head of lighting any tips?

[lightingmackdaddy]

I'm about to do a show and im head of lighting, any tips on how to make the job easier

[Hughesie]

what kind of info are you looking for,

info on the bump in or actually working the show

maybe list what kind of desk your using

and some pics of the venue

try my tech pics for some pics (maybe there will be some you can use)

also thanks for breaking the post drought on your behalf

[lightingmackdaddy]

advice on the whole thing im using a LSC Axiom 36 desk, and the theatre has 4 LX bars plus 4 front of house bars

[Hughesie]

Originally Posted by lightingmackdaddy

advice on the whole thing im using a LSC Axiom 36 desk, and the theatre has 4 LX bars plus 4 front of house bars

correction

two normal FOH
two bars that run sideways

[lightingmackdaddy]

close enough oh and im not doing the design

[zac850]

Normally the lighting designer is considered the 'head of lighting', as it is his or her design that the entire lighting department is working to realize. What is your position? Production Elec? Master elec?

General advice, hang it as quickly as you can and as early as you can, remember that your going to need more time then you think you will to trouble-shoot the show. Remember that your going to need time to edit the plot when the designer realizes what things don't work. Plan time for these eventualities.

Bring extra cable, lots of it. Bring a few extra fixtures, things break, and designers say 'oh crap, we need another light here'.

Keep your paperwork up to date, its always worth it in the end to keep your paper work correct.

Don't overload a dimmer, don't overload anything for that matter.

Don't lick the wires. (especially when they're hot)

Oh, and have fun!

[lightingmackdaddy]

im pretty much lighting desk operator, thanks for the advice i will

[gafftaper]

So you are recording all the cues then? I find it helpful for my students to create some cheat sheets. Depending on how much your designer has done, some of this will be less important. If you are mixing and recording cues on the fly with little time, then I suggest you do as much below as possible.

First a simple list in number order that shows the type of instrument, color of gel, and it's purpose or area it's lighting.

Then I suggest group lists... all the instruments with the same color. All instruments with gobos, all instruments pointed at an area. All the down light, all the side light. Any way you can combine them into logical groups. This makes it much easier for you to grab all the right instruments when the director says I want more amber light upstage. Also get some white paper tape and mark the board if you have sliders for every channel.

Finally, if you've got a bunch of submasters, I would record a bunch of the groups above that seem likely to be used a lot. Record a basic look for each area of the stage... or perhaps record all your color combinations. The more things you have ready at your fingertips the faster the cue recording can go.

[TupeloTechie]

I find it easer to read in the dark if you use black gaff tape under the sliders and mark on them with a white paint pen, or even glow paint pen if you can find one, this also dosen't leave a residue on the board and is alot easer to get off after the show...

[icewolf08]

Correct me if I am wrong but it sounds like your position equates to being a Master Elec./Head Elec. In which case here is some advice for you:

1) Make friends with (or at least make nice to) your Lighting Designer, as they are going to be running your life from the time you get the plot and paperwork to the day the show opens.

2) Make sure you understand the plot and paperwork, as well as any other information that the LD sends you. This will make hang go quicker and more smoothly.

3) For hang, I try to make hang cards or hang tapes for each position. I also generate instrument counts broken down by position to give to my crew. I use hang tapes (burlap webbing with tick marks every 6 in. on which I put white gaff labeled with the following info: Unit#, Instrument Type, Color, Template, Rough focus direction, 2-fer with) on flying positions. I use hang cards for fixed positions that are only accessible from catwalks and such. For hang cards I generally print a scaled version of the position with dimensions and a good instrument key.

4) I make it a point to get all color and templates in during hang.

5) Make sure you write down all the dimmers/circuits that you connect each instrument to, or you will be kicking yourself when you have to patch.

6) Find some time to patch at the console before you get to focus. This is also a good time to make sure everything is working.

7) For focus I set myself up with a table, littlelight, a copy of the plot and paperwork, a highlighter marker, and a couple pieces of magnetic poetry. It is important to keep the designer moving through focus, so if you are organized that is good. Some designers will ask you how you want to run focus and some have a way that they like to do it. Personally, I prefer to just work along an entire position and then move on to the next. Some designers like to work by systems (frontlight, backlight, etc.), I find this less efficient. I use the magnetic poetry to keep track of which person is at which fixture, and I highlight the fixtures we have done.

8) Do a channel check with the designer and make sure things are really the way they want. This will also start to get you to know where things are focused and how things are supposed to look so that you can keep that after the designer leaves.

9) Know your lighting console as best you can. Many LDs know what they want, but they don't know every lighting console. If you know your console it will make programming much smoother.

10) SAVE! SAVE! SAVE! I don't think you can save too many copies of a show. If your console has a hard drive, save every time you have time to. I personally create a completely new show file on the hard drive every day. I title them with the show name and the date. I also create/update at least 2 floppy disks with the show periodically throughout each day of tech for a show (usually every 80min when we take our AEA mandated breaks). After we finish tech and the show is finalized I create a disk with the final show file that I give to the stage manager to keep in his book as a backup, and I make one for me.

That should do you well for advice. Have Fun!