Hi there!

[GavMJM]

Hey

I'm Gav, and unlike the majority on this forum, I'm from the UK. I'm part of a small team who do sound/lighting/"anything else that needs doing" for my school.

We're quite fortunate in that we tend to be allocated quite a large budget (for a school) (£1000 small events, £4000+ for big pantomimes), and we get to play with some quite fancy gadgets. We also have a lot of equipment that we can use anyway, and plenty more we can 'steal' from the Music & Drama departments.

I just thought I'd join here and do some 'swotting up', because as of next educational year 'my' team is taking over all aspects of the productions because the people who used to do it have left school. We've also got a pretty bare looking lighting gallery that we're looking to stock up with some toys.

So you'll probably see me around, asking stupid questions and making awful mistakes. But hey, we've all gotta learn some time

Gav

[gafftaper]

Welcome Gav this is the perfect place to ask stupid questions... just make sure you do a search first because many stupid questions have already been covered in great detail. If you need to ask a follow up question great, just reopen the old thread and ask away.

We don't have many from the UK around here but there are a few. We are mostly the decedents of those who rebelled against the king or prisoners banished down under by the king. But we promise not to hold what King George did against you personally.

A great way to get some help would be to begin by telling us what you have? What works? What doesn't? What were you thinking about adding? That's a pretty impressive budget you have. Very few Schools in the U.S. have that kind of production budget.

[GavMJM]

Heh you lost me there when you started talking about monarchy

Shamefully, I'm not sure exactly what equiptment we have at the moment, so I'll be sure to make a list next time I get five minutes. We're again quite lucky in that this year, we get to buy the 'cool' stuff, because over the past few years we've built up quite a nice collection of sound and lighting, so we'll be looking at the more exciting stuff like moving heads, lasers, strobes e.t.c.

That budget may seem like a lot, but you must remember that a simple currency conversion isn't accurate because we have to pay 17.5% sales tax on everything we buy here, and stuff tends to be more expensive for us anyway. However, like you said, it's still a fairly big budget, and a lot of it comes from the national lottery, who fund projects like that.

[Van]

Wales !? That's where the they arrested Darth Vader for attacking a couple of members of the Jedi church !

Welcome Aboard Mate. As Gafftaper said , " no stupid questions 'cept the one already answered a dozen times...." Well ok that's not really what he said, but it's what he meant.

"Ask What you want, Answer what you can." That's my motto, well one of them anyway, the other is, "Never eat anything bigger than your head.", but that's not nearly as applicable here.

[Spikesgirl]

Originally Posted by Van

"Never eat anything bigger than your head.", but that's not nearly as applicable here.

Never be so sure about that, Van! It's much better than "You want fries with that?"

I'll add my welcomes into the mix. It's always great to have another female on the board...even if she is in sound and lighting - why are they always in sound and lighitng?!? - sorry, my bad.

Seriously, welcome on board, this is a great place to find out all sort of fun and useful things that will make your job easier, a place to vent or laugh and some great resources!

[gafftaper]

With or without the tax it's still a HUGE budget. I ran a High School Drama program with 5 shows a year on $600 a year... With the current exchange rate that's what about £2 or £3?

[GavMJM]

Originally Posted by Spikesgirl

I'll add my welcomes into the mix. It's always great to have another female on the board...even if she is in sound and lighting - why are they always in sound and lighitng?!? - sorry, my bad.

Try again with the gender

[gafftaper]

Originally Posted by GavMJM

Try again with the gender

It's not her fault, Char5lie has done a lot of work with glue and spray paint in confined spaces over the years.

[Van]

Originally Posted by gafftaper

It's not her fault, Char5lie has done a lot of work with glue and spray paint in confined spaces over the years.

That just made me giggle.

I do know a female named Gavin here in Portland though. One of the best production lighting designers I've ever had the pleasure to work with.

[Spikesgirl]

Mmmm, the colors...look at the colors. Gaff, how do you know me so well? Do you have a camera set up somewhere that I should know about?!

Gav - I apologize - I don't know why I thought you were a girl. Might be time to get the glasses checked -mea culpa.