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The Lighting Programmer


TLx

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Hi all,

 

as part of some research I am doin I would like you to respond to the following question.....

 

Who/ what is the lighting programmer?

 

I would like to know your definition and the dutys they may perform in different areas of the industry.

 

your help would be greatly appreciated and if you would like to leave your name and job title I would be happy to credit your input to the research,

 

Jamie

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Hi all,

 

as part of some research I am doin I would like you to respond to the following question.....

 

Who/ what is the lighting programmer?

 

I would like to know your definition and the dutys they may perform in different areas of the industry.

 

your help would be greatly appreciated and if you would like to leave your name and job title I would be happy to credit your input to the research,

 

Jamie

 

I hate to be the one that says this, but the job role you have given for discussion is extremely specific, and all information on this role can be found in books or on the internet.

I don't want to sound negative but if you look yourself, you may find alot more interesting facts than you were initially looking for.

 

 

In the time its taken me to write this you could have had the answers.

 

Andy

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Hi Jamie,

 

some one has to be first, so it may as well be me. We generally don't do peoples' homework for them on this forum. You will receive a far better response if you ask for comments on your own definitions, rather than asking for ours.

 

[edit = beaten to it]

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OK!

 

its not "my homework"

 

I am trying to get information from other working practitioners in different areas of the industry and at different levels.

 

The role is different in other ares and scales of performance,

 

I was simply asking how it works in others practitioners work to give me an insight in which to build my work on.

 

It was a question used to compare peoples responses.

 

regards

jamie

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Hi all,

 

as part of some research I am doin I would like you to respond to the following question.....

 

Who/ what is the lighting programmer?

 

I would like to know your definition and the dutys they may perform in different areas of the industry.

 

your help would be greatly appreciated and if you would like to leave your name and job title I would be happy to credit your input to the research,

 

Jamie

 

I hate to be the one that says this, but the job role you have given for discussion is extremely specific, and all information on this role can be found in books or on the internet.

I don't want to sound negative but if you look yourself, you may find alot more interesting facts than you were initially looking for.

 

 

In the time its taken me to write this you could have had the answers.

 

Andy

 

Disagree with this,

 

I have done the same as Jamie and took my 3 Months to get decent responses from respected designers including Paul Pyant, Rick Fisher and some designers from the Blue Room.

 

I was quite supprising to see the responses I got and one being that they think the job "programme"r is a useless job and is prefered to be done by designer where as Mr Paul Pyant workin on Lord of the Rings had no other option but to have a programmer (s) now the term programmer can be defined by many aspects of the production.

 

LOTR for example had a Generic Lighting Programer, Moving Light Programmer and a Special Effects programmer.

 

So limiting it to Lighting programmer may not have been the best option to say, but just becuase they are called the lighting programemr does not mean that is all they do.

 

A good book to read is The Automated Lighting Programmer's Handbook - Brad Schiller

 

He explains all the pre-production process where he didnt even touch a lighting desk before he entered the Technical Rehearsal process.

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This is the not the point, I dont want to read random google search results I took my question to a community of people who share there idea ect in the form of a forum and want a reponse from the people who I have gained information on during the time I have bin using the forums.
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Instead of asking the Generic "Who or What is the Programmer"

 

Be more specific in what you want to find. Here are some questions I ask designers in my research

 

1. What influences the designers choice in the programmer. (An no! it is not an obvious choice of he can get the job done, believe me!)

2. Do you allow the programmer to have artisitc influence on how the show runs? i.e. live move, take that down or an option to say this is free, if we move that there ect.

3. How do you build the relationship to get to the point of allowing your designer to say these things.

 

J

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I thankyou for response Big Jay, I will take the exaple question onboard but as I just explained to you over the dest this is not the aim of my question or research
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The lighting programmers job is to make the lights do what the lighting designer wants them to do.

 

 

To Quote a very well known and established programmer.

"A Programmer is the Human interface between Designer and console." That along with the above post should cover most bases.

 

To the OP the point of going to Google is whats called research.... I believe you mentioned it in your original post.....

Having tried to nicely point you in the right direction I will leave it at that.

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As a current university student myself, I have to ask since when has The Blue Room (or any similar website) been an acceptable source for research? I'd be very wary of citing it in any research I did in the way you seem to want to, because you have no idea who is answering your question. It could be someone who's worked in the industry for 20 years, or it could just as easily be some 16 year old with a massively overinflated opinion of their abilities. It's not what you could call a quality academic reference.
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Sadly, research is now considered by many to be something that takes little effort, and certainly does not require visiting a library. I agree that there is some scope for doing basic research on the net before starting on the real, quality research - but sometimes, it's just laziness. This topic is an example of one where primary research will probably be the most useful. Speaking to programmers will generate evidence that really has status - without this, what's the point?

 

I've also noted a trend for people to kind of cheerful admit knowing little, and then expecting others to provide the material. Maybe I'm just old, but I've got pride, and owning up to not knowing for something like this I don't do. I do the research, then ask specific questions on areas that I don't understand - NOT/NEVER everything!

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