incredible lighting can provide show stoppers, and of course the ‘Wow.’”

At WHS’s “Beauty and the Beast” musical [Feb. 19 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 20 at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m.], expect extraordinary pyrotechnics, booming thunder, and low-lying fog.

“We are following through with our lights to make you feel like you’re in a castle or in the rage of a mob,” Robert said. “Thunder and lightning, echoing voices, and spot-on punches make it more life-like than any [performance] I’ve ever experienced. It almost feels like a movie – that’s what we’ve planned.”

The TEC students create artistic visions and bring them to life.

“When you sit in the audience and pay attention to the TEC side of the show, almost 100 percent of what is happening was talked about by a student before it was ever implemented, and 100 percent is being done by students,” TEC president senior Travis Favaron said.

And unlike most student programs, TEC is an actual business that relies on profits from its productions.

“If we do badly, it’s a serious amount of money lost rather than a second place trophy,” Robert said.

During Spring Break, TEC is headed to London to learn from the best.

“We’re packing our bags for London in a matter of weeks,” Robert said. “We’ll see the old “Les Misérables,” “Billy Elliot,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” the new “Wicked” and of course, “Lion King.” “We’ll be backstage on four of the productions and we’ll tour [the theaters] afterwards to see how they did the special effects, how many sound inputs they have, and how state-of-the-art our own PAC is. We hope to have fun, but also we hope to understand how [professional technical productions] work, what’s relevant, and what to expect if any of us do venture outside of our PAC.”

It’s an ideal trip for a group that creates professional-level work in a high school.

“We [don’t] look at other high schools as our goal to beat,” Travis said. “We look at Broadway.”