Theatre Tech...?

Question

I am taking a theater tech class and I need to know a few things.. I'm supposed to look up on the internet about this stuff but like I don't know cause sometimes the internet gives the wrong info.. so I thought I'd try yahoo answers..
My questions are:

What is McCandles lighting?
What is Rosenthal Lighting?
What does gobo mean?
What is a two-fer?
What is the function of the gain knob on the sound board?

If you know the answer to just one that's fine.. I just need to understand it =] thank you.

Answer 1

McCandless lighting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCandless_Method

A gobo (it means Goes Before Optics) is a lighting effect where you're projecting a pattern. Lots of DJ's use these and they come in lots of different shapes and colors. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gobo_(lighting)

Sound board basics - http://www.hmusic.com/newsletter/sound_related/sound_597.htm

Not sure about the others but I'm sure they can be looked up :-)
Marianne

Answer 2

McCandles used two primary sources 45 degrees from center in each direction and 45 degrees up from the actor. Back lighting was usually added.

Rosenthal used straight on lighting with side and back lighting.

The term gobo comes from the movie shorthand for GO Black Out. In early film making it was a direction given to mask certain areas of the set from lighting. The notation GOBO eventually translated into the cutout slides used in ellipsoidal spotlight to create patterns.

A two-fer splits an electric line into two. One male plug, two female plugs.

I will differ to someone else about the gain knob. I believe there are actually a few different types of gain knobs on a sophistiacted sound board.

Answer 3

The gain control on the sound board is to bring the music or effects track up and down as required. Like for cricket sounds when it's supposed to be outside or thunder. The gain control sets the top end limit and the feedback range for live mics. You want the gain control set at a good constant level. But sometimes you have too many people in the room and a low setting isn't working for subtle sounds so you increase the gain SO LONG as there are no live mics plugged in otherwise you face feedback.

You have TWO controls, generally, the FADER or VOLUME control on the board which sets individual levels for various sources and the GAIN control which sets the MASTER volume.

In the PRACTICAL world your GAIN control at MAXIMUM should NEVER overpower the house speakers EVEN with a spike. Total speaker load, ideally, needs to be 160% above total master gain power with a spike. If you don't do this and a spike happens you blow one or more speaker cones and start getting distortion and have to replace the speakers.

In rock music clubs where we used to put EVERYTHING through the speakers we ALWAYS used a limiter compressor on the output to make sure the gain NEVER EVER EVER shot up above speaker levels.

In most theaters you are only using the sound board for a music tape or effects sounds or MAYBE for one actor like if you are doing the Wizard of Oz and you give him the mic Or IF you are doing WAr of the Worlds and you give the radio announcer a mic

But if you've set the fader for MAX on your cricket sounds and you can't hear the crickets from your position, you start upping the gain a little until you hear them.

It means there are too many bodies in the room absorbing sound which you didn't have in the tech rehearsal.

You put 300 people in a room with clothing and you deaden that room to a vast degree. IF they are whispering to each other they are creating BACKGROUND SWELL and your tests for cricket sounds in tech don't work in the real world so you UP the gain PROVIDED no one is using a mic.

This ONLY applies if you DON'T HAVE anymore FADER headroom.

By the way, although your system is scoped out, lighting boards and sound boards don't always get along well. Lighting boards use RHEOSTATS that often generate 60 Hz EMP that causes a BUZZ or HUM in the audio. When that happens you have to move the audio board and use a ground lift or reverse polarity or switch to an isolated AC socket. IF that doesn't solve your problem then it has to do with the CORDS you are using and you need better insulation on your tape recorder wires going into the board or your mic cord is too long.

Like I said your system is probably scoped out, but at another theater or when yu build one this is likely to occur. That lighting board is dealing with 100 or more amps with a dozen rheostats and it can genearte an EMP or RF signal that can reach outside the theater and get you in trouble with the FCC. That's why all wiring needs to be 3 wire phase grounded. And all audio cables need heavy insulation.

Any audio cable longer than 50 feet needs low impedence and insulation. But even 6 foot RCA plugs for a tape deck can pick up RF when it's bad!

The hum can be RF (broadcast) or land line (that's why ground lifts are a vital part of your life, they usually eliminate the hum).

If you ever notice a change in the lighting levels of other lights when working with one or for NO reason, it means something is producing a power drain and you need to isolate this and correct it for it WILL cause problems down the line. A coke machine out in the lobby, when it comes on do all the light dim for a second. You need to isolate that.

Lighting or GAFFING as it's called in movies, requires a understanding of basic electricity. You need to be able to EYE BALL your wires and know their gauge and power capacity.

Idiots out there put 20 AMP breakers on wiriing designed to handle no more than 18 AMPS and if you pull 19 AMPS of power you FACE the potential of a meltdown or electrical fire.

You ahve to watch out for the IDIOTS in the world. For someone who puts a 25 AMP main fuse in a circuit designed for 15 or 20 AMPS. That's like giving a loaded gun with the saftey on to a 5 year old.

You should even know a little about electrical CODE, that's the legal requirements. Types of wiring allowed. You need to look for ILLEGAL wiring because that's probably something put in by some IDIOT who THOUGHT they could get away with it. If YOU see UN CODED wiring YOU have to have enough knowledge to determines if that wiring will actually work. Sometimes a person with knoweldge does a silly thing for convienience, but IT WILL WORK, it's not legal, but it WILL WORK. You may even do that. You may go to Radio Shack and get some heavy guage wire that can handle 30 AMPS and put it across the ceilling from a 20 AMP source to a clamp light with twisters. That's cool TEMPORARILY, but if you want to do it for real you get fire insulated cabling and fix it in properly. You get flex cable or the insulated stuff and attach it properly with metal clamps and make it look professional. Temporary means YOU should remove it when you're done not just leave it there.



McCandles lighting uses two front lights above the actors (but not over head) with 90 degree separation. One is usually filtered light blue and the other light amber. You can augment this with a little top light or a little floor lighting.

You will usually see these two big lights suspened from the ceilling left center and right center. They are probably black. You have to climb a ladder to put the filters in or use the cat walk.

Rosenthal lighting attempts to generate a contrastive lighting without shadows by use of floods upstage.

Actually there is no set format for this. The idea is to generate contrastive lighting for the actors and sets without have all those nasty shadows streaking about as they walk and having them shift direction as they pass a difffent light.

Bathing the floor in light from the sides or behind them or whatever way you can to reduce or eliminate the shadows is a form of this method.

This is used in movies a lot where they don't want 20 shadows arbitrarily in a scene so they add fill lights to reduce the shadows while still having contrast to shape the faces.

Rosenthal was the first lighting designer actively working with different lights and probably even clamping lights in new places to create a mood on stage.

So I guess the best definition is it's not just going with the fixed lights you have to work with and living with the results which can include a shadow on the background wall.

A Gobo is an ornately designed cut out to create a light pattern.

It can be as simple as straight line cuts to create the effect of harsh sunlight coming through blinds on the actors to geometerical patterns you shine on the background.

A two fer is a power splitter.

Just like that little thing you put into you wall sockets so you can run 10 appliances from 2 outlets.

In lighting, however, you have to remember you are drawing LARGE current and you can't use a TWO FER unless you are SURE the two lights are not drawing more power than the outlet can supply.

If you have two 10K lights and one 15 AMP 120 socket you CAN'T run both those 10K s with the two fer becaue you are drawing over 15 amps and it will melt or blow the fuse.

Now is doing Rosenthal lighting with smaller lights. Those drawing 500 watts if you need to clamp another 500 watt lighting figure 10 feet away and there is no power I guess you'd use a Two Fer to the other lamp.

1,000 watts is only drawing about 12 AMPS

You haven't even gotten to PAR and MOGULES and DICHROICS