Follow Spot Cues

[Van]

Sorry Van, but I feel I must correct you.

What you describe is actually a person who looks for underground water.

The mechanical dimming device used on arc and discharge light sources is called a "douser."

One of my biggest pet peeves is the misspelling of theatrical terms. I have seen "Leico" on a fairly famous artist's rider.


As to the Spot Operator's Cue Sheet, I would add a column labeled "Size."

You are absolutely Correct !

I completely misspelled that. It is Douser as in to douse a fire with water, as opposed to dowsing for water with a stick.
< as if being raised by an English teacher wasn't bad enough!, grumble, grumble, grumble.>

 

[derekleffew]

Hi everyone...
In the next few years, I am going to become the calling stage manager at my school. I know how to call the show and everything, but I have been wondering about how to call spot cues. <snip>

DHSLXOP,

I posed your question to the Lead Spot Op for an UN-NAMED Broadway show here in Las Vegas. I was trying to get him to participate here on Control Booth. He is responsible for making sure all 3 spots do exactly what they're supposed to 8 show/week.

I told him your situation and then asked how he did it. He replied "I don't know, how does everybody else do it?" Thanks Bud, big help! When pressed, he said his operators know the show, and he just says the g-word when two or three spots have to happen together. Trainee ops are given a Spot Cue Sheet for their light only, until they don't need it anymore. He said its a busy show and he doesn't have time to call every Cue, much less every Fade, Pickup, Size, Color AND run his own light.

I told him how it was done for a pair of magicians here whose show had 10 operators and 12 spots (near the end of the show, SpotOps #9&10 would move to operate spots 11&12. The Lead Spot Op would listen on the board op com-channel, and relay electrics Q#'s and G-words to the other spots on the Spot com-channel. The Lead Soft Op kept the CueSheets current for all the other Spots in case of trainees.

I have seen a credit in the program of a Broadway show listed as "Production Followspot Tracker." This would be a person who sits with the LD and writes all notes regarding spotlights into a database, or Excel, then sorts it to give to each Operator. SpotOps sometimes don't have time to write notes; that's what tech rehearsals are for; but SpotOps should be trusted to read their own Cues and do what they're supposed to on the SM's calls. If the cue is "Pick up Mary when she enters DSL" and it's only one spot, I would not call that. If there were a handy electrics cue# before, I would say "Warning Electrics Cue X, shortly followed by Spot1" "Stand-by Electrics and Spot." "Electrics Cue GO. On your own, Spot1." Something to that effect.

For a musical that's how I've always done it.
For a rock/country show, the SpotOps have never seen the show before, and almost always the person running the lighting desk calls every Cue, Pickup, Color, etc. Nick Sholem, longtime LD for the Eagles, is the only LD I know who can call his entire show by the Spot Ops first names, or nicknames, to people he has just met at 7:30 for an 8:00 show. He feels the Ops will work harder if it's more personal, so he doesn't use Spot Numbers. I totally agree with him, but I couldn't do it. Different operators every night, 10 spot lights, calling them all by name? The man's a genius.


In the end whatever works for you is right.
Happy Cue Calling.

 

[Grog12]

It also depends on whether or not you're using indepent spots or are using S4's or something similar lamped brighter than your onstage lights. In the case of the latter I usually give the spotops a Qsheet with the Q they're coming up in, what they're doing and when they'll be going out so all they have to do is listen for the SM's call.

I do something similar with standalone spots, but depending on the skill level of the operator (talking from school exp) I may give the SM more to call.

In long running shows such as Broadway and the Strip Derek's friend is right..the spots just kind of do it...but that's a long term environment. At another unamed show on the Las Vegas strip the SM is typically playing online poker during the show while the crew is remembering their own Q's.

 

[bendersen]

You are the only book. Occasionally ASM's have books for support of the actors and to track props, but not to take cues out of. Lighting, deck movements, sound, spots, sfx, and about anything else should all be called by the SM. These departments in no way need any type of script. I know that is seams like that is a lot to put on the SM's shoulders, but in reality it is a much less stressful situation then have 19 million people taking there own cues. Really the only thing that should not be cued by the SM is actor entrances/exits inside of a scene (though occasionally they are). In opera everything, including actors, are cued from he stage manager.

I will just recommend with body mics that your sound board operator is following along on book. My sound board operator was not on book for my last show, and the first couple of nights he was missing the first lines of several entrances. Unless you (as the stage manager) really want to be cueing when body mics go on, which I find to be a pain in the ass, I think the sound board operator should really be on book.

BUT, that doesn't mean he/she takes any actual cues from that book. All cues are on a stage manager's GO. Period.

And, in case, it's still remotely relevant, what I do with cueing spotlights is not nearly so sophisticated as everything mentioned above. I just cue "Spot 1" or "Spot 2" and they know where to be.

In a pinch, by the way, I have cued a spotlight next to me with snaps of the finger. I didn't have enough working headsets, so I literally (while calling my other cues) would snap once for STANDBY and twice for GO. This worked tremendously well, though I encourage headsets if you have enough.

 

[Wolf]

Im really a lighting techie so I think I have some good insight on this. I have run many different kinds of Follow Spot (sizes, intensities, and through distances). Most recently I ran a spot with a through distance of about 150'-200' with 3 other spots me being lead spot. The Stage Manager never even called cues for us. We were given cue sheets and when the other spots have question they would ask me. I like it this way because it limits com chatter and leaves it in our hands so theirs not always someone sitting on us.

 

[AndyPandy]

...In a pinch, by the way, I have cued a spotlight next to me with snaps of the finger...

I'm doing a show at the moment for which I (as light OP) have to que the spot next to me with a long ruler, because she's just out of reach to tap on the shoulder. the other spot is qued on headset, but we dont have enough at the moment for the other spot, thanks to a control freak director demanding to be on comms.

 

[ReiRei]

I ran spot for BatB & Little Shop but only got spot cues for one, BatB. They were simply spot *insert number here* on *insert cast member here*. We had to memorize our colors and after a while she stopped giving us our cast members. Never did forget the intensities either.

Little Shop, I memorized my cues (gel, cast member, intensity, etc.) without my SM because she thought it would be too much of a hassle to call my cues. Then during our remount she had to work with a different crew and became angry with me because she hadn't written the cues down. Wanted to trap her under a few close S4's... some people... *shakes head*

 

[icewolf08]

It isn't the SM's job to write down follow spot cues. It is the job of the spot ops and the LD. Generally the SM has too many thing to worry about without spots, and spots should just take care of themselves. Sure, sometimes there are spot cues that come out of nowhere and need to be called, or they need to be coordinated with a music cue, sound effect, scene shift, etc. Cues like that should be called, but for the most part Spots should be able to operate pretty autonomously.

I think I have posted before in this thread, but I will post again. Every spot should make up a cue sheet. It should include the spot number, the spot cue number, the lights cue that it goes with (as 90% of spot cues go with called light cues), the color frame, shot size (full or half body, etc.) the intensity, who/what you are on, and any other notes. Often times this list will be taken and used to create a master list which includes all the spots that is given to the SM to keep in their book. It is useful for things like crew changes, or just archival purposes.

The key is to keep it simple and concise so that any operator could walk in and follow the cue list and run the show.

 

[briancon7]

Spot Light Cue Sheet

Does anyone have a good format for spot opp cues that they can post?

 

[CrisCole]

Our spotters don't get SM cues. The SM gives them a lead sheet, and they take it from there.

They've only missed a cue once, and that was because the actor decided to do a backflip.

 

[KevinJohnston]

I worked at the New York State Theater (3000 seat house) for 3 years as a follow spot op and never saw a single cue sheet the entire time I was there. Whether it was ballet or opera, the SM called every cue for all 8 spots, including color, size, intensity, and pickup location. Usually, they wouldn't specify which spot was making the pickup, just whether it was a 1E bridge spot or FOH. The lead spot for each position would then indicate to the rest of the guys whose pickup it was. The basic reason for this system was the lack of consistency in personnel night to night. When the SM calls everything, and you have pros on the lamps, it's possible to change-up operators without additional operators.

 

[Anonymous067]

Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in on the SM calling sound cues thing. I worked with an SM for three years who required the sound ops to be on script. As soon as she left and I got promoted to sound designer, I threw that rule out as fast as I could. I have the new SM call playback and CD cues. She also puts the wireless lav operator on standby, but does not give her gos for special effect voice returns. Just a reminder to her that it is coming up.

The only sound person who follows script is the wireless op so that they know who is on.