Monday, September 05, 2016
Commanding the Scenery
Stage Directions: Scenic design is the physical representation of the emotional world of a show, where the vision becomes reality. But making several hundreds (if not thousands) of pounds of scenery move like a vision is not a simple task. We reached out to leaders in the field of automation and asked them how they make automation easier—and safer—for everyone.
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2 comments:
It is cool to see stage automation becoming such a competitive market. It still seems like most companies have their specialties, but I think in a few years, there will be many options from many different companies. This is only good news because with competition comes innovation and more competitive prices. Automation is still fairly inaccessible to a lot of theaters but with the push towards automated theater, I see that issue becoming less of a problem. I am waiting for a product, somewhat like Frank’s that allows an end user to buy/get plans and with a few specialty parts, build their own system. Maybe not a 120 system, but something that is more affordable than buying a full set up. Even a flat packaged winch could be cool. It seems like most automation that is talked about in this article is vertical lift, but I think its not long until there is a list as full as this one that deals with all sorts of stage movement.
This article has a lot of good information about automation, the options that are available, and the kinds of things automation can do. Especially in the Creative Connors section of the article, I think they need to be careful with their phraseology. When they start by saying flexibility equals speed, it says to me that they are talking about the speed of the moving scenery or rushing through the process. In regards to the previsualization software, it needs to be mentioned that the scenery has to be programmed or drawn first. The safety factor in automation is one not to be taken lightly and I’m glad that companies are building more safety factors into their gear. That being said, I don’t think software is what we need more of and more training in. We live in an age were most people (especially up and comers) are technologically literate. With more automation and more, heavier, and faster moves what we need is more training in the design of the scenery and the machinery to handle it. That should also include how to set up sheaves, where to put them, where to put winches/hoists and how to run the lines.
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