Good Changes

So I changed my background today! I'm sure you all noticed right away. It's definitely different and I like it. :D Anyway, today I got to work with the board operator and we were huge geeks and talked about the differences between the boards that we've worked with. I learned the board language for the Congo Jr. today. The Ion board is a command line board that takes commands like we say them: (channel) X @ (level) XX% Enter. No buttons need be pushed to imply channel or level, as the board understands that this is what you mean (unless you want to specify an address instead, but we won't go into that). Congo and Congo Jr are completely different: XX Chan XX Level @. The first X is the channel, then you need to specify it as a channel. Same with the level. the @ serves as the "Enter" that is required for the Ion. To choose multiple channels on the Ion, we type XX "thru" XX @. We can also capture non-sequential channels by using the "+" symbol. The Congo reads as such: XX Chan XX Thru XX Level @ (or replace the thru with an "+" to select non sequential numbers). Patrick, you're probably the only one still reading this, but I wanted to record this for my own records so I can remember this. If you have any other more specific questions, feel free to ask me and I'll try to remember or I'll go ask or figure it out at work. One co-worker said that this is how most boards work and the Ion and other "more user friendly" boards are taking an extra step to make it work that way. It makes me feel good that I have the knowledge to use both types of boards. :D

The Congo Jr not only needs a different order, but needs you to choose a level that is between 0 and 255. She explained it to me as a part of the pixels or something, but I don't quite remember. It's a bit confusing. The board language requires me to think a bit, but isn't too terribly hard to understand. It's really just the habit that's holding me back.

Also, my co-worker and I had a lengthy discussion about the difference between follow times and wait times (they're the same thing with a completely different way of thinking and programming. A follow cue goes into the first cue of the 2 that are linked and requires the addition of the cue time to the amount you would like to follow, while the wait time is in the second cue and needs only the amount of time you intend to wait. Neither action requires the operator to hit Go for the 2nd cue to take place.

Other nerdy conversations included the board language involving "cues," "parts," and that one that basically means cues in their board but is called something else. I think it started with a P but wasn't part. Palettes maybe? Anyway, it was a cool conversation and I'm glad I had that opportunity today.

My favorite button on the Ion is the Undo button. This button does not exist on a non-command line board, which is a tad scary to me. She said she cannot undo something once it has been recorded and can only do the equivalent of our "Go To Cue" button of restoring to the latest recorded cue. Any other changes made since the last record cannot be undone without undoing everything that has been undone since the last record. It's definitely something most designers don't want to hear ("I can't restore that without undoing everything we've just done."), but I think it makes the designers more responsible for keeping track of the changes they are making. The board ops need to be very attentive because recording into the wrong cue could be disastrous. All we have to do is hit "undo" and rerecord the cue as the cue # we wanted.

Anyway, the other things I did today were hang lights on the truss, helped with some uprigging of safety equipment, put to use my new rigging knowledge, and saved 4 things from being raised up on the truss, not to be seen again until focus next Tuesday. I also ran some cables (100' socapex multicables are incredibly heavy!) and tied them up so that they were out of the way. I also saw intern Kevin today in passing and am looking forward to sharing my portfolio with Becky tomorrow. It's been something I've wanted to do and I'm glad that she is able to do this. I will be attending a resume workshop tomorrow after work with the production manager, which I hope is very helpful. I'll keep you up to date.

Tonight when I got home I did some more image researching that I think will help me determine the quality and levels of light I would like to use in our play this fall. It also helped me look at the use of texture and how the subtle color shifts in old photographs affect our interpretation of the mood and atmosphere. If I can combine this with the right music for either complementary or ironic combinations to create the right mood. I think this has been a very helpful step in the process.

Last night's grad school search has left me thinking more seriously about two schools (but I'm certainly not done exploring yet!) : Northwestern University in Chicago and Tulane University in New Orleans. I'm very excited to learn more about other programs, but these are ones that have peaked my interest for various reasons. I'm learning more about what I'm looking for and am trying to do the same for jobs by sorting through job descriptions posted online. Whether or not I'm qualified for the job isn't what I'm looking for so much as whether or not I could see myself doing the job. If I could, I think about why I'm not qualified (as is usually the case) and how I could work on those skills. I've also been looking at what grad schools are looking for for portfolio requirements so I can keep those things in mind as I create my production book for this project. I've been trying to keep a very strict handle on my work and want to document all parts of this process. Paperwork is definitely a high priority for me right now.

Learning how the paperwork is used at CTC has helped me realize what role my paperwork will have in my project and how others want to see it organized. The organization at CTC has taught me a lot because it just isn't practical in an educational setting. There aren't enough people invested in keeping the equipment in good shape, let alone the space tidy. That isn't why they are there though, so I get it. It will just be sort of hard to go back, knowing that I'm going to be that annoyingly compulsive one telling people how to perfect it. I'll probably spend more time than I need to in the theatre trying to get all of my shit organized, but I'm definitely willing to do it in order to pull off two very successful designs. I'm overly excited, really.

Anyway, I've been writing for far too long and would like to get back to my research. I'll let you know what I'm thinking when I get some real thoughts formulated. Have a fantastic evening and try to not let the words suck as you're sayin' them!

Love you!