A new way of thinking

I am currently being trained on a hog 1000. It's a fun step backwards after learning the ETC EOS. I've previously run a hog 500 for a dinner show, but using the hog for the night bands at TLT Disneyland is amazing.

I've never run a complicated show on the fly. Now I'm being forced to think in a whole new way. It's really exciting and really hard at the same time. I'm not musically trained in instruments, and now I have to anticipate how I'm going to light the verses, the choruses, and the key changes.

My trainer, asked me how I design. I told her it all depends on the script (thanks Bill). I determine the mood, the location, the time, the season. Factor in the costumes, sets and skin tones of the actors.

She said, not to think about that, because here, there is no script. Instead I have to find what texture the music makes me think of. She said that when she lights Teddy Bear by Elvis Presley, she thinks of flowers. Therefore, she chose magenta as a backlight.

Now I find myself listening to music and trying to think of a texture. I was listening to every random song on my ipod and trying to think of new looks for each one. I thought of velvet while listening to a Celine Dion song and choose purple. Then I listened to a Sweet Child of Mine by Guns 'N' Roses and thought of rain and chose layers of blue and white.

I kept doing this until I finally fell asleep and found it helped relax me from the anxiety I felt at having to process so much from my training. Hope this helps someone else out there.

LDI Las Vegas

So LDI was awesome. My first time attending, much like USITT but there was booze everywhere! Gotta love Vegas.

I had a great time attending the Ohm's Law class. Learned a lot but I need to practice my math skills quite a bit. Brain Age on my DS doesn't quite cover resistance and voltage in their math lessons. Too bad! (Hey million dollar idea, Brain Age: The tech's version)

I got a close up tour of the GrandMA 2. Beautiful board in black, squarish. Not as futuristic looking as I thought it'd be, but it still has the "Erect" button.

Also took a session on PRG's Series 400 power and data distro. Great idea running networking down the same trunk line as the breakout boxes. Plus the built-in safety features of power are great. (i.e. If you plug a 120 breakout into the 208v output, the distro will not send power down the line, and if there is a addressing conflict, the network will not broadcast until the problem is fixed)

I also attending a paperwork class on festival and rep theater. Not as exciting, basically emphasized using the class feature in Vectorworks and synching multiple worksheets in Excel or LightWright to keep track of what lights can work with multiple shows.

Can't wait for USITT in March 2009! Hope to see ya'all there!

Learning the Boards

I've spent the last two days with Disney Cast Conservatory learning how to run light boards. The first one being the Hog iPC (Hog 2) and the second being the Grand MA.

My head is absolutely reeling from all the information that was poured into my head at such a fast pace. Learning the two syntaxes (syntaxi?) is like learning a new way of speaking. Plus I trained on the ETC Eos at USITT...

I'm currently working on making cheat sheets for the basic functions, and when I compile them, I'll scan them and post them. Peace out!

USITT 2008 Houston, TX

USITT Itinerary

Tues:
8:30am to 5:30pm EOS Board Training
Presenter: Anne Valentino
Anne Valentino helped design the EOS board.

This class was amazing. We spent 8 hours, 3 people on a console, learning the new features on the board. We patched, learned setup, created cues, presets, & palettes, and used Capture software to see our results.

Wednesday:
12:00pm to 1:30pm Dance Lighting from the Crazy Horse Paris

Don Childs showed us how projecting images can enhance dancer movements. The panel was a bit lacking in other visuals. The speakers didn't show any images from the actual show and were afraid to show video for fear of being sued. It would have been a lot better if the dancer had been featured on a stage as well instead of being on the same level as the audience. We had to stand at the back and sides to see anything, but the concept is definitely something I'd love to play with in the theater.

2:00pm to 3:30pm Programming Moving Lights in Book Shows

Tom Littrel basically covered everything I learned in Brad Schiller's book Automated Programmer's Handbook. I feel I actually learned more about programming moving lights in the EOS class.

4:00pm to 5:30pm Wireless Dimming and DMX in Practice

Ian Phillips, creator of the RC4 magic dimming system hosted more than presented this class. Ryan Davies, Kathleen Devault, Dennis Long, and Nick Van Houten all gave examples with real production problems and solutions, showing how wireless dmx and radio dmx saved their shows. Amazing images, great ideas.

6:00pm to 7:20pm Transformers, Generators and Voltage

Roger L. Lattin and Steve Holliday were the moderators for this very informal seminar. Unfortunately, Mr. Lattin's luggage was lost and he was without paper handouts for his presentation. They actually corrected the title of this lecture to read "Transformers, Generators, and Non-Standard Voltages." Both had wonderful stories on gigs they've worked and tips for certain regions of the US and even some international problems they've encountered.

References:
http://www.powersmiths.com
http://www.egsa.org
http://mikeholt.com
www.Aggreko.com

7:30pm to 8:50pm Pigment, Fabric and Light -- Interplay of Costumes & Painted Scenery Under Colored Lights
Presenters: Don Childs, Kristina S. Hanssen, Peter Monahan, Robert O. Moody

Basically, we watched ETC Revolutions and Varilite Washes scroll through several colors while the designers placed a painted backdrop, various black maskings and cyc materials, painted swatches and costumes on a small stage. This really didn't teach anything, but gave everyone an idea of what different colors do to different colors on paint and fabric. It would have been better in a true black box setting where there wasn't a large amount of light bouncing off the floors of the convention room.

Thursday
12:15pm to 1:35pm Convention Fixture Projections
Presenters: KC Hooper, Shawn Irish, Bryan Stevenson

This was a big let down. Apollo spent most of it's time trying to sell their "make your own gobo" kit rather than show new and creative ideas for using old equipment and gobos.

2:30pm to 3:50pm Physics of Theatre: Rigging
Presenters: Dr. Eric and Beth Martell

Too much math and not enough demo. The couple have a book coming out on this subject and I do look forward to reading it, but my lack of math skills makes me doubt it would help someone who's looking to understand enough rigging to keep myself safe and not actually become a rigger myself.

References:
http://www2.kcpa.uiuc.edu/kcpatd/physics/index.htm

4:45pm to 6:05pm Tuning your palette -- Lighting, That is
Presenters: KC Hooper, Holly Blomquist, Rich Dale, John Horan

This panel was quite fun. Questions were prepared in advance and each designer took a turn answering with fun stories and great ideas. Attendees took turns asking questions on how to deal with directors and color choices and the answers from the different types of design backgrounds were great!

Friday
4:45pm to 6:05pm Designing with LED's
Presented by Derek Barnwell, Buddy Combs, Anthony R. Phelps

This was a great presentation on the limitations and features of LED's. An actual LED engineer presented what an LED actually is and why it's structure creates light. The future of the LED was discussed leading to the idea that LEDs will eventually be able to replace conventional fixtures, but are not quite ready for that task as of now.

Saturday
10:00am to 11:20am Stump the Rigger
Presented by Bill Sapsis, Gwen Sees, Don Dimitroff, Tray Allen, and Eric McAfee

Great panel question and answer session. The winning question was "What is the load rating of a paper clip?" A woman had a set piece go on the road with a show, when it returned, it showed signs of being rigged overhead with a paper clip as a connection point.

References:
http://sapsis-rigging.com/
1994/5 Garth Brooks Truss collapse
Emery Atlanta GA Truss collapse

12:15pm to 1:35pm Distinguished Scenic Designer: John Lee Beatty

Mr. Beatty chose to present informally. He showed us photos and sketches of all his work over the years, answered questions and basically offered insight to his design process. He was awarded with a lifetime achievement award from USITT and received a standing ovation at the end of his presentation.