Messages

421

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Headset Etiquette

« on: May 07, 2007, 06:32 pm »

Cans Etiquette. One of the biggest can of worms in existance. The ideal cans etiquette would be to not say anything you wouldn't be prepared to say to every member of the cast (ie keep it to "LX1 Go", "Chookers", "Lovely entrance", "Geeze that girl has a voice" etc). That said, it never happens that way.

My work has a large male percentage (ie the only female works in the office as secretary) and conversations over cans can get quite... indecent. For some reason, a lot of men, when they put on their headsets decide they can voice their inner monologue safely - and when a lot of men voice said monologue the testosterone flows. Scenario: There is a camera man on cans who knows everyone working the shift. The other people working the shift are in the bio each with a cue monitor showing the camera feed. Nothing much is happening. What does the camera do - it goes looking for T&A. Cans conversation follows. It's rude, indecent, and objectifies women - and I am against that, however I will not deny I my guilt in the matter (after all, we do have people like Miss World Australia at the events)

We deal with corporate events, as well as things like weddings, engagements, school breakup parties etc. So in addition to an overabundance of testosterone, we spend a lot of our time bagging the clients over cans - often for good reason (if you think some directors are pains in the rear end, try dealing with people who run charities, and expect the world for next to nothing), and generally, it does not come back to bite you in the rear. But occasionally, it has.

And if you think the "If three women were put on an island, two would go away and bitch about the third" stereotype is true... Males are MUCH worse.

Thankfully, cans etiquette is such that what is said on cans, stays on cans. It does not excuse the behaviour of people on cans, but it does help to keep the working relationship between people cool and collected.

Appologies for rambling.

422

Tools of the Trade / Re: I need help with a prop....please!!!

« on: May 07, 2007, 03:34 am »

Nifty idea. I have heard of people using contact (the plastic stuff for covering books) much to the same effect, just never thought of it for use in theatre.

423

Employment / Re: Schools for Electricians / Light Techs

« on: May 06, 2007, 09:17 pm »

KMC - you are asking a lot from a graduate. Whilst 'further education' in lighting etc teaches design principals etc, they don't tend to teach that sort of skill set (ie "practical real world experiance"). I think you really need to aim for the few years out of college sort of demographic, as opposed to the "So green they need mowing" demographic that seems to come from the further education stream.

424

Employment / Re: Hiring and references

« on: May 06, 2007, 09:11 pm »

I maintain three different CV's - one is "Public Domain" - ie posted on the net in various freelance crew finding sites, it has "References available on request". The next is "Job canvasing" - ie used when I do a mail out to various venues/companies etc, I list 1 major reference and put "Further references available on request". Then there is my "Application" one - tailored to a possition I am applying to with 4 references

425

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Liquid Nitrogen Ground Fog

« on: May 05, 2007, 11:28 am »

Okay, I am locking this topic for two reasons:

1: Liquid nitrogen is not safe to be handled by non-professionals - so I am locking this to prevent people from replying with "If you do X/Y you can do it safely" posts.

2: Liquid nitrogen is damn dangerous and should only be handled by professionals - yes, I realise I said the same thing two different ways... that is just to emphasise.

Dry ice is in fact quite a dangerous compound, but with careful handling, we use it in the theatre to great effect. Liquid N2 is many times more dangerous - especially in the quantities required for stage, and in most countries (The US, I am not so sure about) requires a permit to get such quantities - and there are a lot of storage considerations to be thought about - making using liquid N2 prohibitively expensive.

If the OP wants more information on using liquid N2, then the OP should contact a local effects professional and proceed from there.

426

Tools of the Trade / Re: I need help with a prop....please!!!

« on: May 04, 2007, 07:38 pm »

Google for "Break away glass" or "Sugar Glass".

Here is a simple receipe for sugar glass, and it melts in warm water (which makes clean up a bit safer - just mop with warm water).

You will need to either buy a mold, or make one (URL - If you are willing to 'waste' a decent martini glass (ie good quality glass) you will be able to use the dipping method (as a general rule, better quality wine glasses are porous, allowing them to 'absorb' odours etc of fine wines), and I would suggest dipping upside down.

427

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: First meeting with the Director- agenda?

« on: Apr 30, 2007, 09:43 pm »

I like to start out by asking what his/her vision for the show is. I think you learn a lot about the director based on what they are visualising before the show starts. Ie: Will the director be one who thinks outside the box, or will they be imitating real life in their staging. It also gives you a bit of a heads up as to whether the director is going to be asking for anything challenging, and shows that you are interested not only in just doing your job, but in how the show looks, feels and runs too (stops you from being put into the strictly administrative role that a lot of people put SM's in in their mind).

Then down the the nitty gritties, as mentioned by others in this thread.

428

Tools of the Trade / Re: Wiki

« on: Apr 26, 2007, 03:10 pm »

Never used it in theatre, but I have seen it work in a number of other clubs/groups/organisations.

As a back end, I would use MediaWiki - which is the engine that runs Wikipedia - it really is a beautiful piece of software. You can also set permissions up so that only a restricted number of people can edit the wiki (or even just certain pages on the wiki) - which is a good think when there are only a few "protocol setters".

429

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Do you call from house or backstage?

« on: Apr 26, 2007, 06:10 am »

It's a question that comes up quite a bit. Here are some previous topics covering the issue:

Post 1
Post 2

430

SMNetwork Archives / Re: totally wireless cans...

« on: Apr 24, 2007, 10:00 pm »

If you can afford it, stick to the big names - Clearcom and Techpro for example - or at least a system which is compatable.

The TD900 Series is decent - for the price - but it is all proprietary - including the connectors between the headphones and the device. It does not play too well with other systems.

Also - there are very few times when someone will need to be wireless, so I would look at a wired system - you cannot beat wired for a reliable system. Then I would get one or two wireless packs added to that if needed (you will probably find it won't be required).

The major problem is frequency. 2.4gHz is the frequency used for most of this stuff, and there are limits on how many items you can fit within the 2.4gHz spectrum without interferance. That means that the more wireless stuff you use, the more chance of interferance. Wireless microphones, wireless cans, wireless networks, bluetooth - all likely to be within most venues. Things get crouded pretty quickly.

431

Stage Management: Other / Re: Award Show

« on: Apr 21, 2007, 06:51 pm »

See if you can get some light (flame retardant) white fabric to drape the ceiling with. That will help dampen the reverb (providing you with a nicer sound) as well as 'bouncing' the harsh white of the lights that Gymnasiums tend to have. If you cannot get the required quantites (which would be huge) - if you can get some long lengths and join them from a hoop in the center of the room, to create a sort of "marquee" feel - that can be quite effective.

You have not elluded to budget - because that is a large part of the equation. Things like speaker placement and type are issues governed entirely by budget - as is the issue of lighting.

You will probably want to keep everything dark-ish - but it still needs to be light enough for everyone to see clearly - sort of like dusk.

If it is anything like my old school gym (a metal box with a court etc), then placing some floods shining up the walls will look really nice, and may give you enough light to be able to kill the ceiling lights.

432

Tools of the Trade / Re: Mikin a Baby grand piano adn a choir...

« on: Apr 20, 2007, 12:33 am »

For recording, you need to Mic a piano from a decent distance - otherwise it will not sound natural. Open the lid, and mic from about 3-8 feet away from the opening - I would use two omni-condenser mics spaced evenly apart. It is different compared to when you are micing for re-enforcement (ie mics within the piano on the sound board) - as the re-enforced sound is not true piano... Have a play, and you will probably see what I mean.

For the choir, cardioid or super-cardioid pattern condenser mics - if possible, I would use hanging choir mics -  200 piece choir, you would probably want 6 - and I would separate the mics based on the sections the choir is divided into.

As with all recordings, you will want to deaden the space - don't fall for the "We are a choir, our sound requires the spaces reverberation" line - keep the space dead and add the reverb post-record - that means you will need to provide monitor mixes - again, provide a mix for each choral section, one for keys and one for the conductor.

433

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: How to Spike Stage for Focus?

« on: Apr 18, 2007, 04:39 pm »

Stuffy Accademics  They can make simple concepts sound sooo difficult.

434

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: What's my job again?

« on: Apr 16, 2007, 10:31 pm »

If it gets to the point where the cast are being put under a lot of pressure, and things are going down hill, the CDM (Closed Door Meeting) with the director. You need to be a bit careful here, because you need to avoid confrontation - so you need to set up a non-confrontational area - maybe across a table at a coffe shop, where you are very clearly equals. So you sit down together and whilst being polite, FIRMLY state that it is impossible for a single person to manage every aspect of the show, and that you are here to help. Indicate that you understand why they are trying to manage everything (first show nerves, wanting everything to be perfect etc), but that it is really only doing her harm if she continues on this path, because she will be overworked, making her perform under par, which can only hurt the show.

Explain that it is also unfair on the cast when a united front is not presented, and that there are a number of things that you would like (namely first and last words during the rehearsal, and the ability to do your job.

435

Tools of the Trade / Re: Vista and Microsoft 2007

« on: Apr 16, 2007, 09:02 pm »

In my new job as an in-house tech at the Grand Hyatt in Melb. Aus. we get quite a few conferences - Quite a few people come in with power point presentations in Offices OpenXML format (which is a piece of rubbish) - which means the documents are incompatable (and we cannot install the plug in using our current system)

I quickly had to dive head first into Vista and O2k7 to learn the basics (for some reason, working in control (which means we load all the presentations into our system) means that we are also seen as IT tech support when someone does not know how to use their laptops - even though we do not permit them using their own laptops when presenting) - and I am not impressed with it. I am a linux/Apple Mac fan though, so I am slightly biased.