Lighting personnel

The role of the lighting designer (or LD) within theatre is to work with the director, set designer, costume designer, and sometimes the sound designer and choreographer to create an overall 'look' for the show in response to the text, while keeping in mind issues of visibility, safety and cost. The LD also works closely with the stage manager on show control programming, if show control systems are used in that production. Outside of the theatre the job of a Lighting Designer can be much more diverse and they can be found working on rock and pop tours,corporate launches, art installation and on massive celebration spectaculars, for example the Olympic Games opening and closing ceremonies.

Lighting technicians are involved with rigging and controlling electric lights for art and entertainment venues (theater or live music venues) or in video, television, or film production. In a theater production, lighting technicians work under the lighting designer and master electrician. In video, television, and film productions, lighting technicians work under the direction of the cinematographer and gaffer. In live music, lighting technicians work under the chief lighting technician, who reports to the production manager.

Lighting technicians are responsible for the movement and set up of various pieces of lighting equipment for visual effects. Lighting Technicians may also lay electrical cables, wire fixtures, install color effects or image patterns, focus the lights, and assist in creating effects or programming sequences.

The Spotlight Operator, Followspot Operator, Followspot or Spot Op is a theatrical technician, defined as a lighting technician, who operates a specialized stage lighting instrument known as a followspot. A followspot is designed to move, change size, beam width, and color easily by hand. Followspotting is often seen as the apprentice role for new technicians, especially electricians, and having the role is occasionally referred to by some members of the run crew as being "a limey", a term derived from limelight.

How to turn on, use and turn off MSCW Hall PA

Evaluation

In the entertainment practical task in groups of three which included myself, Grace and Kailey we had to set up and unpack the school hall PA system and set up and unpack a small PA system.

Each group member had different tasks to undertake when setting up and unpacking each of these different systems. When my group was setting up the small PA system I had the job of connecting the jacks into adapters, which was connected to the mixer, which was then connected to the sound source, in this case being an I pod. I also had the job of connecting the microphone together using XLR cables which had male and female connectors, I then had to connect the microphone cable to the mixer. When it was time for our group to unpack the system I had the job of unpacking the things I set up, in this case the I pod and the chords as well as the microphone.

During this task when we were unpacking the system I turned off the main source of power which was not correct. Apart from this our group worked well together and effective communication allowed minimal difficulties. We helped each other out and worked efficiently to do the task.

When setting up the school hall PA system I had the job of setting up the microphone stand and using the UHF1 microphone. I thought as a group we communicated quite well. Kailey was functioning the lectern mic and we communicated effectively with Grace who was in the bio box working with the system. When the microphones didn’t work we told her and she would turn the sound up. The only difficulty we had is that the microphone chord was tangled and this took a while to straighten out.

OHS Issues

- Trip hazards

- Volume hazards

- Electrical hazards (broken and tangled chords)

- Wet floor surface in hall

Over the two days my group worked well but there is always room for improvement and if we were to do this task again we could possibly do it in a shorter amount of time and change the group roles around so everyone an have a turn at each separate group task.