Re: A few ideas
Hiya and welcome.
Nice ideas...I'm sure our web admin will check those out for possible additions. To answer your question about how long it takes to tech a show--it varies upon the show. Whether its theater, corporate, a concert or touring show. The answer to that can vary greatly. For example: on a corporate show-you can have as little as 4 hours to tech in and set up a show rig of lighting and sound. How it all goes together is part preplanning, and part knowing how everything goes together in a certian order. A touring broadway show is not much different--sometimes you get 8 hours to load in and get it all running before curtain...other times you may have several days before a curtain. Again it depends on the show you want to hear about. Generally--trucks pull up, local crew loaders unload the truck pack, under the supervision and direction of the TD or tour lead(s) who call out for the number of hands on a piece of equipment due to weight, and while another tour lead directs each piece as it comes off to go to a certain area--stage left, right, wardrobe, downstage, upstage, etc etc. Meanwhile the tour crew chiefs are in the venue taking measurements, looking for problems, drawing with chalk on the floor for rigging points if needed, and getting some coffee cause it will be a long day. Loaders dump out the set pieces and they go either stage left or right or far down stage for assembly. Dimmers go to the dimmer location or "dimmer beach", while feeder cable tails to power the dimmers is handed to the venue electrician for tie in. Electrics go in, costumes, props and everything comes off the truck in a controlled chaos of bins and gear and boxes going in every different direction to where they are supposed to go. About half way thru the load in--the chiefs inside will usually each grab a person to help them position gear and open up cases while the rest finish unloading. Truck time to unload--about 15 minutes per truck, to 30 minutes per tractor trailer. Usually you have a group of crew and hands--the number depends on teh size of the show. The average concert tour may require 60 people for a 8 truck show, while the average mational theater tour may need only 40 people for a 2-3 truck tour. As soon as the last truck is unloaded, the crew is broken up into teams--carps, electrics, fly's, sound, staging, props & wardrobe, FOH--everyone takes their places and learns from each tour lead what has to happen next. Depending on the show--the stage or set may be built in the sceneshop or wings while drops/softgoods and electrics get hung and sound gets set up. Feeder & power is usually the first thing run from electrics, rigging and motors or flying pieces & drops get laid out on stage next and the riggers are already in the air or flying in battens for crew to tie onto. Once all the things in the air are up and gone, electrics and sound move in. After they are done and all cables are run--set and stage goes into position. On concert tours--the stage is on runners that roll into place--this allows a stage to be built while other things happen. On theater tours, the set is geared to be pinned, bolted and screwed together in pieces in an order. On all tours--concerts or broadway--the electrics & lights are usually pre-hung in a rolling truss or on pipes that can be clipped to a batten or dropped onto a motor point...each pipe or truss has a multipin connection to be dropped with a single cable to the dimmers. Everything is kept as simple as possible for time and ease of assembly.
Once set goes in, clean up and fine touches on carpentry goes next. Same for fixes...meanwhile this whole time the costumes and wardrobe have been laid out and set into areas for actors, for steaming and any repairs. Any cleaning/laundry that needs to be done is usually started at that time too. Cast usually will not arrive until much later in the day. While on stage--crew does fixes on set pieces and props that may need repair. As soon as the set is in place, lighting begins focus & dimmer check while the set is finished. Sound gets checked out and later on mic's will be checked along with the system. Usually everything else will need to get done first and foremost to get the stage and electrics done and ready. By this time--about 2-3 hours have past while all this work has gone one, and the crew is coming up on their first 20minute break in that 4 hour window. The rest--well its kinda obvious...once all goes in and is ready, props will lay out their tables of props. Quick change booths will get assembled, SM's will do line/com and crew checks for deck crew. Additionally the SM will get situated at their position and sned out runners for things they may need. Lunch is usually in one or two hours..but again depending on the set and the complexity of the show--it could very well take two days before electrics gets to focus. I routinely work on one show every year that has 2 walls and 3 drops and a 2.5+ ton back wall of steel griding that alone takes about 5 hours to assemble, balance and fly on two arbors and two 1 ton chain motors. Load in for that day is a long 8 hours... Next day we do electrics, focus and sound. Cast then gets to run and space the show, and the director gets time to do fixes to adjust the show to the space.
So as you can see there is no "one" way to do a show...cause it depends on the show, the show specs, and the size. Most concerts go up in 8 hours. Most broadway shows take anywhere from 8 hours to 2 days to tech in and get done. The standard industrial show can take anywhere from 4 hours to 4 days to prep and tech..so it depends on the show. Generally speaking on a rough order--a show goes in as power & rigging first, drops & softgoods next, electrics and set placement next, focus & sound go next, Effects and pyro go in, props and then cast for rehearsal and spacings. Wardrobe & costume go in at the time the truck gets unloaded..but given the amount of costumes, the road boxes may not get opened for a few hours. Many times on concerts where sound is just as crucial as lights--electrics and sound will go at the same time after rigging. Same for video--with electrics. Key to all this is to break up the crews into teams to do things and prep things so no time is wasted when its your turn to get things done. Many times, various crews are doing two or three things at one time in different locations.
Hope this helps to sorta answer your question about how it all gets done... a combination of teamwork and doing things in an order. No task done that follows another task done will be in the way of the next thing to go in. Its like a puzzle...it all goes in order so no peice has to get removed or changed to do something else that should have been done first. Hope this clears up some things...
-wolf
Hiya and welcome.
Nice ideas...I'm sure our web admin will check those out for possible additions. To answer your question about how long it takes to tech a show--it varies upon the show. Whether its theater, corporate, a concert or touring show. The answer to that can vary greatly. For example: on a corporate show-you can have as little as 4 hours to tech in and set up a show rig of lighting and sound. How it all goes together is part preplanning, and part knowing how everything goes together in a certian order. A touring broadway show is not much different--sometimes you get 8 hours to load in and get it all running before curtain...other times you may have several days before a curtain. Again it depends on the show you want to hear about. Generally--trucks pull up, local crew loaders unload the truck pack, under the supervision and direction of the TD or tour lead(s) who call out for the number of hands on a piece of equipment due to weight, and while another tour lead directs each piece as it comes off to go to a certain area--stage left, right, wardrobe, downstage, upstage, etc etc. Meanwhile the tour crew chiefs are in the venue taking measurements, looking for problems, drawing with chalk on the floor for rigging points if needed, and getting some coffee cause it will be a long day. Loaders dump out the set pieces and they go either stage left or right or far down stage for assembly. Dimmers go to the dimmer location or "dimmer beach", while feeder cable tails to power the dimmers is handed to the venue electrician for tie in. Electrics go in, costumes, props and everything comes off the truck in a controlled chaos of bins and gear and boxes going in every different direction to where they are supposed to go. About half way thru the load in--the chiefs inside will usually each grab a person to help them position gear and open up cases while the rest finish unloading. Truck time to unload--about 15 minutes per truck, to 30 minutes per tractor trailer. Usually you have a group of crew and hands--the number depends on teh size of the show. The average concert tour may require 60 people for a 8 truck show, while the average mational theater tour may need only 40 people for a 2-3 truck tour. As soon as the last truck is unloaded, the crew is broken up into teams--carps, electrics, fly's, sound, staging, props & wardrobe, FOH--everyone takes their places and learns from each tour lead what has to happen next. Depending on the show--the stage or set may be built in the sceneshop or wings while drops/softgoods and electrics get hung and sound gets set up. Feeder & power is usually the first thing run from electrics, rigging and motors or flying pieces & drops get laid out on stage next and the riggers are already in the air or flying in battens for crew to tie onto. Once all the things in the air are up and gone, electrics and sound move in. After they are done and all cables are run--set and stage goes into position. On concert tours--the stage is on runners that roll into place--this allows a stage to be built while other things happen. On theater tours, the set is geared to be pinned, bolted and screwed together in pieces in an order. On all tours--concerts or broadway--the electrics & lights are usually pre-hung in a rolling truss or on pipes that can be clipped to a batten or dropped onto a motor point...each pipe or truss has a multipin connection to be dropped with a single cable to the dimmers. Everything is kept as simple as possible for time and ease of assembly.
Once set goes in, clean up and fine touches on carpentry goes next. Same for fixes...meanwhile this whole time the costumes and wardrobe have been laid out and set into areas for actors, for steaming and any repairs. Any cleaning/laundry that needs to be done is usually started at that time too. Cast usually will not arrive until much later in the day. While on stage--crew does fixes on set pieces and props that may need repair. As soon as the set is in place, lighting begins focus & dimmer check while the set is finished. Sound gets checked out and later on mic's will be checked along with the system. Usually everything else will need to get done first and foremost to get the stage and electrics done and ready. By this time--about 2-3 hours have past while all this work has gone one, and the crew is coming up on their first 20minute break in that 4 hour window. The rest--well its kinda obvious...once all goes in and is ready, props will lay out their tables of props. Quick change booths will get assembled, SM's will do line/com and crew checks for deck crew. Additionally the SM will get situated at their position and sned out runners for things they may need. Lunch is usually in one or two hours..but again depending on the set and the complexity of the show--it could very well take two days before electrics gets to focus. I routinely work on one show every year that has 2 walls and 3 drops and a 2.5+ ton back wall of steel griding that alone takes about 5 hours to assemble, balance and fly on two arbors and two 1 ton chain motors. Load in for that day is a long 8 hours... Next day we do electrics, focus and sound. Cast then gets to run and space the show, and the director gets time to do fixes to adjust the show to the space.
So as you can see there is no "one" way to do a show...cause it depends on the show, the show specs, and the size. Most concerts go up in 8 hours. Most broadway shows take anywhere from 8 hours to 2 days to tech in and get done. The standard industrial show can take anywhere from 4 hours to 4 days to prep and tech..so it depends on the show. Generally speaking on a rough order--a show goes in as power & rigging first, drops & softgoods next, electrics and set placement next, focus & sound go next, Effects and pyro go in, props and then cast for rehearsal and spacings. Wardrobe & costume go in at the time the truck gets unloaded..but given the amount of costumes, the road boxes may not get opened for a few hours. Many times on concerts where sound is just as crucial as lights--electrics and sound will go at the same time after rigging. Same for video--with electrics. Key to all this is to break up the crews into teams to do things and prep things so no time is wasted when its your turn to get things done. Many times, various crews are doing two or three things at one time in different locations.
Hope this helps to sorta answer your question about how it all gets done... a combination of teamwork and doing things in an order. No task done that follows another task done will be in the way of the next thing to go in. Its like a puzzle...it all goes in order so no peice has to get removed or changed to do something else that should have been done first. Hope this clears up some things...
-wolf