Student Ld

[emountford15]

Hi! Im a young lighting designer wanting to get into the business!I am current 14 years old and my age limits everything! At school I often run large amounts of moving lights at school! Im also very familiar with different network protocols such as artnet and try to use them as much as possible! Im slowly learning vectorworks and wysiwyg but its so hard to learn with out having hands on experience? What is a good way I can get into theatres / live events at this young age? Would anyone be willing for me to shadow them or take me on for a show or to? I think this is the best way to learn! Many Thanks , Elliott! (Also im based in essex)

[Paul Turner]

Have a look at some local am dram groups, most are willing to have young blood, and you will learn how to light a show with what you have, rather than what you want. Waving 200 moving lights round on Wyg is fine for fun, but you will learn far more about the basics of lighting with 18 lights and a swatch book.

Many pro environments have big insurance issues with minors, so wait until your 18, it's not far off, and you have your whole life ahead of you.

Learn how to coil a cable quickly and neatly, and get used to pushing a broom on a stage, then go and see if some local venues and/or rental companies need a new boy for a while. ( Don't expect to light the next U2 world tour.). Don't do the common mistake of being a know it all at the age of 18, I met one once and he was so useless he could not coil a mic cable.

Take a look at the back stage academy. They do a course that could start you off well.

Sorry if it's not you wanted to hear, but everybody starts at the bottom.

Paul

[Young Johnstone]

I don't think you could get better advise!!

[Just Some Bloke]

...moving lights ... network protocols such as artnet ... vectorworks and wysiwyg ...

Hi Elliott,

 

You speak entirely about tools. If you were asking for a job building a set and said you knew all about arc welding and working out loads, I'd wonder if you knew how to take a saw and produce 16 2m lengths of 2x1. Because if you didn't, then maybe you'd be trying to run before you could walk. Do be careful not to give the same impression here.

 

Do you know how to focus a fresnel, a profile and a par can and build a really solid wash? If so, then I'd find that a lot more useful than artnet, vectorworks and wysiyg.

 

Can I recommend you watch how other LDs play with angles and colours? Then maybe you could start to analyse scripts (or song lyrics if you only want to light bands) and work out what it is you want to achieve. Then you can start to work out how you might go about achieving these "looks".

 

At 14 I was just starting to get interested in theatre and it wasn't until I was 21 that I started to consider it as a possible job. Now I'm in my early 50s and have been making a living from it for 30 years and, I'll be honest, I still don't know a lot about artnet. But give me a show to light and I can make a pretty good job of it using the best tools for the job, be they 500w fresnels or the latest whizzy toys. Don't forget the most important job of an LD is to be able to wash the stage evenly, whatever tools you're using.

 

Oh, and don't forget that if you do decide to follow your dream then give up any hope of ever having much money!

 

Good luck! :)

[mark_s]

In among his other points there, Eric has given you possibly the best bit of advice you could ever receive as a young, impressionable potential LD: clever toys do not a design make. It's very easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the clever moving lights and whatever else you have at your disposal are fundamental to the design process; they're not. The tools you use to achieve the design are secondary to the artistic considerations and should be the very last thing you think about, way after you've actually developed a concept. I'd go so far as to say that technology is possibly the least exciting aspect of a design for an LD, and knowing all about Artnet is pretty much irrelevant (in an ideal world - I realise that LDs very often act as their own Production Electrician and Programmer, and the knowledge in those situations is rather important). If you disagree with that, maybe you should consider production electrics as a more suitable career... ;)

 

As for experience, if design is truly where your heart lies, then read, read and read some more. Experiment at every opportunity with a torch or two and some objects - see how the angle of the light makes a massive difference to your perception of a scene, and equally how the colour influences your brain. Expose yourself to as much theatre as possible, and analyse what the LD has done on the production and why. That sort of learning is way more valuable in creative terms than being taught how to rig a bar/truss, patch dimmers or make looms.

[dmxlights]

Hi Elliott,

 

I would take all the advice that as been given above. I can say I am going lighting for 6 years now with 2 friends who does the sound and still learning alot We do alot of local plays and school plays/shows and even theater shows. I have been dropped into the deep end to light a school play. I was about a year doing it with my friends. we have all our own light except lights like mover and led cans. I had hired 2 movers and 4 led cans. the crowd I hired from did not show up with the gear on the day of the rigging all I had was 8 500W par cans, 4 fresnels, 4 profiles and and some colour gels for the par cans and the was only half of our own light gear as the rest was on loan to a local theater. I had do the best with what I had and I was on my own to work on the lights and plot the light for the different scenes. I did pull it off and it was not easy.

 

As it said above learn to work with the basic lighting gear as in fresnels, par cans, profiles, and other light alike with colour gels and when you learn how to use these then move on to gear like movers and alike and after that then work on artnet and other interfaces.

[kerry davies]

Fully endorse what others have said especially about reading from the very basics and using that knowledge when watching shows. I would recommend doing that then "playing" as much as possible. For total newbies I always recommend John Alton's "Painting With Light" which is older than me and totally antiquated. However he can show you that you could learn as much from a couple of torches a sphere and a cube as any amount of tricksy programming.

 

Learn how to use a broom, a mop and tea making kit and you won't go far wrong. Go where the talent lies wheneevr possible, use your eyes and ears in proportion to your mouth, four to one and remember that at 65 I still have a lot to learn.

 

I once did an amdram with incredibly limited kit and was inordinately proud of what I achieved. I turned to my stepson after the show and asked what he thought of the lighting. "What lighting" he replied and I could have kissed him. It was the greatest compliment anyone could ever ask for. Think about it! They didn't buy tickets to see me work, never have and never will.

[Jivemaster]

Your age limits real world experience as it's almost impossible for a real company to employ a legal child in a theatre or performing environment. First make very sure that you pass English and Maths "O levels" (whatever your school does!) and a few more exams. Lack of "5 "O levels" inc English and maths" will make your career struggle wherever you want to go.

 

Remember that lighting is about the way light interacts with objects and people. Lighting enables people to see, and NOT see, the parts that are important to the show. TV, stage, nightclub are all subtly different. Remember also that there are jobs for people to develop the future of lighting system developers, programmers etc.

 

Get some real world (outside school!) experience of the industry, Look at places to volunteer that accept legal children ( anyone under 16 regardless of skill level. Look at getting a short season at a "holiday camp" probably half of the UK's performers and techs have a season at Butlins back in the depths of their CV. Look at the big folk festivals -Sidmouth Broadstairs and Whitby festivals all use a lot of volunteer labour in all departments but all will require you to be 16 at least.

 

Remember also that your first real paid work will be as a junior, so as others have said making good tea and coiling cables WILL be your first job, and quietly being careful and nice to work with will be the two attributes that get you your second job on gigs.

 

NOTE

Regardless of your skills the law treats a person under 16 as a child and makes it almost impossible to employ children especially in theatre, a person 16 or 17 years old is a Young Person easier to employ under supervision but the supervisors need to be CRB/D&B checked which is added expense, 18 years and over the law considers you an adult and responsible for yourself to some extent.

[vinntec]

One thing I would suggest is to see if there is a "little theatre" near you, which would be owned and run by amateurs who are always looking for help. Simply go on to the Little Theatre Guild website, type your postcode in, and see if there is one nearby. There are other amateur theatres which are not in the LTG which might also be close to you so do a search for theatres in your area as well. These would be ideal places to start to broaden your experience as a small number of people tend to do all the technical tasks. Don't turn your nose up at theatres with only 75 seats, like mine. You will find these are real theatres scaled down and the skills you learn here can be scaled up to much bigger venues even if there might not be a mover in sight.

 

Second thing to think about, does your school send you on "work experience"? If it does then you need to be proactive and find a theatre that will take you (I am talking pro' now) on the technical side. The official database of places won't have anything like that, so you need to go out and make your own contacts then bulldoze your school/council to let you go there. If you have a track record of a commitment to technical theatre outside school (amdram, LTG theatre etc), even if wielding a broom, then they are more likely to be interested in you.

 

The last thing anyone on this forum wants to do is discourage you. However, you have to get to grips with all aspects of being in technical theatre to be absolutely sure this is what you want to do as early as possible. Get as much experience as you can and work with other people. If you wake up in the morning looking forward to a day cleaning out the lighting store, then you are probably on the right track! You will also need to be willing (when you are a bit older) to take some risks - you will be working at height in places where your convenience is the last consideration. And if you expect any applause for your efforts, forget it! Lighting is there to light the actors, costumes, and scenery as well as to set the mood. If you do Oliver! and can have the mayor crying during "where is love", you have done your job even if the boy playing Oliver gets the credit.

 

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

[Jivemaster]

Sadly theatres, abattoirs, night clubs, and licensed premises are specified prohibitions in the employment of young people legislation. ANY theatre taking on a young person could be persecuted/prosecuted even closed and fined substantially. Professional theatre is impossible for school based work experience, am-dram and proper Youth Theatre will offer some opportunities.

 

Basically stay at school til you are 16 get school experience and read all the books on lighting back to 1900. Remember to get the qualifications from school that will see you into college or work which means something like "5 O Levels inc English and Maths" Plan to get good grades, maybe look to get some "A levels" in case you will ever want to go to university or college

[paulears]

I'd seriously suggest that you watch as a member if the audience, as many shows of different styles as you can. West end productions at the moment have amazingly different styles in use. From big vistas in lion king, to real mood stuff in les mics, and rock and roll in others. Add in some straight plays and then look at dance and opera. Not all will be good, but you need to train yourself as to what works and what doesn't, so your opinion forming ability increases. I saw a touring production of Aida over the weekend and the lighting was very poor. I know the venue, and I've seen the same company elsewhere, so I know the real problem was that the venue and staging didn't match, so it was a physical problem, not really sortable. So nobodies real fault, just an unhappy combination.

 

I've never needed visualisers in 30 plus years, last year I started using one, and have decided for what I do, my pieces of paper work better for me. Gadgets guarantee nothing.

 

Last but of info re: school lighting. GCSEs with a 'technical' option are to be honest, pointless. They are designed to offer an alternative to being good at acting. If you are a very shy individual, acting will be too scary, so you get to do less of it. The marking of this option is done by people with usually no knowledge of lights or sound and frankly, you could be hopeless at lighting and get good grades. It's total rubbish, and is not in any shape or form 'technical'.

 

Have a look at the books published by entertainment technology press - a huge range of books containing real facts and not unverifiable stuff you find on the net. Read them and keep them. Too many to get all of them and some far too deep, but everything you need is there.

[jbrown96]

I would agree with what has been said above.

I am not much older than yourself (17) and am currently invovled with an am dram group.

I would say that it has given me the best possible practical experience in all aspect of technical theatre not just lighting I can gain for my age.

I would say though, not to put you off or anything, but be prepared to listen and help others at first rather than just being able to step straight into running and designing show, this will come with time. I started by just helping build sets and other roles not even related to lighting and am now assisting our LD on shows. Any experience is good experience.

 

Good Luck

[gareth]

Lots and lots of good points have been made above.

 

See as much theatre as you can - as many different genres and scales as possible. Absorb what you see, and develop an appreciation of what you think is good and bad.

 

Get involved with a local amateur theatre group, and get as much hands-on experience as you can. There's no real substitute for learning by doing. Some elements of your early designs will work well. Some will be OK, but you'll be able to improve on them for next time. Some will fail miserably, and you'll know to not do it that way again!

 

You might have played with loads of moving lights and be able to draw a plot on Vectorworks, but that's really not as relevant as you think it is. Can you solder an XLR connector onto some particularly difficult scroller cable, or work out calculations according to Ohm's law in your head? Do you know how much current you can safely pull down a 50m length of 1.5mm2? Can you change the lamp in a parcan in the semi-darkness at the top of a tallescope? Can you make a decent brew? All of these things, and more, are FAR more important to your progression through the early stages of a career in theatre than knowing how to get a GrandMA talking over ArtNet to a Hippotiser. Don't run before you can walk.

 

A desire to be a lighting designer is all well and good, as long as you realise what a competitive market it is, and how difficult it is to make a decent living at it. Think about it - every production has one LD who's involved up to press night, and that's it. That same production might involve three or four (or more) electricians from the beginning of the project right the way through to when the show closes. I think it's pretty obvious where the more likely opportunities lie. Regardless of that, I think it's very difficult to be a good LD without having a really good knowledge of the craft of those people who are responsible for making your designs into reality - some of the best LDs to work with are those who've spent time working as electricians, because they know what's possible and what isn't ; some of the worst LDs to work with are those who've gone straight from A-levels to drama college to "I'm a freelance lighting designer, don't ya know", because they've never been on the frontline of production electrics and they rarely have a proper understanding of the nuts and bolts of the hands-on elements of production electrics. (I know that last part is generalising a bit, but on the whole I've found it to be largely true!)

 

Lastly, be careful about what you call yourself! At the age of 14, you aren't a 'lighting designer' yet. Not by a long way. Describing yourself as such to anyone who actually *is* an experienced professional LD is a pretty good way of p*ssing them off! They'll respect you a lot more if you don't try to 'talk yourself up' like that.

 

Good luck.

[Jivemaster]

You become a lighting designer when the cheques start coming in! BUT you will need a good folio of work done, BUT last week's work is worth 100% last year's work is worth 50% and work before you are 18 counts 1% and only if there is nothing else to consider.

[vinntec]

Sadly theatres, abattoirs, night clubs, and licensed premises are specified prohibitions in the employment of young people legislation. ANY theatre taking on a young person could be persecuted/prosecuted even closed and fined substantially. Professional theatre is impossible for school based work experience, am-dram and proper Youth Theatre will offer some opportunities.

However, a quick search on google for "theatre work experience" gives Watermill Newbury, Yvonne Arnaud Guildford, Chichester Festival Theatre, Theatre Royal Bath (that's the first four on the list) who all offer work experience to under 18s, in some cases as low as 14. There are restrictions on working height and observing rather than doing, but it seems as if it is still possible to get a placement if you apply early. Presumably the training staff are either CRB cleared (or whatever it is called now!) or there are chaperones present and that the programmes have been worked out with one eye on the law?