What up everyone. Well BuckCherry fell through so immediately I had to find another gig. Luckily the gig found me. I got a crewspace message from the PM at BSL Productions who gives a ring when they can use me for a string of days on shop work or show dates. Of course we get the talking about the Inauguration because any companies in the Baltimore/DC area are hella-busy around this time. If you read up in the upcoming February edition of PLSN magazine I got the opportunity to write about the Texas State Society Black Tie and Boots Inaugural Ball held at the Gaylord National Convention. In that piece I concentrated on the event as a whole instead of my own personal experience, which I wanted to share in this blog I'm writing today.
My first thoughts would be working with so many people under one roof in multiple rooms. I have done corporate before but not as an LD in my previous experiences. I used to help build sets at trade shows out in Phoenix for a bit but now we are focussing on working for a lighting company. So being in charge of a room requires certain things especially if a lighting company hired me. A few examples would be going to the shop reviewing the design and equipment sheets, doing programming, packing the truck, keeping track of crew hours, etc. A lot of it has the same responsibilities of an LD on live shows (which I'm used to), but there are definitely a few more tasks you have to do while working for a company and that includes helping out other rooms if need be and also being flexible to move things around. By that I mean if your room gets changed 3 times be prepared to configure the design differently than what it was once originally drawn. Myself and partner Frank Salerno had to do this in the Cherry Blossom Ballroom. As you can see in the first pic it was a standard upstage/downstage look…
But due to the chandeliers being in the way we had to get experimental to clear them without going to trim and banging into something. So first thing Frank thought of was moving everything closer to the ends of the truss to create more room to add on pipes which we did with our IATSE crew guys only to have to take it apart the next day. We had to split the downstage truss into two pieces and loose two bars of PAR-64. In the end I thought it worked great I just wish we would've came up with the idea first before doing 6-8 hours worth of work.
I was cursing the chandeliers at first but once we got everything up and moving the rearrangement was a godsend for my focusses. In the downstage trusses I had 6 N/C PAR-64 which I ended up using as generic blinders. If I still had the downstage in it's original spot the angle wouldn't have worked. Also there wasn't any haze allowed for our beautiful beams to be seen so having my towers pushed back gave my movers more room to paint in the room. I had the perfect perimeter set to aim at the walls, ceiling, and my once formidable opponent the chandeliers.
Now that we were all set it was time for the shows. My room was sort of like the waiting room for all the guests heading to the big ballrooms who couldn't get in right away or just wanted to relax. So you can imagine with an estimated 30,000 people running around in tuxedos this places traffic was crazy throughout the every room. At least everyone wasn't running around dressed like this…
My ballroom acts had some mixed genres starting the night out with Blame It On Jane throwing out some classic rock early, then Mid Life Crisis came on with their Big Band/Swing tunes, and to close the night Austin Texas' own Leon Mitchinson brought out the rhythm and blues. Leon Mitchinson stood out too me because his is a little more seasoned than his other band mates. By that I mean the boys are prodigies at the ages of 8,10, and 12 I think. It was quite impressive. After their first set a heavy drumming sound grows nearer to The Cherry Blossom Ballroom where a Marching Band makes its way onto the dance floor and my lighting arrangements couldn't have worked out any better. I put up my N/C PARs on the dance floor then set all my moving fixtures to my chandeliers preset overhead and jammed out!
I like working gigs like this because you get the opportunity to sharpen you skills more when you work with a bunch of guys under one roof who have knowledge and opinions to share. A lot of my peers have been doing this before I was even born so it makes me appreciate the fact that I get the opportunity to work alongside these folks and have a blast putting on a production for a fun client. Oh and watching the Steelers move on to the Super Bowl from the balcony of my ballroom when I had time to spare.
Tony Caporale
Lighting Design and Video Production
36 Lavale Blvd.
Lavale, MD 21502
Phone: 480-239-6574
Email: tonycap22@hotmail.com, squints4@me.com
Resume:
http://www.entertainmentworkers.com/AnthonyCaporale
Lighting Portfolio:
http://www.rockyou.com/show_my_gallery2.php?instanceid=63793856
Projection Lights and Staging News-
Online Blog 'The Notebook' and Product Reviews 'Road Test':
http://plsn.com/wp/notebook
http://plsn.com/wp/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2118&Itemid=40
http://plsn.com/wp/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3039&Itemid=64
Webpage:
http://www.crewspace.com/profile/TonyCaporale
Music Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01eEOgkAZeU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VQRLJnk02o
INFINITUS VOX
