Author Topic: CALLING: calling cues  (Read 18275 times)

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Balletdork

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Re: calling cues
« Reply #15 on: Jul 17, 2007, 10:33 am »
I always write LGT, SND, FX, PYRO, RAIL, DECK....

and I say exactly that!

I'm a holdover for colour-coding and such, as well.

 ;D

hbelden

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Re: calling cues
« Reply #16 on: Jul 17, 2007, 11:42 am »
Sorry, Mac, what's that?  Vision? 

Is that some sort of automation program, or projection?

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Trevor7

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Re: calling cues
« Reply #17 on: Jul 17, 2007, 11:49 am »
I used to go to a community college before transferring schools, and there everyone lettered their sound cue's.  When I transferred schools now I can't do that because most shows have to many sound cues.  Also with the fly cues we have cue lights, and when I don't have that I just call deck cue and make sure that my ASM has a good shift plot of work off of.

MatthewShiner

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Re: calling cues
« Reply #18 on: Jul 17, 2007, 01:27 pm »
Ultimately, doesn't the designer or the play system dictact what the calling system will be?

I am not going to make my design make his sound cues letters, or the automation programmer change their system.

I should be the flexiable one.
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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.

KMC

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Re: calling cues
« Reply #19 on: Jul 17, 2007, 06:17 pm »
Ultimately, doesn't the designer or the play system dictact what the calling system will be?

I am not going to make my design make his sound cues letters, or the automation programmer change their system.

I should be the flexiable one.

I think the demands of the show definitely dictate the calling system.

However, cue numbering is not an artistic choice - everyone can be flexible  :)
Get action. Do things; be sane; don’t fritter away your time; create, act, take a place wherever you are and be somebody; get action. -T. Roosevelt

JDL

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Re: calling cues
« Reply #20 on: Jul 17, 2007, 08:06 pm »
As a designer that SM's, I was taught that Sound Cues should be lettered and Light cues use #'s. This really clarifies to the operators who I am talking to and who should respond. I think it works brilliantly. LX 1 and SD A - GO! If for some reason I can't get out the "lights or sound" before the cue, the operators can still respond. As for fly/rails we resort back to the #'s.

That works great until you have more than 26 sound cues!!

Ideally the designers meet and discuss.  For example if Lights doesn't anticipate more than 200 cues then Sound can start at 5 or 600. 

Then the letters start over, AA then AAA then AAAA. A production of Angels in America went to SQ TTTT (Quad T)
AlL tHe WoRlD's A sTaGe... AnD i'M oFf BoOk!

SMeustace

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Re: CALLING: calling cues
« Reply #21 on: Dec 28, 2013, 07:55 am »
What would you say or how do you word it if you want your operator to take the cue off a visual/action onstage or word instead of saying "go"? For example if an actor turns on a light switch, answers a phone, or if the lights bump up when the actor screams "lights" (scripted, of course).
"On the first day the lord said....Light cue 1, GO! Then there was light".

iamchristuffin

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Re: CALLING: calling cues
« Reply #22 on: Dec 28, 2013, 08:24 am »
I would either call it as a normal cue, pre-empting slightly more than normal and giving the GO at the correct point, or I would give a Standby as follows:

"Standby please LX99, which is a visual on 'Jack' pressing the light switch."

I would have mentioned these cues to the Op beforehand, of course. I would only ever do this if it was a VERY busy sequence, the Op was the same for every performance and I just couldn't call it/watch the stage for a long time.

RuthNY

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Re: CALLING: calling cues
« Reply #23 on: Dec 28, 2013, 08:30 am »
I just did a show that had 6 of these, having to do with the lighting and snuffing of a candle, as other cues were being called.  I simply said "Standby for lighting visuals." I always opt for the fewest words possible.

What would you say or how do you word it if you want your operator to take the cue off a visual/action onstage or word instead of saying "go"? For example if an actor turns on a light switch, answers a phone, or if the lights bump up when the actor screams "lights" (scripted, of course).
"Be fair with others, but then keep after them until they're fair with you."
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loebtmc

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Re: CALLING: calling cues
« Reply #24 on: Dec 28, 2013, 11:37 am »
agree w Ruth - I say "S/B lights (or sound) X on a visual" or (for ex on a phone ring) "s/b for sound x and sound y on a visual", and leave it at that.

Lizzie

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Re: CALLING: calling cues
« Reply #25 on: Jan 06, 2014, 04:17 pm »
Judging by the OPs username, they are from the right-hand side of the pond, and over here, I've always heard DSMs say LX (ell-ex) for lighting cues. I sometimes say LX34, and sometimes LXQ34, kind of depends on what's going on at the time.

Stuff that's flown is always a Fly cue - Rail isn't a term I've heard used here in that context.

Sound, Spot (I did hear a very oldschool DSM call Limes), AV, FX, Pyro, Stage/Deck/Truck, references to a specific scenic piece or effect, as long as it's agreed in advance and you know what call is being used.

omaira17

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Re: CALLING: calling cues
« Reply #26 on: Jun 11, 2014, 12:28 pm »
After having done my 1st HUGE Professional production this past winter I changed some of my calling cues.
In the past, I used the following:
LQ 1 - Lights Cue 1
SQ 1- Sound  Cue 1
FQ 1- Fly Cue 1

For this past production my running crew for the show came in 4 weeks before opening.  We had a large Rail System, Turntable (rotating set and stage), and tons of Sound Effects, Special Effects and Lights.
The Rail Operator gave me a quick tour of how he does what he does (it was a 3 story rail system, depending on what he was bringing in or out depended on what level or deck he needed to be on and would have to climb a large spiral staircase to get to each deck). This helped me understand exactly how long I needed to give him for the standby and the Go. Together we determined that saying "Standby Fly- Small Bridge" was best for him. Then, just say "Fly Go". I have always had my crew repeat Standbys to me so I can make sure that they heard them.
The Sound Operator flew in off a tour during a break between mountings of the tour. Because he came in for a few days of tech before the run started I had to mark his script up for him in advance & email it to him so he can familiarize himself with it in advance (Thank Goodness my Hubby is a Sound guy and was able to do this easily enough). With him, I had to only call certain sound effects and I used SFX- Rain in my script and then I'd just call "Standby Sound Effects- Rain". Then it was just a quick "Sound Effects GO".
Turntable- this was much trickier as we had a separate computer and operator for this. I wrote out Turntable 1 in my book. During rehearsals I had to keep a separate list for the programmer of how many degrees it needed to rotate and what direction for each cue. For instance, Turntable 1 = Clockwise 90 degrees. My ASM's however had a different list backstage for setting up set pieces on the turntable. They had to know what part of the "clock" they were loading in on or taking off. So Turntable 1= Dinning Room Table & 2 chairs @1 o'clock, Large & Small crates off @ 9 o'clock.  Standbys were ... "Standby Turntable 1". Once I received the all clear of the set pieces by the ASM's I can call a GO
Lights were just LQ1 "Lights Cue 1", I had Lights in Standby the 1st 20 minutes of the show as there was over 70 cues to call in a short time frame and was strictly ..... "Standby Lights 1-78 on my GO, Quiet Please!" Then Lights.... Go, Go, Go, Go.....Go, Go, Go....Go... etc.

This was the most technical show I've ever called to this point and yet it was the most fun!



Plabebob

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Re: CALLING: calling cues
« Reply #27 on: Feb 15, 2016, 03:50 pm »
Judging by the OPs username, they are from the right-hand side of the pond, and over here, I've always heard DSMs say LX (ell-ex) for lighting cues. I sometimes say LX34, and sometimes LXQ34, kind of depends on what's going on at the time.

Stuff that's flown is always a Fly cue - Rail isn't a term I've heard used here in that context.

Sound, Spot (I did hear a very oldschool DSM call Limes), AV, FX, Pyro, Stage/Deck/Truck, references to a specific scenic piece or effect, as long as it's agreed in advance and you know what call is being used.

Yup, this is how I do it (English). One theatre I often work in has two sets of flies - counterweights on SL and hemps on SR, so then I call 'CW#' or 'Hemps#' in or out (# being the bar number).

I prefer to use QLights in conjunction with calling, rather than relying on one or the other. That means that if anything goes wrong with either system we've got it covered.

For some departments, especially hemps as they need a second to prepare physically I actually elongate the Q by saying "and the hemps......Go". I also do this if I'm still adjusting the standbys and I do one a bit too early.

Cedes

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Re: CALLING: calling cues
« Reply #28 on: Feb 28, 2016, 03:08 pm »
I'm in a bit of an interesting situation. I hit my own light board, and the SFX from Qlab are tied into the lightboard via strings, so here's how my calling tends to run:

Lights: No verbals unless they involve spots (I call those also) so I would just say "standby Spot 1 up on Billy" when it goes with a cue. Written it's LX 23 (spot 1 UP on billy). So I can still identify where I am in the cue stacks.

Sound: Tied into the light board, so I usually have them written like this: (Bells-SX 14)_______LX 35.5. This is because it has a number in Qlab, but a specific light cue in the board, so I can also keep track via Qlab and LX stacks.

Rail: I say "Rail" and then the number, since we have 2 cue lights on the rail.

Shifts: I say "deck" because my deck manager is also my flyman, just to differentiate between rail cues and deck cues in a shift.

It's an interesting system, but it's what I have to do to make it work here.

TechBoothPhantom

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Re: CALLING: calling cues
« Reply #29 on: Feb 29, 2016, 03:56 pm »
I've recently taken over running the sound cues for my resident SM position; it started as a situation in which we couldn't 100% trust the sound op to run mics and run QLab at the same time, so I took over QLab through necessity.  Now it's a regular thing.  I gotta say, I prefer running lights rather than sound (I can feel the timing of a light cue better but sound tends to be pretty steady in its timing).  But with the number of FX deployed through the light board, it's more realistic if we use a separate light op for the Ion board and myself for QLab.

That being said, with my attention on QLab, I've found that writing my cues in my book in a way that suggests how it's pronounced really frees up my mind during the show.  I now use LTS instead of LX or LQ, because I say "Lights # GO" and that's what it looks like on the page.

STBY  ("Standby ___")
LTS 4  ("Lights 4, GO!")
SQ J  (I don't have to call this so I write it as clearly/efficiently as possible)
FX [Name/#] ("FX Flash, GO!" or "Fog 1, GO!")
RL [Name/#] ("Rail 1, GO!" or "Main, GO!" depending on what my flymen prefer)
DK 3 ("Deck Shift 3, GO!" or "Shift 3, GO!" depending on what's preferred)

The last three (FX, RL, DK) are always preceded by a STBY with more detail, so everyone is on the same page.  The GO cue should be clear and simple, as clutter-free as possible.  The only way I deviate is in writing my cues as they're pronounced, so I don't have to translate as I'm calling.

 

riotous