I love Technical theatre and it's something I wish to pursue as a career, however I don't know much about the maintenance and repair of the equipment I am using. I think working at White Light would help fill those gaps in my understanding and give me a good idea about what area of knowledge I should learn to improve myself as a technician. Hopefully this is a positive learning experience.
My first day I was dropped off in cables department. Cables deal with cleaning, coiling, testing and altering cables. Apparently coiling cables incorrectly can cause damage to the copper, I was taught coil cables correctly, feeling the tension and flexibility. I was also shown how to PAT test and how to patch over nicks in the cables. For me the most interesting thing was learning how to change 13, 15, and 16-amp adaptors on cables. I am very glad to say I now have a better understanding of plugs and cables.
On the second day I was with rigging. Rigging's job is to prepare and collect rigging equipment ready for dispatch. Part of the job entails testing the equipment and cleaning it. During my day I learned about the system they use to log, track and allocate equipment for jobs. How the jobs are worked on, go through the system and dispatched. I also recognised the importance of keeping a neat and organised warehouse. One member of the team went to find a clamp, the next 2 hours were spent organising a pile of clamps by size. A job that clearly needed doing.
Day 3; Bench. Bench deal with non-smart lanterns and lighting. I spend the first part of the morning testing and changing the bulbs in birdies. It was explained to me how if any non-standards bulbs are used, they need to be labelled. I was shown how to clean, PAT test and test Source 4's. I was also shown how to replace a reflector. I feel confidence that I can deal with any problems a source 4 might have.
Moving Lights on day 4. It's a vast department and I dealt with one moving light, the 1100 AS'. After spending most of the morning looking for 8 of them we proceeded to spend another 1 hooking them up and replacing broken ones. I was taught how to take them apart and clean the lens' safely. We also took the colour wheel apart and I was shown how the motors work. Next, we changed to gobos and checked all the lights functions were working. Overall it was an interesting but limited experience.
Day 5. Systems deal mainly with lighting desks. We performed basic maintenance; cleaning software updates and PAT testing. We worked on the ETC Ion, TI, MA1, and the Pearl Pro. I was shown how to clear show data and transfer it to USB and a computer via IP transfer. I was also shown how to do a system test, which basically tests to see if the buttons and sliders still function as they are supposed to. I'm not sure how much of that knowledge I will retain but I think it will come in handy at some point.
Day 6. Control department cover effects; fans, haze machines, scroller, dimmer and Fluorescents to name just a few.
They started me off on testing, cleaning and fitting florescent lighting tubes. Next up was the fans, it turns out that when cleaning a fan it's important to make sure the fan blades don't moved while the motor is off because it can damage the motor. Next up where the haze, to test their operational functions, they need to be left to run for half an hour before they can be cleaned and tested. Cleaning involves taking it apart, a basic wipe down and safely clean the fan, the filter and making sure the fibreglass mesh is where it's supposed to be. The last thing we did was prep dimmers, I was show a little circuitry. I've come to the conclusion that it still confuses me. That's something I should probably learn more about.
LED department deal with, well anything LED and that was my seventh day. We started the day with LED bars, I was shown hot to check all the bulbs were displaying correctly and how to change out a defective bulb panel. Then I was show a couple "pro tips". When it comes to DMX Dip-switches there is an app that can help calculate which switches should be in the 'on' position depending on which address you want them at. The App is called 'DMX Dip Switch calculator' and I think it's wonderful. The next pro tip I learned was that if one daisy chains a bunch of lights together you only need to PAT test one of the connected as it only pass if all of them are functional.
We came across a couple lights with out of date software, so I was shown how to update them. I was also introduced to one of the best cleaners I've ever used; Foam cleaner. It was a really lovely cleaner, and safer to use around electrical equipment than most cleaners. I was also shown how some types of batteries chargers are build into fly cases, which was quite interesting.
Day 8, Events Department. Events deal with what I can only categorise as set. They have lecterns, plinths, steel deck and things like special sets for TV they frequently send out. Unfortunately, when I was there they didn't have many jobs to work on. We spent the morning painting plinths black. And checking in equipment from returns department, which was interesting. We spent the rest of the day cleaning; equipment, the workshop, anything we could find. We also tracked down missing equipment which had been sent to the wrong department. At the end of the day I was shown how to put together a, not entirely appropriately named Demo Kit. It's a box full of useful things an on-site technician can use should they forget their equipment while out on a job. It has gaff tape, LX tape, first aid box, accident reports, pens and such like. All useful things I keep in my own ready bag
Audio deals with Microphones, speakers, sound desks and anything related to that. Video works with projectors, LED displays, laptops/tablets and accessories such as desimaters. Because I was invited to a workshop on day 10 I spent half of day 9 with each department, and 2 hours of day 10 in video. In sound we started by testing an audio system kit. Aside from the system module itself, it had 8 microphones (2 different types), 8 batteries and a bunch of different cables. I don't feel it was explained to me in full, Audio is still something I should learn more about. I learned how to data clean, use and test the smart speakers. Finally, we set up a demo rig of 2 different types of speakers; again the process wasn't explained to me so I feel like that's something I need to learn more about.
In video I was shown how to align a projector correctly and I learned about some of the different cables and what they do. I helped with prepping a couple jobs and testing equipment. I was also shown how to correctly reel the longest cables.
Day 10, Lighting History with Jim Laws!
I won't say too much about it as I would recommend anyone who is interested to attend his talk, it's very informative. I will say that he covered theatre lighting from candles, through oil and gas to electrical and Limelight. He talks about the first lighting desk and systems and how lighting was used. He has spent a large part of his life recreating these systems for special events and films, he has a fascinating collection of lights and bulbs he demonstrated with. White Light are the custodians of many lighting desks including some of the first. We inspected them and were told the specific mechanics of how they worked and how to use them. I am honestly very glad to be using the desks I have as I find the older models harder to get my head around. I'm glad to have had that experience though, it was very educational and informative. It was recommended to me that I learn how to tie knots, it is something I wish to learn. The world of theatre technology is constantly evolving and one can never predict what new innovation will come next; it's best to be prepared for anything.
I had a fantastic experience. I learned so much I never knew I needed to know and a few things I don't need to know but find interesting. I feel more confident working with technical equipment and how to look after it. I also know what to look out for should there be a fault. Most of the people I worked with had very high professional standards which has given me a good idea of what the expected industry standard is.
I really worked well with people who had a high professional standard and/or had a positive attitude and were hard-working. I found it difficult to work with people who didn't.
The workers have 9 hour shifts with an hour for lunch and 2 15-minute breaks. Although I was given the option to leave after 7 hours I decided to stay the full 9. I'm glad I did. The way I see it I was there for work experience and I would be missing out on the full experience if I didn't. It was only a struggle on the days I wasn't given much to do. On busy days it was a very satisfying full day's work.
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