I wrote this in August, but it pretty much still applies. I thought I'd share since I have neither blogged nor vlogged in quite some time.
So, remember that trendy game of facebook a while back when we were all surviving the zombie apocalypse? Well, the game was that the first five friends in the sidebar list were your team to survive the zombie apocalypse. You and the five of them (who you'd tag) would then laugh about who got chosen and comment on how feasible survival would be.
This type of thing has spawned many others, such as Harry Potter parallels, superhero characters, and many others. I don't know if the zombie war was the first game like this, but it's the first one I saw. It feels a lot like those chain e-mails we used to get and send, back when everyone used AOL, AIM, and Yahoo.
Well, I still look at my friends list to see how I would fare in the zombiepocalypse. Since my most recent friend purge, I've found that I always have a good team. Glad to know the people in my life would help me survive.
Anyway, remember the "Bed Intruder Song" from Autotune the News? Yeah, well, everybody quotes it and it's become such a thing that Antoine Dodson now has his own YouTube channel with a huge following and he is an activist against sex offenders and supports diabetes research. He's actually awesome. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMtZfW2z9dw)
And this Nigel Thornberry thing? It's pretty weird. I can only stand so much of it, and I think "Toxic" is probably the best video of it. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw7A5fFjNfI)
The internet is a strange place. Fun, interesting, and most odd.
Today is awesome because I'm almost done with the quarter!! 2 finals to write, and I'm there.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Today was Made of Awesome
Every bit of today was awesome.
I slept until 10:00, and then woke up and had a text from my dad of my 3-month ultrasound (the picture of my mom's ultrasound of me that was taken 6 months before I was born). I had given them a hard time about finding my brother's first, so I was happy they found mine, too. I called them and chatted for a little while.
After that conversation, I got dressed and went to Barnes and Noble to buy a new copy of The Wanderer by, Sharon Creech. Then I got back to my room in time for an 11:00 skype date with my friend who is studying abroad in Paris and I haven't talked to her since she got there. We were online for an hour and a half, and it was so great to catch up!!
Then I ate lunch, did some homework, and left to get her copy of Love That Dog by, Sharon Creech from her apartment.
Notice a Sharon Creech pattern?
Well, at 2:45 I met a group to go to the premiere of a stage adaptation of Walk Two Moons by, you guessed it, Sharon Creech. And she was there.
A bit of backstory: I read all of her books when I was in 3-6 grade. The Wanderer was my first and favorite, so I wanted a copy for her to sign. It was the first non-Harry Potter, non-fantasy long novel I read, it's a 300-page book, so it gave me a lot of confidence as a reader, and it was one of the books that made me love to read.
I ended up going to the event because of some friends. One of the main Theater for Young Audiences (TYA) professors was taking a group to this show and he had extra tickets. My friend who is in the class was telling me about going to the show, and I had said how jealous I was, and another friend heard. The second friend is stage managing for the professor in the winter, and was having a meeting with him yesterday morning, and he invited her to go. She told him that she wasn't able to go, but she had a friend who loves Sharon Creech (me). She called me on the spot, in his office, and I got the voicemail after my class, so I went over to the theater building, met the professor, and got to go with the group.
So, the play was amazing. The acting, set, lighting, adaptation: all fabulous. I enjoyed the performance so much!! And then I got to get my book and my friend's book signed. There's something about meeting a person whose artistic work you admire, be it an author, musician, or YouTube star, that is so cool because they go from being an abstract idea of a person, just the creator, to being real and in front of you. I really value the opportunity I had to tell Sharon Creech how much her books influenced me and the fact that she took the time to connect with each person as she signed their books. It was just wonderful!!
I spent the evening with a friend. We made butternut squash soup, cookies, and just got to chill.
Today was relaxed. I got to take a break from the constant demands of school life and just do things that made me happy. Tomorrow, I have to go back to being crazy busy with a strike, a build, errands that I can't do any other time, and homework, but today was just a complete change from the normal routine. I even got a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks.
Today is awesome because...well, did you read this post?--Everything!!
I slept until 10:00, and then woke up and had a text from my dad of my 3-month ultrasound (the picture of my mom's ultrasound of me that was taken 6 months before I was born). I had given them a hard time about finding my brother's first, so I was happy they found mine, too. I called them and chatted for a little while.
After that conversation, I got dressed and went to Barnes and Noble to buy a new copy of The Wanderer by, Sharon Creech. Then I got back to my room in time for an 11:00 skype date with my friend who is studying abroad in Paris and I haven't talked to her since she got there. We were online for an hour and a half, and it was so great to catch up!!
Then I ate lunch, did some homework, and left to get her copy of Love That Dog by, Sharon Creech from her apartment.
Notice a Sharon Creech pattern?
Well, at 2:45 I met a group to go to the premiere of a stage adaptation of Walk Two Moons by, you guessed it, Sharon Creech. And she was there.
A bit of backstory: I read all of her books when I was in 3-6 grade. The Wanderer was my first and favorite, so I wanted a copy for her to sign. It was the first non-Harry Potter, non-fantasy long novel I read, it's a 300-page book, so it gave me a lot of confidence as a reader, and it was one of the books that made me love to read.
I ended up going to the event because of some friends. One of the main Theater for Young Audiences (TYA) professors was taking a group to this show and he had extra tickets. My friend who is in the class was telling me about going to the show, and I had said how jealous I was, and another friend heard. The second friend is stage managing for the professor in the winter, and was having a meeting with him yesterday morning, and he invited her to go. She told him that she wasn't able to go, but she had a friend who loves Sharon Creech (me). She called me on the spot, in his office, and I got the voicemail after my class, so I went over to the theater building, met the professor, and got to go with the group.
So, the play was amazing. The acting, set, lighting, adaptation: all fabulous. I enjoyed the performance so much!! And then I got to get my book and my friend's book signed. There's something about meeting a person whose artistic work you admire, be it an author, musician, or YouTube star, that is so cool because they go from being an abstract idea of a person, just the creator, to being real and in front of you. I really value the opportunity I had to tell Sharon Creech how much her books influenced me and the fact that she took the time to connect with each person as she signed their books. It was just wonderful!!
I spent the evening with a friend. We made butternut squash soup, cookies, and just got to chill.
Today was relaxed. I got to take a break from the constant demands of school life and just do things that made me happy. Tomorrow, I have to go back to being crazy busy with a strike, a build, errands that I can't do any other time, and homework, but today was just a complete change from the normal routine. I even got a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks.
Today is awesome because...well, did you read this post?--Everything!!
Attending the Show I Lighting Designed
Well, board opping was a total mistake. I agreed to let my board op see his friend in another show, so I stepped up and did it myself. Mistake. Really stupid idea. And painful. It was so hard to sit there and only press "GO" when I wanted to adjust pretty much every single cue. I would have if it were a rehearsal and not a performance. But I couldn't, and I won't because it's almost over. But it was so hard!!!
Anyway, overall, I'm satisfied. There are still some random bright spots and weird shadows. The set wasn't done until after I'd cued, which I didn't realize until I saw it tonight, so I was frustrated by the white cabinets in the kitchen area of the set that reflected light and caught shadows so obviously.
I'm much happier with Act II than with Act I. The crazy effect the script calls for at the end actually looked pretty cool. And one of the directors very enthusiastically told me how much she loves the lights, so I guess I did my job.
I'm just never going to board op my own design ever again.
I guess that makes this tech week day 6/8, but I really only have to do my inventory at strike and then I'm truly free to do the school/free time thing. I just need to use this week to do a ton of homework and relax a bit before I go into my next tech week.
Today is awesome because I had a chance to just chill, which I haven't been able to do in the last four weeks.
Anyway, overall, I'm satisfied. There are still some random bright spots and weird shadows. The set wasn't done until after I'd cued, which I didn't realize until I saw it tonight, so I was frustrated by the white cabinets in the kitchen area of the set that reflected light and caught shadows so obviously.
I'm much happier with Act II than with Act I. The crazy effect the script calls for at the end actually looked pretty cool. And one of the directors very enthusiastically told me how much she loves the lights, so I guess I did my job.
I'm just never going to board op my own design ever again.
I guess that makes this tech week day 6/8, but I really only have to do my inventory at strike and then I'm truly free to do the school/free time thing. I just need to use this week to do a ton of homework and relax a bit before I go into my next tech week.
Today is awesome because I had a chance to just chill, which I haven't been able to do in the last four weeks.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Lighting Design Tech Day 4
Is it really only Wednesday? Sheesh.
I went in to fix my cues this morning, then I had rehearsal tonight. My gobos and gel frames came in the mail, so I was able to incorporate those finally. I ended up having to move a gobo light to make the effect work, and it looks pretty cool the way I fixed it. I got to watch the show at rehearsal tonight, take notes, and I had them fixed by 11, so I did my cleanup and went home. It's nice to be done early, and now I can sleep and actually study for my midterm tomorrow!
I'm done with this show. I'm board opping one performance, and that's the only performance I'm attending. I've learned from the designers I've worked with that if you watch your own show too many times, you end up wanting to change things every night. So, I'm done. I won't be there tomorrow, and I won't be making any more changes because it's too late anyway and there's already been an audience.
Designing for the first time has been quite an experience. I realized that I picked up a lot just from hanging out at tech weeks, programming, and being a Master Electrician. Having an understanding of how to manipulate an instrument once it exists was a real advantage, not to mention knowing the board I programmed on.
This week, I noticed myself going through all the emotional states I'd seen my designer friends go through on each process: exhaustion, frustration, apathy, and in my case, anxiety and anticipation. It's not like I didn't accept and understand how they felt, but being the one feeling it rather than seeing it being felt was really different. It was funny to have a certain thought and realize I'd heard a friend say the exact same thing when he was designing.
As far as the future goes, I think I might actually try this again. I really want to have a better understanding of photometrics and how to make a plot rather than have a friend do it in front of me, but that's going to take more time and education than I had for this process. We'll see what happens, but right now I'm just glad to be able to sleep and then go back to being an ME.
This post is rather reflective, but my work is concluding. I'll see the show and have strike, but that's it. This process has been completely different from any other show I've worked on, in good ways and bad, but I feel good about the work I did. I think I have a pretty solid first design.
Today is awesome because I'm done with the hard work of tech week!
I went in to fix my cues this morning, then I had rehearsal tonight. My gobos and gel frames came in the mail, so I was able to incorporate those finally. I ended up having to move a gobo light to make the effect work, and it looks pretty cool the way I fixed it. I got to watch the show at rehearsal tonight, take notes, and I had them fixed by 11, so I did my cleanup and went home. It's nice to be done early, and now I can sleep and actually study for my midterm tomorrow!
I'm done with this show. I'm board opping one performance, and that's the only performance I'm attending. I've learned from the designers I've worked with that if you watch your own show too many times, you end up wanting to change things every night. So, I'm done. I won't be there tomorrow, and I won't be making any more changes because it's too late anyway and there's already been an audience.
Designing for the first time has been quite an experience. I realized that I picked up a lot just from hanging out at tech weeks, programming, and being a Master Electrician. Having an understanding of how to manipulate an instrument once it exists was a real advantage, not to mention knowing the board I programmed on.
This week, I noticed myself going through all the emotional states I'd seen my designer friends go through on each process: exhaustion, frustration, apathy, and in my case, anxiety and anticipation. It's not like I didn't accept and understand how they felt, but being the one feeling it rather than seeing it being felt was really different. It was funny to have a certain thought and realize I'd heard a friend say the exact same thing when he was designing.
As far as the future goes, I think I might actually try this again. I really want to have a better understanding of photometrics and how to make a plot rather than have a friend do it in front of me, but that's going to take more time and education than I had for this process. We'll see what happens, but right now I'm just glad to be able to sleep and then go back to being an ME.
This post is rather reflective, but my work is concluding. I'll see the show and have strike, but that's it. This process has been completely different from any other show I've worked on, in good ways and bad, but I feel good about the work I did. I think I have a pretty solid first design.
Today is awesome because I'm done with the hard work of tech week!
Lighting Design Tech Day 3
Programming!!
I'm so glad that the other designer wanted to switch boards, because I don't think I could have worked as efficiently on the other one. I got into the space at 10:30AM, was able to eat lunch by 1PM, and had the show's preliminary cue list done.
At first, programming went slowly because I had to build everything from scratch, which was intimidating because that's the part when the idea of what this show is going to look like leaves my brain and enters a physical realization. It was cool though, and once I hit my stride, things went faster than expected.
I got to rehearsal tonight for my cue-to-cue, and was so happy with how my preliminary cues turned out! I had a useable baseline to make things look decent, but I was typing like crazy to fix all the stuff that looked terrible. And there was quite a bit of terrible.
My big notes are to clean up the stupidly bright areas where there are no actors, to incorporate a light I had to hang tonight, and to make the end of the show look less stupid.
At the end, I couldn't tell if I had done okay or if everything looked stupid. I'm using the word "stupid" a lot, but I'm tired and can't think of another word. Anyway, at that point, an awesome friend and mentor came in and looked at my cues and told me that it wasn't terrible. He gave me pretty much the same notes I gave myself, called a couple things cool, and said to play with value. It is such a relief to know I didn't mess it up entirely!!! And he would have told me if it were truly terrible.
The rest of what I need to do is to fix the cues starting at 10:30AM tomorrow, leave for lunch and classes, go back to watch rehearsal and take notes on cues and calls that need fixing, fix the things I took notes on, and then attend opening night!
Today is awesome because I programmed my first design and because I have the most awesome and supportive friends.
I'm so glad that the other designer wanted to switch boards, because I don't think I could have worked as efficiently on the other one. I got into the space at 10:30AM, was able to eat lunch by 1PM, and had the show's preliminary cue list done.
At first, programming went slowly because I had to build everything from scratch, which was intimidating because that's the part when the idea of what this show is going to look like leaves my brain and enters a physical realization. It was cool though, and once I hit my stride, things went faster than expected.
I got to rehearsal tonight for my cue-to-cue, and was so happy with how my preliminary cues turned out! I had a useable baseline to make things look decent, but I was typing like crazy to fix all the stuff that looked terrible. And there was quite a bit of terrible.
My big notes are to clean up the stupidly bright areas where there are no actors, to incorporate a light I had to hang tonight, and to make the end of the show look less stupid.
At the end, I couldn't tell if I had done okay or if everything looked stupid. I'm using the word "stupid" a lot, but I'm tired and can't think of another word. Anyway, at that point, an awesome friend and mentor came in and looked at my cues and told me that it wasn't terrible. He gave me pretty much the same notes I gave myself, called a couple things cool, and said to play with value. It is such a relief to know I didn't mess it up entirely!!! And he would have told me if it were truly terrible.
The rest of what I need to do is to fix the cues starting at 10:30AM tomorrow, leave for lunch and classes, go back to watch rehearsal and take notes on cues and calls that need fixing, fix the things I took notes on, and then attend opening night!
Today is awesome because I programmed my first design and because I have the most awesome and supportive friends.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Lighting Design Tech Days 1 and 2
So, this week I'm doing my first lighting design for a play called Recent Tragic Events. It is day two of tech week, and I'd like to report on how things are going.
Anxious. That's the best word to describe how I've felt leading up to this tech. Waiting to get into the space and actually do the work I'd planned out (and I have a detailed schedule of how things are going to run) was the most anxiety-inducing thing ever. I hate that kind of anticipation; I just want to get the work done.
Yesterday, I got into the space at 3:30 to put up the booms on which the lights are hung. This involves placing bases in specific locations, screwing vertical pipes into those bases, and then attaching more pipes horizontally to the verticals via cheeseboroughs. I got out in about two hours with everything done and properly tightened, had dinner, took a shower, did homework, and tried to go to sleep early, but ended up unable to sleep and pacing around my room due to nerves about the second day of build.
Day 1 was a success, but I realized the value of having experienced electricians I can trust on my team. I had no idea how much my team members knew about what they were doing, and since I was the designer, it made me the ultimate safety authority for this and all lighting-related jobs. That was a lot of pressure! Especially since I broke my hand being stupid about lighting safety. So I was extra careful and checked everything.
Today was another anxious day. There was a mix-up with my lighting order, and we didn't get the lights until 3 hours after we had projected getting them. Sitting around waiting for my producer to return with my lights was the worst. I think I scared a few of my friends. But once everything got here, I was in action. I hung half my lights while our set designer's boyfriend hung the others, then I went with friends to get my light board and set that up while other people cabled. I also measured and cut my gel, and by 7:00, my assistant was able to tape all my cable to the floor and I got to have a real dinner break.
I got back to the space at 8, plugged in all my lights, and patched the dimmers to the board. I did it correctly, but one of my dimmer racks was addressed incorrectly, so 5 of my lights wouldn't turn on. After an extensive set of text messages with a mentor who happens to be in charge of the equipment for all of student theater, we sorted out the addressing, and those five lights worked. Which left one more light that wouldn't turn on for no apparent reason. So, I went to check if the lamp had burned out. I expected there to either be no lamp or a full lamp, but there was only the base of a lamp with some broken glass embedded in the metal. No shards in the instrument, just the broken base. I was relieved, confused, and just replaced the lamp so everything would work.
I'd call Day 2 a raging success because everything was focused by 12:30AM. If there hadn't been that problem with the order, it would have been done much earlier and I probably could have started programming, but my timeline had me focused tonight and programming during the day tomorrow, and that's what I'll be doing. Oh, and I'll have to locate 12 7.5" gel frames because the rental company sent only 6.25" frames, even though they gave me lights that require the 7.5s.
Today is awesome because, after some anxiety-inducing delays, things are starting to go according to plan.
Anxious. That's the best word to describe how I've felt leading up to this tech. Waiting to get into the space and actually do the work I'd planned out (and I have a detailed schedule of how things are going to run) was the most anxiety-inducing thing ever. I hate that kind of anticipation; I just want to get the work done.
Yesterday, I got into the space at 3:30 to put up the booms on which the lights are hung. This involves placing bases in specific locations, screwing vertical pipes into those bases, and then attaching more pipes horizontally to the verticals via cheeseboroughs. I got out in about two hours with everything done and properly tightened, had dinner, took a shower, did homework, and tried to go to sleep early, but ended up unable to sleep and pacing around my room due to nerves about the second day of build.
Day 1 was a success, but I realized the value of having experienced electricians I can trust on my team. I had no idea how much my team members knew about what they were doing, and since I was the designer, it made me the ultimate safety authority for this and all lighting-related jobs. That was a lot of pressure! Especially since I broke my hand being stupid about lighting safety. So I was extra careful and checked everything.
Today was another anxious day. There was a mix-up with my lighting order, and we didn't get the lights until 3 hours after we had projected getting them. Sitting around waiting for my producer to return with my lights was the worst. I think I scared a few of my friends. But once everything got here, I was in action. I hung half my lights while our set designer's boyfriend hung the others, then I went with friends to get my light board and set that up while other people cabled. I also measured and cut my gel, and by 7:00, my assistant was able to tape all my cable to the floor and I got to have a real dinner break.
I got back to the space at 8, plugged in all my lights, and patched the dimmers to the board. I did it correctly, but one of my dimmer racks was addressed incorrectly, so 5 of my lights wouldn't turn on. After an extensive set of text messages with a mentor who happens to be in charge of the equipment for all of student theater, we sorted out the addressing, and those five lights worked. Which left one more light that wouldn't turn on for no apparent reason. So, I went to check if the lamp had burned out. I expected there to either be no lamp or a full lamp, but there was only the base of a lamp with some broken glass embedded in the metal. No shards in the instrument, just the broken base. I was relieved, confused, and just replaced the lamp so everything would work.
I'd call Day 2 a raging success because everything was focused by 12:30AM. If there hadn't been that problem with the order, it would have been done much earlier and I probably could have started programming, but my timeline had me focused tonight and programming during the day tomorrow, and that's what I'll be doing. Oh, and I'll have to locate 12 7.5" gel frames because the rental company sent only 6.25" frames, even though they gave me lights that require the 7.5s.
Today is awesome because, after some anxiety-inducing delays, things are starting to go according to plan.
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