USITT Elite Training – Day 2

Day 2 is over and done. And what a day it was.

Training started bright and early, however due to a malfunctioning alarm clock I was a tad late. That aside, when I arrived we were working with the control boards that Stage Technologies offer. I started with sharing the Nomad with my buddy Joe. For coming in late, I was able to quickly catch up in learning the command syntax and the basic programming nature of the eChameleon software.

One of the hardest parts however was to let go of all the training I’ve had with light boards. Automation control boards look similar, and have similar button layouts, but the syntax and meanings are all different. So in order to learn eChameleon best, I had to stop thinking lighting and just focus on the board in front of me. A change in syntax that I  thought was interesting however was that “RECORD” was a terminal command, no hitting enter afterwards.

So after quickly learning basic syntax, we were off to programming some moves in the offline editor. We started with a mexican wave, in which we were given certain parameters like total time and how many cycles the bars must do, and travel distance. So then with those parameters we had to figure out the rest on our own. For this portion a handy pad of graph paper really helps. After completion of that we were instructed to complete a more practical effect, the Mary Poppins proscenium tap-dance. Let me tell you, seems very complicated but by keeping to our instructors motto of KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid) we were able to replicate the move instructions similar to the actual ones in the show.

After an awesome lunch, we had a bit more class but were quickly whisked off for our tour of Viva Elvis. The minute we walked in the space or jaws dropped. The house for this show is just huge. As well they probably had the comfiest theatre seats I have seen or felt. On stage they were testing many of the smaller lifts as well as some sequences with the 8 LED moving panels. To see them come together and play one video was plain awesome. Backstage it just got even better. Down in the basement we saw all the storage for many of the set pieces that take some of the many large lifts up to stage. What was really cool to see is just how they got them onto the lifts and also to see how they connected things like power, data, and microphones to the set pieces. Back upstairs on stage we saw one of the biggest set pieces I have ever laid eyes on. The set piece was of an amusement park and it was most likely around 80′ wide by 15′ deep and maybe 30′ tall. Riggers actually have to fly in to get to the top levels of the set piece in order to clean it. but the most fantastic part of all of this, is that the set piece in all it’s huge glory is actually flown for storage! On a lighting note, not a single conventional besides 6 practicals on set pieces. 300+ moving lights do the work on this show. That was my first experience with a entirely moving light rig. We summed up or tour had a quick dinner, then 5 of us were of to shadow for KÀ.

Our group was split up in 3 groups by the automation team. For the first show I had the privilege to shadow the operator at the front of house booth control position. Best part though, they provided us with com to hear how the entire show is called and ran. As well our station was situated right between the calling Stage Manager and the SFX board op. This was a great one of kind experience and after experiencing that and having conversations with the stage managers and the board ops I have so many ideas to bring back to my peers.

For the second show, 3 of us were situated in the front row of the house to get an audience perspective. Being so close, we were really able to “feel” the show. It was a really cool experience, knowing what was supposed to happen when and to see it with an educated view.

So day 2 has wrapped up and we have one more day. Once again this has been an amazing experience, and the part that makes me the most excited is how much I can bring back and share with my peers, and with you.

Day 3 is up next with more training and the final tour, Mystere.

TOMCAT Announces 18th Annual Hoist & Rigging Workshop Feb. 16-19 in Texas

TOMCAT’s 2011 ETCP Hoist & Rigging workshops are less than 3 weeks away, February 16-19 in Midland, Texas.  Registration is still open for those interested in improving their skills and prospects for 2011 and beyond with training on chain hoists or rigging principles. The schedule is finalized and includes a team of world-class instructors to provide a hands-on-learning experience to production professionals across North America. More information on the workshops in Midland can be found at www.tomcatglobal.com.

The Hoist & Rigging workshops schedule includes instruction by respected and recognized leaders in the industry. Both training tracts include instruction on truss design, usage and theory with Will Todd, TOMCAT USA’s Product Support Manager.  Keith Bohn, TOMCAT USA’s Custom Projects Director, will lead a session on design and safe use of ground supported structures.  The first day of training will conclude with an introduction to entertainment automation by Kevin Taylor, CEO of Stage Technologies.

Attendees in the Hoist & Truss tract will start with a training session on hoist control systems let by Kevin Taylor of Stage Technologies.  Participants will then get dirty with Dave Carmack of Columbus McKinnon, who will provide hands-on motor instruction including teardown, re-assembly, maintenance and live troubleshooting.  This group will conclude its training by taking CM’s certification exam.

In the Rigging & Truss workshop, ETCP certified rigger and instructor G. Anthony Phillips of RigRider Rigging Services will teach safe rigging practices and principles, while Morgan Neff, Fall Protection expert will instruct on safe fall protection practices. Participants will also have the opportunity to put these principles into live practice.

Super Saturday 2011 – Super Awesome!

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the Stage Seminar’s Stage Lighting Super Saturday in New York City. What a weekend! It was all about theatre.  While Super Saturday was only one day, my wife and I decided to make a weekend of it and catch some shows and visit some of my favorite places in midtown.  What a whorl wind tour.  Like the on going joke on twitter #SleepIsForTheWeek or #IllSleepWhenImDead.  With less then 48 hours in the city, you really only get a glimpse of what New York City has to offer.  But the glimpse we got was awesome.

The entire trip centered around Super Saturday.  I spent my most of my day there talking, learning and meeting new and exciting people.  The day kicked off with Broadway lighting designer, Ken Billington giving the Keynote speak about how be began in the industry, what lighting means to him and all the different choices and areas of lighting there are.  I have a special treat courtesy of Stage Seminars and Mr. Billington.  Look out for the next iSquint Podcast!

The day progressed from there into the sessions with breaks every 3 or four sessions for the manufacturers showcase.  It’s at these breaks the the attendees got a chance to get up on stage and talk with manufacturers about their products and what they have to offer. It also gave us attendees a chance to mingle, talk and express our love and tribulations of lighting.  I got a chance to talk to a couple of readers of iSquint about some lighting desk.  I love talking about control! I could have been there all day talking about control, but our time was limited on stage and with manufacturers so back to making rounds to the various tables.

I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by some of the new products that were shown.  I’ll be writing more about the new things coming in a bit.  Then there are a couple of things that we still have to wait a couple of months to see. Lets just say, LEDs are getting better, brighter and more beautiful.

What about the sessions! The sessions were great and lead by some pretty intelligent people. I must say, I didn’t get a chance to see them all as during some of the sessions I was chasing down individuals for interviews.  The sessions I did get a chance to see where wonderful.  All of the sessions and the entire day of Super Saturday is geared towards those less informed about lighting and lighting design.  I don’t want to say it is just for newbies or novice at all.  Now I will not say I am an old dog or industry vet, though I do think it is safe to say I can turn a wrench with the best of them.  I learned something new this past weekend.  It sounds silly, but folding a plot rather then rolling it makes for easy transport.  And here, all these years I have been rolling! So yes, even experienced professionals can learn something.

I had a wonderful time this weekend.  Not just at Super Saturday, but spending time with my wife and taking her to not only her first Broadway musical, but her second as well!  For the record, we saw Billy Elliot on Friday night and American Idiot on Saturday night… and yes, Billy Joe was in the cast and it was fantastic!

I have quite a few things to edit and get up on the site from the weekend so look for more coverage to come in the next couple of days. Thank you to Scott Parker and Sonny Sonnenfeld for inviting me to Super Saturday 2011!  I had a blast and look forward to next year.

iSquint Podcast: Episode 13 – Super Saturday 2011

Episode 13 of the iSquint Podcast is out!  Yes it is un-luck number 13, but so what! ;)  I sat down with Mr. Scott C. Parker, the organizer of the Stage Lighting Super Saturday.  We talk about what Super Saturday is and who should attend as well as what to expect.  The 2011 Super Saturday takes place this Saturday, January 22nd, 2011 in New York City at LaGuardia Arts High School at 65th Street.

Kicking off Super Saturday is a keynote speaker Ken Billington, Tony award winning lighting design and all around great guy.  Super Saturday is jam packed with all kinds of sessions, training and of course product demonstrations.  You still have plenty of time to register for Super Saturday by visiting www.stageseminars.com.  When you register, make sure to use promotional code iSquintVIP.  It will knock off $50 form the $150 registration fee!

Hope you can make it and if you do, I’ll see you there!

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Less Than A Week Till Super Saturday in NYC and Save $50 on Registration!

The count down has begun, there are only 5, yes 5 days left until Super Saturday. No, it is not some huge blowout sale happening in New York City.  I am talking about the Stage Seminars, Stage Lighting Super Saturday.  Here is more about Super Saturday.

A dozen theater lighting professionals will speak and about 20 industry lighting manufacturers will on hand and have technical personnel and equipment to demonstrate. The tentative program includes inspiration, fixtures, color, consoles, moving lights, trouble shooting, CAD, Virtual Magic Sheet & LightWright, paperwork, and other subjects. Starting at 8:00 am on Saturday, January 22, 2011, the sixth-annual Stage Lighting Super Saturday all-day seminar will take place at the conveniently located Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City located across from New York City’s Lincoln Center.

Sounds like fun right?  You’ll find me there!  I am so excited!  You should be too.  On top of a day of lighting glory and education, the organizers of Super Saturday have a special offer for you.  Scott Parker offered a discount code to the readers of iSquint to attend and save on Super Saturday.  The code USE to save you $25 off the registration price… Now, you can save $50! It’s easy, use the code iSquintVIP when you register. What are you waiting for?!  Go register for Super Saturday now! I can’t wait to see you there!

You can learn more about Super Saturday by visiting www.stageseminars.com.

Remote Control Battery Lighting Session Added to Super Saturday

Stage Lighting Super Saturday adds a new session “Remote Control Battery Lighting” to its all day lighting workshop. James Smith will speak about how remote control makes it easy to put lamps, motors, solenoids, and much more, anywhere in a show without visible wires. Scott Parker says “This session provides insight and assistance with wireless techniques, batteries, charging and charge cycles. Jim will be joining our faculty that includes legendary designers Ken Billington and Richard Pilbrow.”

This popular annual seminar is designed for everyone involved in stage, architectural, or entertainment lighting. The sessions are not too basic nor too advanced. Sonny Sonnenfeld adds, “Everyone who attends will benefit. The intense all day seminar will be led by theatre lighting professionals leading sessions about inspiration, training, product, and just doing it.”

A dozen theater lighting professionals will speak and about 20 industry lighting manufacturers will on hand and have technical personnel and equipment to demonstrate. The tentative program includes inspiration, fixtures, color, consoles, moving lights, trouble shooting, CAD, Virtual Magic Sheet & LightWright, paperwork, and other subjects. Starting at 8:00 am on Saturday, January 22, 2011, the sixth-annual Stage Lighting Super Saturday all-day seminar will take place at the conveniently located Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City located across from New York City’s Lincoln Center.

For more information, visit www.stageseminars.com. DON’T FORGET, you can save $25 off the cost of registering by using the VIP Code iSquintVIP during the registration process.  Hope to see you there!

Book Review: Intelligent Lighting: A Curriculum in Entertainment Technology

A couple of weeks again I mentioned a new book out on the market named Intelligent Lighting: A Curriculum in Entertainment Technology.  The author, Matthew Haber was kind enough to provide me with an evaluation copy to write a review of the book here on iSquint.net.

I always like to start a review by what the author and publisher have to say about the book, so here it is:

Intelligent Lighting: A Curriculum in Entertainment Technology is the first ever textbook for secondary school and university level classes on intelligent lighting. Written by the Author with the contributions of various industry partners and professionals, this book covers topics including moving lights, media servers, light board programming, LED fixtures, scrollers, and communications protocols. This publication is designed to excel equally as an all around reference guide for students and professionals alike as well as a textbook for technical theatre education. In addition to full color photographs and informative sidebars, Intelligent Lighting: A Curriculum in Entertainment Technology includes a handy glossary of technical terms, chapter review questions, and a book long design project.

Who the book is intended for

As you can read from the synopsis about the book and even the title, the book is intended for someone new to the industry and wanting to learn more about the technology that we use day in and day out. Whether that be a student in high school or at the college level, or even someone that has found the love of lighting late in their years, the book is intended to guide these entry level users through the basics of our technology. It is recommended that you have a basic understanding of lighting such as common types of lights, general terminology and of course, which end the light comes out helps. ;)

Concepts and layout

Since the book is designed to educate a novice to the industry, the book reads as though it is a text book, hence the title, a curriculum. The layout of the book and information has the same style that you might find in almost any educational text book.  The sections are clearly laid out by the subject at hand and start from the basics leading through protocols, fixtures and then in to my favorite control and programming functions.

Each section begins with a little bit of history about the subject.  I think this is always important, having a little history lesson about the subject.  Not only is fascinating to see how something came to be, but it also gives a glimpse at the method-to-the-madness and how something came to be.

After the quick history introduction, each chapter begins with a pretty though explanation of the subject it talks about and is broken down in to meaningful and clear chunks of information.   For example, the section on Communication Protocols. At the beginning of the chapter there is a listing of what the chapter contains and then is broken down into each of those sections.  It made going back and reviewing a particular section easy to find and re-read if it wasn’t clearly understood the first time around.

With in each chapter, images are used.  I mean USED! There are a huge amount of images of the products, concepts and examples used through out the book.  It almost feels like a picture book at times.  I feel that is a good thing for a beginner.  Sure you can talk about additive and subtractive color mixing and word it just right to were a photo might not be needed. For me, I am a visual learner, if there is an image explaining what I just read, I’ll be able to comprehend the subject so much quicker.

I am not saying the Mr. Haber used so many images that he didn’t have to full explain a subject, he did that quite well for a novice to understand the subject.  Images and diagrams always help reinforce what was written.

Each chapter of the book concludes with some reinforcement, review and questions to make sure the subject is locked away in your brain ready to use when needed.  There is a box of important vocabulary words used within the chapter that the author felt needed to be mentioned again.  Additionally, these vocab words happen to show up again in the books fairly extensive glossary.

The review questions at the end of each chapter make you think about what you have just read.  Did you read it and actually taken in what was mentioned?  These questions at the end make sure you do. Some of the questions don’t just ask you something that you simple read in the chapter, but make you think about what you read.  For example, back to the Communication Protocol chapter.  While the book explains what ArtNet and ACN is, one of the review questions ask, what is the difference between them! Time to put what you learned about the two protocols and explain for yourself what the differences are.

Conclusion

I feel that Mr. Haber’s book, Intelligent Lighting: A Curriculum in Entertainment Technology holds true to it name and delivers what it promises.  This is a great entry level text book for educational facilities that want to offer students an introduction in to some more advanced technologies that our industry uses.  The book gives a great overview of these technologies and is a good starting stone to begin with.

If you are an educator and are looking for a text book for your entry level or lighting 101 class, I encourage you to take Mr. Haber’s offer up and getting an educators evaluation copy and see for yourself if Intelligent Lighting: A Curriculum in Entertainment Technology will suit your course objectives. It’s as simple as contacting publications@metti.org.

You can pick up your very own copy of Intelligent Lighting: A Curriculum in Entertainment Technology by pointing your browsers at amazon.com and pick it up for the discounted price of $39.20.

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GAM Product Offers Color Workshop January 11th, 2011 in LA

Do you live in the Las Angles area?  On January 11th, 2011, GAM Products is offering workshop on color at their GAM Arts Center right in the heart of LA.

Learn about color temperature, kelvin, spectral distribution, foot candles, mired shift and CIE tri-stimulus values; how they all relate to correcting light sources and balancing color in film and TV. Learn how these measurements relate to perception and the duplication of color.

Speaker: Joe Tawil of GAMPRODUCTS, INC.
Date: Tuesday, January 11th
Time: Refreshments 6 pm / Workshop 7-9 pm
Where: GAM Arts Center • 4975 W. Pico Blvd. • Los Angeles, CA 90019
Secured, underground parking available.

Please RSVP to 1.888.GAMCOLOR or sales@gamonline.com

ESTA Host 2nd Annual Control Protocol PlugFest January 2011

It’s times like these that I wish I lived in the lone star state! ESTA’s Technical Standards Program is holding their second annual Control Protocol PlugFest in Westlake Texas on January 21st and 22nd.

The PlugFest just happens to be at the same exact time and place as the Technical Standard Program meetings! What a coincidence right! Both the TSP meetings and the PlugFest will be happening at the Marriott Solana in Westlake Texas.

PLugFest goes from 4pm to 10pm on Friday, January 21st, 9am to 11pm on Saturday, January 22.  There is also a date listed as July 25th from 9am to 10pm.  The July 25th date must be a completely separate meeting of the TSP and another PlugFest.

The Control Protocols Plug Fest will be an informal event, with the only people around to see the equipment work or fail being engineers and technicians, not customers. The event will provide an opportunity for manufacturers’ engineers to see if their products will work with the products of numerous manufacturers, find out on the spot what is wrong, fix it, and try again. With all the members of the RDM and E1.31 task groups that wrote the standards on-hand, it also provides an excellent resource to get implementation questions answered and to learn from everyone’s shared experience..

For more information and to register, contact Scott Blair. Registration is important so that the logistics of the equipment delivery, setup, and removal can be organized. There is no charge for participation and the event is open to everyone. Hotel sleeping rooms can be reserved through ESTA.

Lighting for Worship Session added to Super Saturday, January 22, 2011

Lighting for Worship session at Stage Lighting Super Saturday. Tom Sanziano will present a beginner’s guide to starting the lighting process in the Worship Market.  This session will provide an excellent introduction for anyone taking their first steps into worship lighting. Scott Parker says, “We are excited to have Tom join us this year. The lighting design and production values for worship have been on the rise for several years now and church services are one of the few areas that constantly cross the lines of live presentation and broadcast to television. Tom will be joining our faculty that includes legendary designers Ken Billington and Richard Pilbrow.”

This popular annual seminar is designed for everyone involved in stage, architectural, or entertainment lighting. The sessions are not too basic nor too advanced. Sonny Sonnenfeld adds, “Everyone who attends will benefit. The intense all day seminar will be led by theatre lighting professionals leading sessions about inspiration, training, product, and just doing it.”

A dozen theater lighting professionals will speak and about 20 industry lighting manufacturers will on hand and have technical personnel and equipment to demonstrate. The tentative program includes inspiration, fixtures, color, consoles, moving lights, trouble shooting, CAD, Virtual Magic Sheet & LightWright, paperwork, and other subjects. Starting at 8:00 am on Saturday, January 22, 2011, the sixth-annual Stage Lighting Super Saturday all-day seminar will take place at the conveniently located Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City located across from New York City’s Lincoln Center.

For more information, please visit www.stageseminars.com.

TOMCAT Announces 2011 Hoist & Rigging Workshop

TOMCAT is pleased to announce that registration is now open for the 2011 Hoist & Rigging workshops on February 16-19 in Midland, Texas. A team of world-class instructors has been assembled to deliver the Hoist & Truss workshop and the Rigging & Truss workshop. This ETCP recognized training program will provide a unique, hands-on-learning experience for participants interested in receiving both basic and advanced training in their area of specialization: hoist or rigging.

“With the Hoist & Rigging workshops, TOMCAT has established a reputation as a worldwide leader in safety training. The curriculum is regularly enriched in response to the changing needs of the industry as well as the feedback provided by participants,” stated TOMCAT’s instructor Will Todd.

The hoist segment of the Hoist and Truss workshop features complete teardown and rebuild of a one ton Lodestar and a quarter-ton Prostar. Dave Carmack of Columbus McKinnon will provide detailed instruction on inspection, standards and hands-on segment of advanced troubleshooting. There will also be instruction on control systems and load testing. In addition, participants will have the opportunity to take CM’s certification exam.

In the Rigging & Truss workshop, G. Anthony Phillips, an ETCP certified rigger and instructor of RigRider Rigging Services, will teach about safe rigging practices and principles while Morgan Neff will instruct on fall protection practices and equipment. Participants will also have the opportunity to put these principles into live practice in a segment working on a TOMCAT ground support system session.

In addition, both workshops will include a full day of truss instruction with Will Todd. The class includes basic and advanced concepts in truss usage, grid design, applying loads, ground support system considerations, structural design concepts, and inspection techniques.

The 2011 Hoist & Rigging workshops are an excellent educational opportunity for those new to the entertainment industry as well as veterans of the business. Registration is now open and further information can be found at www.tomcatglobal.com.

Review: Nooks Ultimate Punt Pages DVD

A couple months before LDI this year, the Academy of Production Technology announced the arrival of their latest training tool, Nook’s Ultimate Punt Pages DVD.  No, it is not a training DVD for football kickers on how to punt the ball correctly, that is just silly.  Punting is the US term for running a lighting desk on the fly.  Our European brethren know it better as busking.

Richard “Nook” Schoenfeld is a staple in the entertainment lighting industry and is well know for his programming skills and experience running some rather large shows. In addition his programming wizardry, Mr. Schoenfeld also has a monthly column that he writes for PLSN Magazine, LD-At-Large.  It is here that Mr. Schoenfeld imparts advice, experience and his strong opinions about the lighting design field.  When ever PLSN lands in my mail box, Mr. Schoenfeld article is one of the two articles I read first, as I am always amused and left with valuable information and some well appointed humor.

It is no wonder that Mr. Cadena, the founder of the Academy of Production Technology approached Mr. Schoenfeld to produce a training video on moving lighting controls and playback.  Mr. Schoenfeld brings his experience and knowledge of moving lights and live event programming to the DVD with well though out plans of execution and console layout.

Who is it for

The training DVD does have some “prerequisites” before jumping into the DVD.  Before trying to keep up with the training, it is beast to have a basic understanding of how different types of moving lights work and function.  It is also best to have a fair understanding of how a modern lighting desk functions, interacts with moving lights, multiple playbacks and of course tracking.  From there, following along with Mr. Schoenfeld with or with out a desk in front of you is fairly easy to keep up.

What you can expect

If you come from a theatrical programming background, live event or punting/busking style playback might not be the easiest to grasp at first.  In the theatrical world we are thought that everything has a time and must go at a certain time and be repeatable night after night with like or no difference. In the concert/live event world… timing… yeah, not so much.  Things are happening quick, real quick.  Solos can go on and on, or maybe just a couple of seconds.  So running the desked based on timing just will not work, in steps punting/busking.

Mr. Schoenfeld walks you through his methods of setting up a desk for punting/busking.  As a programmer, I found that I already setup my desk for this style of playback very similarly to Mr. Schoenfeld. But there where some very pleasent surprises and interesting concepts that made me stop and think… “I’ll have to steal that”.  That of course is a joke, stealing isn’t very nice. But that is the point of the DVD.  Take new ideas, use them, don’t use them, make your own style and build from there. Mr. Schoenfeld presents a fairly clear road map for successful punting/busking playback session.

Conclusion

Mr. Schoenfeld’s experience and knowledge really shows in the DVD and is presented clearly and easy to understand.  Hey, if he goes to fast, pause, rewind and repeat as many times as you like, it’s a DVD!  It’s like having Mr. Schoenfeld at your finger tips when ever you need him! I would recommend this training DVD for anyone that has the grasp of fixtures and control, but needs a course on live playback.

You can purchase your copy of Nook’s Ultimate Punt Pages from the Academy of Production Technology website, productionseminars.webs.com for $59.95.  If you still have a doubt in your mind or need a little more convincing, The Academy of Production Technology was kind enough to allow me to provide you with a sampling of the training DVD.  Some times, seeing is believing.