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Topics - PSMKay

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December Madness 2 / SOFTWARE Division semis: Word vs Excel
« on: Dec 15, 2014, 12:09 am »
It could be said that this match is happening too early in the tournament. After all, Word & Excel (and their open source doppelgangers) may well be the most heavily used digital items across the entire league. Unfortunately, this tourney ain't big enough for the both of them.

In the previous round Word struggled to find its footing against the Web Browser while Excel breezed through its game with Acrobat. We might be able to predict a similar outcome here, but Word has been known to run circles around Excel in prior years. Only the stage managers will be able to determine the winner of this highly anticipated pairing.

You have until the end of Wednesday, midnight EST, to make your choice.

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It's the featherweight vs the heavyweight in this first match of the Apps division semi-finals.

Tiny and fast text messaging has just a couple hundred characters in its arsenal but makes every abbreviated word count. It landed the TKO against fan favorite Dropbox last week but it was far from a shutout match.

Across the court it faces the monster from Mountain View, Google Drive. Drive brings some very similar features to the game as Dropbox did. We know SMS has the game to take on a cloud sharing game strategy. Does Drive's defensive line of office suite products have what it takes to hold off the SMS onslaught? Your vote will tell the story at the end of Wednesday, midnight EST.

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December Madness 2 / APPS Round 4: Camera vs Pushbullet
« on: Dec 11, 2014, 01:18 am »
A groundbreaking piece of technology and an underdog newcomer battle it out in this round of the Apps division.

On the one hand we have Camera, the cause of Blackberry's survival and downfall. Easy access to instant digital imaging on portable devices has brought us some wonderful things, some fantastic and some not as much. Assign as you will such novelties as selfies, cat videos. It allows us to record choreography and take instant snaps of the prop table. Of course it also can show us things we don't want to see, such as the events that led to ongoing race protests & riots in the US. Regardless of its output, one cannot deny that Camera is a mighty force to be reckoned with.

Across the court we find tiny Pushbullet, (pushbullet.com) possibly the least well-known competitor in this entire tournament. Much like the SM facilitates communication between production departments, Pushbullet allows your many devices to talk to each other via a shared wifi connections. Need to keep your phone in your bag in rehearsal? PB will send your incoming text messages to your laptop screen. Want to know when your ASM has finished the backstage checklist? PB can pop up a notice wherever you like when they save their copy of the list. A small feature, perhaps, compared with what Camera has done for us. However, sometimes a small feature can make all the difference, and it only takes one point difference to win a match.

Match runs through midnight EST at the end of Sunday Dec 14.

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December Madness 2 / SOFTWARE Round 4: Qlab vs Lightwright
« on: Dec 11, 2014, 01:07 am »
Round 3 of the Software division featured some teams that courted the elite and skillful members of the industry who are willing to master some pretty dense software. Round 4 features similarly challenging digital tools, but in this case they are targeted specifically at the performing arts industry: Lightwright and Qlab. Of note, these teams are also the only two that do not have any true free alternative available for the services they provide.

As much as we would like both of these unique snowflake teams to continue on in the competition, only one will survive. Which will it be?

Lightwright
While some may call Lightwright more of an electrician's tool, understanding how it works is critical for canny stage managers on long runs. Its concise rendering of all the parts and movements of LX rig makes it a major part of any show, especially those on tour. When it comes to electrics Lightwright is the ultimate team manager, but can it hold its own against the overall managing power of....

Qlab
This Baltimore-based little robotic wonder may raise some hackles as the sole Mac-only team competing in December Madness. Nevertheless, its power has made it possible for stage managers to singlehandedly (or even single-fingeredly) execute complicated tech for productions without the assistance of board ops. With the power to consolidate calling the show into a single "Go," Qlab's timecoding may eventually make that part of the gig obsolete. However, until it does, we can all enjoy its ability to get the mechanicals out of the way and let us pay attention to other aspects of show maintenance.

Match runs through midnight EST at the end of Sunday Dec 14.

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December Madness 2 / SOFTWARE Round 3: Photoshop vs. Filemaker
« on: Dec 08, 2014, 12:05 am »
The first two rounds of the Software division have focused on apps that are easy to use for beginnners. They also offer a gradual learning curve to get you into advanced work pretty quickly. Round 3's competitors offer no such gentleness: it's mastery or bust. This is the battle of the connoisseur executables: Filemaker and Photoshop.

Filemaker/Database
The mention of the word "database" can strike fear in the heart of digital newbies. However, true masters of Filemaker and other database systems will tell you that there is no substitute when it comes time to organize data. Spreadsheets and documents are great for small shows and single productions, but when you're dealing with enormous casts, multiple drafts and scattered sites the Stage Management pros turn to databases. Filemaker Pro has been the mainstay of the SM database community for years. Other options exist in the form of MS Access and any number of SQL flavors (MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle, PostgreSQL, etc).

Photoshop

The logical folks will lean towards the databases, but for the creative/image folks its Photoshop all the way. The many-layered monster and its baby brother Elements have found their way into pop lyrics and traced their pen tools around political controversy. The learning curve for true excellence in Photoshop is just as steep as that of Filemaker - perhaps moreso. However, other graphic editors on team Photoshop include GIMP, Paint.net, Pixlr and even editor emeritus MS Paint. These make it somewhat easier to get your art on without an art degree.

Cast your vote for one of the big boys and help us decide who goes on to the Sweet Sixteen! Voting closes at midnight EST on the night of Dec 10.

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December Madness 2 / APPS Round 3: Clock vs Evernote
« on: Dec 08, 2014, 12:04 am »
Welcome back for round 3 of the Apps division! Your favorite mobile apps are duking it out to see who goes on to the Sweet Sixteen as we continue into the second week of December Madness!

Clock

It's the app that singlehandedly obliterated the wristwatch... CLOCK! As the first thing you see on your phone, it's easy to forget that the Clock is also an app. Digging into its functions you can usually find countdown timer, alarm and stopwatch functions. The stage manager's role as time keeper has made the stopwatch an iconic badge of the industry. (So much so that it's been my avatar here on SMNet for the ENTIRETY of its existence!) Are stage managers willing and able to discard their stopwatches in favor of this mighty widget? Can the Clock app manage to trump its tough opponent, the versatile and fancy Evernote?

Evernote
Hailing from Redwood City, CA, Evernote turns your pocket notebook into a digital, shareable compilation. Jot down notes, clip web pages, make checklists, share them with individuals, groups or the whole world. Sync them between your devices. A healthy pile of extensions integrates Evernote into other apps, allowing it to serve as a backup location/collator for shopping lists, text messages and voicemails.

Two strong competitors: one simple, one very complex. Which will survive round 3? We'll find out at midnight EST on the night of Dec. 10!

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December Madness 2 / APPS Round 2: Google Drive vs. Video Phone
« on: Dec 04, 2014, 12:04 am »
Your opinions on the true core role of the stage manager may take a hand in what wins the match before you today. Those who favor the organizational aspects of the job may lean towards Google Drive, while those who value communication as the central factor will consider Video Phone as their better aid. I'm sure both of our teams are very aware of the stakes as they take the court today.

Google Drive
Combining a moderate office suite (previously called Google Docs) with cloud storage, Google Drive is the Swiss Army Knife of online editing. The question is, does the wonder from Mountain View spread its talents too thin? The editing capabilities of the individual Google Drive pieces are mediocre in comparison to more fully-fledged desktop applications. However, you get what you pay for and Drive is free, portable and makes collaboration relatively easy.

If the browser/word processing match from earlier in the week is anything to go by, Google Drive will be a top contender in this round, and possibly through the entire tourament. However, all that hope will be for naught if it can't hold its own against a very valid competitor...

Video Phone
There's three major players in the video phone category - Skype, FaceTime and Google Hangouts. All three offer similar capabilities - use your web connection to talk with others in real time, with a facecam option built-in.

Stage managers working with remote production teams and touring technicians will be most reliant on video phone - here on SMNet it's been mentioned as a way to allow remote designers to "attend" run throughs and production meetings. Old school TV shows predicting the future made video phones out to be the top of the line for "futuristic" technology.

Are we living in the future? Is this technology a satisfactory stopgap until flying cars finally make it to mass production? We probably won't answer these questions here, but we can at least figure out if it's more useful than Google's offering.

Poll remains open through midnight at the end of December 7, EST.

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December Madness 2 / SOFTWARE Round 2: Excel vs. PDF
« on: Dec 04, 2014, 12:02 am »
It's the orderly vs the chaotic in this matchup, as boxy Excel takes on the flexible Acrobat in what is likely to be a tight matchup.

Excel/Spreadsheet
Excel and Word are the Venus and Serena Williams of this tournament: great individually, better together. Word faced a tough game against the Web Browser's strong defensive line earlier in the week. If Excel takes this match it will have to face off against its sibling in the sweet sixteen. For now though, it must focus on taking out Acrobat.

Excel courts stage managers with its fondness for putting info in nice neat boxes. It backs up its aesthetics with math wizardry that makes it a go-to tool for time calculations. Will it be enough to hold its own against the PDF?

Acrobat/PDF Readers
Adobe Acrobat was long despised for its long load times and massive memory usage. That was then. Nowadays PDF has become the universal format for static document exchange, ensuring that resumes and production documents look the same on every computer that opens them. The Office suites' steps to making PDF generation easy has gone a long way towards spreading the popularity of PDF. Meanwhile, competing PDF readers with lightweight footprints such as Foxit Reader have forced Adobe's hand to slim down Acrobat Reader to fighting trim.

Stage managers, only one of these two excellent teams will continue to the next round. Will it be brother vs brother in the sweet sixteen, or will the two e-script powerhouses face off? It's time for you to decide.

Poll remains open through midnight at the end of December 7, EST.

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Job Postings / Cirque du Soleil internships - Vegas
« on: Dec 03, 2014, 08:14 pm »
My connection at Controlbooth has informed me that Cirque has an internship posting up for Las Vegas. Job posting is here: https://cirquedusoleil.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobdetail.ftl?job=RES04933&lang=en&sns_id=facebook

Looks like it pays min wage for Nevada, $8.25/hr.

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December Madness 2 / SOFTWARE Round 1: Word vs Web Browser
« on: Dec 01, 2014, 12:08 am »
It's been predicted that the software division is going to be the one to watch for brutal matches this year, and this opening pair-up is leading the pack in a major way! We've got two heavyweight candidates on the block vying for your votes. Who will move on to round two: the word processor or the web browser? Only ONE will survive the next three days!

Word
Word processing as a technology dates back to the 1920s. Software that allowed typing and saving of documents to diskettes was available from the earliest incarnations of personal computers. Historic predecessors to modern WYSIWYG word processing software include Multimate, WordPerfect and pfs:Write.

Microsoft Word came along in 1983 and was designed to be used with a Mouse and display text in a "What you see is what you get" (WYSIWYG) format. This style of word processor took off. MS Word helped to make common such tools as the spellchecker, the .doc extension and mail merges.

The cost of MS Word has been prohibitive for many artists, including stage managers. Free open source clones such as LibreOffice Writer have made word processing power more accessible.

It has been said on SMNetwork that Word, along with fellow competitor Excel, allowed stage managers to lead the charge bringing computers into the backstage environment. The question this year is whether or not it has been superseded by newer technologies as the most useful member of the SM's digital toolkit.

Browser
Word is facing a massive competitor in this first match in the form of the web browser. Web browser software has a history to rival word processing, dating back to NCSA Mosaic in 1993. Whether you use IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera, Dolphin, AOL Browser or some other software of choice, there's no denying that the web browser is the doorway to nearly every other competitor in this season's lineup.

Browsers can be big and unwieldy, and their exposure to the internet mandates frequent patching of security flaws to keep your data safe. It could be said that the difference between a smartphone and a dumbphone is delineated by the ability to handle a web browsing app.

The browser's existence as a portal to the internet makes it a dual-edged sword. While it can be a connection to historical data, web-based email and many of the tools we'll be discussing this season, it can also serve as a major distraction in the rehearsal room. Its siren song has led many stage managers to ban laptops in rehearsal.

Will this drawback be the downfall of the browser as it goes up against Word? Your votes will tell the story this week. This poll will remain open through Dec 3 at midnight EST.

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December Madness 2 / APPS Round 1: Dropbox vs Text Messaging
« on: Dec 01, 2014, 12:05 am »
The first match in the Apps division is between the historically strong Short Message Service, known to its friends as "Texting", against relative newcomer and fan favorite Dropbox.

Dropbox
Hailing from San Francisco, CA is the web app that revolutionized stage management teamwork and introduced a whole new section to the pre-production paperwork of smart SMs. Dropbox and its clones allow users to clone the contents of a folder between any connected computer or phone while backing up those contents to the cloud.

Dropbox's limited storage space on the free version can be a handicap on the field, but it can pump itself up legitimately through paid subscriptions or lay on the juice through referrals.

Some concerns exist about how Dropbox encrypts its stored files, but other clones give users complete control over the whole process. One clone, Owncloud, allows you to host the stored files on your own server to ensure they never fall into the wrong hands. Altogether the Dropbox team includes at least 300 similar services including Box, SpiderOak, SugarSync, Amazon and controversial large-file hosting apps such as Mega and FireDrive.

Regardless of which cloud storage app you and your team use, there's no doubt that this relatively new technology has changed the way stage managers and production teams operate. The question is, is it enough to take on text messaging?

SMS
With an estimated 3.5 billion active users, SMS has had nearly 30 years to establish itself as the leader in communication technology. Nearly every cell phone has some type of SMS app, some have many. The rise of text messaging has pretty much obliterated voicemail and fax technology and has made it far less intrusive to quickly communicate with the cast and stage management team. In a pinch it can even be used as a replacement for headset systems.

Texting has its drawbacks, with some phone carriers still charging per message. Sending images (MMS) is still shaky between carriers and the 140 character limit can lead to some crazy shorthand. Typing out texts for people without smartphones can be a labor-intensive process. The abbreviated nature of SMS has made formal conversation a luxury in some venues, and the temptation to include emoticons in business conversations has been the downfall of many eager young interns.

Even so, there's no doubt that SMS is a heavy hitter in this season's competition. Can it knock out Dropbox? Cast your vote now, discuss and decide!

Poll will remain open through Dec 3 at midnight EST.

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The International December Madness Committee (IDMC) is pleased to announce the grand opening of the 2nd December Madness season! The first matches will start on Monday, December 1, 2014. SMNetwork will serve as the host for the games as in the 1st season.

For those of you who have joined since early 2013 and missed the first event, it was a bracket-style elimination tournament where stage managers voted on their favorite tool, gadget or office supply. It was a knock down, drag out battle that wound up with Paper winning the final match against Laptop, but Laptop scoring more points overall in the course of the entire tourney. You can see everything that happened on the archived board here.

After the scandal that rocked the Paper team in May of this year the IDMC has opted to focus the 2nd season entirely on Digital competitors. In the seeding this year are 32 digital tools that you might use to do your jobs. From Dropbox and Evernote to Qlab and Twitter, we'll be running the gamut of apps, websites, software and social media to determine the best, most useful digital tool for stage management.

Here's a quick refresher of how the game works:

Quote
Much like with sports seasons, I've come up with a tournament order. I have attached the starting lineup and a bracket form to this post for anyone who is inclined to gamble on such things or wants to play fantasy football with the tools included. Pick your favorite and root for it as if it were your home team. It will make things far more interesting. Feel free to campaign for your favorite items, extol their virtues, and trash talk the other stuff. *evil grin*

Matches will be decided by poll. Four polls will run simultaneously for the first two rounds, each round lasting approximately half a week. This means we should be finished in early January. Give your relatives another reason to look at you strangely - stop by and cheer for your favorite all through the holiday season!

One special note for this year: the bracket due to limited space uses commercial software that's also available in popular free alternative versions. The use of a brand name is not meant to discount these alternatives - please include them in your considerations. The function matters more than the brand. (In other words, if you use LibreOffice Writer feel free to consider it in the place of MS Word when it's game time.)

Bracket is attached to this post. Feel free to print it out, post it on your office wall, carry a copy on your phone. If you're not familiar with any of the apps mentioned feel free to ask around here in the next week as we get ready to start... Decemberrrrr Maaaaadnesss!

(Note for those joining late: If you'd like to see the original blank bracket use the PDF dated 11-16-2014 attached to this post. If you want to catch up to the tournament's current position, use the "Current Bracket" attachment. It will be re-uploaded every time a new round begins.)

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Posted on Friday to Rosco's Facebook page, this quick clip shows the production process for making those little color/"gel" swatchbooks.

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The Green Room / Tragedies and other space invaders
« on: Aug 11, 2014, 08:25 pm »
We are fortunate (most of us) that at this moment no major worldwide or nationwide tragedies are surrounding us. That makes this an OK time to discuss this topic, which has never really been broached here. (To any of you reading this right now from global hot spots, I'm sorry.)

In the era before cell phones there were days when I'd come out of a long rehearsal to find that major events had transpired while I was inside. These days it's almost impossible to maintain that era of isolation. Major events that affect the lives of your company will happen while you're in rehearsal, and the reactions to them - be it grief or joy - will be major sources of distraction from the work.

Some of our younger stage managers may have never had to deal with being in rehearsal when a major event happens - although for the younger folks even something like a traffic accident or someone asking someone else to prom can be an earth moving occurrence. On the other hand some of our more experienced folks can recall being in rehearsal or performance during more drastic situations - elections, award ceremonies, major sporting events, bombings, etc.

I can recall being in rehearsal when the E2 nightclub stampede occurred in 2003. Many of my cast members and the director had friends who frequented that particular club. The worry and frantic phone calls pretty much consumed the entire evening.

For those of you who have been at work when something like this went down, how did you respond? Did you try to keep running the room on schedule or let it go? Did you keep yourself together? How can you plan a reaction sequence for something like this happening?

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Employment / Dear Abby: Problems with an Overloaded, Slacker PM
« on: Jun 17, 2014, 03:02 am »
"Dear Abby" posts are from members of the site need advice but want to remain anonymous. They can send their questions via private message to a staff member, who will post the message on their behalf.

===============

Dear Abby,

I'm having trouble with dealing with a production manager.

I am working with a small company who puts a lot of the work on the production manager. The production manager has been working with the company for about 5 years so he is familiar with how they work. This is a project that has been in workshops for a couple of months with a previous stage manager.

My problem is that he tends to leave his duties incomplete. This predates my hiring. For example, not getting budgets to designers, not getting contracts to the designers in time, not informing the director that I had been hired or that we were lacking a member of the creative team until 2 weeks before first rehearsal. There's some animosity towards the PM from the director and the designers, and I can't say I disagree with their feelings. I signed a contract months in advance and kept e-mailing him about needing to get involved early. He introduced me to the director and filled me in on production details 5 days before first rehearsal. I was left scrambling to play catch up and prep.

This company's budget does not allow for a stage management budget, so I cannot make copies of scripts and get supplies. I have to request them if need be. So I would request ahead of time. Nothing I requested from the production manager was prepared for first rehearsal.

Once rehearsals began, the info coming from the rehearsal room didn't match what I'd heard from the PM. I was learning of actor conflicts, unexpected AEA contracts, new dates of rehearsal and tech - not minor things. When I seemed surprised, the response I got was, "Didn't the production manager tell you?"

I have been asking for copies of new scenes and supplies needed for about a week, and nothing on his end has been done. Designers, the Director, and the Actors also have been requesting things that are not getting done. We have voiced these requests in reports, e-mails, phone calls, and production meetings. The production manager will say it will get done in by a certain specified and reasonable date, but does not come through. Rehearsals are suffering because we don't have the tools, people, or information we need. Some of the actors are taking out their frustration on stage management thinking we're to blame.

I brought up the situation with another stage manager who has worked with this company before. She has said that going over his head was not effective as his supervisor's approach is a simple "Do this" without follow up. It doesn't guarantee results and doesn't prevent him from dropping the next ball. The PM has 2 assistants, but they are new and he doesn't delegate anything to them.

What can I do to get the things I need in order to create a more comfortable atmosphere in rehearsal and, at the end, get things done?

Signed,
Frustrated-and-Done-With-It

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