Author Topic: CALLING: Calling Vs. Board Operation  (Read 5815 times)

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XanderQCall

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CALLING: Calling Vs. Board Operation
« on: Jul 29, 2013, 03:24 pm »
I don't know if this topic has ever been brought up but I am really curious about everyone's thoughts. The very first show I ever stage managed I called the entire thing (meaning that I had operators and ASM's and verbalized all of the cues). It took about five years from that time for me to stage manage another show where I fully called everything. In that time most of the shows I have stage managed I have had to run the boards whether it's running lights, calling sound, running sound, calling lights or running everything from lights, sound, projections to wireless mics.  I know from an AEA point of view, a stage manager cannot be a board operator unless a rider is put in their contract (at least that is my understanding). The theatre community here relies heavily on a stage manager being able to run a board, Equity or non-Equity.  We have a LORT theatre where the PSM calls the entire show but that is the only theatre in town where this is the case. The PSM at an SPT house, runs the light board and the PSM at a TYA house runs all of the boards.   What's been everyone's experience? I do consider running a board calling the show but in a different way. How do you feel about calling a show versus being one or both board ops?

Edited to add topic tag- Maribeth
« Last Edit: Sep 10, 2013, 02:05 pm by Maribeth »

NomieRae

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Re: Calling Vs. Board Operation
« Reply #1 on: Jul 30, 2013, 12:02 am »
Depends on the company, depends on the show, depends on the money.

I've done a one man show where I ran lights and sound because it was 55 minutes long and it would have been silly budget wise to hire more people. I've done huge musicals where all I have to do is call a show... and then all the permutations between.

I ask myself where my undivided focus needs to be - which is always the stage and the action happening there. I think it is a disservice to ask a stage manager to run a board during a show because it steals our focus from being fully in the show. Not to mention the logistical problems of what happens when something goes wrong. If I'm running lights and a dimmer is out or etc, I have no clue how to fix it in real time or how it will effect the show throughout the rest of the cues. My focus can't be split on trying to troubleshoot that issue all while the actors are continuing on.

As stage managers we often want to play a martyr and "make it work" by being all kinds of board operators (at least it has been my experience in the Off/Off Off bway world of NYC) but it truly undermines our job and the jobs of technicians who are highly skilled people who are just as valuable to the team as the stage manager.

Do I still do it from time to time? Sure. As long as I'm receiving an additional stipend for that role, and I feel the show is simple enough/only runs one weekend/is a friend's company then I'm happy to oblige. But as a career choice, it is not something I willingly advertise in my skill set, because it is meant to be a job for another person.
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SMeustace

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Re: Calling Vs. Board Operation
« Reply #2 on: Aug 26, 2013, 07:16 pm »
Has anyone experienced when a director, or designer would tell an operator to take a cue off a word or visual instead of your call?
"On the first day the lord said....Light cue 1, GO! Then there was light".

MatthewShiner

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Re: Calling Vs. Board Operation
« Reply #3 on: Aug 26, 2013, 09:54 pm »
All the time I have operators take a cue off a visual with a prep

"Sound 43 on visual - operator take when need hits the record"

Having them take it off a word is odd, unless there is an unpredictable pause . . . 

"Lights 123 operator take when actress yells "Lights!"

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loebtmc

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Re: Calling Vs. Board Operation
« Reply #4 on: Aug 27, 2013, 12:30 am »
there are several theatres where called sound cues would be late for the action - for ex, on phone rings, I tell sound to take the pick-up on a visual.

leastlikely

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Re: Calling Vs. Board Operation
« Reply #5 on: Aug 27, 2013, 03:49 am »
For the initial question: I work in non-AEA, small nonprofit settings. I just finished a show where I operated both sound and lights, it was a 57-page 100-minute play where the audience exit cue was SQ702 and there were at least 50 0-count LX cues. It was utterly ridiculous to expect a single person to have to run that. I really needed three hands (one for lights, one for playback, and one to mute mics, text the house manager to turn off the AC, and turn the pages). This show was crazy, and I really wish I could have just called it - or even if I ran one and called the other, that would have been fine too. However, I'm super used to it. It happens far more often than not, that I'm operating at least either lights or sound, if not both. Some day I'll grow up and work in larger companies and breathe a huge sigh of relief when I'm not pushing all the buttons too.

For SMeustace's question: Yes, definitely. There are some moments where it just won't work for it to be called. Maybe it needs to be absolutely instantaneous, so we can't wait for the lag (however tiny it may be, it's there) between the "GO" call and the actual go. "LX 52 on your visual right when the actor puts the hat on his head." "SQ 29 on your visual as the actress presses the doorbell." "LX 100, 105, and 110, on your visual with each kick." However, in these instances I'm still calling the cues, I'm just telling the operator that they won't hear the GO word from me, they'll see it on stage. The board op is not running it autonomously. I'm still telling them exactly what will happen on stage and what their response to that action should be. (See actress press doorbell, hit GO button in QLab.) I'm not in the dark on these cues at all - I know what's happening and when, it's just a situation where I can't be the one to call it because it really must be timed tighter than I'm capable of calling.

SMeustace

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Re: Calling Vs. Board Operation
« Reply #6 on: Aug 27, 2013, 04:19 am »
I mean that a director or designer told a board operator to ignore your calls and take cues by themselves.
"On the first day the lord said....Light cue 1, GO! Then there was light".

hbelden

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Re: Calling Vs. Board Operation
« Reply #7 on: Aug 27, 2013, 06:55 pm »
I mean that a director or designer told a board operator to ignore your calls and take cues by themselves.

Hasn't happened to me; but I've heard of a colleague who had such a hard time calling the show that the Lighting Designer called the show on opening and the operators learned how to take their cues correctly.  That particular stage manager was not rehired.
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loebtmc

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Re: Calling Vs. Board Operation
« Reply #8 on: Aug 27, 2013, 08:15 pm »
On a big tour I did many years ago, the ME called the spot cues on a separate channel, while I called lights, rail, sound, FX and other cues on the main one. And on some complex shows with lots of spot and light cues, once the spots know their cues I'll give them a standby and let them fly on their own. But that's the exception, when it's a sitting show and I know the spot ops well.

However, I understand in some countries board ops take their own cues so it does happen.

MatthewShiner

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Re: Calling Vs. Board Operation
« Reply #9 on: Aug 27, 2013, 08:56 pm »
That sounds like the person giving the notes doesn't trust you, and doesn't want to risk a calling error in the execution of the cue.
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Anything posted here as in my own personal opinion, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of my employer - whomever they be at a given moment in time.