CALLING: Lights? Electrics? Elex? What do you say?

[linka]

what a great thread to read!

I have always wondered about the sound cue preference. In college, it was letters, then when I started to call shows, the designers used numbers. Then this last round of shows, the designer used letters, but once we reached AAAAA.7, we went back and renamed them so that at Intermission, I'd start over with A.

I've never called a cue without a descriptor, especially as I've been a board op when the stage manager doesn't specify during complex sequences and you lose track. For example, I've fired guns when I shouldn't have because cue lights went off and I couldn't remember if we were on the third blue light or on the fourth call. Or taken a sound cue when it was supposed to be a light cue because we both had a #21 in the sequence (but lights always had a "L" following the number). I'll never forget the patter: "Cue 18L go, Cue 19L go, Cue 19L.5 go, Rail go, Cue 20L go, Cue 21L go, Cue 22L go, Cue 21 go, snow go, cue 23L.5 and the last sound, Cue 22 go. Thank you, and good night."

By the end of the month, I was okay, but boy, I tended to always miss it.

[kjdiehl]

I generally always say Lights Go, Sound Go, etc. Rail Go, Fog Go, and Bat Go have all been said as well. For some reason i always say Scene Change Go, even though it is a mouthful. I usually say the number or letter on the Standby, but not on the actual cue if the cue is by itself, or if it's a simple enough sequence. It's always fun when you have to manually call a cue throughout its entire execution. Like our Dracula Bat on an elaborate two-person fishing line rig needed to be carefully called constantly: More or Less fishing line, retract,  Up, Down, more Bounce, etc. Fog often requires such finesse as well. Or those shows which are different every time where you have to invent every cue on the fly and talk your operators and crew through every move they make. Especially fun on scene shifts, as long as the crew are on wireless.

[KC-SM]

Same here Kris.  In standby, I always give the cue number or letter to the board ops.  If it it a particularly tricky sequence I then remind them of the order or how I will be calling it so that when I'm calling the cue I don't have to be bogged down with extra words.  To make matters easier, I also always give my standbys in the order of sequence instead of clumping them together.  So that the board op has a sense of when it will be called.

[MatthewShiner]

speaking og Standbys . . . I don't give them anymore.  My style of calling when I say LX and Sound wiht the # there is enough of a pause before I say go that there is a standby.  I hate standbys, and only give them when there is a long sections betweens cues, or if it is a deck crew that may require the crew on deck to physically move.

But otherwise, if I have two operators in the booth, on computer boards, they should ALWAYS be in standby.

[DeeCap]

This is my seventh show with the sound designer. So, we are close friends.
He mixes letters and numbers. On this show. I have to call sound "PP"

Yup. I've busted my butt to get my card and work at a regional theatre only to call sound "PP"

[KC-SM]

Wow Matthew, interesting method.  About five years ago I shed using the WARNING before each cue but still use the standby.  The WARNING (to me) is an archaic method used when the operator actually had to PREP for a cue(i.e. manual light board with 2 faders).  In college we actually used a manual board for one of our theatres, so I used it only then.  

However my standbys I still give.  It may sound redundant, but sometimes the board ops are reading a book or doing a crossword and the standby brings them back into the show to know they have a cue coming.  

I would love to not call standbys (and still feel comfortable that the show was going to run well).  How do you do it?

[MatthewShiner]

the board operator may be doing a crossword puzzle, reading a book, crusing the internet - but when at work they should be at work, right?

My method gives enough time to put your finger on the button, or put down the book, and still hit a cue on time.

[guilkey]

Ok I'm an electrian and I also run a board now and then. In my opinion it is easier to say "lights...38...go" or "sound...2...go" but if you make all the ques go in order instead of having a seperate number list for lights, sound, and pipes it is less complicated.

[hbelden]

Ok I'm an electrian and I also run a board now and then. In my opinion it is easier to say "lights...38...go" or "sound...2...go" but if you make all the ques go in order instead of having a seperate number list for lights, sound, and pipes it is less complicated.

It'll only work to number all the cues sequentially if you know ahead of time what all the cues are going to be, and if only a couple of people are designing all the various elements.

But in a show where you have different people designing lights, sound, scene changes, automation, etc., plus a director and choreographer putting in their ideas, AND you're creating it all in tech, there's just no way a SM could expect to call a show "Cue 1 GO, Cue 2 GO, Cue 3 Go, Cue 4 Go..." I think you just have to deal with the other departments and have them tell you what your cue numbers are going to be.

[jenk]

I was actually just going over standby procedures with a new SM at my company. I do tend to call a collective standby if there are several cues within a page or sequence- I'll call "standby lights 14 through 22, sound Dx through G and fog." and then just call each one by name to go as we get there. It keeps my board ops quiet, and I can get all the cues out of my mouth in time. Some folks have called that lazy, but I think of it as efficient.
Sound board ops, if they are running a show off a computer, like Audition, do need a warning to have time to load up the correct cue. Same with a minidisk, those take a few seconds to be ready if they weren't cued up after the last cue.
My favorite was calling "My Fair Lady" in dinner theatre in 1984, before CDs or minidisk or anything fancy. Higgins is running around turning on all the dictaphone things, and each one was a seperate tape deck, 5 in all including a reel-to-reel, and they are all going to have to stop at once. The "standby" was the sound man with both hands on the power strip plug, and the "go" was for him to rip the whole power supply out of the wall. Ah, the good old days...

[lejenna]

I also check, though, with my deck crew about what language they respond to and adjust accordingly....

I write up scene shift plots detailing who moves what when and to where.  I then call a scene change.  I don't negotiate on this part, and I've found that most of the shows that are travellers that I've crewed will post similar sheets.  It makes life easier.

[centaura]

I'll call "standby lights 14 through 22, sound Dx through G and fog." and then just call each one by name to go as we get there. It keeps my board ops quiet, and I can get all the cues out of my mouth in time. Some folks have called that lazy, but I think of it as efficient.

I don't at all think that's lazy.  But then again, in my current show, I have some pretty tight cueing sequences that I call mass standbys for.  At the top of the show, I have 6 light cues that happen during the length of a 28 second sound cue.  There's barely enough time to spit "Light cue 5 go" out before I'm at LQ 7, etc. etc.  My general rule of thumb is that I'm saying standby too early if I'm saying it more than 30-40 seconds before the cue.  But if a series is going to all happen within a few minutes, definately I'll do the group standby!

-Centaura

[centaura]

I've had a rash of trigger-fingered light board ops.  Or maybe its just a twitchy finger, 'cause they'll hit the 'go' button twice.  Which generally happens during my scene shifts, so the lights come up on the actors shifting things.  Its happened to me three times in the past two months!

-Centaura

[isha]

eek! that would be bad...what do you do with them?
Electrics and LX do really sound like better ideas than lights...I think I'll try using them and seeing which one works better for me...

Should your board operators have some say in what word you use? If one is more convenient for them do you use that? Or do you just tell them to get used to a different word?

[ESM_John]

I just saw this post and thought id comment anyway. 

The current stage manager at my high school who is just about to graduate (my idol) uses a pretty good system.

Lights, Projection, and special effects that make you blink if they shine in ur eye is givem the name LX (Electrics). The cues for these are usually numbers. Cues added late will usually revieve a .5 in neccessary.

For Sound, Movies, Effects, anything you hear, we usually just say Sound Cue... We use letters for this. Once weve been thru the alphabet once, we go to double, or on some shows triple letters. Ive found its a good idea to omit the letter Q or on a long show, "Standing by for Cue QQQ" can be a little interesting

Hope this helps.