Warning - LONG POST:
In response to derek and Alex, yes I might well have
substituted to L218, except....
I got a "final" converted version of our rep
plot from the tour LD (who admittedly was up to his buns - and 2 weeks late we learned after, at pre-tour tech for the show, the week prior) on a Friday 1/18 - a week early. The original
plot by a well known designer had
no color information on the
plot (didn't we just have this discussion ?) and had no
hookup attached. The "final"
plot adaptation did have an LW file with
NO color info in it, which I did not get till late last Monday 1/21. I then worked at home on Tues. (my day off) on the files, sending the sheet color order to the shop on Tuesday, who then informed me they had to FedEx missing
GAM, for Wed. P/U (electrics prep was 1/25,
load-in 1/26, Perf.1/27).
I actually did not look in the
GAM book to see what G870 was, till Wed. 1/23 (I was home and left my books at work). Had I checked out the color I would have called the LD and told him we were substituting L218 for the
GAM as we were not paying the extra $30 to FedEx, PLUS $6.25 a sheet for 14 sheets.
As far as I'm concerned, it's the job of the touring LD to figure out what's going to work at the assorted houses they go to ( a tradition started in some ways by dance SM/LD's such as Tom Skelton, Jennifer Tipton and Bev Emmons - whom had been quoted often about this subject), and more experienced LD's know that most
house have a greater selection of
Rosco and
Lee (for the time being). Most experienced LD's also do a substitution list (when appropriate). This
plot had some
Lee HT 026, which IS R26, as example.
About half the total
plot was in
GAM 870 and I don't really care if a
plot is all in N/C or R85 - designers choice,
etc....
FWIW, every back light and hi-side
PAR had R114 added to the color. About every
ellipsoidal had a mix of R132 or R119.
Thread diversion here:
The LD focused by first asking for the color to be pulled on the
unit (ellipsoidals). He would then sharpen to hard beam
edge, do cuts, then
drop color and
frost back in. We focused 125 units in 5 hrs., which for us is painful.
The LD also used
focus tapes, but actually did not have focus charts to reference, only using a
magic sheet. In any event our
RFU operator had the
plot in front of her and would
call up channels and tell the LD what it was. I didn't understand why he used
focus tapes. Maybe he had memorized all the positions, but doubtful as this was the first stop.
I was also un-clear as to why he needed to pull "color" on the
GAM 870's to "see" where the beam was, as, well..... I left it alone.
I generally see the more experienced touring LD's NOT automatically add diffusion to ellipsoidals - and cannot remember the time anyone asked for generic diffusion for a
PAR, which had little to no discernible
effect on the beam quality. Adding R132 or R119 or someone elses version, I understand, especially for some S4 36's and 19's, but I generally just run it soft and see what it looks like, having requested a lot of diffusion to be ready as needed. In any event, the original
plot had R119 or R132 ADDED in every frame, as opposed to separate frames, which I changed in the cut list, wanting the option. It actually turned out to be a mistake when EVERY color frame on EVERY
ellipsoidal was pulled to focus, requiring the electrician to
restore 2 frames of color for every
unit.
Then there were the
scroller issues, then the touring
Express 250 dying at 9PM Sat. nite, then the AutoYokes not functioning..... another post perhaps.
Partial rant over.
Steve B.