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Consoles

2011-05-05T13:59:02.134Z

What consoles are you learning, considering for purchase or recently purchased?

Throwback: What is your favorite console of yesteryear?

Step 3 - From the Concrete to the Abstract

2009-03-03T22:25:18.240Z

Light Plots from the Concrete to the Abstract:
Step Three – Expanded Light Plot & Paperwork Project
By M.C. Friedrich

The overall objective of Step 3 is to expand the skills learned in the basic light plots and paperwork projects of Steps One (http://www.theatreface.com/group/lighting/forum/topics/from-the-concrete-to-the) and Two (http://www.theatreface.com/group/lighting/forum/topics/step-2-from-the-concrete-to).

It will be helpful to the student, if prior to this project they have experience with a real light plot, participating in a hang. Before, the students first worked with a single-area plot, then a small 4-area light lab plot to generate additional paperwork; now, in this project students work independently to create a full-size, multi-area plot with attending paperwork. This is not yet design work but further application of the techniques used to generate light plots, hook-ups and magic sheets.

The project goals for Step 3 are more complex and detailed, including:
#1 – Centerline Section: Understanding its purpose in instrument placement and electric trims.
#2 – Light Plots: Drafting a full one using the McCandless method and USITT lighting graphics standards.
#3 – Instrument Selections: Making appropriate choices based on location and prior explorations in photometrics.
#4 – Color Key: Development through choices that enhance and complement the set/costume color palette provided.
#5 – Hook-Up: Generating one based on the plot created.
#6 – Magic Sheets: Creating both types of magic sheets introduced in Step Two.

Instructor Preparations

Instructors should include specific design parameters and handouts to aid the students. These particularly include those things related to design choices the students have yet to learn and belong in a design course.
• Specify parameters based on earlier projects or for simplicity’s sake:
o McCandless method – This was introduced in Step One.
o USITT lighting graphic standards
o Proscenium theatre –The single audience perspective is a good place to begin. Using one’s home theatre so the students can visit the real thing is critical to their understanding. This is the concrete to the abstract philosophy again.
• Set/costume color palette. This can be different for each student. My favorite easy resource for this is Living Colors: A Designers Guide to 80 Essential Palettes from Ancient to Modern Times by Augustine Hope & Margaret Walch (ISBN-10: 0811805581). I can just choose one color palette from this book for each student.
• 8½ x 11 groundplan of the set with scenic elements labeled as a reference for the student.
• Centerline section of the theatre with set, ¼” scale, electrics positions labeled. Refer to the note below about drafting by hand or CAD.
• Groundplan of the theatre with set, ¼” scale, electrics positions labeled. The students will hand draft directly on this. Remind the students that this is an exploration and when they get to do a full design, the plot will not have lines through the instruments and will be fully drafted by hand or CAD.
• Blank hook-up. The students will create their own magic sheets, referring to the project introducing this earlier.
• White model available as reference and a photograph of it to give to students.
• Optional (but nice): black & white photograph of the realized set.
• NO SCRIPTS. In the past, I have included an assigned script as part of the project to include learning to analyze a script and generate a cue list. I gave the students a randomly arranged list of light looks as an aid in creating a cue list. I believe this was more confusing than helpful to the primary purpose of the project – understanding the light plot. So I have eliminated this in my lighting technology class and cover this in the lighting design class where it is more appropriate.

OTHER SUPPLIES:
• Lighting template
• Mechanical pencil
• Eraser
• Gel swatch book

The project approach is, as close as is reasonable, in the order of a realized production. This is a prelude to when the students are introduced to lighting design and apply this plot and paperwork process in their design work. The earlier projects were accomplished in just a few class periods; this one takes a couple of weeks.

The Set Design
I have found most useful is some sort of a box set in a proscenium setting. Because I have one, I use an interpretation of The Globe Theatre from a Shakespeare production we did. It is not ideal with the 2-level section up center but I have the students ignore lighting the extreme upstage underside. We do discuss where lights could be placed for this and some do so in class. I set out the ½” scale white model to which the students may refer at any time during this project. I give them a handout with just a small groundplan on it (Figure 3-1, left) with a photo of the model and a black and white photo of the production (Figure 3-2, mulitple pics in a powerpoint slideshow) to keep with them since there is significant homework in this project.

Visiting the proscenium theatre is the most effective way for the students to understand the ¼” scale centerline section (Figure 3-3, left) and groundplan (Figure 3-4, right) I hand out. They lay out their copies on the stage floor and locate the actual architectural elements and lighting positions. We discuss the set’s position as well, noting sightlines. I encourage the students to visit the theatre often as they define lighting areas and choose positions for instruments. Many mimic my action in explaining the McCandless method in Step One, where I stand on the “X” and point to the appropriate lighting position. It works.

Define Lighting Focus Areas
We discuss the optimal size of the areas based on flexibility of control, lighting intensity, the set, and directorial choices. I guide them toward the 8’ to 10’ focus area. I have discovered tidier students get frustrated tracing and erasing areas on their plot as they identify optimal focus area placements. So I give them a pattern of a 10’diameter circle with an 8’ diameter circle inside to copy on tracing paper (Figure 3-5, left). The students make as many as they want, cut them out, and arrange them on the top of the groundplan until they are content with their coverage. The students then lightly pencil in these areas on the groundplan (Figure 3-6, right). It is handy to see the coverage and find the holes but I remind them it makes a messy plot with extra lines so encourage them to erase the margins once they have alphabetically labeled the center of each area.

Identify the Color Key
The students review the McCandless method and create a color key (warm key, cool fill, cool down) to complement the set/costume palette. I assign individual color palettes to each of the students from the book, Living Colors. (Figure 3-7, cover shot in the attached zip for download. ) It gives them an opportunity to make individual color decisions as part of a review their color mixing that was discussed as part of the course work much earlier in the semester. It is a little bit of a design choice but also a test of their controllable properties assignments.

Instrument Placement – Arrows First
The students first choose the placement of their lighting instruments, just penciling in arrows with a letter of the focus area being identified (Figure 3-8, left). They also refer to the centerline section to set the trim heights of the electrics (Figure 3-9, right). The students rediscover the need to make choices of placement to maintain a necessary 18” center to center positioning. Also, as arrows overlap or, once again, instruments cannot be hung in non-existent positions, adjustments must be made.

Instrument Choices
Appropriate instrument choices are the next step and these replace the arrows. The students test their ability to make good photometric choices based on where the instrument needs to be placed. I do not make the students work from an actual instrument inventory list. That is another level of difficulty I leave to their first realized design. As before, the students insert the appropriate USITT graphic standards symbol to represent the instrument. So for each and every arrow:
1. Draft the instrument symbol. (3-10)

2. Add the dimmer/channel symbols. (3-11)

3. Add notation information. (3-12)

4. Insert an instrument key. (3-13)

5. Insert a notation key. (3-14)

6. Insert a color key. (3-15)

Hook-up completion, the students discover, is virtually identical to the earlier projects. There are just more (Figure 3-16, an excel file in zip file to download). On this project the students do decide which instruments will be in which channels. Now is when the students find out the dimmer information is only added when the plot is hung. So I have them leave this blank.

The Magic Sheets are the final part of this project. For practice, I require both a shorthand hook-up version and a shorthand plot version. Again, if they refer to their earlier exercises, the students realize they are building on what was already learned. These just have more information.

We don’t learn from our mistakes; we learn by correcting them. This is a complex project for the beginner. The students will make mistakes. When students turn in any of these projects for grading, I note in detail the errors they’ve made and give it back to them. My students can make corrections and turn it back in to make up points lost.

Captions for the Figures of Step 3

3-1: Small groundplan of the set.
3-2: Photographs of the white model and complete set.
3-3: Centerline section of the proscenium theatre and set
3-4: Groundplan of the proscenium theatre with the set
3-5: Pattern for tracing paper circles to represent focus area sizes. Students make as many as they want.
3-6: Light focus areas are penciled in to identify holes and confirm even coverage.
3-7: Living Colors: A Designers Guide to 80 Essential Palettes from Ancient to Modern Times by Augustine Hope & Margaret Walch (ISBN-10: 0811805581).
3-8: Arrows penciled in to define instrument location.
3-9: Trim heights noted on the centerline section.
3-10: Drafting instrument symbols over the arrows. Erase arrows.
3-11: Add dimmer/channel symbols.
3-12: Complete notation for that instrument.
3-13: Instrument key added.
3-14: Notation key added.
3-15: Color key added.
3-16: Blank hook-up.

Step 2 - From the Concrete to the Abstract

2009-03-03T21:23:46.590Z

Light Plots from the Concrete to the Abstract
Part Two—Magic Sheet & Cue List Project
By M.C. Friedrich

The goals of this activity are to build on Part One – The Practice Plot Project (www.theatreface.com/group/lighting/forum/topics/from-the-concrete-to-the). In this step, the students practice developing the following:

#1 - Instrument schedules.
#2 - Dimmer schedules.
#3 - Two styles of magic sheets.

Again, all figures are available for download attached to this post as a zip file.

Know The Information
I purposefully start with a new sample plot set in the light lab, with four areas now instead of the single area from the previous project, which is a good application of knowledge gained from the Practice Plot project. See Figure 2-1, left for my light plot.

The students should be able to read this only slightly more complex plot set in the same place they drafted their first plot. I have them add the instrument and notation keys. I give them a blank hook-up (Figure 2-2, available for download attached to this post) to complete from this new plot. (Figure 2-3 is the completed hook-up, right.) This exercise ensures the students are very familiar with the information in preparation for the next two activities. We then discuss different ways of arranging this information for speed and efficiency of retrieval, depending upon its use.

Hook-Ups list the plot information numerically by channel. This is usually followed by dimmer, then position. In the previous project the students made a very simple hook-up and understood it is a list of the plot information. Now we discuss the reasons for the order of that information on the hook-up. Very simply, it is for designer convenience. The designers choose the channels in which their instruments are placed and will be setting levels by identifying which channel controls a desired instrument. Control consoles primarily function to set looks by channel levels.

The students have another handout with completely blank instrument and dimmer schedules (Figure 2-4, on the left). At this point I don’t label the heading row. The students need to think through the logic of how all the information is organized for each purpose and complete the headings themselves.

Instrument Schedule Order is when you list the plot information by the instrument location in the theatre. This is followed by the channel for quick use, then dimmer. Placement of following information can vary. When is this desirable? An electrician onstage will look up and see the third instrument on the second electric is out and must be able to find that instrument’s pertinent information, channel and dimmer, quickly which is by its location. The students use the blank grid to complete their own instrument schedules from the hook-up they have (Figure 2-5, on the right).

Dimmer Schedule Order lists instruments by dimmer number, followed by channel and position. Again, the information after that can vary in order according to the desires of the designer and master electrician The master electrician will often be trouble-shooting by dimmer so will want the plot information organized in dimmer number order. The students complete the blank dimmer schedule and then can compare to the hook-up and instrument schedule (Figure 2-6, on the left).

Magic Sheets are simplified charts of the lighting plot and/or hook-up. However they tend to be very challenging for beginning lighting students since they are frequently used—needed actually—by the designer for very complex light plots. The ability to grasp shorthand information of concepts one is just starting to grasp is quite a leap so I simplify magic sheets in these activities. I do mention that there can be as many varieties of magic sheets as there are designers and lighting designs but the ones we will explore are common. The handout is, once again, a blank chart for the students to complete based on the plot and hook-up used in this project (Figure 2-7, on the right).

Simplified Hook-Up magic sheets are more concrete to understand than a full magic sheet, so I start there. I have my students transfer the minimal information from the hook-up to the magic sheet grid with the “channel/focus/color” headings (Figure 2-8,in the zip file for download). Since this is primarily to expedite the designer’s work, only channel, focus and color are needed. Dimmer, hang position, instrument type, and electrical load are not necessary for the designer to find the right color lighting instrument focused on a particular area while finessing a light look.

Color Key information is often included, so we do so here. Only the “X” is given; the students draw in the arrows with color numbers (Figure 2-9, in the zip file for download).

Focus Areas can also be needed. That section is completed last for the simplified hook-up version of a magic sheet (Figure 2-10, in the zip file for download).

At this point the students just do not see the necessity of a magic sheet since the plot they are using is so very limited. I then give them a magic sheet from a realized class lighting design for Shakespeare’s Henry V (Figure 2-11, left). I lay out the actual plot and hook-up just for reference. At first glance the students are dismayed, to say the least, at the complexity. However, once we start making comparisons between their small practice magic sheet and the one from Henry V, it makes sense to them.

Simplified Plot magic sheets have a combination of the plot and the color key as a basis for development. This is the bottom half of the magic sheet worksheet (Figure 2-7).

Color Key: In this type the overview is of a large color key with a box representing a single color. The students add the direction arrows and color numbers of the color key to each box as their first reference (Figure 2-12, right).

Focus Areas: Within each box of the color key, the students use a light-lead pencil to note the groundplan location of the focus areas (Figure 2-13, in the zip file for download). This is temporary, thus the pencil.

Channel Numbers are added next. These overlay, or replace the penciled in focus area letters. Therefore, channel numbers are placed in the position of the areas they light (Figure 2-14, in the zip file for download).

As another reference to a more complex form of this type of magic sheet, I hand out another one from Henry V (Figure 2-15, left). Not only can this shorthand of a plot be compared to the practice magic sheet made by the students but can be compared to the other one from Henry V; all of which aids comprehension. At this point, the lighting students are ready to apply this knowledge to an expanded light plot in a theatre setting.

Captions to the Figures used in Step 2.

2-1: Light Lab Sample Plot
2-2: Light Lab Sample Hook-Up worksheet
2-3: Hook-Up worksheet completed
2-4: Blank Instrument & Dimmer Schedules
2-5: Instrument Schedule completed
2-6: Dimmer Schedule completed
2-7: Blank Magic Sheet worksheet
2-8: Magic Sheet (hook-up shorthand) with hook-up grid completed
2-9: Magic Sheet (hook-up shorthand) with color key added
2-10: Magic Sheet (hook-up shorthand) with focus areas added
2-11: Example Magic Sheet from Henry V– Shorthand Hook-Up
2-12: Magic Sheet (plot shorthand) with color key arrows and gel color numbers
2-13: Magic Sheet (plot shorthand) with focus area letters lightly penciled in
2-14: Magic Sheet (plot shorthand) with channel numbers overlaying focus areas
2-15: Example Magic Sheet from Henry V– Shorthand Plot

From the Concrete to the Abstract - STEP 1

2009-02-17T03:29:36.920Z

Step 1 of M.C. Friedrich's column "From the Concrete to Abstract" can be found here, including all supplemental materials. Pics are in place throughout the article, and all handouts and Word docs (and pics) are attached to this forum in a zip file.

STEP 1

It has been my experience as a lighting educator that learning to create a light plot and the corresponding paperwork is a daunting task. To help my students, I broke the learning process into three, manageable step, starting from the concrete, and moving to the abstract. This may sound backwards, but I believe teaching is most effective when it is begun with the concrete reality, lights hanging on the electrics, and reversing into the abstract, the plot and hookup. This way the student has a solid understanding of what the abstract will be representing.

Here are the activities I lead my students through for step one. My intent is to present this clearly enough for lighting instructors to adapt to their own classroom situations. We learn best by doing, so just reading these activities will only get neophytes so far. You can read a cookbook but until you try it you won’t learn how to make a cake. Think of this as a light plot recipe.

For students, the goals of this activity are three-fold: 1) Develop a small single-area lighting concept (not quite a design) based on McCandless and 3-point lighting; 2) Hang and circuit the lighting instruments, including a rough focus and adding some color; 3) Record all information on a plot, color key and hook-up. Before beginning these activities, give your students an appropriate foundation in the controllable properties of light then the function of light plots and paperwork for a production. All these projects are drafted by hand using lighting templates on prepared handouts and worksheets. Using a CAD system for lighting is a separate skill set taught at another time.

Prep Work
I use a very simple light lab setup for this project, just one lighting area. Have a light lab? Great! Move on to the next step. Don’t have one but have 3 electrics you can lower to 8 or 10 feet above the stage floor? Do that and move on. Want a simple light lab setup? Check out figure 1-1 for an easy schematic of one. Use four 10’ pipes (1½” diameter for example) on boom bases spaced into an 8’ square; using pipe clamps attach four more pipes to box in the top; finally, add one more pipe across the center, and you’re good to go.

Once you have a lab, have a student tape an “X” in the center of your setup. This marks the center of the single lighting focus area to be used.

In your light lab you will need the following equipment:
• 6 dimmers/circuits (Just use the best circuiting your lab affords.)
• 3 wash instruments (Fresnels, Parnels)
• 3 Ellipsoidal Reflector Spotlights (50°, 36° or 26° are all okay)
• 6 gel frames for instruments
• 6 gel cuts: 1 each of bastard amber, lighter amber, pink lavender, blue lavender, light blue, darker blue
• C-wrench
• Leather gloves
• 6’ step ladder

Using both wash and spot instruments reinforces the idea of options when creating a plot and gives the student a variety of lighting symbols to draft. You don’t have to use a specific number of each, just what you have handy.

Distribution & Focus
To start, I hand out a blank Distribution & Focus/Color Key worksheet pre-printed with the general instrument location for two lighting methods: McCandless and 3-Point (worksheet in the zip file attached to this post, it’s Figure 1-4 Color Key.doc). The worksheet will help guide note-taking for the two methods of lighting that I’ll introduce later. I talk the students through the purpose of a color key: a graphic representation, or groundplan, of the direction from which each color of light will originate, repeated for each lighting focus area.

The Practice Plot activity starts when I step onto the taped “X” on the floor and stand in as the actor. I give a brief explanation of the McCandless and 3-Point lighting methods, pointing to the different light hang positions. The simplicity of these methods offers a clear place to begin understanding a system of instrument placement.

The McCandless method, condensed to its most basic elements, is two lighting instruments hanging at a 45 degree down angle in front and above the actor and at 45 degrees to either side of the actor. One is gelled in a cool color while the other is warm. (See Figure 1-5 for a visualization)

I then mention down light, even cooler, as a common addition to McCandless. The students jot notes on the Distribution & Focus handout for reference (Figure 1-6).

The 3-Point Lighting method consists of one instrument stage right of the actor, one stage left, and the third directly in front, all pointing at 45 degree angle down to the actor. (Figure 1-7) One side light is warm, the other cool, and the front neutral. I overlap the use of the down light position with the McCandless setup. This is also noted on the Distribution & Focus/Color Key handout. (Figure 1-8)

Hang, Circuit, Gel, Focus
Now it is the students’ turn. I divide the class (and my light lab, which is large) into four groups of five or so students. See Figure 1-9 for an idea of how I set up my lab before the exercise begins. The students hang the instruments in both the McCandless and 3-Point configurations, making best judgments of placement. This is when they discover the imperfect world in which we live. Sometimes one cannot hang an instrument in the perfect spot because a wall may be in the way or there may be no pipe from which to hang the instrument. They circuit, gel, and focus the instruments as additional practice and to see if the placement is acceptable.

Figures 1-10 to 1-12 are more shots of students doing the work. Figure 1-10 is pictured here, figures 1-11 and 1-12 are available to download if you want.

The students are ready to begin their paperwork of a light hang they know very well, since they just created it.

Paperwork Handouts Are Used
For each small group, I give them individual copies of the following (zip file containing all paperwork in Microsoft Office formats is attached to this post):
• Light lab quadrant groundplan with hang positions in which they are working. (Figure 1-14)
• Light lab groundplan as a whole, just for reference. (Figure 1-15)
• Hook-up template. (Figure 1-16)
• Lighting template.
• Printout of the USITT Lighting Graphics Standards. I use the USITT standards because it is a common language and a good starting place for the students. This is a formidable multi-page list that can overwhelm the students. A one-page version of the graphics standards is easier to use and find the symbol needed. FieldTemplate has a nice one (Figure 1-17) or you can draft one of your own for students to use.

Draft The Plot
Each student then drafts their own light plot directly on the groundplan of the light lab quadrant (Figure 1-18). At just six instruments and channels, it’s a very manageable size. Yes, there are lines through the instrument symbols and we do discuss that is something to avoid when drafting a full plot. They can see how it makes it difficult to read all the information. My more meticulous students will go back and white-out the underlying lines. The students also add instrument keys and notation keys while we discuss the function they serve on the plot, identifying what the symbols mean.

Create The Hook-Up
They also make an accompanying hook-up chart (Figure 1-19). At this stage of understanding, I only present the idea that the hook-up is a list of the information from the plot organized by control channel. More detail is covered in Part Two.

Being the professor that I am, I do go ahead and state the obvious, telling the students that plots and hook-ups are done before the hang in a real situation. I do not give the exception of the circuit number; too much information too soon for this first project.

Parts Two and Three of this project are found in the Lighting Forum on TheatreFace.com -- check 'em out and ask questions!