Sessions attended: 0
Today was a marathon ESTA Essential Skills meeting, so I guess technically I didn't really attend USITT. Things I wondered today:
1. Is Hertz really a unit in the same way that other units are units?
2. Is there a simple, positively worded, definition of the word special with regard to lighting?
3. Is it a gobo, a template, or a pattern?
4. Is it politically correct to refer to someone on a crew as the "low man?"
5. Is "hanging position for hanging fixtures on" redundant?
It was a day full of such contemplation.
Alums spotted: Mike, Mike, Ellen, Thom, Mike. I think we're going to try to do a CMU thing tomorrow, so there'll be more then.
Mostly I am wondering if anyone will show for my session. Only time will tell.
4 comments:
hanging position for hanging fixtures on... if the position itself is hanging (i.e. a batten on a fly system) and then you are hanging (i.e. the action of attaching the fixtures) the fixtures, then I don't think it is redundant but it is awkward to say. Why not just call it the hanging position?
Regardless of the circumstances of the position, the sentence is repetative. Thus, incorrect as well as awkward.
Say hello to everyone for me. Orlando kept me from USITT this year.
-deano
1. I think it depends on which other units you are comparing it to. Hertz is a name given to the rate of cycles per second. So, if you are comparing it to a unit that is independent of other factors, such as the units of weight or height then no, it is not the same type of unit. But if you compare it to other types of units that require one or more factors to exist relative to eachother, like speed or pressure then yes. Definitely a unit of measurement.
2. Ummm...possibly, "any fixture that is not part of a system and whose sole purpose is defined as lighting a specific object or moment on stage, thus determining it's focus, color and utilization during cueing." ??? That's a tough one.
3. Technically, a gobo is an object placed in front of a lighting instrument. The beam passes through it after it has passed through the lenses. If you shoot a beam of light through a real set of venitian blinds then the blinds are your gobo. A template is the official term, as far as I understand, but template vs. pattern may be reagional or preferantial. Either way, they are describing an object that must go inside the instrument, interupting the beam at its focal point. But whatever, I use crazy Canadian terms sometimes and get strange looks, so what do I know?
5. I feel like the term, "hanging position," implies anything that a designer could consider hanging an instrument on. So maybe it is redundant.
Just my long-winded two cents...
about number two.. why does it need to be positively worded. the designers are never going to be positive about it. they are always going to say "F*CK that stupid special wont make its g*d d*mn shot" but i suppose that if you were teaching it... a Special is a unit hung to light a specific moment in the play or used to isolated or highlight a spcific position on stage, outside of the general lighting plot.
about number 3... yes. learn them all and dont try to standardize it, it wont happen and its not a big deal. I suppose if you want to be technical about it... A gobo is something that is inserted into the light, the pattern is what is cut out of the gobo, and template is just another word for gobo. but then again, so is pattern. so.... make of it what you will.
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