Best way to indicate a pause before a sound cue?

[TomHoward]

Highlighters fluoresce under UV whereas all printed text appears to be black - a highlighter in certain light is unbeaten

 

One other note - once your script is in a stable format you could write a list of cues with page numbers that is at the front or back of the script, or in Qlab especially I like adding page numbers to cue names;

 

1. p1 House Music

2. p1 House Music Fade

3. p3 Thunderclap

 

Always lets you know how far you are before the next cue so you know how on the ball to be. Not that you would ever be less than 100% on the ball, but sometimes finding a surprise cue at the top of p11 after a 10 page gap results in an increased chance of it being late.

[sunray]

Highlighters fluoresce under UV whereas all printed text appears to be black - a highlighter in certain light is unbeaten

 

One other note - once your script is in a stable format you could write a list of cues with page numbers that is at the front or back of the script, or in Qlab especially I like adding page numbers to cue names;

 

1. p1 House Music

2. p1 House Music Fade

3. p3 Thunderclap

 

Always lets you know how far you are before the next cue so you know how on the ball to be. Not that you would ever be less than 100% on the ball, but sometimes finding a surprise cue at the top of p11 after a 10 page gap results in an increased chance of it being late.

That's a very salient point, not just for the reason mentioned.

 

I did sound, lights and additionally voice overs for an AmDram which consisted of a series of a dozen or so sketches, several of them had a snappy change between sketches, including live scene changes as part of the script. Each sketch/scene deliberately started on a new page to make mixing & matching the programme easy.

 

 

After first tech rehearsal I scanned the script and reprinted such that changes happened mid page as there was far too much happening to turn paper.

[sandall]

One other note - once your script is in a stable format you could write a list of cues with page numbers that is at the front or back of the script,

I would suggest always having a stand-alone cue-sheet as well as marking up the script (make a useful bookmark when it's a few pages to the next cue). Also a "Q.n next" note at the bottom of the previous page. As a general rule - too much info & you can select what you need to remember; too little info & you risk your show falling over.

[Watson]

Sunray & Sandall, thanks for those points. I've been rejigging the layout of the script to avoid having cues right at the top of a page, but a "Q.n next" (or perhaps "Standby Q.n" if it's still soon) at the foot of each page is clearly a good idea.

 

Sunray, your reference to "the first tech rehearsal" served as a salient reminder that with this production we're likely to get only one, and that with a crew (probably of just one person) who was concentrating on a completely different show yesterday and is possibly already thinking ahead to another one tomorrow. Another reason to make everything as plain and simple as possible.

Edited May 13, 2021 by Watson

[TomHoward]

I don't think there's a need to re-jig the script, as long as it's marked at the bottom of the previous page ****sound cue at top of next page****.

Or just print it so they are at the top of the right hand page, if it's a book.

[Watson]

I don't think there's a need to re-jig the script, as long as it's marked at the bottom of the previous page ****sound cue at top of next page****.

My only rejigging was to avoid having cues right at the top of any page. Doing any more than that would have put the page count right up and also resulted in a lot of oddly distributed blank space.

 

Or just print it so they are at the top of the right hand page, if it's a book.

Ah, it isn't. I've been wondering about whether or not to put the script into a ring-file-type folder (given my remark earlier about the cramped conditions often encountered) or leave it as simply secured with a single butterfly or bulldog clip so the pages could be separated if that were preferred.

Edited May 13, 2021 by Watson

[sandall]

or leave it as simply secured with a single butterfly or bulldog clip so the pages could be separated if that were preferred.

Butterfly or big staple - bulldog runs the risk of pages getting lost. If you want to present it in a ring-folder because that looks better then fine, but o/w keep it in a form the op can't easily take apart.

[Watson]

Butterfly or big staple...

OK, makes sense. Thanks.

[alistermorton]

If we end up with a cue at the top of the next page we write e.g. "Q5 OVER ->" at the bottom of the preceding page.

[Watson]

If we end up with a cue at the top of the next page we write e.g. "Q5 OVER ->" at the bottom of the preceding page.

That seems sensible; thanks.

[ClaireL]

A few other things to note that PPs have referred to, but not spelled out - the convention is always that the GO is the last thing written/said. Your script has this correct, but in your OP, you have GO Sound Q7, which should never be used.

 

Also, you should always list grouped cues for different departments in the same order - the convention is that LX is always first, then Sound, Flys, followed by whatever else you may be using. In your script example, sometimes Sound is first, sometimes LX, and this may make your Operator wonder why - should the Sound Q be taken slightly ahead of LX?

SFX isn't used by showcalling DSMs, it sounds far too much like LX over cans. In a prompt book I use LXQ19 and SNDQ19, and quite often miss out the Q and even the number as well when calling, depending on how fast things are going. If you've got cues in your show which come very close together, you can draw an arrow down to the next one as a sort of 'keep going' indicator.

 

If you've got a big gap between cues, it can help your operator if after the last cue before the gap you put a note, "Next cue (LX19) on page 36, after approx 5 mins, shortly after shouted line, Vader: These ARE the droids I am looking for!"

The prompt book on the web page you found is unhelpful in one respect; it has lines from the text to the cue, but doesn't indicate the exact word or in the example of Exeunt, is the cue when they start to exit, or when the last person has left the stage? If a cue goes on a word, the convention is to put a box round the word (or the syllable if it's a long word). If it's after the word, you put a short upright off the line after the relevant word.

 

I've put a double page of one of my prompt books https://www.dropbox....164134.jpg?dl=0 here. It's not very tidy, but is the only one I have to hand, and shows you boxes round words and upright line at the end of a word.

[Junior8]

I've put a double page of one of my prompt books https://www.dropbox....164134.jpg?dl=0 here. It's not very tidy, but is the only one I have to hand, and shows you boxes round words and upright line at the end of a word.

 

Neater than any of mine!

[Watson]

A few other things to note that PPs have referred to, but not spelled out - the convention is always that the GO is the last thing written/said. Your script has this correct, but in your OP, you have GO Sound Q7, which should never be used.

Yes, I realised this almost as soon as I posted that.

 

Also, you should always list grouped cues for different departments in the same order... this may make your Operator wonder why - should the Sound Q be taken slightly ahead of LX?

I know that a uniform order is the standard. But what's the best way to indicate if one cue should indeed taken very quickly after another rather than simultaneously? A "Wait one second then..." comment, or similar?

 

Ah - I've just seen your later remark:

 

If you've got cues in your show which come very close together, you can draw an arrow down to the next one as a sort of 'keep going' indicator.

OK, thanks for that.

 

I've put a double page of one of my prompt books https://www.dropbox....164134.jpg?dl=0 here. It's not very tidy, but is the only one I have to hand, and shows you boxes round words and upright line at the end of a word.

That's fascinating, thanks. It's way more complex than anything I'm working with at the moment. As I said, this is a small scale festival-type play which won't be touring with its own staff: most of the time it will be a question of getting in, playing, and getting out on the same day and we expect that a single resident technician will run both sound and lighting, working directly from a cued-up script which he or she will have seen for the first time just a few hours before the show. Simplicity is vital.

 

Many thanks for your thoughts.

Edited May 14, 2021 by Watson

[alistermorton]

quite often miss out the Q and even the number as well when calling, depending on how fast things are going.

 

I recall the first show I light opped (in fact the very first show I opped in any way at all) the DSM calling "Standby LX Q 65 through to the end followed by LX go ... go ... go ,,, go ...

Edited May 14, 2021 by alistermorton

[Watson]

I recall the first show I light opped (in fact the very first show I opped in any way at all) the DSM calling "Standby LX Q 65 through to the end followed by LX go ... go ... go ,,, go ...

Now that must have been fun, at least in retrospect...