For whatever reason, intercom seems to be a no-man’s-land of technology for many of us. This is probably for a couple of reasons. The first and foremost is that most of us don’t consider it part of our technical field. We figure ‘sound runs through it’, so the sound guy should be in charge of it. Sound guys don’t want to run any more cables, so they think the lighting guys should do it. [Did I say that?] Secondly, many production companies (including one of my old haunts) categorize this as a light crew’s responsibility. This probably stems from the fact that we end up needing a lot more stations than the sound crew, and possibly that we’re better at coiling cables properly. [Where did that come from?] But whatever the reason, I can usually bet that there will be at least one major breakdown of the com system on any given show. Because of this, I’ve learned to prepare for this in advance.
Any time I have deck electricians or spot ops who would normally be on com, I make sure to have a pre-show meet-up that includes an ‘escape’ plan for the com going down. It’s generally something very simple like ‘follow the stage lighting’ or ‘stay on the talking head’.
Amazingly, that little bit of extra forethought has come in handy on several recent tour stops. And the audience was none the wiser.
That’s all for now. I’ve got to plan my next escape route.
See you next week when we pop open another manhole to see what else we can find below the Technopolis; a place we call The Complex.
Phil
Technopolis Tech Question of the Week:
What kind of problems do you run into with production intercom systems? Which ones are your favorites? Let us know by replying in the comments below.
Every show and every day offers a new challenge. Often we deal with problems during prep, load-in, setup, and programming. Sometimes we’re still dealing with the same problems (or new ones) when show time rolls around.
‘The Show Must Go On’ is a regular feature that discusses the problems that arise during a show, and how we keep them from reigning on our parade in The Complex.
