Ok here's one that I used to use at an outdoor
theatre I used to work at. We had a couple of
Carbon arc Super Troupers.
yes i'm old now stop laughing and I'll finish my suggestion. On the back end there was a label plate that was held in with 3 screws, this was also an access hole for getting to the back of the
reflector. Well we would remove 1 screw then aim the spot at one of our
pick up points. We would then place a smallish peice of tape on the back wall of the spot bay with the
cue # on it, mine were color coded to even help remind me of color, size,shot,focus. To prep for the
cue you'd just put the dot of light on the tape then look down the spot for the
pick up. Now days it's really much more like hip firing a rifle I can hit a head shot on a kid from 300 feet away < not really, but almost. > but I've got over 1200 hrs on the
carbon arc and that trick sure did help get the cues down real quick. I can only guess that today you could rig a
laser pointer to do the same thing or perhaps rig it to shoot straight down at the floor and put your
cue points right there under the spot itself, if it's not in a bay. Good luck, Hope that helps. Can't wait to see what other suggestions you get.
Nope not so old - though I have never once used one - he he he. Just different places worked, not that I’m that old perhaps but been around a
bit. The
current community theater I help at when I have time uses a
carbon arc over their
Altman 1000 for their 50'
throw - no idea why given I could very possibly soup up their 1K FEL
fixture to a 1.2Kw internal
reflector in the lamp spot (given the lamp is still available), ventillation for the
carbon arc spot would help also. - One of the things they will get around to... At some
point I should find some time and tinker with the thing. Saw three like 10' long follow spots come back with a show once a few months back, a crew chief made a deal with a theater getting rid of them. Them’s spots, glad I didn’t have to lug them down the stairs. The shop manager once he saw them went into great remembrances of many years spent at the rear of such contraptions. Been around them but never had to use one for good or bad - probably for bad or was that good. I do on the other
hand personally own a 3Kw
incandescent Kliegl Dynabeam with working lamp and original
gel. I’m absolutely itching to
plug It in and see what the beam of light looks like.
I also chat much with our lead crew chief on
followspot stuff so as to supervise how it’s done with repairing the gear or how it’s useful to set up I prepping it while he is on the
road. I otherwise when not under advice do common sense repairs but don’t have a feel for especially arc source spots like he does. Used xenon and
HID types but not much. Also read the “getting the most from your
followspot” IA
manual also. (Not much in it that’s useful in my opinion.)
Removing a screw is by far less destructive than the method he at one
point expressed by the above crew chief, or was it the IA guys at the Chicago Theater in method. I chatted with at length once with them in noting marks on the ceiling during a rental of some
Lycian 1290's. Only time in that theater, (don’t qualify to work there) I was there to install the fixtures and lamps but had to be locked out of the booth given my non-IA status, that is unless a lamp failed where they would make an exception in me changing the lamp for them. - Forget which source, perhaps both and lots of people in my area that do the same. One or the other
hand, perhaps lots I have talked to used to take a scratch awl and punch a hole in the top of the light
fixture in doing the same thing you did or do except for that pickup
point, you would have a
mark on the back wall and they would have one straight up on the ceiling often in pencil. I think the one on the ceiling is much easier to look for and closer to the
fixture but also tends to put a hole in the top of the
fixture. Not a good thing for rental gear much less smokey carbon arcs.
Since it was bright enough in the booth to see the colors you used for pickup points, I’m sure the back wall was bright enough to be useful. Most booths I have been in during shows are dark under running lights and colored tape would not work so well. Still removing the screw somewhere seems a common thing.
A caution about this or these methods: First a arc source
fixture is the only one that such a method would best be employed with.
Incandescent/
halogen sources often have far too large of filaments to provide a pin prick of light dot to locate with. Second or more important, removing screws and or poking holes in gear is not and I mean not an acceptable thing to be doing without specific permission by those on paper and officially (teacher or staff TD’s) to be responsible for the gear. Third, if the
fixture has a
reflector that is pre-mounted on the lamp such as a
fixture using a
projector lamp or a MR-16 based 360w/82v FLE Lamp with it, you won’t get much light able to come out of the
fixture.
For me, last time I ran a spot for a production (about ten years ago at least) it was not in the booth and I couldn’t do the as it were “indirect fire” method. Just had to get good at what I did by way of knowing my theater space by way of lots of practice, and a trick I did with the
iris as if
laser pointer. Given I already by way of “hip shoot” as it were, could about put my spot on target, I normally when given the
stand by opened the
gate with a
iris down beam of light that searched for the talent to appear. This allowed me a pinprick of light waiting or homing in on the location the talent would appear from. At that
point it was just a question of quickly opening the
iris to the dia. needed and following
thru the scene.
Last time I did spots it was the ballet “Gizelle” (sp) and the debate between me and follow spot #2 we never really answered was for the various jumps if you should keep the beam dia. and
bounce with the dancer during their leaps or
iris out to
cover it. Bouncing is good but on the other
hand they also tend to extend some thus parts of them go out of the light during the jump. Difficult to do both at once thus the debate.
Seen
laser pointers in use, seen gun sights in use, seen just
wire tied about the spot to focus with.
Laser dot is distracting and I don’t think very useful in having a beam large enough to see which the audience can also see. Gunsights don’t work so well if attempting to do a pickup during
blackout. Various spot handles also in use. One IA
spot op at one
point contacted me in attempting to get back her spot handle. Seems she left it behind and while home made, she was very attached to it in being useful for her own control of the
fixture.
Or perahps you do a tube of some sort say perpendicular to the follow spot and just taped to it’s top so it doesn’t move and you make marks on a board or wall adjacent to you. Just a 1/4" tube taped to the follow spot you could aim with according to marks on the wall.
With all these types of methods, it’s a question of how much time you have to place the spot in the in-direct fire method, lock it into place so it doesn’t move while you re-adjust your eyes and focus on the
stage in picking up and following the talent. In my case it was easy, the crew chief wold give directions in aiming to the gunner and A’ gunner so as to hit the target. The follow spot operator doesn’t get this help thus must be able to transition quickly between hitting a pre-assigned
cue or pickup
point and turning to watch and follow the action on
stage.
Most I would think just get good at dead reconing. What worked for me was the
iris closed and for if a second or so using a little white
laser from the spot to search for the talent. On the guns, I used in-direct fire as much more efficient than attempting to aim them at something down range.
Also of note from the military is what machine gun placements use - safe fire zones. Stakes placed where you are allowed to fire. Perhaps for a follow spot and especially if pointing at a window, but even if only a railing in front of you, you could tape off the limits of travel to your spot light so as to better reference how close to the
edge or where your pickup is. Say
downstage drape is right near the bottom
edge of the whitness
mark. Second
leg is off at about a 30 degree angle from it 1/4 of the way up.
Etc. you by windowing and plotting out your space now get locations to
pick up from and zone in on.