Why Does My Console Do That (- find out on January 19th!)

Rob is delighted to have been asked back online by Martin Professional - this time on Tuesday January 19th, with a presentation that combines his loves of both the very latest lighting technology - and the generations of lighting technology that led up to it.

Entitled Why Does My Console Do That?, the talk also has a subtitle - the sometimes unexpected histories of functions we take for granted - and why some have gone missing along the way - that explains a bit more about the content. Rob’s aim is to take key functions we take for granted on current lighting consoles - ‘record’, or ‘track’, or ‘preheat’ - and trace their history back through generations of lighting controls to see just where they came from, and why they were put there in the first place. Sometimes that will track back to lighting control before computers. Sometimes even further back, to lighting control before electricity!

As well as looking at key functions that we still have, Rob will also touch upon some very useful functionality that has somehow got lost along the way - and will wonder aloud whether some of it could usefully make a comeback.

The variety of hats Rob wears provides the background to what should be a fun look back at lighting history rather than a dry history lesson. As a lighting designer and programmer he’s often been the first to use the latest technology on shows. But he also charts lighting history in his monthly Classic Gear column in LSi magazine, and was one of the creators of the UK’s Backstage Heritage Collection which aims to document entertainment technology online and preserve it in real life.

The talk takes places on Tuesday, January 19th at 5pm UK Time / 11am US Central Time. You can book online now: [link].

Details of the many other online sessions being offered by Martin and Harman can be found here:
[link].

Sitting In The Co-Pilot’s Chair - Available Online Now

Rob’s on-line presentation for Martin Professional, Sitting In The Co-Pilot’s Chair, looking at the work of the Lighting Programmer and their relationship with the Lighting Designer, is available to view on-line now for those who missed it live.

The presentation seems to have been enjoyed by those who watched it, many sticking around to ask interesting questions at the end…

Rob is now working on a follow-up presentation, which will appear sometime in January. Stay tuned for more information.

Sitting In The Co-Pilot’s Chair: [link]
Other Upcoming Martin Webinars: [link]

Appearing Online - October 21st

Rob will be appearing on-line as part of Martin Professional’s Learning Sessions series of on-line talks on Wednesday, October 21st.

Rob’s talk is entitled Sitting In The Co-Pilot’s Chair, and explores the relationship between the Lighting Programmer and the Lighting Designer. As he explains, “the lighting programmer’s job is to translate a designer’s vision into the practicalities of console and lots. It is a relationship that is intimate, thrilling and unique - involving the programmer almost getting inside the designer’s head to understand their aim, while at the same time occupying a seat perfectly placed to watch the creation of unique live entertainment events.”

Rob’s work on both sides of this partnership, as lighting programmer for shows such as Les Misérables, Billy Elliot, Miss Saigon, lighting designer for shows such as Giudizio Universale, and sometimes, as on Tree of Codes, filling both roles, gives him a unique perspective on this unique relationship.

The session takes place on Wednesday October 21st at 11am (US Central Time) / 5pm (UK time). You can sign up via the Martin/Harman website: [link].

Rob’s talk is just one of a great series of events organised by Martin. Details all of the events can be found here: [link].

ALD Academy Boot Camp

Rob is delighted to have been asked to be part of the A.LD Boot Camp, being organised by lighting designer Tim Deiling for the Association of Lighting Designers.

This week long intensive course, being run over Zoom, aims to cover all the skills necessary to support a lighting designer on a variety of projects, as an associate LD or assistant LD. The course is aimed at students, recent graduates and any young designers looking to increase their capabilities.

Tim has put together a panel of lighting professionals willing and able to share their knowledge. As well as Rob, speakers will include lighting designers Ken Billington and Hugh Vanstone, associates Rob Casey and Tim Reed, associate and programmer Andy Voller, associate and author of The Assistant Lighting Designer’s Toolkit Anne E. McMills, the National Theatre’s Head of Lighting Programming Dan Murfin, and John McKernon, the creator of Lightwright.

The course runs from July 20th to 25th, and is open to all - visit the website to register.

ALD Academy Boot Camp: [link]

Helping The Lighting Programmers Of The Future

Rob has recently completed his autumn season as a visiting tutor at Rose Bruford College in Sidcup, something that has become a regular feature of his autumn over the last few years.

In these appearances, Rob works with students on the College’s Creative Lighting Control course to help them improve both their console programming and their understanding of the way shows are put on stage. The aim is not to improve their ability on any specific lighting console, though of course that happens naturally as part of the sessions. Rather, it is to put them under the kind of pressure lighting programmers encounter in the real world, in a more controlled environment - in the same way that aircraft pilots get to practice in a simulator before being let loose with real passengers.

“This came from a realisation that both I and the course leader Rachel Nicholson had come to, that however well people think they are teaching themselves a console in a room with WYSIWYG and the manual, they subliminally set themselves exercises they already know the answer to, and so come to think they know everything about the desk,” Rob explains. “The problem is, the first time they sit next to a lighting designer who asks them to do something different, they get stuck. That moment in a theatre at the start of tech is not a good moment to get stuck!”

Instead, Rob “plays the role of grumpy lighting designer,” as he describes it, to groups of just two or three students at a time. The exercise uses a real show he has lit in the past - Tommy from the Royal Academy of Music in 2011 - modelled in WYSIWYG. Students have to patch the rig and set-up their showfile just as they would in the real world. Then work starts on lighting the busy opening number of the show - a three-minute, thirty-plus cue sequence including all manner of movement and chases. At first there are pauses and discussions as problems are encountered, but the aim is to get to a speed where you could keep up with a real rehearsal with real performers and a real, impatient director, learning along the ways such niceties as not just plunging the stage into darkness. “The result is that I’ve now lit this sequence more times than any other set of cues I’ve ever done,” Rob notes. “But it’s also fascinating each time to see what trips people up and, through that, to help with their deep understanding of both the way consoles and theatre technical rehearsals function. I think the result is that they go out into the real world better prepared - and certainly the success of some of the people who’ve come out of the course to become highly successful lighting programmers seems to back that up.”

Rose Bruford’s Creative Lighting Control course: [link]