Week 2: Get With The Program!

See what I did there with the title?

Anyways, this lecture was awesome. I thought there was a lot of knowledge spewed for the short amount of time we actually had. I do wish if we had more time to play with programming more. I know that's a part of being on a crew and such. So I guess I am more upset that I missed out on it. I definitely feel more comfortable with the idea of programming in the future, whenever needed.

Channels, groups, and dimmers are definitely a lot clearer now. At first, groups were a little hard to comprehend, but after seeing Kristen and Stacie's cheat sheet for Dance Escape I can totally see how it works and helps at that!

I hope I can somehow really learn/ practice programming though.

Update:
Observing the focus for Dance Escape was interesting. I learned a lot of new terms like split the difference, flag it, etc. I also learned more about actually focusing the lights over the house. It was cool to see this in the Claire because I've only done lighting things in smaller spaces like the Nixon and Cohen theatres. It was amazing to see how many lights needed to be focused and how long it was. I think it took the whole 4 hours to focus just the lights over the stage. Kristen was on headset with Jessica who was in the house working the board and taking down notes for her. I do wish I could have actually seen her plot to view how extensive it is compared to the ones we did in 157.

Tech was so cool to observe because I got the opportunity to see a run of the show. Dance shows are completely different from theatrical ones when it comes to lighting because you only get so much time to fix your cues, and oftentimes I saw the lights being adjusted during the run of the piece. Because light cues are as much a part of the dance piece as the dancers are, communication with the stage manager on exactly when to take the cue is as much part of the design as it is any other part. I was awed by how creative dance lighting can be and noticed so clearly how colors can emote a certain feeling and help tell a story. One cue I remember so clearly was in the ballet, the dancers formed a rose shape as they lined up in a circle and moved around. I think I probably only associated the formation of the dancers with a rose because of the rose colored cyc that was behind them. When talking to Stacie after, she told me that it was difficult to light it because the choreographer did not tell her what the piece was at all. It was just a ballet, with no story. So Stacie put in her "own two cents" if you will, on what each moment was. It definitely enhanced the piece tremendously to have some sense of direction with the lights. The pieces that were most successful, both in lighting, and choreography, were the ones where the intention was clear.