Lighting Hang

[beandelphiki]

This isn't even slightly interesting, I promise. I would even privatize it, but I don't do that.

I love my lighting crew head, Andrea. She is the biggest mom.

We got the hang for Goodnight Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet mostly finished tonight. Only two more days (18-20 hours, I HOPE) of hang/focus/patch to go! Whee.

I really wasn't sure about hanging some of the lights, as I walked in really only comfortable about handling 6" Fesnels of off outer rigging bars (which are out and below the catwalk). It's a bit of a ways to reach out there, and I don't like being off balance like that.

But I ended up getting the hang of it, and everything went fine until the very last light I went to hang, a 6x12.

Now, a 6x12 is a pretty big light to be hanging by yourself. It wouldn't have been too much of a problem except that I was hanging it off that damn outer bar. And the clamp (which holds it to the bar) was facing away from me. I knew I could loosen the clamp and spin it around, but they hate me. If they aren't refusing to loosen, they're refusing to tighten.

So I tried to put it on as is, and it wasn't working, and I was convinced I would drop it. I pulled it back over the bar and called to Andrea, "I can't hang this light," in a tone to let her know it was personal, and not a technical difficulty.

And she came scrambling over, saying, "I'm coming, I'm coming!" as though she were sure I would try to do it before she could get there, and hurt myself or something.

What a mom, that girl's the best.

Comments

[beandelphiki.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Okay, well, lights:

Hang: Hang the lights from the bars above the stage. Make sure they fon't fall off and crush somebody's head. Purty simple.

Focus: Holy hell. No, sorry... Everyone but me seems to like it. *shrug* I just thnik it's boring. Just narrowing the area the light covers on stage, so it's in a specific place, and makig the light hot and sharp.

Patch: Which just means hook them up and make sure the right one turns on when the appropriate button is pushed.


We have four moving lights for this show, two Mac 500's and two Mac 600's. (So called becasue they're 500 and 600 pounds, respectively.) They are monsters. But very cool. :) They are run by computer, so that's handled by whoever is running the lights in the booth.

Otherwise, all the lights are on/off or brighter/dimmer, and they don't move or change focus.

Anything else?

Re:

[siegeengine.livejournal.com]

yah.. do you get to be in charge of moving the lights around and stuff? I guess probably that will come later.

Oh, and I guess that the lighting people need to rehearse as much as the actors do, no? I mean, they'd have to be just right with the timing and which character needs a spotlight and when and all that... Do you guys have to learn the whole script and all that? Sounds pretty cool!

Do you guys have to take instructions from the director? Sorry for all the questions. I love going to the theatre and I've always wondered about all of the background stuff.

Oh, do you do the props, too? I mean like the backgrounds and backdrops and the things people climb up on to simulate balconies and all that? I guess you'd have to. Who gives all the instructions on how those things are to be built and moved around? I suppose you have a sort of "boss" who's in charge of you guys, but I'd think that the director would have to have input, too.

[beandelphiki.livejournal.com]

yah.. do you get to be in charge of moving the lights around and stuff? I guess probably that will come later.

I'm afraid I don't know what you mean there. :\ Sorry. Can you clarify?

Oh, and I guess that the lighting people need to rehearse as much as the actors do, no? I mean, they'd have to be just right with the timing and which character needs a spotlight and when and all that... Do you guys have to learn the whole script and all that? Sounds pretty cool!

Well, the lighting operator needs SOME time to rehearse when to push the buttons. Usually there's only one tech rehearsal - sometimes two - and that is like a dress rehearsal, except that you don't run throught the WHOLE show - you just go cue-to-cue. So when there's large chunks of acting without light cues, sound cues, fast costume changes, set changes, etc. you just skip it.

The operators don't need THAT much time to rehearse, because the SM (that's stage manager, yo!) "calls" all the cues. Meaning, they let the operator know when a cue is coming up, and say "GO" when they want the light. (So when I say Person X is calling a show, I mean they are calling all the cues for the operators. This is done through a headset, by the way.) The operator just needs to listen to the SM, and know how to read hir paperwork, with all the cues written down, so they have an idea ahead of time what the next cue is. i.e. The SM will say, "LX 18, Go!" and the operator will have a sheet in front of him that tells him what channel numbers that cue is (which light numbers, basically), so he knows what lights to bring up on the go.

The operator doesn't need to know the script, he just needs to be able to read his cue sheet, and press buttons/slide faders. That's all. (Actually, the operator is far enough down the totem pole to not actually be GIVEN a script.) The SM, on the other hand, must know the show inside out.

Sound cues often are more difficult to time, actually. Because sometimes they happen in the middle of a scene, and they have to match an actor's actions. :( I have horror stories.

Spotlights - those might be done with moving lights (like the Macs I mentioned), and that's all run by computer. Otherwise, it's probably just a different light coming on, and that light is stationary. I mean, the show we're putting on right now - which is in a tiny theatre - has over 100 lights, and some of those are spotlights. Their positions are pre-set.

Do you guys have to take instructions from the director?

Indirectly. The SM takes instructions form the director, the designers take instructions from the director, the crew heads take instructions from the designers AND the director, and the grunts take instructions from the crew heads. It's a chain of command. That's how it is in our small program, anyway, and in a large professional theater, it would get even crazier, and more split up.

Hell, I haven't even MET our director yet! :P

Oh, do you do the props, too? I mean like the backgrounds and backdrops and the things people climb up on to simulate balconies and all that? I guess you'd have to. Who gives all the instructions on how those things are to be built and moved around? I suppose you have a sort of "boss" who's in charge of you guys, but I'd think that the director would have to have input, too.

I'm on props crew (the Props Tarts, they call us), but that's because lighting is a short, intense crew at the end of production. Otherwise, I'd be doing nothing for several weeks. That's just to even it out. The other lighting people had to do other crews as well.

But, otherwise, the departments are separate.

Backgrounds and backdrops are handled by paint - that's not a props thing. Props are anything the actor handles.

"things people climb up on to simulate balconies" Eh? Do you mean parts of the set? 'Cuz, you know, that's the set crew - the set department. *grin* It's quite specialized when you start getting into pro theatre.

Instructions - uh. Usually designers have the most input in what is built, and where it goes. I can't really be more specific than that.

Re: light crew, set crew, props tarts

[siegeengine.livejournal.com]

Wow that sounds pretty complicated. I didn't know that there were so many people involved. It makes sense, though... the way you explained it. I forgot that the actors all have marks they have to hit and stuff, so that they're in the right light. Pretty cool stuff.

I'm still a tiny bit confused about the moving lights. I get that they're handled by computer, so that means that all of their movements are pre-programmed? Like you just hit button x18 and the light will move around to a certain area or something? There's not a guy with a joystick somewhere trying to follow the actors as they pace back and forth or something?

Anyway.. cool stuff. I like it. Oh.. and I love the Props Tarts. hehe too funny. :)

Re: light crew, set crew, props tarts

[beandelphiki.livejournal.com]

I'm still a tiny bit confused about the moving lights. I get that they're handled by computer, so that means that all of their movements are pre-programmed? Like you just hit button x18 and the light will move around to a certain area or something? There's not a guy with a joystick somewhere trying to follow the actors as they pace back and forth or something?

I believe so. That the moves are pre-programmed. But I do know of lighting boards that come with joystcks, as well. (The board in the Wright theatre in our school has a joystick.) I'm not sure what the joysticks are used for the most.

I've really only operated simpler boards, but when I know the answer, I'll let you know. :)

[beandelphiki.livejournal.com]

..I had to add this in a second comment becasue I exceeded maximum limit of characters. *blush*

Hope that cleared things up a bit. Lemme know. I'm sorry if there are spelling errors or something - I wouldn't run this through spellcheck, 'cuz it'd probably go nuts. :P Sorry that was so long.

Re:

[siegeengine.livejournal.com]

oh.. hehe not at all. I love it... thanks so much for taking the time to explain all the stuff. It's really neat!