it's been a while
Hello all! I have not had time to make any entries lately due to my life going bonkers this last week. I am quite a bit relaxed now, I got in some really good rest and relaxation, but we'll get into that later.
So here is what happened.
Monday we (me and a co-worker) went to finish the load-in of a dance studio show. I was going to be filling in for the Lighting Designer for what we discussed to be not "till wednesday". Well, this conversation was on a cell phone and I was in Fargo with not so great reception and he would need me "untill wednesday". Heh... so luckily I had planned on having some down time that monday and was able to play lighting designer for the evening and next few days.
****Pleasing the client- This is one thing that we really never discussed in class for ANY design courses. Yes, we are taught to please the director, but more over, you need to please the client/producer/the person paying you. The Show has: (3) X-Spots, (4) Studio Color 575's, (2) Studio Spot 575's, (4) TechnoBeam Iris, (12) Color Commands, (6) Color Merges, (30) Flourescent Black Lights and (85) Conventionals. I could build some really rockin looks, but here is the catch.... Muhahaha.... Oh Shit. Yeah. The format for the cueing of the show is, bring up 1st look, bring up front light, do an FX cue, then return to the 1st look without front light, then blackout. So I build these really cool looks, as soon as I bring up the front light, the whole thing gets washed out.
*********** NUMBER 1 RULE for a dance studio show....... LIGHT THE LITTLE KIDDIES UP SO THEIR PARENTS THAT PAYED A SHIT LOAD OF MONEY FOR THEM TO DO A LITTLE TWO-STEP ONSTAGE CAN BE SEEN. Yeah.. can't play the frontlight low, can't make it colored, gotta be straight n/c front light. DAMN!
Other issues that blew up during that Mon-Wed programming/designing session:
The main LD wanted to use Beta Version Software on a new high profile console (I haven't included any names just in case....). Well, I am also a beta tester for this console and signed the contract that states "You will not use beta software in a production enviroment". Well, we used it against my protest. First off, if something goes wrong (which it did), you can't tell the client that you are using beta software on their show, you can't revert to the old software and still have everything you programmed, you can't call tech support because it is beta software, so you are stuck saying that it is your fault that things are bad. THAT PISSES ME OFF!! I take pride in being good at what I do. I do NOT like to take a fall for something that I had not agreed to looking bad for. So... I was a very pissed off guy by the end of my programming sessions. oh, I was also doing this gig right after my "real job". I was working from 8am to 10:30pm, straight through with the exception of a lunch brake, and often no dinner.
alas, my week did not slow down.
Thrusday- I worked.. and worked... then flew straight to Green Bay right after work. I was going to work on Camp Cuckoo, ShadyDive's new show coming up in two weeks. Check out their website www.shadydive.com. anyways, I'm used to flying back and forth from GB and minneapolis. it's a 40 minute flight in the air, 1:20 total time spent on the plane. I spend more time waiting at airport than actually flying. So I hop on the plane, fall asleep before we take off, wake up an hour later. "Oh, hey, we are on the ground already... wait... I'm still fucking here in Minneapolis!!" So I call Donald and apologize that my flight is coming in that late. I get to GB, we work on the show till about 1am. Go to my place in GB, Quinn comes over, DJ comes home, we chat it up till 3:30 am, I crash on my awesome bed for two hours, wake up, go to the airport, fly to MSP, drive straight to work.....
Friday-
I am dragging ass, I get the biggest Cappucino at Starbucks, get some of their sugary snacks, go to work again. Fix stuff all day.. Go to the airport, fly to Fargo and melt away with Adina....
We hit up RibFest... have some awesome ribs... mmmm...
A whole lot of rest and relaxation....
watched some FIREWORKS... heh... those rock..
and now... here I am waiting at the airport to catch my flight. Well, my plane is here now and I need to get packed up to board the plane.... I will talk to all of you later. Take care.
So here is what happened.
Monday we (me and a co-worker) went to finish the load-in of a dance studio show. I was going to be filling in for the Lighting Designer for what we discussed to be not "till wednesday". Well, this conversation was on a cell phone and I was in Fargo with not so great reception and he would need me "untill wednesday". Heh... so luckily I had planned on having some down time that monday and was able to play lighting designer for the evening and next few days.
****Pleasing the client- This is one thing that we really never discussed in class for ANY design courses. Yes, we are taught to please the director, but more over, you need to please the client/producer/the person paying you. The Show has: (3) X-Spots, (4) Studio Color 575's, (2) Studio Spot 575's, (4) TechnoBeam Iris, (12) Color Commands, (6) Color Merges, (30) Flourescent Black Lights and (85) Conventionals. I could build some really rockin looks, but here is the catch.... Muhahaha.... Oh Shit. Yeah. The format for the cueing of the show is, bring up 1st look, bring up front light, do an FX cue, then return to the 1st look without front light, then blackout. So I build these really cool looks, as soon as I bring up the front light, the whole thing gets washed out.
*********** NUMBER 1 RULE for a dance studio show....... LIGHT THE LITTLE KIDDIES UP SO THEIR PARENTS THAT PAYED A SHIT LOAD OF MONEY FOR THEM TO DO A LITTLE TWO-STEP ONSTAGE CAN BE SEEN. Yeah.. can't play the frontlight low, can't make it colored, gotta be straight n/c front light. DAMN!
Other issues that blew up during that Mon-Wed programming/designing session:
The main LD wanted to use Beta Version Software on a new high profile console (I haven't included any names just in case....). Well, I am also a beta tester for this console and signed the contract that states "You will not use beta software in a production enviroment". Well, we used it against my protest. First off, if something goes wrong (which it did), you can't tell the client that you are using beta software on their show, you can't revert to the old software and still have everything you programmed, you can't call tech support because it is beta software, so you are stuck saying that it is your fault that things are bad. THAT PISSES ME OFF!! I take pride in being good at what I do. I do NOT like to take a fall for something that I had not agreed to looking bad for. So... I was a very pissed off guy by the end of my programming sessions. oh, I was also doing this gig right after my "real job". I was working from 8am to 10:30pm, straight through with the exception of a lunch brake, and often no dinner.
alas, my week did not slow down.
Thrusday- I worked.. and worked... then flew straight to Green Bay right after work. I was going to work on Camp Cuckoo, ShadyDive's new show coming up in two weeks. Check out their website www.shadydive.com. anyways, I'm used to flying back and forth from GB and minneapolis. it's a 40 minute flight in the air, 1:20 total time spent on the plane. I spend more time waiting at airport than actually flying. So I hop on the plane, fall asleep before we take off, wake up an hour later. "Oh, hey, we are on the ground already... wait... I'm still fucking here in Minneapolis!!" So I call Donald and apologize that my flight is coming in that late. I get to GB, we work on the show till about 1am. Go to my place in GB, Quinn comes over, DJ comes home, we chat it up till 3:30 am, I crash on my awesome bed for two hours, wake up, go to the airport, fly to MSP, drive straight to work.....
Friday-
I am dragging ass, I get the biggest Cappucino at Starbucks, get some of their sugary snacks, go to work again. Fix stuff all day.. Go to the airport, fly to Fargo and melt away with Adina....
We hit up RibFest... have some awesome ribs... mmmm...
A whole lot of rest and relaxation....
watched some FIREWORKS... heh... those rock..
and now... here I am waiting at the airport to catch my flight. Well, my plane is here now and I need to get packed up to board the plane.... I will talk to all of you later. Take care.