SoundGirls.org: We learned as soon as we started using computers that we need to save our work as often as possible. We all know that sinking feeling when that essay or email we had worked so long and hard on, without backing up, suddenly became the victim of a spilled drink or blue screen of death. I’m sure more than a few of us also know this feeling from when we didn’t save our show file correctly, maybe even causing thousands of people to boo us because everything’s gone quiet all of a sudden.
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I think this article is a great way to say that going to complex before you know the basics is a recipe for disaster. Modern entertainment systems have so many settings and options that a designer can get carried away with all that they’re capable of. But, as this article points out, if you go wild on automation and neglect to keep track of what you’re doing, you can easily destroy a save file with no memory or way to recreate what you did. I think this principle works best in automated art forms, but can definitely expand beyond this as well. All mediums benefit from an attention to organization and preparation. A familiarity with your workspace, whether this be the costume shop or a sound console, can save you when something goes horribly wrong later on in the process. This article says what most of us already know: be intentional, organized, and always save your show file.
This article gave me the tough reminder that while I am blessed to have autosave sometimes even autosave can humble you. I have definitely fallen victim to the tried and true just forgetting to save and you know that one always hurts. When a certain program is pretty much your job you will know pretty much everything there is to know about that software. This is because if you mess it up it is your time and your money. But sometimes even the pros slip up. I have never had a mistake like this happen on any big projects which I am grateful for but I do know that it is coming. Something that I found unique about this article which I thought was really clever was the skip to if you are having an emergency. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone do that and I thought that was nice.
Sh-Update [Shift + Update] is what I would hear over and over when working the lighting console for any and every production I ever designed. Losing a show file is not only embarrassing but could potentially be catastrophic. It is actually the reason many shows (at least at a large scale) contemplate backup units for production. I once toured the visiting production of Les Miserables in Mexico City (originally designed and engineered in Canada) where this idea of backup files was highly emphasized. Unlike the classic Broadway staging–involving the notorious turntable, the designs heavily relied on video and media projections. As a result, the productions budget accounted for additional equipment (including a spare copy of the files projected) as a backup. I was shocked to hear that, believe or not, these replacements do often get used. More than once, in consequence of certain failures in the system, did management swap out show files for a copy.
We have all heard save early and save often, time and time again. When I started working with Isadora, I was using a computer that, frankly, shouldn’t have been running Isadora. On my first show, I lost major chunks of my show file at least three times… I have never forgot saving early and often since then. Premiere Pro’s AutoSave function, has saved me over a dozen times, however. Over break, I was helping a Master Electrician at DePaul with has hang cards. BOOM. His monitor goes black, and you can see the stress coming off of him. He realized it had been hours since he saved and all the work we had done that morning, mere hours, before his hang was gone. It wasn’t even my show, and I was stressed. Luckily, he had a Vectorworks back up from a few hours before that his advisor had found. However, she uttered the words save early save often.
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