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Do You See What I see? Getting the Picture and Getting It Right

Do You See What I see? Getting the Picture and Getting It Right

The stage is set, the lights go up, the speaker walks out on stage, and the video screen is black. The producer begins yelling at the technical director, and the TD starts yelling at everyone. It’s a demonstration of what flows, and in which direction. It’s also a reminder that, as a camera operator or engineer, you are at the bottom of the hill on which it all flows. Assuming we remembered to remove the lens cover, there are many other pitfalls we would like to avoid. But what other kinds of problems could we have? By understanding a very basic signal flow through the camera, we can protect ourselves from doing something foolish and, more importantly, help us recover quickly when we have already done something foolish.

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Patches? Those Go On Pants!

Back in 1996, when the art of conventional lighting still reigned supreme on the “legitimate” stage, I was working as LD for a new play. (Yes, some of us do that.)

I received a packet of design materials from the M.E. at the theatre where we would load-in. We all know the condition in which many of these packets arrive, if they arrive at all, but this one was truly an exception. The instrument schedule detailed types, colors, lamps, circuits, channels, patch and everything else that I could think of. The plot, well drawn and to scale, gave a precise view of every instrument relative to its focal point. I even got the almighty sectional, which had the potential to save a lot of focus time. (This was before 1999, understand. Moving lights were still confined to the “big” shows and rentals.)

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Fiat Video: Picture and Light Have Become (Mostly) One

“Convergence” can become tiresome to hear, but never truly gets overused in this day and age. It’s an appropriate term for what’s taken place between video and lighting as elements of live performances. The trend dates back to 1998 when Lighting & Sound Design (LSD) first had a private showing of the Icon M (Medusa) at the LDI show. It combined the Texas Instruments nanotechnology-based DMD (digital mirror device) and the automated yoke of an automated luminaire into a single fixture, with “soft” gobos. Even though the fixture was never mass-produced (it was used on a few tours, including Korn and one or two others), it aligned the industry into the realm of video, media servers and digital lighting.

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Illumination Inflation: But It Goes to 11!

A funny thing happened on the way to the top of the grand master fader. I found out that it not only goes up, but it also comes down. It was a complete accident, but it turned out to be a discovery that was right up there with the time I found out my VCR wasn’t supposed to flash “12:00.”

When a tour manager voiced concerns about the pacing of a show, I listened intently as he described what he wanted to see. He wanted the show to build. He wanted a steady building of lighting looks, punctuated by a climax. He wanted to hold back the best for last. In short, he wanted the impossible.

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The Main Course, Sushi in Chicago Continues

[If last month’s LD-at-Large column resolved anything, it’s that sushi is definitely the cuisine of choice among most lighting designers. Four of them, Nook Schoenfeld, Bob Peterson, John Featherstone and Olivier Ilisca, got together for an informal lunch discussion at Nook’s urging. On the menu? Sushi, of course. Once the sushi connection was established, the four LDs talked about how they started in the business and how they ended up where they are, all the while working on their appetizer. By the time the main course arrived, they were on to bigger and better things, like what it takes to get ahead in this business. This is the second of a three-part series. – ed.]

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Lex Products/Electrol Plug-in Isolator Splitter/Receiver

My workbox is filled with all sorts of useful widgets.

There’s the spare power supply for my laptop, a table-top tripod for my camera and a bundle of zip ties. You’ll also find a couple of sets of 5-pin to 3-pin XLR adapters, various types of pliers, and a hemostat for…ahem…delicately removing the gobo springs from a MAC 2000. So, how I never had a widget like this, I’ll never know. But at least it’s there now.

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LD(s)-at-Large: Sushi In Chicago, Subhed: The First in a Three-Part Series

Young people often ask me how I achieved my position in the lighting profession and how I ended up in Chicago. I started thinking about the fact that the majority of successful U.S. lighting designers hail from New York or California. But Chicago is right up there with the rest of the world, and what better way to discuss how to advance in the industry than to invite three renowned Chicago lighting designers to dinner to discuss it.

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White Lies, Black Magic and Gray Matter

Have you ever been so mad that you saw green?

Probably not. Green is supposed to be the most restful color to the eye because the lens of your eyes focus green right on the retina, and you know how much work it can be focusing all those heavy non-green photons. More likely, you’ve sat in a green room to calm down before an appearance on stage. You might have a greenhouse, or gotten the green light to join Greenpeace. Or perhaps you’re a greenhorn drinking green beer on Saint Patrick’s Day. If you’re lucky you might have a pocket full of greenbacks. Or if you’re environmentally conscious you might be working on a green lighting design. But if you’re angry you probably won’t see green.

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