Opera Makers
End of Allocation Evaluation  

I was a little bit anxious coming into this allocation as LX was the allocation that I wanted to excel the most in coming into Guildhall. Lighting in theatre is what made me want to be a part of this industry the most, so I came into this allocation with higher expectations. I began this journey hoping that by the end this is the field I want to be in. I hoped to gain a much more general understanding of the lighting world. From production electrics work, to programming to operating. As seen from my AAP, I hoped to gain a better understanding of the role of the Lighting Designer, to understand their creative visions and what their demands are from the team and the show in general. Learning how to programme was also on my Allocation Action Plan, and to be comfortable by the end of my allocation, that I can work my way around a lighting console. As well as further understanding the Lighting Designer by translating their language into the desk as programming data. I do feel lucky that I have had a production like Opera Makers for this allocation as I am starting from scratch somewhat when it comes to my rather limited knowledge of lighting.

 

My most useful learning experiences was the production electrics side of the work with Anna Matthews (Lighting Lecturer), such as understanding Vectorworks and creating a power plan from the designer’s plan. As well as understanding what your working relationship with the lighting designer should be like as a production electrician. Other valuable knowledge was constantly intermingled with everyday conversations about our job. Such as why we should ask the questions we do to the designer, why we should always be prepared for changes and making sure there is the room for additions. As well as prepping the necessary kit before fit-up, in this case it was addressing and prepping the scrollers. The most memorable experience was most likely the plotting sessions we had with Katie. I felt I learnt so much in such a small space of time about programming, and just the sheer amount of preparation needed before tech rehearsals begins.

 

What I enjoyed the most during this production was; learning how to programme when we had Katie Pitt (External Programmer) showing us the ropes, having a refresher on Vectorworks lessons including how to interpret them as a production electrician. I really enjoyed the small unofficial fit-up on the Friday before our first official fit-up day on Monday. It was so nice to go at our own pace and get the majority of the rig up without worrying about being on schedule too much or being a team leader at the same time to any first years. I did quite enjoy the last notes session I had with Finlay Anderson (Lighting Designer) too which was a relief as the further we went on with the programming sessions, the more I disliked my role in LX. But this session was different, I think large part was because Anna Matthews was there to support me, and Finlay’s attitude was good that evening, so it felt very relaxed.

 

Moving onto what I struggled with or didn’t enjoy the most was mostly programming after Katie left. I mostly felt frustrated and became rather self-conscious. Frustrated because programming is something I personally want to understand the most in this allocation and felt like I just couldn’t learn under the circumstances. In future, I need to understand programming to reach both my goals for my graduation project as well as to be a better Lighting Designer for my LD Allocation in third year. I also couldn’t help but feel self-conscious because I could tell I was frustrating Finlay. I was also the only student tech crew that was female as well, so couldn’t help but sub-consciously feel like I am putting women in a bad light when I wasn’t fast enough or couldn’t understand how to execute something properly. As Finlay and Sam Ferstenberg (LX) are good friends also, I did feel isolated on break and lunch times too, so it was quite tough period for me mentally.

 

When it comes to reacting to these setbacks or difficulties; I feel like I am better at pretending I am fine to everyone in the space; compared to how I was at the beginning of this year. Laura Smith (Stage Manager) noted how calm and in control I sound on comms in the tech rehearsals which was a pleasant surprise to me. Several staff members have also mentioned this to me in this allocation and previous ones, so I feel like I have come quite a long way with that. There was only one time that I stood up for myself and snapped a little at Finlay. This was because the primary lighting desk was moved into the control room the night before and was only plugged in and just left. No mouse or keyboards or lamps were in either desk, including the extra monitor, and the snapshot display wasn’t set up. I leave in the evenings, so I wasn’t the one who left it the way it was, and Finlay knows this. I only just came in for the notes session and couldn’t even finish rig-check before Finlay wanted to plot, then he had a dig at me for being slow because I couldn’t find my direct selects/still setting up the desks. I didn’t think this was fair and stood up for myself and he didn’t say anything after. It felt good to stand up for myself after a long period of time letting others (often men) tell me what I’m doing wrong for the past few weeks. My biggest regret is not having more of a backbone in this allocation looking back. What I also wish I could have done differently; was to mainly be around for the evenings more. I do feel like I missed some precious programming time, especially when we did have Katie sometimes. However, I couldn’t have helped that as my commute was so long, and agreeing to finish at 7.30, made this experience so much easier on me that I am so grateful for. This couldn’t have been helped either, but I would have liked to have worked with practical’s more, however the show didn’t demand it.

 

This experience confirmed for me that I still prefer the paperwork/planning side of things, as well as initiating leadership and organising the workloads. In this allocation, I’ve been told that I am quite good at communicating, especially when it comes to asking the important questions, something I wasn’t too aware of before. I much prefer to work in a calm way with plenty of time. It takes me a while to fully understand what I am doing, especially when it is a new thing I am undertaking. I hate being rushed when it comes to my learning. I think therefore the tech and dress period were so miserable for me. I won’t learn if time is against me, and the show overtakes priority of my learning in the end. I do understand that we do get loads more time for this reason at Guildhall, but I still struggled. A great deal of this was because Katie Pitt (External Programmer) left after the first Tech. If that wouldn’t have happened, I probably would have enjoyed the experience a lot more. When it comes to using written resources, I feel like I do understand how to read a Vectorworks plan quite well. As well as understanding the Dimmer and Non-Dim charts in the Dimmer Room, as well as the PV house light rig paperwork in the Studio.

 

I feel like I managed my board training and preparation time as well as I could. I think if I would have had more experience on the lighting desk, I would have been inclined to play on it more by myself before plotting. However, it is quite an intimidating piece of kit to poke at without guidance, so I didn’t get as much time on it as I would have liked before Katie arrived. I feel like we prepped rather well for the scale and nature of the show. Most of our prep went into the finding scrollers, gels and gobos. I wish I would have managed to get Lightwright to work on my laptop and therefore could print stickers to then put onto the fixtures we were using for more organisation (even though that would be overkill for Opera Makers in the studio). Lightwright would have also imported the fixture data from Vectorworks into a patch sheet in Lightwright that would have been a clean way to view the fixture data on a hard copy. Either way, it still would have been a nice learning experience regardless.

 

As this has been my last second year allocation, I have now experienced the full scope of the requirements each tech department need to function properly in a production. This is fantastic for when I begin my Production Management allocation at the start of third year and can consider these factors into my scheduling. In this case I will consider the amount of plotting time that lighting will need as well as take in consideration of the amount of notes sessions that would be helpful to every department. My goal in my next allocation is to be as fair as I can be to every department, to communicate well in every aspect from what is and what isn’t possible, as well as someone that people can feel comfortable going to, to ask questions.