Hey all,
I'm a newly started M.E./ Educator (read not faculty just happen to like sharing my technical knowledge which works great in the collegiate setting). My students seem to be a little hardcore about getting their lights focused just right. Below are some details to help you guys hopefully give me some advice.
Now it is pretty cool that these undergrad students get to do their own lighting design and they have lots of autonomy from the faculty in that they are put in charge of things like focus, paperwork, cueing and the like (with advisement from the faculty). It seems to me that they seem to be very concerned with focusing their plots to perfection. For example spending 5-10 minutes on a single Leko 6x9 out of a wash.
Now I understand wanting to get everything focused just right is the ideal, and given that they are students we'll probably have to take a little more time and they might even make a few mistakes.
But even given all that I find myself shaking my heads at these young designers wanting me to bench focus an entire plot, or refocus an entire system to make their front wash "perfectly flat." My mentality is that we need to work with what we got and try to stay within the labor budget (something the department has apparently had trouble with previously). Basically my mentality is that done is good so long as it isn't atrocious and achieves the artistic intent.
So I guess my big question is how would/should I approach student designers to get them to be a little less hyper-critical of their own work? Is that even possible without the artistic faculty having a similar mentality? Am I just a sloppy/rushed ME and I should just shut up and let these students do the thing they are in college for?
Let me know if that was poorly explained or you'd like more information. I just want my students to relax a little so I can stay sane in this crazy field.
Thanks all! I really appreciate any advice you can give or any experiences you'd like to share!
I'm a newly started M.E./ Educator (read not faculty just happen to like sharing my technical knowledge which works great in the collegiate setting). My students seem to be a little hardcore about getting their lights focused just right. Below are some details to help you guys hopefully give me some advice.
Now it is pretty cool that these undergrad students get to do their own lighting design and they have lots of autonomy from the faculty in that they are put in charge of things like focus, paperwork, cueing and the like (with advisement from the faculty). It seems to me that they seem to be very concerned with focusing their plots to perfection. For example spending 5-10 minutes on a single Leko 6x9 out of a wash.
Now I understand wanting to get everything focused just right is the ideal, and given that they are students we'll probably have to take a little more time and they might even make a few mistakes.
But even given all that I find myself shaking my heads at these young designers wanting me to bench focus an entire plot, or refocus an entire system to make their front wash "perfectly flat." My mentality is that we need to work with what we got and try to stay within the labor budget (something the department has apparently had trouble with previously). Basically my mentality is that done is good so long as it isn't atrocious and achieves the artistic intent.
So I guess my big question is how would/should I approach student designers to get them to be a little less hyper-critical of their own work? Is that even possible without the artistic faculty having a similar mentality? Am I just a sloppy/rushed ME and I should just shut up and let these students do the thing they are in college for?
Let me know if that was poorly explained or you'd like more information. I just want my students to relax a little so I can stay sane in this crazy field.
Thanks all! I really appreciate any advice you can give or any experiences you'd like to share!