Spotlight Do's and Dont's

[Markovich]

I'm gonna be running spot soon for a show, and I was just interested in if there is any rule of thumb for spots?
I know how to operate a spotlight, did a few events with a spotlight, just wondering if there is any do's and dont's on a spot.
Just wondering if I missed anything.

Thanks.

 

[Footer]

Bright end towards the stage.

Turn the light on when told, turn the light off when told.

But, most importantly, bright end towards the stage.

http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/...-would-you-tell-first-time-spot-operator.html

 

[Markovich]

Thought I was the star of the show.
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

 

[DuckJordan]

keep chatter on headset to a minimum, I'm not sure about your LD but when I'm calling the show unless i ask for a confirmation on a standby don't tell me standing by on headset I've got bigger things to worry about than whether the spot op is paying attention.

 

[Markovich]

usually in the show I'm doing I am right next to the control operator so yeah chatter is down, and whatever needs to be done is simply relayed to me quite fast.
plus the booth is a small 10x10 foot room.

 

[Aman121]

Dont lick the lamp. Its okay to pretend your firing a laser cannon as long as you pay attention to the show. Practice finding targets a bit if you have time, lighting up chairs, people on stage, ect. Read Footers thread again, especially wolf825's post, and follow the links posted to other threads. Lots of good info there.

 

[techieman33]

keep chatter on headset to a minimum, I'm not sure about your LD but when I'm calling the show unless i ask for a confirmation on a standby don't tell me standing by on headset I've got bigger things to worry about than whether the spot op is paying attention.

This is the 2nd most important thing in my opinion. Most shows my spot ops say 6 words total. "Spot x here" 5-10 minutes before show, and "spot x here" right at the end of intermission. The most important thing to me is don't cut off the persons face, not much can look worse than a spot light on the body and a dark face.

 

[chausman]

Pay attention to where the talent is going. Don't let them walk out of the light. Keep their face lit, especially when they are who is talking.

And a personal pet peeve: Stay off of masking and the front lip of the stage.

 

[alyx92]

Alyx92's 3 "B"s of Followspot:

1. Be On Time
2. Be Accurate
3. Be Smoooooth

1. Timing isn't always super prescice in followspot, but many times you'll be bumping on or off with other cues (music, pyro, sound, etc). If you're late (or early) it ruins the whole look. So be on time!
2. There is no bigger pet peeve of mine then seeing a spot hit a random point on stage, then slide all the way across to the real target. Hit your mark every time! You may want to invest in one of these. I love them.
3. Be Smooooooth. Don't shake or jitter your spot while on a mark. It just looks bad.

Keep these three things in mind, and you'll be great! Good Luck

 

[derekleffew]

10 Commandments for Spotlight Operators

 

[Brandofhawk]

As a followspot operator, you are just as much a character in the show as an actor. This is what my LD told me on my first followspot gig.

Some of these others have said but I'm going to repost anyways.

Be smooth and subtle.

If whoever you are following stops you have two-ish seconds to hit them center.
Also, the second you stop moving, you shouldn't re adjust (within reason). You may end up distracting rather than aiding. If you do re-adjust, be subtle and smooth.

If you are working with another spot, match beam sizes.

Practice good com etiquette; my two personal pet-peeves: Don't talk over people and don't talk during standbys. Also don't leave your headset on always (especially when taking it off and on).

If your actor is talking right next to someone else, open up and catch them both.

Full body is the FULL body. Head to toes.
Half body is from the waist up
3/4ths is around the knees.
That being said, always leave some extra head room. I usually allow 1.5-2 head lengths above their head.

If you don't know what the actor is about to do (and usually, even rehearsed you wont EXACTLY) watch their feet. The feet will always turn and precede the bodies movement. The only time this doesn't happen is dance.

Watch the movement upstage to downstage and visa versa. Try to make your spot look the same size in comparison to the actor as they move around the stage. When they are farther (upstage) they will get smaller, so the light will look larger. When downstage the opposite happens.

All of these rules are what I normally tell spot ops working for me. But then sometimes I will have them break them... as they arn't really rules but guidelines.

Also, if you don't have a telrad, you can substitute a couple pieces of tape and careful head placement. Make a piece at the end of the unit like a gun sight, and a piece in the back to where you need to put your eye. Then just remember the relationship to that and where the light shows up onstage. This can make your pickups pretty accurate, to where you only need to small adjust which you can do while coming up.

Really the most you need to do is focus on what you are doing and you will be perfectly fine! Break a leg / good luck!

 

[MrsFooter]

Don't smoke during the show. And then when I ask you if you're smoking on com, don't indignantly lie about it. And then, when I tell you that I'm looking up and I can see your cigarette smoke in the spotlight beam and to put out your d**n cigarette, don't call me a crazy b***h.

If you can do that, you're hired.

 

[bishopthomas]

You get a lot of people smoking in The Egg?

The Com chatter is my biggest rule. If I can't pay attention to what's happening on stage because people are talking about what they're going to do after the show or who's kissing whom (never had that happen, just thought it would be appropriate for this mostly high school audience) then there's a problem. The only way I want to know that the spot ops are still there is by seeing them doing their job. There's really not much a spot op has to say; I tell you what to do and you just do it, simple as that. That's also the main DO: DO follow the LD's instructions. DO practice hitting the mark. DO familiarize yourself with the spotlight. DON'T have unnecessary conversations. DON'T abandon your post. DON'T work for free.

 

[MrsFooter]

You get a lot of people smoking in The Egg?

Used to, back in ye olde times. Anywhere in the space that you walk -- the cats, the rail, the stairwells, the spot rail -- you'll see 20 year old cigarette butts. We've tried to clean them up over the years, but...well, there were a lot of them. I've only ever caught someone that once, but it was just so amazing to me that he was trying to deny it when I could both see and smell the smoke. It was one of the old boys who's no longer around anymore, for good reason.

 

[DuckJordan]

And that's why we had roof access at intermission. Spot ops need smoke too just hard to get through 3 floors of crowds to get to the employee break area.

 

[techieman33]

And that's why we had roof access at intermission. Spot ops need smoke too just hard to get through 3 floors of crowds to get to the employee break area.

I have no problems with them smoking during intermission, it's smoking during the show that I have problems with.

 

[StNic54]

The thing to remember as a spot op - not just chatter on headset, but remember that when you turn on your mic, you take in all the noise, so everyone else on headset gets your noise added in - especially bad for loud events/concerts. Keep your mic off. Also, make sure you go potty before the show (I knew a guy who peed on the crowd below once - bad, bad bad) and don't doze off - when you do it's super obvious because the spot goes flying, the talent isn't lit, and your recovery is just as noticeable. Spot op is a fun position in the right conditions, so enjoy!

 

[jwolfkill]

Others have covered the basics pretty well.

My pet peeve is hearing the "ka-chunk" of a frame change from a spot boomerang in the middle of a quiet scene or soft passage of music. If your boomerang tends to be noisy, learn to "catch" the lever of the "outgoing" frame with one finger as you switch in another frame so you can ease the "outgoing" frame to rest instead of allowing it to bang into place as it drops out.

Of course, you won't need to worry about that when working a rock-n-roll show where the SPL in the house is about 115 dB and the LD is calling for bumps from frame to frame at a pace of about 6 or 7 per minute. Then, you should slam down the lever of the "incoming" frame to make sure it releases the "outgoing" frame to drop out quickly for a nice, clean color change.

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

First point for new op: keep the performer's face in the center of the spot or near it, not at the top of the spot, or the face will too quickly move and be unlit, and it's the face, not the feet, that is the center of attention.

Oh yeah - if over people or audience - leave everything including your cell phone on the floor below - and have nothing that can fall from your position.

 

[jwolfkill]

First point for new op: keep the performer's face in the center of the spot or near it, not at the top of the spot, or the face will too quickly move and be unlit, and it's the face, not the feet, that is the center of attention.

Unless it's a dance performance, and then assume that you will be doing a full body shot and keep the face AND feet in the spot. Tap dancers especially get mad if the audience can't see their feet!

Oh yeah - if over people or audience - leave everything including your cell phone on the floor below - and have nothing that can fall from your position.

And if you wear glasses, consider some kind of strap or cord to secure them on your head. Up on the catwalks or in the trusses with all those lights, it gets hot. When people get hot, they sweat. When people sweat, glasses slip off faces. It would be really embarrassing to both (a) be responsible for something falling on to a performer's or patron's head and (b) have difficulty finishing the show due to inability to see the stage well enough to pick up cues.