CALLING: Projections...how do you call it?

[Pip T]

Another UK based one here, so will be a bit different, but my cues are usually called as:

Lx - lighting
Sound
AV - Projection/video
Fly - Flies
Tab - House curtains
Stage - deck cues.
Spot - Follow spots in the rare event I'm calling them.

[SamanthaR]

I have another hand raised for TAB for a Video Cue. 
Usually I do not have the luxury of a separate video op so my sound op is the one pushing the Tab Cue.  It works well for us as it sounds different from a called Sound Cue.

[feegee]

I've run projections for several shows and the SMs always called the cues as TABs. I've also heard it referred to as Media, but I'm one of those people that likes to say as few syllables as possible when calling...

[nick_tochelli]

As an update: I'm in tech for the production with the Projections and I'm using "Tabs" to great success. I even dropped a bit o' knowledge on my deck chief (Equity SM but not on contract as such for our production) who's been working professionally since 1981 who had never heard the Tabs designation before.

But it keeps the air clear with Electrics, Sound, Deck and Tabs.

[SMdrum]

I use PQ for projection cues.  My college uses PowerPoint for projections during productions.  Sound is run separately from projections.

[VSM]

"Media"

[mzvalentine]

On a recent tour heavy in projections, I went with 'tab' as the title for projections, as suggested by another production staff member.

I found that across the country, even in the US, many older flymen associated 'tab' with their department, and questioned the call mid-sequence. I stuck with tab, but made sure to speak to every flyman on the call (even if the department head assured me that it was fine ) to clarify.

[leastlikely]

I've never called projections, but I have operated them. My SM had a really strange calling style, I really don't know how to explain it, you would have to hear it to understand. It was just.. not uniform, very few standbys, sometimes it would be "lights 15 go" and other times it would just be "lights go" and I don't know how the light board op didn't wring her neck to be honest. But it wasn't a very projection-heavy show, so she would just say "projection" and the name of the cue. I can see why this wouldn't work for faster-paced pieces. I will definitely keep "TAB" in mind if I ever have to call projections!

[MatthewShiner]

My SM had a really strange calling style, I really don't know how to explain it, you would have to hear it to understand. It was just.. not uniform, very few standbys, sometimes it would be "lights 15 go" and other times it would just be "lights go" and I don't know how the light board op didn't wring her neck to be honest.

It's a pretty common thing in tight cuing sequences to drop the LX number and just say "lights go!" in tight cuing sequences.

And, I very rarely give standbys for board operated cues.

[nick_tochelli]

I agree with matt. Very few standbys. If I'm working with an inexperienced op who hasn't proven they can op without a standby, they'll get one. I'll give a warning and standby after long periods of down time, but otherwise my ops get told listen for your department and the G-O.

[babens]

I've even had a few spots (such as in The Will Rogers Follies) where there wasn't even time to say anything other than "GO" in a sequence and just hope the board op kept up.  Luckily no other departments had any cues during those sequences so I didn't have to worry about multiple ops keeping up with a string of "GOs"

[MatthewShiner]

But on the flip side, in complicate sequences, I usually do
Standby LX 34, with Rail 2 on the blue cue light
Standby LX 35, with number number
Standby LX 36 on the double "G">

Which may sound like

"LX 34 GO" (Cue light light flipped)
"LX GO"
"GO"

But I try to be very verbose to explain in case of subs.

[babens]

I'm much the same way in regards to those types of sequences, Matthew.  For my final show in grad school I had one sequence where I had four different cue lights on for the rail, two different ones on for the deck, and one that was buried in the set for an actor entrance, on top of a bunch of sound and light cues.  I think the standby instructions for that sequence took me almost a minute to get out.  I sometimes joked that I worried that the guys on the rail for the first two moves would forget what they were supposed to be doing by the time I finished the standby and got to the top of the sequence.

Add to that a rotating crew and eight actresses doing quick changes right by the rail because one of the set pieces coming off would block them into the quick change booth (the crew didn't have time to clear it until after the sequence) and it was a harrowing little sequence.  I'm just glad I didn't have to add projections in to that one.

[BenTheStageMan]

For my final production in college I SM'ed Thoroughly Modern Millie.  The show features a few sections where characters are speaking and singing in Chinese while the lyrics and lines are projected to a supertitle screen.  Since the video cues for the supertitle slides were so densely packed, two to three per line, I chose not to use "GO" as the operating word for the video op.  Instead he took his cues off of the word "Mark."  So a sequence might be:
"Mark....mark...mark....Lights GO...mark....mark....Rail GO...mark...mark..." etc.
This drastically cut down on the number of "GOs" and helped prevent ops taking cues at the wrong times.

[Stuart Plymesser]

I'm currently calling a projection-heavy show and have taken to using "Vid" as a short way of saying "Video."  As we were getting ready for tech, I asked our projection designer what she has been hearing as a standard.  She said "Video" and sometimes "Slide." She mentioned that "Tab" had been used in the past, but that she was hearing less and less of it.  I knew there was no way I was going to get "Video"out as quickly as I needed to and "Slide" didn't feel right for something that has so much moving footage as this show does so I went with "Vid" and it has felt pretty natural after a few days.