Author Topic: Master Cue Sheet  (Read 10952 times)

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Richard_Kirby

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Master Cue Sheet
« on: Jun 08, 2016, 11:48 am »
Hello everyone,

How do you create a master cue sheet?
I know that everything that is cued by an SM at any point throughout the show needs to go on the Master but how do you organise lights, sound and any other departments into one coherent cue list?

I will do the cue sheet in Excel for our director and TD can only access Excel. And the show goes up in 3 weeks (eek!)

Thanks for your guidance and tips.

BenTheStageMan

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Re: Master Cue Sheet
« Reply #1 on: Jun 08, 2016, 01:45 pm »
The typical layout for a Master Cue Sheet is all of the cues in order they are called.  Usually with a description of each cue and where it is called.  Lights, Sound, Deck, Rail, etc. are all intermingled.
However, to be honest, I have never used a Master Cue Sheet except for one show in college where it was required by a professor.  It's never seemed necessary outside of college.  Of course I've created cue sheets for deck and rail, and lighting designers sometimes create light or follow spot cue sheets, but they've always been separate for me.
What I do have is a run sheet which lists every entrance, exit, set change, rail cue, and anything else that needs to happen backstage.  But lights, sound, etc, don't go on there.

I'm sure other SMs can chime in about their own experiences.
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PSMKay

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Re: Master Cue Sheet
« Reply #2 on: Jun 08, 2016, 04:19 pm »
The only times I can see a Master Cue Sheet being useful:

- Your PM doesn't think you are capable of doing your job and wants to micromanage
- You're working on a piece with no script or anything else to serve as a prompt book
- You're handing off a show to an SM who doesn't speak your language

Careful of doing unnecessary paperwork just because you think it should exist.

Richard_Kirby

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Re: Master Cue Sheet
« Reply #3 on: Jun 08, 2016, 05:08 pm »
Hi,

I probably should have said in my first post but I'm a student working as an SM for our school's Performing Arts Department. We are rehearsing in the school hall until 30 June when we load into the theatre. Both the Director and Tech Director have asked for a Master for ease during the load in.

Sorry for not mentioning it in the first post.

LexieTaylor

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Re: Master Cue Sheet
« Reply #4 on: Jun 09, 2016, 04:15 pm »
It sounds like what you are looking for is what Ben described. You could also call it a "Master Run Sheet". I have used them before that include carpenter, rail, elex, prop, and sometimes wardrobe moves. For me it is a document that exists for reference and/or archiving. Otherwise, it can be used as a run sheet for ASM's who just need to highlight what they help with and take their own notes on that sheet instead of creating their own separate run sheets.

PM me if you want me to try to dig up a couple of examples.

smejs

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Re: Master Cue Sheet
« Reply #5 on: Jun 10, 2016, 02:52 pm »
As for how to organize it, it depends who else needs to look at it. It's somewhat similar to an opera who/what/where, other than adding in light and sound cues, I've done a similar "overall" sheet when I've had just a couple crew members backstage who handle things that became their run sheet, which included all entrances and sound cues for reference of where we were in the show, but then their specific cues were in a bigger font and bold (and names in all caps). If it's not a big show and you have the capability, color coding can also work (yellow for lights is one of my go-to colors).

The other reason I could see for this is perhaps to help in setting up a QLab system with both lights and sound, in order? I've never worked directly with the program, I must say.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, when doing live events, I often do a grid format that lists the time, one cue or name of the sequence on the left, and then different columns for each department (6:30p Ready for Doors/lights: house up and stage dim preset in purple/sound: preshow music/video: sponsor loop/talent involved, etc). Columns, etc, adjusted as needed per event.

MatthewShiner

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Re: Master Cue Sheet
« Reply #6 on: Jun 15, 2016, 01:25 am »
never heard of this in my life . . .

run book / run sheets . . .

But before tech, how would I know what cues I would be calling?
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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.

PSMKay

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Re: Master Cue Sheet
« Reply #7 on: Jun 15, 2016, 08:38 am »
High school theatre, Matthew. I know for me "tech rehearsal" in high school involved learning to call cues that were already written by the faculty. Most of our tech process was teaching large numbers of students how to push wagons, shuffle props and walk on a rake, though.

KMC

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Re: Master Cue Sheet
« Reply #8 on: Jun 15, 2016, 08:39 am »
High school theatre, Matthew. I know for me "tech rehearsal" in high school involved learning to call cues that were already written by the faculty. Most of our tech process was teaching large numbers of students how to push wagons, shuffle props and walk on a rake, though.

And making sure the guys on rail didn't crash a batten onto students' heads  :o
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

EustaceSM

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Re: Master Cue Sheet
« Reply #9 on: Jul 03, 2016, 07:45 am »
never heard of this in my life . . .

run book / run sheets . . .

But before tech, how would I know what cues I would be calling?

Do designer's not give a preliminary list of cues or does it solely depend on the individual designer? Are lighting, or sound cues usually not pre-programmed before tech? I sometimes receive a prelim. sound cue sheet from my sound designer before tech and I pencil them in. 

PSMKay

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Re: Master Cue Sheet
« Reply #10 on: Jul 03, 2016, 10:15 am »
Other than mandatory practical cues like ringing phones and people flipping on lamps, I have not seen a show where the cues were pre-written before tech outside of high school theatre.

Maribeth

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Re: Master Cue Sheet
« Reply #11 on: Jul 03, 2016, 04:51 pm »
never heard of this in my life . . .

run book / run sheets . . .

But before tech, how would I know what cues I would be calling?

Do designer's not give a preliminary list of cues or does it solely depend on the individual designer? Are lighting, or sound cues usually not pre-programmed before tech? I sometimes receive a prelim. sound cue sheet from my sound designer before tech and I pencil them in.

I usually get cues from designers sometime between design run and tech, or during tech itself. Some of them make a list, hand me a marked-up copy of the script, or sit down with me and talk through cues right before we start teching. But often they will just give me cues as they add them, during tech.

Usually you will have practical cues, rail cues, and deck cues figured out ahead of time (because they can be determined in rehearsal). Other than that it's often figured out during tech. Or (not very often in my experience) during dry tech or paper tech.

 

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