calwalker1
Member
Hi guys, I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned this before but my high school is getting a new $9 Million dollar building at the moment which includes a ~500 seat performance space and a smaller "black box" style theatre which can probably seat about 100 Less.
I am a student at the school who is also employed as their senior technician in charge of setting up and running all sorts of events along with planning and researching purchases that we may need to make over the year. Having this job has meant that I have been involved in the design and technical planning of these spaces which has created a very interesting experience. As a student I have noticed that the project manager will ask me certain questions which I am not really qualified to answer (most likely knowing this) however when I make other recommendations that I see as quite reasonable I feel like a student where they are saying "great idea" while throwing it out the window (please don't make assumptions before I say what I have suggested).
During meetings I have been asked questions such as how many 3 phase outlets we require and what sort of DMX infrastructure is required, while I can "guess" and think about what I have seen in other theaters. I remind them that my guesses are exactly that a half-educated guess and I have never "designed" a theatre before. The school has gone with an AV installation company for the automation and control system which has lots of experience in the education sector however as far as I can tell very little work with performance spaces with things like dimmers and power (the company has just recommend us a stock standard "Jands" system {an Australian company} which has extremely limiting components (e.g. DMX just terminates at the final dimmer, doesn't run elsewhere).
So these were my two main "suggestions" that I presented to the school which I considered rather impressive, these were pretty much ignored. I'd love you "controlboothians" to have a read and let me know what you think:
Sorry everyone for the long rant but I just thought I would vent to other people of similar thinking to see what you all think of this and to find out how you would potentially go about getting any of this resolved.
I have just been getting a bit frustrated with the concept of being invited to meetings to answer questions I am not comfortable about and have no experience in (just so you all know my answers are actually being written into the designs and submitted to the engineers so the rough guesses I am making are actually being implemented) and being listened to by senior staff members however when I come forwards with details of a contact I have become an acquaintance of who is offering a professional service I am essentially being ignored.
In the (likely) situation that these people are left out and I am in meetings I am wondering what people believe the most important components of a space space like this are, the things I have worked out as important (in order) are:
1> Bar locations
2> Power to dimmers
3> Power flexibility
4> Fixtures
5> Data (DMX and Cat5)
Thankyou everyone for taking the time to read this I hope some of you can give me some pointers for the politics or the designing.
You may have noticed that I have left out names and locations just because this is project is still developing I don't want to end up defaming someone or getting in trouble due to details changing.
Also enjoy the photo of the current stage of the main building (don't ask about the panels I was fairly zoned out during that meeting)
I am a student at the school who is also employed as their senior technician in charge of setting up and running all sorts of events along with planning and researching purchases that we may need to make over the year. Having this job has meant that I have been involved in the design and technical planning of these spaces which has created a very interesting experience. As a student I have noticed that the project manager will ask me certain questions which I am not really qualified to answer (most likely knowing this) however when I make other recommendations that I see as quite reasonable I feel like a student where they are saying "great idea" while throwing it out the window (please don't make assumptions before I say what I have suggested).
During meetings I have been asked questions such as how many 3 phase outlets we require and what sort of DMX infrastructure is required, while I can "guess" and think about what I have seen in other theaters. I remind them that my guesses are exactly that a half-educated guess and I have never "designed" a theatre before. The school has gone with an AV installation company for the automation and control system which has lots of experience in the education sector however as far as I can tell very little work with performance spaces with things like dimmers and power (the company has just recommend us a stock standard "Jands" system {an Australian company} which has extremely limiting components (e.g. DMX just terminates at the final dimmer, doesn't run elsewhere).
So these were my two main "suggestions" that I presented to the school which I considered rather impressive, these were pretty much ignored. I'd love you "controlboothians" to have a read and let me know what you think:
- After taking part in a (rather large) production (as desk op and then floor LX after the original dude broke his arm and become the new op) I met up with a man who works for a large company who specializes in the installation and design of everything that goes "beep" or flash in a theatre. This man was the "theatre technology specialist" for the company so working out what goes into a theatre is what he does for a living. After we spoke for a while about the new performance space he offered to come in and have a half-hour chat with the project manager For Free!! just to point out some components they may have missed out on or that could be improved upon. All of this because he doesn't want to see me personally getting let down by the school (that was in his own words). I personally wanted the school to get his company involved but I thought it may be pushing it to suggest that as a student.
I suggested this man to the project manager who then told me that they were going with the original company and may potentially get this man I have met in at the end for any "further comments" which is pretty much to little too late. (just to add to the fun, the company who the school is going with is led by the same man who "accidentally took" equipment from us when he cleaned out his gear from the old hall (I still to this day wonder how you accidentally take a road case which takes three people to lift and is full of dimmers) However it was eventually returned after a few weeks of hassling them and threatening to contact the police)
That was my first suggestion - The other thing I did was actually talk to the head of yamaha audio Australia Service and logistics (a regular customer at my Dad's bike shop) and got his details after he recommended that my school can get in contact with Yamaha and "do a deal" for some professional audio gear to be installed properly at some impressive discounts. I forwarded these details onto the Project manager along with a summary of our conversation. This suggestion was answered with a fairly brief message essentially saying that he would "take care of it" and I have heard nothing about it since (in other words I do not believe any form of contact has been made). I have asked once about a month ago offering to get into contact with this person from Yamaha on the managers behalf and he said that he will get onto it later.
This is another case of coming forwards with what I believe personally to be an amazing contact to have with an even better opportunity for us and getting pretty much ignored.
Sorry everyone for the long rant but I just thought I would vent to other people of similar thinking to see what you all think of this and to find out how you would potentially go about getting any of this resolved.
I have just been getting a bit frustrated with the concept of being invited to meetings to answer questions I am not comfortable about and have no experience in (just so you all know my answers are actually being written into the designs and submitted to the engineers so the rough guesses I am making are actually being implemented) and being listened to by senior staff members however when I come forwards with details of a contact I have become an acquaintance of who is offering a professional service I am essentially being ignored.
In the (likely) situation that these people are left out and I am in meetings I am wondering what people believe the most important components of a space space like this are, the things I have worked out as important (in order) are:
1> Bar locations
2> Power to dimmers
3> Power flexibility
4> Fixtures
5> Data (DMX and Cat5)
Thankyou everyone for taking the time to read this I hope some of you can give me some pointers for the politics or the designing.
You may have noticed that I have left out names and locations just because this is project is still developing I don't want to end up defaming someone or getting in trouble due to details changing.
Also enjoy the photo of the current stage of the main building (don't ask about the panels I was fairly zoned out during that meeting)
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