Handling practical requests.
- Thread starterBlackoutGo
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ptero
Active Member
It would be a rare instance where I'd want a switch to really work, whether it's a simple switch or to trigger a relay.
If the goal is for the practical switching to work with general lighting cues to reflect a changing light source, it can be a headache. It can lead to difficulty in getting show lighting and the actual switching of practicals to sync. otoh, could be that doesn't really matter and having it actor-driven simplifies life. Just depends I guess.
At one extreme, 'Talking With' has a monologue with an actress who, during the scene, turns on 13 lamps, then turns them all off. YOIKS! They were all on dimmers, so when she went to the wrong one, Lights could not react and change to match her error. 26 chances for oopsies each time.
If the goal is for the practical switching to work with general lighting cues to reflect a changing light source, it can be a headache. It can lead to difficulty in getting show lighting and the actual switching of practicals to sync. otoh, could be that doesn't really matter and having it actor-driven simplifies life. Just depends I guess.
At one extreme, 'Talking With' has a monologue with an actress who, during the scene, turns on 13 lamps, then turns them all off. YOIKS! They were all on dimmers, so when she went to the wrong one, Lights could not react and change to match her error. 26 chances for oopsies each time.
theatricalmatt
Well-Known Member
Funny -- I designed a dance concert where the choreographer had fifteen dancers, and for each dancer there was a hanging lightbulb with a pullchain. Her original concept was for the dancers to operate the lights, which proved problematic for a number of reasons -- but principally that the lightboard was able to definitely turn them "off", but not "on" again if a dancer had actually pulled the keychain. (Also, that if they *were* able to be operated by the dancers, I couldn't pull off a really cool strobe-y chase-y effect later in the dance.) So while it meant setting the lighting very, very specifically, it was able to go off without a hitch.
From an audience perspective, it was nearly impossible to tell whether a performer had actually turned the light on or off, and I find that ninety-percent of the time, this also holds true with actors and light switches.
From an audience perspective, it was nearly impossible to tell whether a performer had actually turned the light on or off, and I find that ninety-percent of the time, this also holds true with actors and light switches.
Hmm, after years, I never posted photos of the fairy balls....
When i was the ME at a regional theatre, praticatls were always an interesting subject. Since most shops don't employ a props artisan with electrical background, it often falls to the electrics department, and always does if the item is board-controlled. Maybe I have been lucky in that most LDs and SDs that I have worked with would coordinate on most of the practicals. SO they would show up on plots and paperwork, even if the final position was not nailed down yet. I also always made it a point to ask about practicals in production meetings, once rehearsals had started, so that all the parties involved, including the director could weigh in. Of course, it often was a mad scramble to get practicals installed as we usually had to wait until the set was finished (or close enough), meaning we did a lot of work around tech days.
If you aren't expecting to work 14+ hour days around tech rehearsals and 10/12s, you are probably doing it wrong.
porkchop
Well-Known Member
I think I still have one of those.... somewhere
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