#u68c2

[jamesdixonblogbook]

Rig equipment safely and competently without guidance

For the Christmas show we had an allocated slot for the lighting team to rig lights, unfortunately because of the set design we was not able to access one of our lighting bars. On this particular bar there were four moving lights on the plan. To make it easier we rigged these in everyone else’s lunch hour before all of the set was put in to the theatre. We done this by bringing the bar down as far as it would allow to try and reach working height. We then rigged the moving lights equal distance apart as on the plan. They are rigged by using the G hook clamp and safety bond which is rated for the weight of the light. As they are moving lights we could not use the dimming channels and they were being used by other lights. To solve the issue we then run power to them from one of the wall boxes which has a sixteen amp outlet. They would then have power but no signal so the next step was to run DMX. The DMX works by connecting all the lights in a chain; to make it easy we started at one end of the lighting bar and worked towards the wall box which has DMX socket. Now the moving lights will have power and signal to the lighting desk. All moving lights are slightly different but will either have a lamp or L.E.D; for a rig full of generic lights you would simply warm them by doing a rig check and slowly bringing the level up over time. For L.E.D moving lights they do not need to warm up but always worth checking in a rig check. The other light source in a moving light is a lamp, after powering them up you will need to lamp them on which means they need to warm up before you can use them. When powering down you will need lamp them off before turning the power off; the reason for this is because you need to let them turn off gradually, if you just pull the power out you effect the lamp in reducing the amount of hours you can use it for. Each lamp should have a rated amount of usage, usually in hours. A moving light will pull more power when lamping on as it takes more power light up than to run it, each moving light will have a start-up power rating and a running power rating

  Some photos were taken during the rigging slot we were allocated which are below; some photos will show both rigging lights at ground level and at height using a ladder or tallescope. When rigging generic lights you put the G clamp on the bar and tighten as you would with a moving light; along with a rated safety bond. Then plug the light into the socket and tape the excess cable out the way but ensuring you leave enough cable to focus.          

[jakeayrisblog]

Lx 17th June

The actors did not come in today as the set is not finished yet, so whilst the construction team were finishing it off. We set up the production desk on the seating bank.

I also rigged four birdies on the set, there are two inside each structure to light behind the scrim just in case the directors want to put anyone behind there for a scene or tableaux.

At one o’clock was the final production meeting, I filled everyone in one what we had done that morning and found out that plotting will begin tomorrow afternoon.

After the meeting I led the rest of the team in setting up the footlights and birdies, I did this by linking the footlights into three groups (Center stage, stage left and stage right) and using grelco's to link the birdies together on each side. This meant that only five dimmers were needed and I could fit everything into one spider under the stage, I then ran socapex to the upstage left wall box and used another spider to plug everything into the dimmers.

I then left my team  to put in some A7’s behind the cyc (for back-light) whilst I started making groups and palletes to make things easier tomorrow.

I also created this floor plan to show the location and channel numbers of the birdies, footlights and the two new A7's:

[jakeayrisblog]

Setting up the Ion and patching

The lighting desk that we use at the miskin is an ETC Ion:

http://www.etcconnect.com/product.overview.aspx?Id=20351

To set up the Ion first you need to plug it in to both a power source and the screen. you also need to plug in a mouse to the desk. Then switch it on and click on 'Primary' this will open the most recent show file. Your now ready to operate the desk for the show.

If you are starting a new show click on 'New Project', a blank show file will open and you will need to patch in your lighting rig. To do this  press 'Display' on the desk, and then the soft key under the word 'Patch'. You can now patch your generic lights, at the miskin we usually do it at 1:1 to make things simpler. The quickest way to do this is to press '1' 'Thru' then type whatever the last dimmer number is. Press 'Enter' and all the generic lights should now be patched into the desk, the channel number for each light will be the same as the dimmer number.

If you need to patch a moving light, then you should press 'Display' and the 'Patch' soft key just like before. Moving lights are not dim-able and so need to be run on a second universe. Press '2' then '/' and then put in the DMX address of the light (this can be changed on the light itself.) In the bottom left corner of the screen will be several boxes, the first says 'Type' click on this box to select the type of light you are patching (the default option is 'dimmer',) you will need to select the manufacturer and model of the light. Press 'Enter' and then repeat for all moving lights. 

(DMX can carry 512 lines of information, generic lights only require one line of information to tell them when to dim, so you can have the dimmers numbered consecutively without spaces. Moving lights require several lines of information for them to be able to perform all of their functions (Moving, changing colour, dimming etc.) This means that when giving them their DMX address you have to leave gaps between each one. For example you may address an A7 at 001, but it will need to use that line of information and several others to work properly, so it will use all the DMX addresses between 001 and however many it needs. This is why when addressing moving lights, we usually leave gaps of either 25 or 50 between each one, that way we get round, memorable numbers and they get all the DMX that they need.

[jakeayrisblog]

Lx 4th June

Today was the fashion show, and I was in charge of plotting and operating the desk for the event. The first thing I did was get the Ion from the venue and set it up:

I started by patching in all of the generic lights and six mac 250 washes. I then created a preset state for when the audience would enter the auditorium. After this I simply created states as I saw fit whilst they did a staggered run through of the show, I ended up with 13 cues in total.

I think that the show in terms of lighting went well and now that I have opped my first show I feel more confident for the upcoming end of year show.

This is the running order for the show:

These were my cues:

And these were the states I created:

Cue 0.5 - Preset: (This was for the audience to walk in)

Cue 0.6 - Song intro: (The lights faded down to just a dim blue wash on the band as they start playing, signals the beginning of the show.)

Cue 0.8 - Vocals: (As the Vocalists begin singing, a red wash comes up on the band.)

Cue 0.9 - Effect: (At a random point in the song -Whenever the dsm decides- an effect starts using the mac 250 washes. This continues for the remainder of the song.)

Cue 1.0 - End of song: As the song ends and the bass player begins to introduce the first collection, a light wash comes over the band.)

Cue 2.0 - Skirts project: (As the introduction of the first collection finishes and the song begins a blue wash lights the catwalk. and the boom lights pick up the t-shirt hanging in the wings.)

Cue 2.5: (This cue is a automatic follow on of the previous cue, after being in the previous state for 5 seconds the mac 250 washes that are on the floor, move into position for there next cue. I put the transition here as at this point the lights are off and so you do not see the beams moving.)

Cue 3.0 - KIDS: (As the second collection is introduced and the next song begins, a green wash lights the catwalk.)

Cue 3.5 - Rita Ora: (The next collection is introduced and then next song begins and the green wash changes to red.)

Cue 4.0 - final collection: (The final collection is introduced and the next song starts, an orangey-red wash lights the catwalk and the fiery gobo lights the cyc and treads)

Cue 5.0 - Lost in music: (The end Walkdown commences, the models come down the stage right treads walk around the catwalk and then off using the stage left treads. The next song begins, the lights for this are multi-coloured and flashing to give a disco type feel.)

Cue 6.0 - Blue out: (A very dim blue wash lights the front of the catwalk to signal the end of the show.)

Cue 7.0 - End preset: (Exactly the same as the first state for the audience to leave.)