first time master electrician

[bearbehindscene13]

so this is the first time i will actually be a master electrician
i've worked in a high school auditorium before which can hardly be called a theatre, so this is going to b my first time working with lighting in a functional space
i was wondering if i could get suggestions on how i should go about doing things? what things should i look out for or any hints while meeting with the lighting designer?

[shiben]

Well, one thing I learned on my first gig as the ME is to do a dimmer check before focus. Go through, make sure that each individual instrument is working, has the correct barrel, color, template, and rough focus (if that is given). Also check the patch, make sure that it is entirely correct (this might not be your job to program in some theaters, i guess, but I figure checking yourself means you know its right). Make sure you fully understand the lighting plot, all the symbols on it, and write down any questions you have (if, of course, you see it before hand). I guess a lot of what you do depends on what your role as master electrician at this particular space entails. For example, some MEs only do paperwork, ordering, and general supervision of the crew, whereas others like myself tend to actually do a lot of the hanging and focusing, because we work with volunteer or student crews. A lot of your job will be determined by the SOP of the theater that you are now working in. Dont know if that helped, but I feel your concern. I was in the same position just a very short while ago.

[soundman]

Being a great ME requires equal parts technical know how, quality control and management.

The technical know how is required to turn a light plot into something in three dimensional space. You should know the space as much as possible, what the dimmer layout is (dimmer per circuit, hard patch, etc) where cables are kept, what the color code for the house is, how to get around, and that sort of thing. Depending on your situation your crew may have never set foot in the venue before or they may be the house crew and are able to carry some of that weight themselves. Better safe than sorry. You should keep an eye out for safety in how the lights are rigged and cabled. Just because the 20 channel gobo wash is only one channel does not mean its a good idea to use one dimmer for it. You will need to keep an eye on the big picture because sometimes electricians get tunnel vision, they are working on a task and are not aware of the bigger picture. For example they might pull a circuit for another electric but jump across in the middle of the pipe, not a good idea ever in my book but a horrible idea if there is a drop between the two electrics. If your crew is inexperienced you will need to be able to provide them instruction for basic tasks. How to put an iris in a Source Four, how to address scrollers, how to swap lamp caps. In short you need to no enough to lead a crew. Most of this stuff you can take care of before you get on site along with things like shop orders, buying expendables and that sort of administrative work.

Once on site your biggest concern should be running the crew. You should have made enough paper work and made it clean enough that you become more of a facilitator and less of a direct leader. This will allow you to keep an eye on all the irons in the fire. Try to avoid getting bogged down with one task, either delegate it to someone who can deal with it or move on. I have seen 4 guys stand around watch a ME struggle with a light with broken omega brackets. After a minute or two the crew could have been reassigned to cable the truss, start hanging the next position or start to push empty boxes to storage.

On know when to pick your battles if it is 10 minutes to lunch dont send a crew to the catwalks that take 5 minutes to get to. They could tidy up the deck or something but its a waste of time to send them to the catwalk.

Know when it matters and when it can slide. If a light is hung with the wrong lens that needs to be fixed but a light hung at 13' 3" instead of 13' 6" because of where the lift line is not a deal breaker.

In summery, know everything be everywhere and have all the answers.

[Wolf]

Hey man check this thread out http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/l...ectrician.html it should help alot.