Design Magic sheets
- Thread startertekgoddess
- Start date
farmerjo1111
Member
I have never had to do it for each scene but I had to do it for an overall aspect. I had to do it so I could learn what one was and how to do it. For some old timers that is how they learned and what they are used too. I don't use them ever but if it helps some people understand what your trying to accoplish then I might consider doing one.
Good Luck
Dustin Strobush
Good Luck
Dustin Strobush
I thought a magic sheet was a sheet which had all the lights/channels, for the LD to use, often on a miniaturized groundplan?
It is interesting, because as Charc said, I have never really heard of what tekgoddess' pro call a magic sheet. I think of a magic sheet in the way that Charc and the wiki think of them. It sounds like what your prof wants is a list of ideas, or what I think of as a very rough plot. Generally done on a ground plan with color and angles, and other things like templates. Generally I would think of it as one arrow per system, giving direction, and then at the end of the arrow any other pertinent info.
This is the way I would start any design, though I am not sure that I would do it for every beat.
This is the way I would start any design, though I am not sure that I would do it for every beat.
I know this as a key. Is that incorrect as well?
I have never heard it called a key, though that doesn't mean that people don't call it that. However, when I think of a key, I think of something that tells me how to read a document (ie. Key to Instrumentation).
Keys/Magic Sheets are just another way of breaking down the script. Charc is correct in what he is calling a magic sheet as well.
It took me a while to get into Magic sheets in grad school as well. What they'll help you do is get faster at breaking everything down...including light placements and a lot of other things.
Think of them as your sketch pad for the show.
Questions? Feel free to PM me. Also I see you're in Florida...which grad school are you at?
It took me a while to get into Magic sheets in grad school as well. What they'll help you do is get faster at breaking everything down...including light placements and a lot of other things.
Think of them as your sketch pad for the show.
Questions? Feel free to PM me. Also I see you're in Florida...which grad school are you at?
Breaking down the script? That's interesting. For my version of a "key", that definition would fit, but for my understanding of a magic sheet, it would be primarily for tech week, as the LD will be able to extremely quickly find the light he is looking for, and its corresponding channel, and be able to see a simplified version of the plot, with only the pertinent information.
Key, as in "Color Key," a document describing the angles and colors used in a particular scene. If I remember directing classes, a beat is when a character's motivation changes. Sometimes a good place for a light cue, sometimes not. I think what tekgoddess' professor is looking for is a "scene magic sheet" rather than a composite magic sheet, and probably isn't all that concerned with exact channel numbers at this stage of the design process.
At school we said "light key" for the main lighting angle/colour and "light fill" for the subtler one.
Once we had an asian teacher who also used "the magic sheet" term. In her opinion, it's a datasheet that gives you a clear view of the different parts of the rig - consecutive floorplans of different groups by function (colour, focus, whatever).
Once we had an asian teacher who also used "the magic sheet" term. In her opinion, it's a datasheet that gives you a clear view of the different parts of the rig - consecutive floorplans of different groups by function (colour, focus, whatever).
mbandgeek
Active Member
I knew that I have seen this term somewhere before.
PART 4 - Professional Lighting Procedure, by Bill Williams
There is a description as well as a diagram near the bottom of the page. Is this kind of what you are looking for?
PART 4 - Professional Lighting Procedure, by Bill Williams
There is a description as well as a diagram near the bottom of the page. Is this kind of what you are looking for?
TupeloTechie
Active Member
Usually when I think of a "magic sheet" I think of what mbandgeek just posted. However in Warfel's New Handbook of Stage Lighting Graphics I am told that that is now called a "Cheat Sheet" and a magic sheet is a sheet of paper "in which two or more small ground plans of the production are copied." It is then used to note the direction and color of the lighting in each scene/beat/cue/etc. My understanding is that it is a graphical version of a color key.
Folks here's what you have to remember...there is a thousand different names for everything in this industry...and its all based on when/where you grew up and who you work with...is it down light or top light? Is it a pimp or a twofer? I know a designer who still calls a Magic Sheet/Cheat Sheet a Dimmer Magic Sheet even though he's still putting channels on it.
Move on from nomenclature and think about how the tool could be helpful to you. Or not as the case may be.
Pimp (V- Stlye), or Molded Pimp (
Exactly! There is an unbelievable amount of loose terminology in this field. Every region has it's own variations.
Is it Gaff tape, Gaffer tape, Gaffer's Tape, Gaffing Tape, Gaffa Tape?
In the end the process we all use is quite similar but what we call it can vary a lot.
While I agree that debating terminology can bog everything down, at the same time, it is hard to discuss something when everyone calls it by a different name. If someone asks for help with a magic sheet we could post three different answers based on what everyone calls a magic sheet. We all want to help, but we want to give the right help, thus debate ensues!
Except the OP posted exactly what they were talking about buddy
Blah, minor technical details...
Are you sure you don't have that bass ackwards? I've always heard the terms as "key light" and "fill light".
Neither is intrinsically "better". The V-style has the advantage of being easier to dress neatly. The molded is easier to make-- just add connectors. I won't reopen the can o' words where the NEC states that a connector is not to be used as a junction box.
mbandgeek
Active Member
i just thought of this. Could it be that the OP is looking for something like this:
Electric | instument # | Type | Degree | Distance from CL | Pan | Tilt
---1----------1---------S4------36----------18" SL-------(45)-(-45)
---1----------2 --------S4------36----------18" SR-------(-45)-(45)
Etc Etc.
I am not sure if I did this right, and i know there is a term for this. Off the top of my head, I cannot remember.
Electric | instument # | Type | Degree | Distance from CL | Pan | Tilt
---1----------1---------S4------36----------18" SL-------(45)-(-45)
---1----------2 --------S4------36----------18" SR-------(-45)-(45)
Etc Etc.
I am not sure if I did this right, and i know there is a term for this. Off the top of my head, I cannot remember.
