Bennage Posted January 14, 2006 Share Posted January 14, 2006 I'm considering taking a sound position at a theatre in Philadelphia. So far, my experience has been limited to working at Her Majesty's Theatre, London. I gained a whole load of knowledge there, but I'm guessing that alot of terms etc are going to be different. i.e. I haven't seen a single job posting for a Master Carpenter over there. Is that because they're called something else? Or am I just being blind? Has anyone here had any experiences with different terminology etc? Cheers, B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewR Posted January 14, 2006 Share Posted January 14, 2006 pipe = bar elliptical (iirc) = profile Admittedly all the differences I have run into are lighting. But never had any real problems getting understood, or understanding others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted January 14, 2006 Share Posted January 14, 2006 pipe = bar elliptical (iirc) = profileOh, come on! There's a bit more to it than that! (And one of your two examples is wrong, anyway - it's 'ellipsoidal', and it's much more usually called a Leko.) Have a Google for technical theatre glossaries - there are some US-based ones out there which will give you a pretty good flavour of the differences in the language of lighting and sound. A US-based discussion group like the Light Network might also make useful reading. I think most of the differences relate to situations where we (or they) might use a 'trade name' for something, rather than a generic name - Grelco, for instance. I've worked in America, and with Americans, and although some of the terminology might be different it's really not that tricky to get the hang of things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted January 14, 2006 Share Posted January 14, 2006 The RATS (rec.arts.theatre.stagecraft) newsgroup has a good mix of members from both the USA and the UK and could be a good resource for you. Certainly I've seen discussions in the past about the differences between the two sides of the pond. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 the one that kept catching me was to set the trim. thats to dead a bar or cloth. although now I think about it there term makes a bit more sense. And off topic where did the term to 'dead' come from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomo Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 Dunno, but a rope has two ends - the live one and the dead one.The live end goes to the load, the dead end is free, so 'to dead' probably comes from the act of making a dead end by tying off. Most hemp flying terms and the original expertise came from sailors, as they were the guys who knew how to handle ropes back in the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich newby Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 It may go by climbing, The live end is the rope going to the climber, past the anchor point above him/her(if they are being top roped) and the end which the belayer is holding is called the dead rope, because if the belayer lets go of the rope, the climber is dead if they fall. That was always my understanding of flying. Just a thought from my years of rock climbing!Rich :( And off-topic. This thread is about US/UK terminology differences, not rock climbing expressions. Keep it on-topic, please, chaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erroneousblack Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 If someone asks you to "spike" something do not stick a nail in it, it's their term for marking settings with tape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlyfarly Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 I caused outrage...really!.....when I asked for a 'XLR sex-changer'. "We prefer to call them 'turnarounds'", he rather sniffily replied. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bennage Posted January 15, 2006 Author Share Posted January 15, 2006 Haha! Nice. Cheers for these guys. They'll all help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jram Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 off the top of my head, a few others to watch out for are: Schedule 40 - scaff (schedule 80 is another one, possibly it refers to the diamater of the pipe) AC Cable/ Aircraft cable - steel rope And when I was flying at the summer, their system was different in terms of terminology. us: "bar coming in", "your bar", "bar weighted/ deweighted" them: "pipe (number) moving" - this is always responded to with a "thank you" from the deck. Also, "pipe loaded/ unloaded" A cradle is an arbor, a flyman is railcrew, and you don't "fly" a show you "run the rail" "Trim" and "spike marks" have been dealt with above. More if I remember them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdcarter Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 I caused outrage...really!.....when I asked for a 'XLR sex-changer'. "We prefer to call them 'turnarounds'", he rather sniffily replied. :(Our theatre has ended up calling them "GLBT friendly adaptors" (our head electrics is a gay man). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erroneousblack Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 Our theatre has ended up calling them "GLBT friendly adaptors" (our head electrics is a gay man). Aren't they all? :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 I think the term spike is fairly common over here I use it a fair bit It all makes sense on the dead business, sometimes youve just got to think before you speak eh? :( Oh and remember they work in yeh olde fashioned terms like feet n tit inches, Im the same as most folk I'll say 'give it a tap stage left 2 inches' but as soon as you write it down my brain goes wizz bang pop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnPartridge Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 Can someone just explain why , labeling is called Spiking ? ive never heard it used over in the UK. John Partridge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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