A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting, 2nd Edition

The Focus Session

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361

Tales from the Road:

The Un-Called-for Channel

During a focus in a foreign country, I could not get

the translated numbers in my head. No matter how

I tried, every time I attempted to pronounce the iden-

tity of the next channel, the local crew would fall over

laughing. While this didn’t sour the mood, it did start

to slow the process. First I pointed at the number on

the page, and the translator would call the translated

number to the console operator.

By the time we got to the two-color straight

backlight systems, however, the hookup was so sim-

ple that I merely asked to switch between the two

colors. I would focus the blue backlight, point my

finger sideways, say “the other one,” the translator

would relay my request, the amber light would come

on, and I would duplicate the focus.

Then we got to the show. There was no time

for a technical rehearsal, so I had just pre-writ-

ten light cues. The curtain opened on the blue-lit

night scene for Swan Lake, Act 2, and it was . . .

Day? Whoops. The colors had gotten swapped in

the backlight, and since I didn’t consistently call

for it by channel, what should have been the blue

backlight at Full was instead amber. As the danc-

ers entered the stage, the scene became somewhat

dimmer, as the amber backlight faded out. After a

frenzied exchange on headset, the channel numbers

were reversed, and the blue backlight faded up to

complete the cue.

Since then I’ve learned my lesion. During focus,

I always ask for each channel by number, rather than

“the other one.”

FOCUS CHECKLISTS

This next section contains a series of checklists worth

reviewing before a focus session. Examining these

lists can avoid delays.

The Environment

Items that are ideally complete

before the focus session begins:

•Theelectricsarewrungout,trimmed,set,and

masked. The sidelight booms are immobilized

and don’t spin. The sidelight ladders are tied

off. The deck rovers are plugged and positioned.

There’s been a channel check and possible

problems have been noted on the instrument

schedule, or focus schedule.

•Thestageperformancesurfaceisclear.Thearea

that you and the overhead focusing device will

occupy has been swept so the lighting designer

doesn’t trip, and so the casters don’t catch and

threaten to tip the ladder/lift over.

•Allspikemarksand/orwebbingsareset.The

designer has already rehearsed much of the

focus in his or her head and believes that every

spike mark that may be needed has been placed.

Carrying a roll of spike tape in your pocket isn’t

a bad idea.

• Thesceneryispreset.Ideally,theperformance

surface is down. As much of the scenic package

as possible is preset into position before the

focus begins. Borders and legs are at trim. The

downstage backdrop in the scenic stack has been

landed to confirm the upstage light line. If all of

the scenic goods are not available, spike marks

have been placed to serve as signposts. Obviously,

the ideal is for all scenery to be placed prior

to the beginning of the focus. Less time spent

mentally pretending where everything is going to

be, allows more time to concentrate on the focus.

•Thesoundcheckiscompleteorscheduledfor

another time. The piano tuning is complete.

Any audio that would compete with the lighting

designer communicating with the focusing

electrician, the board operator, or any assistants

is complete.

•Otheraudiodistractionsaredispersed.People

who need to scream at each other are convinced

to take their discussion elsewhere. Projects

involving noisy power tools are relocated. Musical

instruments requiring tuning or practice are dire-

cted to a separate space or rescheduled for a

different time.

•Allextraneouslightisreduced.Theamountof

ambient worklight is reduced or eliminated so

that it’s possible to see the beam of light and

see everything the beam’s hitting. The house

lights are taken down to half or to a glow. If

worklight must be on for work to continue,

offstage worklights provide enough illumination

to be used instead. When needed, the worklight

control has been separated into three different

channels: downstage, midstage, and upstage.

•Thespareequipmentandperishablesarein

accessible, lighted locations.

•Ifthere’sascribe,anofficepositionhasbeen

created onstage, so that the designer’s directions

can be heard, and the focus can be recorded.

The office position includes a writing surface, a

worklight, and enough copies of the forms. The

scribe understands how to fill out, report, or

update the focus charts.