# Follow spot Cues



## EustaceM (Aug 20, 2011)

Would it be better to make a cue sheet for follow spot ops. or call their cues with telling what they need to do ex. "Standby House Left Follow Spot. Actor 1 enters DownStage Right. Douser half with a Fade Count of 3 seconds."

I normally do both but are there other ways you can call these cues.


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## DrPinto (Aug 20, 2011)

I would keep all the details on the cue sheet and only call the cue number over the intercom. The less said on the intercom during the show, the better.


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## rochem (Aug 20, 2011)

Depends entirely on the level. For major touring shows where the spot ops are only going to see the show once or twice, the caller is just calling everything as they go. "Spot 2 Standby to pick up actor entering In-1 Down Left with red hair in a headshot, 1 and 4 in a 3 to 80, Spot 2..... Go." Depending on how involved the show is or how familiar the spot ops are with the plot, you can change how much information you give. For longer-running shows (probably a week or more), then shows usually start to give out spot sheets, with all the cues for each individual spot on a sheet. Then you give a master list of all three spots to the head spot, who may call cues as they see fit to the other(s) - mostly just synchronized blackouts and such where everyone needs to be together, or if there's a sub in who doesn't know the show. On my spot sheets, I always list the LX cue that the cue goes with, or hopefully one that just precedes the spot cue. I don't bother with numbering spot cues - once you know the show well enough to work off of numbered spot cues, you probably don't need it called for you anyway. And with a good operator, their timing from being able to see the show is gonna be far better than anything you can call based on the script (at least for theatre - concerts/television are a different beast entirely).


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## derekleffew (Aug 20, 2011)

rochem said:


> ..."Spot 2 Standby to pick up actor entering In-1 Down Left with red hair in a headshot, 1 and 4 in a 3 to 80, Spot 2..... Go." ...


First, should be "Standby Spot 2..."
Second, what on earth is "1 and 4 in a 3 to 80" supposed to mean?

See the thread http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/stage-management-facility-operations/4428-follow-spot-cues.html .


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## rochem (Aug 20, 2011)

derekleffew said:


> First, should be "Standby Spot 2..."


You're right, my apologies. I was in a hurry to leave and just quickly wrote that post.


derekleffew said:


> Second, what on earth is "1 and 4 in a 3 to 80" supposed to mean?



"Frames 1 and 4, fade up to 80% in a 3 count". I did a sitdown a few months back, and there was one portion of the show where we were quickly flashing back and forth between 1+4 and 1+2 . The first few nights she tried to call it "normally," but it was just way more confusing and she could barely get the cues out before the spot was supposed to go. This actually worked really well for the situation. (Honestly, I put it in my post partially to gauge whether that was somewhat common, or if that was highly unusual and specific to this one person.)

Also, that's an interesting thread. I don't remember ever reading that. Thanks for the link.


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## kylethegeek (Aug 21, 2011)

Personally, I like the cues being called from the headset. That's me though. Our spots are on the catwalk (I am assuming that yours aren't, and you can see the cue sheet) so reading a cue sheet is not an option for us. Another reason we do it is because we have 3 shows for most of our events, weekend shows. Another reason why I like them called is to make sure that I don't spot the wrong person. (Yes, that did happen in a show before! oops!)


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## MarshallPope (Aug 21, 2011)

The problem with having spot ops read their cues is the potential for something to happen while they are looking down. For me, at least, spotting is something that really requires your eyes to be on the stage.


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## EustaceM (Aug 21, 2011)

I do prefer calling spot cues "standby house left spot. Frame 1 with a fade count of 5. Head shot of blah blah entering from stage-left" rather than give them the spot cues. It prevents problems and most of the spot ops I work with are new or volunteers. 

But how would a professional call it if they have to call it? That way I'll get use to calling it correctly


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## rochem (Aug 21, 2011)

EustaceM said:


> But how would a professional call it if they have to call it? That way I'll get use to calling it correctly


 
Derek (and others) can probably say better than I, but in my experience in the theatre world, it's usually something like what you quoted. I've never actually heard spot cues called as numbers, except when the ALD/Spot Tracker was communicating changes and info about cues when teching long-term shows. Usually the ALD/spot caller sets up defaults at the beginning of the show: unless you're told otherwise, assume a H&S (Head and Shoulders) shot and a 3 count fade. This just lets the caller omit certain information if the majority of cues are using those parameters. Usually, the callers don't restate the frames for each cue - you'll just get a "change to frames 1 & 4" or whatever in between cues, then all your pickups are in that until you're told to change. 

For a show where the ops will only see it a few times, it's really important to use physical descriptions and locations rather than character or actor names. Even on a show like Beauty and the Beast, many ops won't know which one is the Beast. On a sit-down or a permanent show, the ALD (usually the Assistant as opposed to the Associate) will call the cues through tech, and then the head spot op takes over calling as needed through previews. By opening (or shortly thereafter), all the ops will have their cues memorized and there's no calling at all, except for those days when there's a sub running a light. It's actually quite impressive to see how little attention operators pay to the show on long-running gigs - they'll discuss the news, sports, and throw insults at eachother through even the toughest sequences, all while never missing a single cue.


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## GBtimex (Aug 22, 2011)

I used to call Ice shows. We had 8 spots arranged in a horseshoe patern and had anywhere from 110 to 300 cues depending on which show. 

I always called the show myself and when needed ran a spot and called the show as well. The key I found to success was having as clear communcation of what I wanted and keeping people informed during the show. I NEVER allowed people to call their own cues. The reason for this was because your ops do not know the show and even if they see it for a week it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to ensure a consistant look. You may have the best crew on earth who picks it up after one viewing. More likely though you will get spot ops who are full time riggers part time spots or guys who "only work spots" but have been around since dirt was new and only want to run a spot and not think about it. I have had both but I always plan for the worse. 

With my crew I met everyone of them before hand, we talked about the show and what was in it (pictures helped A LOT), I told them about anything special the show required that was not a simple fade in fade out. For example Ballyhoos, pin spots, dark sweeps, areal outs, or anything specialized for my show. We would talk about how these needed to look and when they were coming. I would tell them how I call the show :"Warning spots 2 and 4 you will be hitting the Blue fish entering up stage left, spots stand by ......GO" and then tell them the 3 rules that will get you fired. 

After that I asked them what questions they had or if anybody knew that they were going to have problems (My spot can't hit here or here, I got a carbon arch so my light may change color, my headset doesnt work well can you please call my cues slower). 

After that we would do the first show and I would see how well they did and what changes I needed to make. Then I would go to our Director and find out what things he wanted changed. 

Bottom line is a guy may have run a spot for 20 years. He has been on your show for 20 minutes. Don't leave it up for interpretation, tell the guys what you want, how you want it, when it needs to be done and then call it the same way. 

Best of luck to ya,

GBTimex


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## rochem (Aug 22, 2011)

GBtimex said:


> ...and then tell them the 3 rules that will get you fired.


 
Care to share?


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## GBtimex (Aug 22, 2011)

rochem said:


> Care to share?


 

The 3 rules that will get you fired from the ice show:

Rule Number 1: THE MOUSE IS ALWAYS LIT! I don't care if all of your spots go down but one. that one IS ON THE MOUSE! 

Rule Number 2: No talking on the head set the first day. After I have seen what you can do I may/will relax a bit and we can all breathe a little easier. But for today none of you have seen this show before so ALL of you will be focused. 

Rule number 3: I have just worked a 14 hour day and we are about to have a show. DO NOT GIVE ME ANY ****! I am not in the mood for it and my temper may cause you to become separated from your income. DO NOT GIVE ME ANY ****! Unless it's funny.

Get through the next show and do it well and I will be much easier to get along with. 

After that the bar awaits! 

GBtimex


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## chausman (Aug 22, 2011)

GBtimex said:


> Rule Number 1: THE MOUSE IS ALWAYS LIT! I don't care if all of your spots go down but one. that one IS ON THE MOUSE!


 
I think MOUSE could be replaced with the main character/person who is performing for those of use not working with rodents.


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## GBtimex (Aug 22, 2011)

chausman said:


> I think MOUSE could be replaced with the main character/person who is performing for those of use not working with rodents.


 

And I do hope that in your career you don't have to work with them either. Some of us are not so lucky...


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## jglodeklights (Aug 22, 2011)

Depends on the specific dynamic of your theater. At the summer stock I'm at right now, we have the SM give a standby on the character and Cue number our two spots are coming up on. This is done because they are Source 4's on the older City Theatrical yokes controlled from our dimmers, and there is nowhere easy up in their perches to place a track list they could utilize (darn theater in a barn). Running spot in a theater where they were independent of the dimmers, I've been responsible for my own pick ups. At my college we would sometimes have 4 or 5 spot ops for on stage seating musicals. For at least one of the shows we designated a lead spot op who called the cues for the spots on a separate com channel from everyone else. 

The information should all, somehow, be tracked. Who does it is, again, dependent upon the specific situation of the theater. Our SM's track it here. I chime in from my FOH lighting perch when I see my spots not doing quite what they need to be. The other theater I ran spot in I tracked my cues and then gave the SM a copy of it. 

IMO, if the SM is going to be calling spot cues, they should try to limit what they are calling to the spots. It should really just be G-O's on their ups and the character they are on. Only if something is super special about the pick up should it include information about color or size. Otherwise, standbys can start to get real messy real fast, especially if there are deck cues included with them.


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