1
News:
14 Jan 2021: Happy 21st birthday, SMNetwork! I replaced the old broken mobile theme. -K
Show Posts
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
Pages: [1]
2
The Green Room / Re: Future
« on: Jun 08, 2011, 02:29 pm »
I have a BS and MS in Psychology. I minored in theatre and found that after grad school it was where I wanted to be. I have actually found it a great conversation in interviews. It makes me more balanced. My one advice is that if you plan to stay in theatre make sure you keep yourself educated and gain experience. Also find a way to make whatever your degree is in relevant to SM.
3
Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Labtop vs. Pencil and Script/Notepad
« on: Jun 08, 2011, 02:18 pm »
I am a mixed SM, meaining I rely on both computer and paper. The one thing I have never done digitally is blocking. Now that I know my rhythm it is much faster by hand. Often directors change blocking so quickly that the pencil and a sticky note is my best friend (with an eraser of course). With blocking I usually use sticky notes for the first few few times through a scene. Then I go back and put the blocking into my book since it doesn't change "as much" anymore. It allows me to know where actors are early in the process and keeps my book from getting to smudged from eraser marks. I always try to put a "key" in the front of the script so in case anything happens any SM can come in an easily understand the blocking.
I also still do paper line notes, I know that is more rare these days I just find actors actually read them if you personally hand them out. I have also become quite fast at writing them.
On the other hand I have to say I am a self-professed computer nerd. If a program were to come around that automated blocking notes (point and click and it writes your blocking) and allowed me to quickly edit those for specific details I would likely use it. I tend to try just about everything just in case I find something that really works for me. So far nothing I have found has made life easier than a pencil and eraser for blocking.
I also still do paper line notes, I know that is more rare these days I just find actors actually read them if you personally hand them out. I have also become quite fast at writing them.
On the other hand I have to say I am a self-professed computer nerd. If a program were to come around that automated blocking notes (point and click and it writes your blocking) and allowed me to quickly edit those for specific details I would likely use it. I tend to try just about everything just in case I find something that really works for me. So far nothing I have found has made life easier than a pencil and eraser for blocking.
4
Employment / Re: Fired from an SM Job
« on: Jun 08, 2011, 02:01 pm »
I have been let go as an SM before and it was one of the best experiences of my life. Let me clarify by saying that it was a horrible and embarrassing situation, but one that I have grown immensely from. No need to go into details, but the director and I always seemed to be on different pages; despite efforts on both our parts. In the middle of tech week I was let go and the producer ended up calling the show.
When I heard the news (thankfully the producers called me personally as opposed to hearing it down the grapevine as others have experienced), I was filled with embarrassment and a sense of relief. This experience was one of the greatest moments of growth I think I have experienced. I am now not only much better at communicating effectively with the production team, but I am also much better at listening.
I am shocked that I read a fired SM burned the book. This seems highly unprofessional, even in a bad situation. The book is still for the most part the property of the company. Except in cases of broken contract and no payment for services it belongs to the company.
If anyone finds themselves in an unfortunate situation of being fired (it can happen to the best of us) take some time to learn from the experience. Even in cases where you feel you were right in all your actions, there is still room to grow from the experience. Even though I wish this weren't a part of my history, it is something that has made be a better SM.
When I heard the news (thankfully the producers called me personally as opposed to hearing it down the grapevine as others have experienced), I was filled with embarrassment and a sense of relief. This experience was one of the greatest moments of growth I think I have experienced. I am now not only much better at communicating effectively with the production team, but I am also much better at listening.
I am shocked that I read a fired SM burned the book. This seems highly unprofessional, even in a bad situation. The book is still for the most part the property of the company. Except in cases of broken contract and no payment for services it belongs to the company.
If anyone finds themselves in an unfortunate situation of being fired (it can happen to the best of us) take some time to learn from the experience. Even in cases where you feel you were right in all your actions, there is still room to grow from the experience. Even though I wish this weren't a part of my history, it is something that has made be a better SM.
5
Tools of the Trade / Re: Multiplay Sound Cue Software
« on: Jun 08, 2011, 01:30 pm »
So now that the show has closed I thought I would update with my experience using Multiplay.
Overall, I have very high praise for this program.
The Good: We were running a relatively complex sound show that required many sound cues to play on top of each other, take some out, and what not all off very quick actor blocking. This program performed excellent in this regard. Adjusting settings and control cues I found to be very easy (and I am not a sound person). I really liked that I could adjust the look of the program to put the "Go" button exactly where I wanted it and not it a place likely to be accidently pushed. Changing levels was very simple. Overall it reminded me a lot of working with SFX. I liked that this software allowed me to archive the entire show including the sound cues in one place. This seems like a simple feature, but as an SM working on a semi-mobile show it is nice to know if my laptop kicks out I have it backed up and can use anyone elses without having to refind all of the sound files. I really liked the script reference option. Although this show required calling almost everything off a blocking cues, it was still a nice feature to have. I also found the advanced option of starting a cue later into the track and cutting early really nice (saves a lot of time when I don't have to be editing sound files to make them cleaner, especially when someone else made them to begin with). Overall, in a fast paced tech week that we had this program took a lot of stress off of me just knowing things "worked".
The Bad: Not a whole lot to say here. We had two shows running in tandem and for some reason the program did not like to switch between them...it would lag or crash. For us this was not a big deal because we a had a ten minute intermission. We just simply restarted the program and loaded up the other show. Although the program allows some customizability (is that a word?), sometimes a simple drag and drop on the gui made things goes funky. This is a small gripe.
The final say. I would say if you are a small theatre company looking for a sound program that has similer aspects to qlab and SFX AND are willing to deal with a few small quirks use this program. If you are running multiple shows I would either store both shows in one file...otherwise you will be restarting the program. If you are a medium sized theatre I would say purchase Sound Cue System, it has similar functionality, but removes a lot of the quirkiness. I definitely plan on using this because I work for a very small and new company with very little funding; however I would upgrade as soon as possible.
Sidenote: I really wish we could find a program similar to this developed on the Gnu/Linux or more specifically Ubuntu/Linux Mint systems. Sound programs are the only reason I still dual boot windows; everything else including light software just works better on my Linux Partition. If anyone is looking into developing something like this I would love to help.
Overall, I have very high praise for this program.
The Good: We were running a relatively complex sound show that required many sound cues to play on top of each other, take some out, and what not all off very quick actor blocking. This program performed excellent in this regard. Adjusting settings and control cues I found to be very easy (and I am not a sound person). I really liked that I could adjust the look of the program to put the "Go" button exactly where I wanted it and not it a place likely to be accidently pushed. Changing levels was very simple. Overall it reminded me a lot of working with SFX. I liked that this software allowed me to archive the entire show including the sound cues in one place. This seems like a simple feature, but as an SM working on a semi-mobile show it is nice to know if my laptop kicks out I have it backed up and can use anyone elses without having to refind all of the sound files. I really liked the script reference option. Although this show required calling almost everything off a blocking cues, it was still a nice feature to have. I also found the advanced option of starting a cue later into the track and cutting early really nice (saves a lot of time when I don't have to be editing sound files to make them cleaner, especially when someone else made them to begin with). Overall, in a fast paced tech week that we had this program took a lot of stress off of me just knowing things "worked".
The Bad: Not a whole lot to say here. We had two shows running in tandem and for some reason the program did not like to switch between them...it would lag or crash. For us this was not a big deal because we a had a ten minute intermission. We just simply restarted the program and loaded up the other show. Although the program allows some customizability (is that a word?), sometimes a simple drag and drop on the gui made things goes funky. This is a small gripe.
The final say. I would say if you are a small theatre company looking for a sound program that has similer aspects to qlab and SFX AND are willing to deal with a few small quirks use this program. If you are running multiple shows I would either store both shows in one file...otherwise you will be restarting the program. If you are a medium sized theatre I would say purchase Sound Cue System, it has similar functionality, but removes a lot of the quirkiness. I definitely plan on using this because I work for a very small and new company with very little funding; however I would upgrade as soon as possible.
Sidenote: I really wish we could find a program similar to this developed on the Gnu/Linux or more specifically Ubuntu/Linux Mint systems. Sound programs are the only reason I still dual boot windows; everything else including light software just works better on my Linux Partition. If anyone is looking into developing something like this I would love to help.
6
Tools of the Trade / Re: Multiplay Sound Cue Software
« on: May 28, 2011, 01:37 pm »
QLab does look amazing unfortunately it only works on a Mac. I have been looking into Show Cue System also, it costs a little bit, but it seems worth it.
7
Tools of the Trade / Multiplay Sound Cue Software
« on: May 25, 2011, 02:06 pm »
I am going to be using Multiplay sound cue software (Freeware from Australia) on my upcoming show and I was wondering if anyone else has used this software. If so, what are some limitations to be aware of? It seems like exactly like the software I need, but trying new things during a show always make me a bit nervous.
Pages: [1]