# Guys & Dolls



## Smatticus (Apr 14, 2004)

About a week and a half ago my high school put on its performance of Guys & Dolls. This was my first opportunity working as actual lighting designer for a show and it was definitly a good experience.

It has taken a little while but I finally got a bunch of pictures up on my website, unfortunately right now I don't have any of the actual performance, just pictures of the prep work and the theatre and our equipment and all those kinds of things. Thought I would share them with everyone:

http://www.brinkster.com/smatticus/guydol.html

I have a list of things that I learned from doing the design on this show that I will also share unfortunately I don't have it with me right now, but I will add that to the post later. Sorry if there are any spelling or grammar problems with my captions I only read through them once. 8O


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## rapscaLLion (Apr 14, 2004)

Um... link's broken


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## Smatticus (Apr 14, 2004)

http://www28.brinkster.com/smatticus/guydol.html

Sorry about that, forgot the '28'! :x


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## rapscaLLion (Apr 14, 2004)

I get there, but nothing happens. The page loads but no pictures... tried pressing "<<restart>>" as well. I also clicked on the "guys and dolls" link, it's broken or something.


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## Smatticus (Apr 14, 2004)

You should just have to click on the ".>.>.>." arrows to scroll through the pictures, the first image that you see is just a title image, once you click the arrow you just scroll through the pictures. Sorry if I didn't include that.


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## rapscaLLion (Apr 14, 2004)

fine, but no pics load... for me anyway


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## rapscaLLion (Apr 14, 2004)

never mind, it loads all the pics at once, that's the problem. Takes 5 minutes...


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## rapscaLLion (Apr 14, 2004)

sorry for the triple post lol,

Looks like fun, have you already done the show or are you going to?

I am envious of two things: Your ETC console and the fact that you have a fly system. The two things I want most for my auditorium... 

And maybe a hardwired comm system but lets not push it 

BTW- Was this a musical? Cause if it wasn't why all the mics?


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## Smatticus (Apr 14, 2004)

No problem, we finished the show a week and a half ago, now we're just waiting for the cast party/dinner. I didn't realize it took so long to load, what kind of connection do you have? I have cable and haven't had any problems viewing it. Hmm... I don't know, I really wish we had a hardwired comm system too, we have one at the community theatre and it's really nice, so much nicer than crappy radios. Once you've used a hardwired comm system nothing else seems to be sufficient.  And yes this was a musical and we some serious problems hearing some of the actors especially with the live music so the mics really made a difference. Guys & Dolls is kind of about gambling, the main character Nathan has been engaged for 14 years but gambling and his crap game have kept him from finally marrying. Sky is a big time gambler who is bet by Nathan that he cannot take Miss Sarah to Havana with him. He convinces her to go in exchange for his helping her save her mission, except on the trip they fall in love with eachother, oops. Then they come back and it goes on to the happy ending, yay!


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## rapscaLLion (Apr 14, 2004)

sounds funny 

I can understand all the mics in the case of the music, lol the orchestra pit should have tipped me off 

I have a cable connection, it took about 2 minutes for the pics to load but after that I could go back and forward with no problem or wait.

Just out of curiosity, how big is your aud? I can't really see the whole
thing in any of the pictures.


Love the hardwired systems.


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## Smatticus (Apr 15, 2004)

The maximum occupancy for the auditorium is 1000 but I'm not sure how many people there are actual seating for, I may take some better pictures of just the auditorium and everything now that it is all cleared out but that will be a few more days, I'll get more information for you today. 8)


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## Smatticus (Apr 16, 2004)

To answer the previous question I checked and the auditorium seats 642. I haven't had a chance to take any more pictures but I did find my list of some of the things that I wrote down during the process of lighting the show, some aren't really that important, maybe they will help someone, maybe they won't:

1. Be very careful about what type of lens you have in your Source Four PAR's, having one Wide Flood and one Medium Flood when you haven't checked them out really can throw of your focusing. Choosing the right lenses really makes everything blend together nicely.

2. For the show I divided the Down-Stage area that was not occupied by any set into three zones, in this situation each zone got atleast two Source Four PAR's with a warm and cool color. If I had it to do again I would not have used them for this purpose, I would have gone with an ERS; PAR's are best I think for washes from FOH but not really for area lights downstage in that it is difficult to keep the light off the front of the stage. Farther back on stage, however, the PAR's worked very well for separating the stage into zones.

3. Whenever trying to separate spaces or different parts of the set with light rather than moving parts of the set I think it is imperative to use an ERS, crisp lines that minimize bleeding into areas you don't want lit are the best option. Use the PARs and Fresnels for filling in and providing back light.

4. Even with a solid design or finalized design it is the focusing that makes that design a reality. Be methodical, be consistent, and don't go too fast. Taking the extra time to make sure two lights are even or centered will really make a difference in the end.

5. Our school rented our scripts and materials from a theatre company; in the past I've used photo copies of the script, hole-punched and put in a binder for lighting; I think it's the easiest way to go for any technical position that really needs to see their script. That way your book isn't closing on you every 30 seconds.

6. I've found that, especially when you are being the designer there are really two parts to being a designer, the first is drafting your plot and hanging lights and gelling and focusing and all of that... that's just the first half, kind of like an artist mixing his colors so he can't start painting. The second half is the more artistic, creative part, and that's where you sit down in front of the console and you have decide what to use for each part of the show, is this too much light here? Do I need this lit now? Do I want this lit now? Is this too dark? Should I bring in more of this color? That part was a little intimidating when I got to it. 8O I've done it before but always working very much with someone else giving constant suggestions about intensities. Design is learning about intensity too, what is too hot and what isn't.

Those are just the things that I kind of scribbled down on a 'remember list' that might help me do things in the future when making decisions about a show or are there just to remind me what parts of the process their are and how they work. Any comments or criticism?


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## rapscaLLion (Apr 16, 2004)

Lol unfortunately, while our school has lots of source fours, we have no extra lenses. All of them have the same lense angles as well so we can't even swap them around. And besides, all our source fours are in the catwalk and on the sidebars, and unfortunately our school board has decreed no students and/or staff are allowed up there for liability and insurance reasons. So we have to hire someone everytime we need to change something.


Our plays are usually single set, so we can spend much more time getting the one set lit perfectly. Unfortunately we don't for some stupid reason, I would if I could but the only lights I can touch hang above the stage. Everywhere else is out of bounds.

I use a photocopy of the script as well, it's annoying to have to photocopy the whole thing but it pays off.


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## Smatticus (Apr 16, 2004)

I just spent three hours probably total over the last week sorting all of the lenses we have, each fixture came with one of each of the lenses for them. I hate it when you can't get to where you want and need to go to set things up and get everything looking good, it's the same reason at our school I can't do anything in the FOH, I can get on the top of a crappy 20' tall, wooden ladder, probably more dangerous than the hydraulic lift to focus lights on the stage but I can't touch a thing in the FOH. What is different though is the staff can, atleast the stage director can and he is just school staff. Ussually though I/we have the TD from the community theatre do it b/c he can get through the focusing faster and without every instruction from me. At the high school we never do single, non moving, elaborate sets, everything is wagons and flying in wall sections or standing wall sections, no platforms and risers. I've done a few at the community theatre like that and they are fun to do too. In some ways I think they can be more interesting than all separate moving pieces; you never know, as an audience member, which door or which opening an actor is going to come through or where a scene might take place. I guess you could argue that either way though. Fortunately I've never had to actually photo copy my own script, someone else has always had it prepared already, but I'm sure the time will come. 

I guess no one else is interested in this post? Thanks for you replies though!


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## rapscaLLion (Apr 17, 2004)

Ya, even staff aren't allowed on the 18' ladder. It's pretty solid too... Anyway, whenever I do a show for a director who doesn't know all the rules I can usually get up to the side bar, the principal would have a fit if she found out... Oh well. 
Unfortunately for us, we usually cannot focus lights once the battens been raised above the stage, because the set won't allow for a ladder where we need it. So it's hang, aim, focus, raise, make notes, lower, reaim, refocus, raise, etc. Handy to have grade 9's around, they'll do it without complaining 
As for sets... I like both types. A couple years ago we did a play that involved two exteriors and an interior. We managed to build one set for the whole thing, it was quite well done. Two stories too... but I can't ever recall any changing sets. Our sets tend to be quite realistic, and as a result I have come to dislike the style your set was done in, although doubtless it fit the show better  We spend a lot of time on our sets. For instance, we are doing tech runs for Noel Cowerd's "Blithe Spirit". The whole set consists of one room. There are three entrances, two are hallways in the "house" and one goes outside. For some odd reason they actually painted an exterior backdrop on to the "exterior" flats, and the result is terrible, but other than that the set's pretty cool. It's a ghost story, so pretty much every prop on the set is wired in some way to fall, fly, levitate, etc. Fog machine, fans, etc. Backstage is a death trap 

I'll post some pics and such next week when we go into dress rehersals. 

BTW- Out of curiosity, where are you located and what is the typical budget for your schoool productions?

I live in Toronto, Canada and our budget for our play is $10000 CAD. We only do one major play a year lol


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## rapscaLLion (Apr 17, 2004)

Oh yes, one more question:
I've been thinking about getting involved in community theatre. Any advice?

As for me being the only one replying... I don't know why no one else is interested but I love seeing what other people are doing.


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## Mayhem (Apr 17, 2004)

Smatticus said:


> I guess no one else is interested in this post? Thanks for you replies though!



Don't confuse the lack of multiple user responses as a sign of disinterest. You have had 72 views and 15 posts (well 73 and 16 now).

Just remember that not everyone will have something to say or ask but will take something away and have benefited from your post. I am sure that you check list will have helped more than just RapscaLLion.

Keep up the good work!


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## dj_illusions (Apr 17, 2004)

Advice for joining community theatre: dont!

I work with a number of community theatre groups, supplying gel and equipment and one of the main problems with community theatre groups is the amount of politics that goes on behind the scenes. Everyone wants to be incharge and it just doesnt work... ther eis some saying about it too many cheifs and not enough indians and too many chef's spoil the broth sorta stuff.... it all comes down tot hat principal so they are continously fighitng about who knows what most of the time!

But, if you are looking for a good way to get into the tech side of theatre and dont mind volunteering your time it can be one of the best things to do, so long as you dont get involved with the committee.... try writing to a few and tell them what you are intersted in, they are usually more than happy to have new people on board, just so long as you dont try to be a cheif! lol


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## rapscaLLion (Apr 17, 2004)

Oh don't worry I'm very much used to that 
I only want to be on the tech side, no terribly interested in stage managing or anything like that.


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## ship (Apr 18, 2004)

Community theater is very dependant upon the group. On the whole, if you want to do theater, give it a shot. It's either going to work out that this involvement was a good idea, or given a fair amount of time to acclimitize it won't work out with this group but hopefully does not rule out involvement with other groups.

As said, involvement can be very political and even very hack after those politicians make desciscions. Still there is growth and making a home in such situations, or other places that have other people and better politics - goals more to your suiting. You learn from them, they learn from you. Community theater... that's my intent once I get to my new shop location. Almost linked with a local group where I currently live but it's out of business for the most part for the moment. Nothing wrong with it - even board house wife primadonna's in my opinion beyond the ass they make of themselfs are there for some if lost purpose beyond the social overt part. Saw some good community theater shows - Elgin Il. has a good community theater for starters. Tools' want to confirm that? A theater up the street from the river boat in a store front crappy space? Places like that are very much like the off off Broadway or store front theaters in the big city in production as opposed to the local town's house wives in wanting to do something with their free time. It might be assumed there is a large range in types of community theater, but your intent should insure no matter which that you have fun and the goal at least is the same.


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## Yellow_Fuzzy (Apr 19, 2004)

Hi,
I am from a high school in Sydney Australia and this year my school as our musical is doing Guys And Dolls, i was just wondering whether you still have your Lighting plots and plans of your design as it would help me alot to be able to get some ideas as to what others have done.
Regards,
Zac Shenker


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## Smatticus (Apr 20, 2004)

Sorry, I haven't been online in a while;


mayhem said:


> Don't confuse the lack of multiple user responses as a sign of disinterest. You have had 72 views and 15 posts (well 73 and 16 now).



Good point Mayhem, thanks for the reminder, I always forget about considering how many people have viewed rather than who actually posts, thanks for cluing me in.  

On another note;


yellow_fuzzy said:


> I am from a high school in Sydney Australia and this year my school as our musical is doing Guys And Dolls, i was just wondering whether you still have your Lighting plots and plans of your design as it would help me alot to be able to get some ideas as to what others have done.



I have three word documents that are my dimmer, channel, and cue list but I don't have the final plot for the show on the computer. If it would be helpful I can send you those documents to take a look at if they would help, if not I can answer any questions you might have about the plot or what we did with the show if that would be helpful?


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## Yellow_Fuzzy (Apr 21, 2004)

Well my school has just begun planning and the play is in October, i am going to be getting plans and stock lists of the venue we are performing at tomorrow. Any documents of yours that you can provide i would appreiciate, could you please email them to [email protected].

Regards,
Zac


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## Smatticus (Apr 26, 2004)

For those that were unable to view the original pictures I put up from the show I've edited the page so all the photos will not load at once, here is the link again!

http://www28.brinkster.com/smatticus/guydol.html


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## RandyBraunm (Jul 1, 2004)

I realize this post is a bit dated now, but figured I'd respond. I'm not sure where to begin, really, as this is my first reply here.

I'll start by adressing your observations, I think.

The lenses do make a huge difference in the Source Four PARs, definitely. I had a show in a very tight venue where a MFL wouldn't cut is and a WFL totally did the job to it's fullest. Still not quite the right instrument for the job, however. Ended up using a few older fresnels for the fills and just used the PARs for some odd specials.

PARs for area lighting, depending on the lense, can be either a boon or a terrible thing... It really depends on how the lighting area is shaped or what is actually in that lighting area(assuming a static set piece or props, etc) It also relies heavily on which lenses you have available and how far away from the stage your electrics are. At one venue where the electrics were only about 14'' from the stage, a PAR couldn't do the job at all, but at another, where the electrics were raised to 25', the pars worked fantastically. The lense plays a big role in it, but distance does as well, or so I've noticed.

Spot on about the ERS to separate areas, but don't forget, you don't have to leave an area dark to remove focus. Sometimes washing the stage in a very cool color and giving the action a more intense color (doesn't necessarily have to be warmer, just more intense) is just as effective. This is my personal favorite style of separation. The last show I lit was, A Clockwork Orange and throughout the whole play I made sure everything was constantly lit (static set). Then, when the key moment for a special hit (just after a rape scene) I used a singule pin spot on the victim and her husband in the center of the stage. It was rather powerful and I think it really helped the effect that it wasn't over used throughout the rest of the production.

Focussing is very important, but I wouldn't say it's the backbone to a good design. It is very important to me, as a perfectionist, but in some situations, the focus can be a bit loose if you're willing to play with intensities.

Definitely go the photo-copied, 3 ring binder. That's bar none the best way to do it. I used a clipped script for A Clockwork Orange and it was hellish. I ended up just using the Stage Manager's script half the time because of it. (I'm lazy, sue me!) If you ever have to do it yourself, just go to Kinko's or some other equivalent place. Have them just photocopy the script and do all the hole punching for you. Only will probably cost a few dollars and as we all know... time = money.

I don't know about only two parts. Lighting design is much more complicated than most outsiders would think, that's for sure. There're a few notable stages I think. Concept, Plotting, Hanging, Programming. Of course, there's also rental / budget considerations... buying color, and all that jazz. 

So, I guess... Concept, Plotting, Acquisition of Resources, Hanging(And focus), and then Programming... In all of my designs so far they all sort of dove-tailed. Plotting would sometimes still be taking place during the hang / focus...when I'd get to a space and see that, even though the plans for the space didn't mention it, there's an overlap from a girder that blocks a lighting angle I planned on using, or sometimes the set changes and I have to readjust....

Then hanging and focussing is a never ending process I've found. Always tweaking until the final tech reherasal.(Never change anything but timing on that rehersal, personally. Unless something is majorly messed up. Oi, musical finales can be annoying.)

In my opinion, color choice and intensity is a much bigger part of light design than the focus. No matter how centered a light is, if it's not the right color, you're not going to get the right reaction. That may be something that is taken for granted, but I felt like reitterating it.

Tips that I have... Get those butt-heads at your school to allow members of the class / theatre group to access the instruments in the house... That's number one and I know it probably won't happen (I hated High School Theater... such a pain, going back for my internship, yay...) Most of what else I'd say would probably make me seem like an idiot, so I'll just keep it to myself =) The main thing I've found with theatrical lighting and probably my number one tip... Don't be afraid to experiment! Try that really crazy idea you had. Buy the fabric / gel / gobo yourself if you need to, but try it! The only thing that can happen is that the director won't like it and you'll just have to put it in your own personal stock for use later.

I'm really curious, what kind of dimming system are you using? It almost looks like you have strips of ROSCO's dimmers on each electric... if you do, I envy you... such a money saver in the long run. (I don't know how many miles of cable we have... stupid Dimmer Beach) Great choice on a board, by the way. The Express is perfect for High School theatrical productions, I think. It's easy to use and easy to learn. It's also a great stepping stone to bigger boards. My old High School used the Horizon program with a dongle that had 24 Submasters... it was sad. I didn't know what a light board was until I started doing community theater. Which brings me to my next thing...

Community theater. Do it if you want some experience. I believe I've done about 10 or so community productions... all of them were volunteer, except for a few that compensated for gas mileage (which ended up being less than I spent on gas anyway...) It's great experience if you can stand all of the egos. Though, you'll get egos even if professoinal theater. Really though, any occupation or profession is full of egos and politics... so it's just choosing your poison. Community theater is rewarding in that it shows you how to do a lot of neat things with less than adequate resources. A few old malls that are turned into theaters, a few 20 year old instruments and archaic systems that produce wonderful shows will get you inspired and learn how to work with what you've got.


Sorry I'm so long winded... and all of this post is just my personal opinion as a young lighting designer and technician. Theater is a wonderful art and lighting design is a wonderful gift. From those pictures, it definitely looks like you've got a promising future in it. I wish I could see more of the in-show pictures. I wish I had more in-show pictures of my own productions. (When I'm tired, apparently I like to ramble!)

Okay, seriously leaving now. Good luck in your endeavours, glad to see there are some up and coming designers (I talk like I'm old...) that are out there. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy... or something.

Randy Braunm
-Freelance Lighitng Designer


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## Smatticus (Jul 12, 2004)

Randy,
Thanks for your reply to the post, I appreciate all of your responses and I'm sure all of us can identify with everything you had to say! Sorry it taken so long since your post for me to reply, I've been busy (and maybe a little lazy too )! 

The last three weeks of the school year here I was doing the lighting design for two consecutive dance recitals, the first shows I have ever done the lighting design completely on my own. The dance recitals are done by two "competing" dance studios in our community (the first of which is the better one in my opinion, though they both have their own pros and cons). For the first show we did something really different, atleast in what I've done before. We took down five of our striplights and put them on the floor shining up at the backdrop they set up; the backdrop was just a bunch of white fabric pinned to a base backdrop in all kinds of fancy and decorative swags or whatever you want to call them. The last row of striplights I shined on the backdrop as well, so we could alter the colors between the top and bottom; it created some really, really cool three-dimensional illusions, it was awesome! I ordered a video from the show so hopefully at some point I will be able to get some pictures from the performance up on my website.

In response to what you said about the SF PARs I definitely agree distance plays a very big role in addition to the lense. For Guys & Dolls I used a PAR on one of the Havanna wagons and it looked really good. For the dance recitals I actually altered the design and used Elipsoidals for the zones across the front of the stage, as I didn't like the way the PARs looked for the same purpose for Guys & Dolls. What I did was use the PARs for all my washes, four lights to a wash, but I also tried the Wide Flood lenses in the fixtures... I think the next show I'm going to change them back to Medium Floods; they didn't look bad but I think they are just too wide for our stage and I got a lot of extra light I didn't want on the surrounding wall so I had to keep intensities of the washes a little lower... They really had to stay lower though because of the shadow caused across the backdrop from the Grand Teaser... I HATE that shadow!!! Another thing I will change next show: When I focused the ellipsoidals for the zones across the stage I did it with the Grand Curtain closed, so I could make all the ellipses even across the curtain and what not... but I think it would have been better to do it with the curtain open, so the light blended farther backstage a little better. Just another thought.

The other thing I did with the dance recitals was I added more sidelight than I have used previously; on four arms that dropped some lights closer to the stage on each side, and on two trees at each corner of the stage. The system we developed to help the lighting go as smoothly and as easily as possible was this; I sat down with the director of the studio and we decided where she wanted special pools of light, for entrances, for focal points, etc... so we came up with six major zones on the stage, Right, Center, and Left, (Up and Down Stage). That way she knew what specials she had available for her entrances and exits in her dances and we didn't have to try and custom tailor the lights to every dance etc. 

I thought your comments about not having to leave an area dark to remove focus were particularly helpful. If there is one thing that I found the most difficult with doing a lighting design on my own it was definitely, WITHOUT A DOUBT, COLOR SELECTION! Color selection was the hardest part of the entire process. I like the idea of washing the stage in a color and emphasizing an area with a more intense color, but still the same as the whole stage in terms of warmth or coolness. I've been told that having a warm and cool color for each space I light is important and that is the general rule I follow with every area I light, but when I have to start combining those colors with more colors I find it really hard to pick which colors to put where... especially because for the dance recitals there were no props... so it was basically like lighting an empty stage. What I did learn is that lighting an empty stage is deceiving, because a stage is never empty... if there are no props it is especially important that when focusing, you have a person to stand in the light you are focusing, because the people, in this case, were the only "objects" if you will on the stage. The other problem I have, after having the problem with color, is with intensity... sometimes it was just really hard to gauge whether or not there was quite enough light on stage. Which brings me to something else REALLY ANNOYING; does anyone else have a stage that is not painted black? Our auditorium stage is like light hardwood... and it really makes it impossible to tell how much light is on stage because so much reflects right off the floor, it's like we light the floor more than we do anything else, it's really annoying!

I agree that focusing isn't necessarily the most important thing to making a good design, but I'm probably a perfectionist too, so I can focus something five times and still not really be happy with it. But you are right, altering intensity can give you alot of flexibility. I would also agree with your more detailed break down of the lighting process, I didn't include too much when I first described it. I definitely agree that all of thoes parts of the lighting process really blend together and one is never quite finished before the other begins, atleast that is how my experience has worked as well. I'm scanning through your message as I go so I can make sure I hit on everything; back to color again though I agree color is probably more important than focus though focus is important too and on that note I should probably expand my use of color and experimentation with color (and intensity)! 

In response to your question; our entire system is ETC, 96 dimmers. I really like the board as it is really easy to use even though it isn't the first one I experimented with and learned on, but it is really easy to train someone on the basics if someone else has to run it. In early August I'm going to get the opportunity to go over to a neighboring school district and take a look at their system and help them out with trying to use their board, I think that their whole system, to my understanding is Strand so that will be a new experience. Our elementary school's auditorium is all Strand equipment but I haven't worked their with lighting and they don't even have a board, or the need to even touch their lights; the stage is SO SMALL it's ridiculous, and it is way over curtained for its size. As far as community theatre goes that is actually where I started working, at our local community theatre just volunteering, I've probably done maybe 20 shows there. That's where I started learning everything about lighting under the Tech Director there that does lighting and what not; they have an older style 36 channel ETC board... When our high school was renovated and got the new system I was the only person in the entire building, staff and students, that had any idea how to operate it. Since it was installed I have been doing all the lighting for basically every show in our school.  I don't dislike community or high school theatre... I was paid for the first of the two dance recitals and I get paid once in a while if I'm brought in for emergency help at the community theatre, for the bigger shows it's volunteer though. I like the experience of both but I'm pretty sure that there is much to be explored beyond this.. possibilities I have even yet to grasp.  I have to give him a call but the TD at the community theatre is going to arrange a visit to Glimmerglass opera house to take a tour and what not, they have over 200 or 300 lights or something like that, it will be a little overwhelming compared to what I'm used to.  But not a bad thing!  

I'm probably getting pretty long winded now myself!  I do have some in show pictures I got after I posted those on my website... when I get them up I will post a new message here to them so people can check them out. I noticed you said you were a freelance lighting designer, how does that work versus or compared to working only in one place as a lighting designer? Do you ever find yourself in competition with lighting designers that are hired steadily in one place? I don't know how much of an upcoming lighting designer I am, I really like it but it seems like it can be a very difficult lifestyle too, I know I don't really want to be on the road so if I did pursue it I think I would probably work in theatres and not with a traveling band or something like that... probably anyway... but I don't really know if that is what I want to make my career... I definitely have a good start if that is what I choose but I still don't know, and I feel like I'm supposed to be deciding very soon. :-O Thank you for your post though! It was very interesting and I look forward to your reply, hopfully I won't take nearly as long as last time to respond!


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## Smatticus (Jul 14, 2004)

Does anyone know if it is possible to or how to capture photos from a DVD? I have a DVD of Guys & Dolls and I was wondering if this was in any way possible? :? Thanks!


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## Mayhem (Jul 14, 2004)

The only way that I have been able to do this is by taking a screen dump (pause the DVD and locate the desired frame) and then exporting that into photoshop.

I tend to increase the res and also hide the task bar/tool bars etc to give me the largest image possible.

May not be great depending on what you want to do with it. 

Hope this is of help


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## dj_illusions (Jul 14, 2004)

Isnt there software that takes screenshots of dvd's... maybe DivX or something, i dont quite remember? alternativly as Mayhem said... Screen dump!


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## Smatticus (Jul 14, 2004)

I tried doing what Mayhem suggested; just pausing the DVD and taking a screen shot... but when I pasted the screen shot in Photoshop the DVD window didn't show the image from the video, it was just a blank black screen, everything else from the desktop appeared normally. It essentially looked the same way when I pasted that it does on my monitor when I export the monitor image to a TV; you can specify which place, the monitor or the TV, that you want video and what not to show up, so if you specify the TV on the monitor it just shows a black window where the video is playing. That is what it looked like when I pasted into Photoshop. I haven't heard of any software that does this.


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## Mayhem (Jul 14, 2004)

I use Power DVD to play my DVD's on my PC (Monitor only - not to a seperate TV screen).

Try using Alt + Print Scrn rather that just the Print Scrn button and see if that helps.

If not, you could always stick the monitor face down on a scanner


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## dj_illusions (Jul 14, 2004)

LOL what a fantastic idea!


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## Smatticus (Jul 14, 2004)

I've tried Print Screen, Ctrl + Print Screen, and Alt + Print Screen with no luck, I guess I'll just have to use the pics I already have, unless I take Mayhem's suggestion and try and flip my monitor onto my scanner but I don't think it would work out too well. Thanks for your help!


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## Mayhem (Jul 14, 2004)

My only other (serious) suggestion would be to do a Google search or hit Tucows (www.tucows.com) to see if there is any freewere or shareware that may be able to do this for you.

If you do find somethig - punch the name of the program into Google and see if there are any reports of it being spyware etc.

Hope that this does help.


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## Smatticus (Jul 17, 2004)

Mayhem, I did some searching but didn't really find anything for what I was looking for, thank you for your help though! I did manage to get 12 more pictures from the actual show online though; I've added them to the existing pictures if anyone is interested:

http://www28.brinkster.com/smatticus/guydol.html


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## Smatticus (Aug 9, 2004)

VICTORY IS MINE! 8) That comment you had made, Mayhem, about PowerDVD didn't even register with me, I was on my laptop a couple days ago and opened PowerDVD and was looking at the menu thingy and there is a button to take a picture of the image, I was like, no way. 8O It works! I haven't even looked at resolution settings or anything yet, but it's looking pretty good. I thought I would just share this one happy moment with everyone!


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## Yellow_Fuzzy (Jan 1, 2005)

Hi,
As i mentioned in this post quite a few months ago my school was doing Guys & Dolls, well the show happened so now ive got a few pics and a copy of the Lighting Plot for download.

The Rig Included:

1x Jands Hog 600
120x Strand 5kW Dimmers
60x Selecon Zoomspots
18x Cadenza 2K Fresnels
8x Patt123 Fresnels
2x Mac 250 Kryptons
20x PAR 64 MFL
8x T-Spots
6x Prelude
2x Patt223

Plot:
http://alia.qualsec.net/LXPlot1.pdf

Pics:
http://alia.qualsec.net/pics.zip


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## zac850 (Jan 1, 2005)

What app did you use to make the plot? I've been looking for a good CAD program that is easy to learn just to do a basic, nice looking plot.

Huh, so its a thrust stage. That must be odd to do for a musical. I've only lit a thrust stage once--and it wasn't even a real thrust stage. In the small theater space, the director decided thats he needed more room for acting so brought the action out about 3/4 of the way into the room. I ended up needing to get PVC pipe (2 pieces, 1 inside of the other for added strength) to clamp on and wire into the ceiling to give me FOH positions.

It looks really nice though. 2 MAC 250's...... lucky.....


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## ship (Jan 1, 2005)

PVC pipe for FOH positions?


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## The_Guest (Jan 1, 2005)

Maybe he means PVC pipes to hang fixtures from because directors decesion to push the acting space out futher. Or he may mean that he ran cables through the PVC pipe to keep things neat and tidy.


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## ship (Jan 1, 2005)

One being unsafe due to engineering issues and the other due to compliance with the NEC you mean?


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## zac850 (Jan 1, 2005)

Yes, i know, FOH was done with PVC pipe.

We used cheeseburoughs (sp?) to attach it about 1/4 down it to the metal pipe, and one end was attached to the wood of the ceiling. the other end was wired past the fake ceiling onto the metal supports. Yes, it wasn't wonderful, but I only have 4 lights, 2 lights on each piece of PVC.

EDIT: Here is a diagram of what we did:



We also doubled up the PVC, there was one small piece that fit perfectly inside the bigger piece. 

I know, it wasn't great. We were going to get real metal pipe, but our normal FOH pipe was not strong enough to support that much extra weight (about 10 feet).


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## SketchyCroftPpl (Jan 1, 2005)

My school is just starting guys and dolls
~Nick


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## Yellow_Fuzzy (Jan 1, 2005)

HI,

That plot was done in Microsoft Visio, it is not to scale but was fine for what i needed it for, if anyone has visio and is interested i can email them a copy of the visio plot. I managed to get a really good hire price on the Mac 250 Kryptons and the Hog 600 so I used them and used the Hog 600 instead of the theatres Strand 520i.

Regards,
Yellow_Fuzzy


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## SketchyCroftPpl (Jan 1, 2005)

Please send that to me!
[email protected]
~Nick


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## Smatticus (Jan 2, 2005)

Your plot looks very well done, please send me your Visio file to me as well, thank you! [email protected]


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