natjones

Late to the party, but had a demo with the High End SolaFrame Studio, which is the super quiet version of the SolaFrame Theatre. When static, they were silent. Small amount of noise with movement etc, but great unit - very wide angle and punchy. Also fantastic, and which we ended up purchasing, are the GLP S350s, which have a slightly smaller footprint. White Light may be able to organise a demo for you, as it really is the best to see the units in action.

Another upvote for the Giottos rocket blaster. I bought one for my camera sensor over 15 years ago, and it sits on my work desk now. It's great for doing maintenance jobs and lantern cleaning, and is frequently borrowed to clean keyboards.

Where's the "high five" emoji on this thing?!? While the ad is poorly worded (it IS a facebook ad after all), it is not discriminatory, in a legal sense. If there is no deal for entertainment workers, the company is within their rights to not offer posts to non-EU citizens. When technical roles are advertised at my organisation, there is a statement that no certificate of sponsorship is available for the post, thereby excluding anyone that does not already have a visa. If someone already has a visa for Europe, I am sure they could appeal in their application. Work visas take a lot of admin and expense, and companies that do things on the cheap - like TUI - will not be willing to go to the hassle. They don't pay the resort staff very well, so why would they pay for their permit applications as expected? There may also be union rules that have come into effect, like trying to get a visa to do technical work in the US, which is nigh on impossible unless it's a creative role. Don't blame a European company. Blame the people who voted for Brexit and the government that has handled the entire process so incompetently. Sorry, will try to keep this non-political.

Thanks to those of you who have reached out personally - I completely understand not wanting to post publicly about certain opinions!

Hello I currently work in a university drama department, and like everyone else, we have had to adjust the curriculum delivery and production schedules in the hope that our MA students and 3rd year undergrad students will be able to stage their productions in the summer term. Some academic members of staff seem to think that everybody will have a vaccine and we can resume activity as normal after Easter. Given that this is particularly optimistic (I believe that would be a polite way of putting it...) I was wondering what other drama departments/conservatoires are offering their students for assessments or practical work? Obviously, we all want to provide the best training, education and experience that we can, but we're also very much aware of taking care of our own health. We've advised our staff and students that we will be taking our lead from professional productions and conservatoires when it comes to staging performances. Between September and lockdown 2 (rule of 6, etc) we had to fight of many requests for staging productions for live audiences, as many did not understand the guidelines and restrictions, and the resources required to do so safely. Our team's instinct is to advise that all performances are filmed or streamed to an audience rather than performed live with a socially distanced audience. I've seen evidence that last term, some institutions were putting shows on with reduced tech and staging, more like concert stagings to allow for social distancing (Royal Welsh), and others where their performances seemed to be fully staged with performers in close contact with each other (ArtsEd), but in either case performances were streamed. Is this something that others are expecting to be the norm? Unlike Nimax and LW, we don't have a dedicated team of ushers, so technical staff would be the ones operating front of house and there would therefore be an increase in contact with the general public that we would not be comfortable with, so anything that we can do to reduce contact (like streaming) is what we're going to suggest. With regards to bubbles of six if there has to be contact, we all know that the second students leave the rehearsal room, social distancing and safety measures go out the window. They may live with people outside those bubbles and to be young and amorous is to not care about close contact with strangers. So there is additional concern for staff about close contact with students during production periods. Our institution does not offer technical courses, so our team would normally be expected to work with students on technical and design aspects of their productions. Has anybody else found a good way of dealing with this? In general, I'm interested in how others are staging shows and assessments in light of the current pandemic (and having to deal with those who don't understand the practicalities of staging productions, but insisting that they go ahead).

I've used some Aladdin LED soft lights recently, which were great, but probably a bit pricey for this. There are soft boxes available that fit onto traditional tungsten lanterns, like Chimera, which I've seen at a good price on https://www.prolightdirect.co.uk But like Brian said, toughspun is great, and I've used LeeLux (Lee 400) in the gel frame to soften up theatre generics for filming.

Hello How many outputs does the laptop have? If you want to run an extended desktop on two screens, then you will need two separate outputs, and then attach each output to each screen using the correct cable. Select the correct inputs on the the TV screens, then use the desktop/graphics settings of you operating systems to set up and identify which screen is which. It's the same as adding two monitors - very simple and there are probably youtube guides available. The problem is with things like MacBook Airs, as some simpler laptops do not have the capacity to run extended desktops. You could use an HDMI splitter, but it will just be replicating the same thing on two screens. Maybe test it with your TV screen and a computer monitor to check the principle before hiring another TV in. In addition, if you are using sound, you will need to nominate which TV screen is going to output the sound and change the settings accordingly.

I know we don't have a FB style "Like" Button, but if we did I'd be using in for posts like this. Thankyou Bravo! It's stuff like that which makes this a lovely industry sometimes!

I 100% agree with Kerry. I currently work at a university, and absolutely everything involving students and young people needs to be risk assessed, with a policies & procedures document in place. This is not only for health & safety, but for your own protection too. We live in a very litigious culture now, and if any accidents occur with young people, you need to make sure that the right steps have been taken to minimise risks, even if the setting is informal. There might be additional concerns about insurance. Our institution is not insured for people under 18 in certain areas, as their safety cannot be guaranteed without adult supervision. I think that places like the National Theatre don't take under 18 work placements in some areas for the similar reasons, so it might be a good idea to ask your organisation to consider this. However, initiatives like this are usually fantastic resources for their communities, so thank you for your enthusiasm.

Someone at work insisted on one a couple of years ago. beware the £70 snow machines . They are awful - and that's video evidence. At least it provided a talking point as to just how awful it was... If you can, see if you can get a rolling drum filled with dry snow. A local hire company might be able to provide something. White Light do these https://hirewl.com/p...e-1-2m-chisman/ and https://hirewl.com/p...achine-6ft-16a/ which are quite effective

"£40 for a wiring set. Eesh. Thanks for the suggestion.." Tell me about it! I've probably spent at least a grand replacing Source 4 wiring sets over the years. But it's still cheaper than a whole new lantern or constantly blowing lamps, I guess... The good news is that once you've replaced it, it probably won't bother you again for 10 years if you're careful not to overtighten when you reassemble the lamp housing. The bad news is that if you've purchased a bunch in one go, you might see a run of the same problem.

Source 4s can also develop faults in the insulation of the wiring set. It's a bit of a design flaw, as the lamp housing assembly can bite on it if tightened too hard (insert innuendo here). Obvious check: Is the dimmer outputting power? The fuse might have tripped when the lamp blew. If an alternative lantern is working in the socket, and you've checked the wiring on the socket and plug, then a failed continuity test between the pins and lampholder would indicate this. The spares are easily available, but aren't cheap if you're on a budget. https://stagedepot.c...-par-wiring-set b

Production Technician Department of Drama, Theatre and Dance Location: EghamSalary: £24,551 to £28,849 per annum pro rata - including London Allowance Closing Date: Friday 02 October 2020 Interview Date: See advert Reference: 0920-191 Part-Time, Permanent (0.8 FTE/ 28 hours per week) The Department of Drama, Theatre and Dance at Royal Holloway University of London wishes to appoint a highly motivated and competent Production Technician to work as part of our Technical Team in a thriving department which enjoys international recognition for its outstanding record of research. The department seeks applications from practitioners with, amongst other things, an aptitude for resource distribution and coordination mainly involving the allocation of rehearsal and performance space plus technical theatre equipment. Ideally the successful candidate will have a background in stage management or technical theatre. This permanent position is well suited to an applicant with developed organisational skills who is passionate about helping to support students. In addition, candidates will work closely with the department's Production Manager, Multimedia Technician and Theatre Electrician to maintain high standards of technical theatre within the department's performance venues. Applicants must have: IT literacy as the post involves monitoring of resources; a knowledge of video conferencing as well as an understanding of social media is desirable; minimally a basic knowledge of lighting and sound operation; ideally a practical aptitude with making skills; the ability to work at height; as well as the capacity to instruct and support students in stage management and/or technical theatre practices; an interest in higher education; an understanding of current health and safety legislation and a flexible attitude to working hours as some evening and weekend working is required. This is a permanent part time, 0.8 FTE, appointment which is available from October 2020. This post is based in Egham, Surrey where the College is situated in a beautiful, leafy campus near to Windsor Great Park and within commuting distance from London. For an informal discussion about the post, please contact Sean Brennan, Production Manager on s.brennan@rhul.ac.uk. To view further details of this post and to apply please visit https://jobs.royalholloway.ac.uk. The Human Resources Department can be contacted with queries by email at: recruitment@rhul.ac.uk Please quote the reference: 0920-191 Closing Date: Midnight, 2 October 2020 Interview Date: W/C 19 October 2020

As it's overhead, make sure that you've got something suitable for rigging in portrait. Unicol offer a mount that does just this. https://unicol.com/products/projector-mounts/projector-suspension-unit Also, Projector Central has a very nifty throw calculator here https://www.projectorcentral.com/projection-calculator-pro.cfm Are you looking to buy, or hire? If it's a hire, the company who you're renting from should be able to advise and provide rigging mounts.

Well, when someone asks the same question that's been asked before... copy & paste