Reaching a Futuresex/Loveshow level?

I actually picked up this DVD and love it! Overall I think it is a really slick design and I like how minimally it is cued. You don't constantly see the lights moving and colors changing. I really love that one bit where they are all pointed down and irised down into a thin tube of light snapping between deep red and n/c.
 
I actually picked up this DVD and love it! Overall I think it is a really slick design and I like how minimally it is cued. You don't constantly see the lights moving and colors changing. I really love that one bit where they are all pointed down and irised down into a thin tube of light snapping between deep red and n/c.

Overcueing is a disease that has invaded Musical Theater and Live Music Lighting.

Mike
 
Keep in mind that career tracks for theater and live music are very different (not that you can't go from one to the other) just like a track for regional design is very different from a track for Broadway (again, not to say that one can't go from one to the other).

Mike
 
How a tour gets from concept to implementation varies as widely as the type of music that is out there.

I've done stuff where tech "week" was a month in the shop. Places like Upstaging and PRG (among others) have space in their shop to test and rehearse tours, even up to practicing the build of the rig and the loading of the trucks. I've also been on a couple things where we used the house rig and had to re-program the desk every show.

Take business classes, take drafting classes, learn about electricity, even geometry will help (what is figuring a beam angle/field at a specific trim but geometry?).

But the biggest thing is to meet everyone, learn to network, learn to be a team player, and never dismiss an opportunity simply because the money may be less than adequate.
 
How a tour gets from concept to implementation varies as widely as the type of music that is out there.

I've done stuff where tech "week" was a month in the shop. Places like Upstaging and PRG (among others) have space in their shop to test and rehearse tours, even up to practicing the build of the rig and the loading of the trucks. I've also been on a couple things where we used the house rig and had to re-program the desk every show.

Take business classes, take drafting classes, learn about electricity, even geometry will help (what is figuring a beam angle/field at a specific trim but geometry?).

But the biggest thing is to meet everyone, learn to network, learn to be a team player, and never dismiss an opportunity simply because the money may be less than adequate.

This.

Oh the joy of getting a rig nice and beautiful in the shop and then on the first stop of the tour having to cut all the tape/cable ties on your cable and add cables or make bigger loops because of the runs.

I hated the using house rig tours.

Networking is key in every part of our field. You would not believe how many doors open because you know some guy.

Mike
 
Overcueing would be cramming 300 cues into a show that really only calls for 200. Sometimes people are afraid to let the stage sit in a look for too long and so they add another cue but becasue it dosn't really fit it dosnt work.
 
Of course, putting 200 cues in a show that only needs 20 is even more fun.:twisted:

Yup, I have seen 200+ cues in a 50 cue show before. Man it is terrible.

Our professors told us the ideal situation is to cue a show with one, perfect cue. Of course no one, perfect cue exists, and there is no ideal situation. But the idea is to use as few cues as possible to achieve your results. I once cued A Dolls House in 12 cues in a 80-100 unit plot. Got an A+ on that project (which was actually staged).

Mike
 
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Future Sex/Love Show was completely on timecode, two types actually, midi and something else, and the LD was there, the show was the same every night, and there were a truckload of strobes in there, as well as lasers, lots of mirrors, VL4s and Vari-lites.

Backstage lighting tour ftw? Anything else you want to know?

Also the whole thing was programmed on a soundstage, it took more than a month.
 
Overcueing would be cramming 300 cues into a show that really only calls for 200. Sometimes people are afraid to let the stage sit in a look for too long and so they add another cue but becasue it dosn't really fit it dosnt work.

I would agree with this whole-heartedly and inject the definition of music when performed correctly as:

"The combination of sound and silence"

Few things stuck from music theory class, but this adage made it-
 
Ewww.... I would never do lighting (involving people) soley on Midi timecode.

Mike
 
here's a question.

What does a pre-vis studio look like? Is it just a room with big monitors and powerful computers that have the right software (and of course a console?)
 
...What does a pre-vis studio look like? Is it just a room with big monitors and powerful computers that have the right software (and of course a console?)
Pretty much. Plus sofas, comfy chairs, and the ubiquitous cappuccino machine!;)

Here's a picture of Upstaging's Programming Suite:
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Many other studios include a projector and a largish screen for the "stage view."
 

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