The Focus Session
377
•Thestagehandsarelisteningtotheelectrician,
who’s at the top of the ladder, for his or her
movement directions.
Performachannelcheck(ifonehasnotyetbeen
performed) of the entire overhead to determine
nonfunctioning instruments. If time allows, examine
the softpatch for errors to reduce the number of
possible explanations for inoperable instruments.
Although the instruments in overhead electrics are
realistically focused in sequential order, the focus for
each system in the Hokey light plot will continue to
be individually illustrated. The overhead frontlight
focus will be examined first.
Overhead Frontlight Focus
The overhead frontlight washes may be a continu-
ation of the frontlight system originating from the
front of house. In this case, the two frontlight washes
for Hokey consist of three zones each. The first zone
was hung on the front of house truss. The next two
zones are hung on the first and second electrics.
Figure 12.23 shows channels 6 > 10, the instru-
ments on the first and second electric, colored in
Roscolux 33. When focused, they’ll act as the sec-
ond and third zone in the pink straight frontlight
system for Hokey. The apron spike marks, along
with the front zone 2 and 3 centerline spike marks,
provide the triangulation for the focus points. The
masking leg spike marks will provide signposts for
side shutter cuts if the legs aren’t in place during the
focus session, while the upstage T’s (the light line)
provide the signposts for top cuts if the scenic stack
is absent. This focus will be duplicated for chan-
nels 16 > 20, the Lee 161 blue straight frontlight
wash. The first instrument that will be focused is
1 electric unit #9, which will be focused on center-
line. This unit will be focused first to ensure that
the upstage frontlight will be focused symmetrically
side-to-side.
Figure 12.24 shows the focus chart for unit #9
on the first electric. The preliminary focus point is on
centerline, 10-0 upstage of plaster line. The beam
is intended to remain open, except for a possible top
shutter cut off of the #1 black border upstage of the
electric, or the black scrim in the scenic stack.
The placement of the second zone of focus
points should be double-checked before the focus of
the entire first electric frontlight system has begun.
This is accomplished by standing on the center-
line focus point in the second zone, and activating
the center channel of the first zone of frontlight. In
this case, that would be unit #6 on the truss, con-
trolled by channel 3. If the light from channel 3 is
hitting the lighting designer above eye level, the first
Figure 12.23 The Overhead Frontlight Instruments and Their Focus Points
C
L
88
10 10 10
6
10
7
9
1 PIPE #12 1 PIPE #8 1 PIPE #5
2 PIPE #18 2 PIPE #9 2 PIPE #5
1 PIPE #15
2 PIPE #22
1 PIPE #9
2 PIPE #12
FRONT ZONE 2
FRONT ZONE 3
USL QUARTERUCUSR QUARTER
2 LEG L
3 LEG L
4 LEG L
2 LEG R
3 LEG R
4 LEG R
7' R14' R 7' L 14' LCENTER
NCL161 L161L161 L161L161
45
R64
41
R64
756574646373 4642
L124R20R20 L124L124 R20 R64R64
119
6710111314
26
55
8
7 8
R33R33R33
6
R33
16 1817 18
6
R33
16
1
6171
R20L124
2021
6272
R20L124
1617
R33
10
9
R33
10
5
10
R33
22
10
R33
18
15
16
5
4
2
1
2
1
12
13
910
11
8
7
21
R51
22
R51
18
25
51
NC
17
52
NC
25
R51
26
R51
2
2
51
NC
52
NC
20
L161
4
20
L161
23
20
L161
19
L161
20
8
19
L161
15
9
R33
12
3
324
6

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