To take a cue or not take a cue, that is the question

[David Ashton]

95+% of the touring venues have good control room/Bio boxes, out front centre.
SM is on-stage prompt side and I have SM'd hundreds of shows.
Theatre, especially touring, is high pressure and things go wrong and need to work for the sake of the customer, which why we exist, and playing the blame game is futile, a tech who can only push a go button is a waste of space on a tour

[icewolf08]

allthings, it isn't that I don't agree with what you are saying, but I wouldn't even try to fix a cue gone awry without the SM's approval first. Why? Because in the heat of the moment if you key in the fix just a little wrong you can be hosed. I have done it before, where lights came up in the complete wrong color and the SM asked me to fix it, and in the slim seconds I had, I probably had a "fat fingered moment" where something else got captured and then didn't go out in the next blackout. And this was with the blessing of the SM.

I have run hundreds of shows, and I know what I am doing. I am a good programmer, but sometimes mistakes happen, and frankly I would rather have a blown lamp than an extra fixture track through a blackout. Sure, you have to pay attention and you have to know how and when to reset a moving light if it gets stuck such that it will be unobtrusive to the audience, but I would still get an OK from the SM first. Usually (though not always) the cast is smart enough that if they are truly standing in the dark they will take a few steps over into the light. Most plots have three or four different systems focused to each area, so unless the actor is only in a single special, if one lamp goes out you just aren't in that bad shape that you need to be turning on more lights.

[derekleffew]

Originally Posted by charcoaldabs

...I'm thinking maybe I should take tracking off. If it confuses me, I'm sure it confuses everyone. Edit: Unless someone wants to explain it... ?

This might be tough for you to grasp, having never worked with Piano Boards, but I bet you're up to it. Tracking, when used and understood, makes a world of sense, particularly for moving lights. In 1975, when Tharon Musser and others were consulting with Century-Strand on the development of the Light Palette, they said they wanted a console that thinks like a Lighting Designer thinks. On a Piano Board, when you put a dimmer at say 50% in a cue, the handle stays there until a different cue says to change it, regardless of how many cues there are between. So if in Q1 you bring the blue cyc up to 50% and it says that way until intermission, Q99. Cues2-98 do other things, but never affect the cyc. Then the director tells you he/she wants the cyc red during the first act. So in Q1 you record the "blue cyc" at zero and the "red cyc" at 50%. Make sure that Q99 takes the "red cyc" to 0%. No need to change anything about cues 2-98. Almost all console displays use colors to differentiate between a channel that has tracked from a previous cue and a channel that moves in the current cue. (I don't know Strand's code). Also, for blackouts and other major cues, it's a good idea to insert a "blocking" cue (Colortran used to call this a "clean-up" cue, Express(ion) calls this an "AllFade). This is a cue that inserts a "hard value" for every channel, and thus stops all tracking. A similar outcome, for one time use, can be achieved using "record Q-only."

The best explanation of tracking, especially for moving lights, I have found is in The Automated Lighting Programmer's Handbook, Brad Schiller. Focal Press, 2004. One more thing: don't get tracking confused with HTP and LTP, they are similar, but different concepts.

[OnTheRock]

Originally Posted by charcoaldabs

That killed me on this last show... killed me. I've learned my lesson though... record things as subs, then start with new fresh cues, and use the subs to record the new cues... with how many changes the dept head wanted... in the middle of the shows, everything got messed up. Not to mention the number of "impossible" things she wanted done. Impossible in that I had to do like 30 keystrokes in 5 seconds, record, and GO next cue. She doesn't follow that once the cue is recorded, using the master and channel faders isn't gonna help. I'm thinking maybe I should take tracking off. If it confuses me, I'm sure it confuses everyone. Edit: Unless someone wants to explain it... ?

On some lighting software, you can record various effects and store them with a name (like an oscillating light pattern). The same can be done with groups of lights (typically run with submasters), but saved with an easily remembered name.

I do a lot of pre-show prep to put together these various patterns. The lighting software I use has the ability to record a list of light channels, a list of effects, and a list of light groups, or any combination of these in each cue. Cues are then very easy to create, simply by adding in named washes, named effects, and named groups. Then during techs, and even during shows, it becomes a no brainer to add these elements to a cue or remove certain of these elements from a cue, depending upon the whim of the director, SM, or me, the LD.

By default, the software has tracking off. Which kind of makes sense in my scenario because cues are so easy to create, and can even be created off line, which I did for one show, while sitting in the bar one night filling my stomach with beer and the cues with pre-designed special effects. Try and take a lighting board into a bar and create a light show! (I run my shows off a laptop).

[David Ashton]

Of course in complex shows you can be helpless to do much in a tricky situation, my comments have been exaggerated for dramatic effect but my original concerns about the mentality of "I just push the go button, even though I know its in the wrong place", remain
In your average pros arch play you can generally find a light to fill in a space, if you spot the problem quickly and not at the end of your game.
Of course you talk to your SM assuming they are available.
If you don't want to be replaced with voice recognition software it is in your interest to assist your SM in a crisis with strategies to get around problems, for example what do you do when the intercom breaks down?
Rules like "do nothing unless told by the SM" are all well and good for 99.9% of the time but don't let it paralyze you in either a life threatening situation or a show spoiling situation if you are competent to act.

[Grog12]

Originally Posted by charcoaldabs

That killed me on this last show... killed me. I've learned my lesson though... record things as subs, then start with new fresh cues, and use the subs to record the new cues... with how many changes the dept head wanted... in the middle of the shows, everything got messed up. Not to mention the number of "impossible" things she wanted done. Impossible in that I had to do like 30 keystrokes in 5 seconds, record, and GO next cue. She doesn't follow that once the cue is recorded, using the master and channel faders isn't gonna help. I'm thinking maybe I should take tracking off. If it confuses me, I'm sure it confuses everyone. Edit: Unless someone wants to explain it... ?

Record Q only is your friend...and derricks right...tracking is a god send.

[icewolf08]

Originally Posted by allthingstheatre

If you don't want to be replaced with voice recognition software it is in your interest to assist your SM in a crisis with strategies to get around problems, for example what do you do when the intercom breaks down?

I have actually had this happen, and it is for that exact reason that our SM has told all the ASMs and board ops to keep their cell phones on so that in the event of a comms failure the show doesn't come to a halt. We of course would not rely on phones for shows with automation, but many of the simpler shows we do it can work for while someone tries to fix comms. We actually had to do it once, thankfully only on invited audience night, but it worked quite smoothly.

[avkid]

Originally Posted by charcoaldabs

To anyone who has considered using this: This should be a last resort. GMRs/FRS (whatever the acronyms are) is pretty bad. The Board Op couldn't hear what I said when I cued him, other than the radio made noise, so he better GO cue.

Absolutely not, our regular means of communication is 10 Uniden GMRS handheld units.
You must use sub codes!!!!!

[Sparkinium]

The problem with GMRS is that it requires a license to operate. If you can get the license, it's not as much of a problem. The advantage, of course, is that GMRS uses (I believe) a higher output power, so your signal will be clearer. Not to mention that less radios use GMRS, so you're less likely to get people on your frequencies.

[gafftaper]

I thought the discussion of Tracking was an important topic that should have it's own thread so I started one here with a link to a great article from PLSN.