Shawn here. ChristmaSing's finally over, and we've only just managed to sit down and gather our thoughts to put into this long-awaited post.
ChristmaSing preparations saw us bringing out all sorts of equipment into the biggest pre-production "inventory check" I've ever seen. Moving everything out of storage and into the lobby to prepare for loading had us working late into the night. The big and crucial equipment, like the Tricaster and the remote camera control units were brought along as well, leaving behind a barren TV studio in the building. So many cables had to be pulled, and it left us shuddering at the though of having to set everything back up and plug every single cable and wire and plug into the exact same location on the very night we return.
The event was to be held at the Scottish Rite theatre, and it was the first time I saw an actual theatre used for plays. While unloading the equipment there I got to see the different backdrops hidden high up in the ceiling, many layers of curtains, and all sorts of props hidden backstage. The theatre, old as it may be, was well-equipped for our use, although some adjustments had to be made.
Different teams were tasked with doing different jobs, with teams working on getting the sound system ready, the lighting boards and the swapping out theatre lights for our own rental ones, spotlights, communication systems, camera systems, etc etc.
I laid many cables, and ran back and forth looking for adapters to make everything compatible with each other. I must say, I got realllly confused when it came to figuring out what should go where, and which adapter to use, considering that each type of cable had male and female inputs, and some cables, while similar-looking, supports analog or digital signals. Bottom line - Much to learn and remember.
It took two days to get all the cables laid and hooked up to the appropriate places, and we were ready to roll on the first evening of the show. That said, it wasnt without setbacks. Technical difficulties plagued the team, with cues gone wrong, a broken curtain right before the first big show, and a camera control unit that decided to stop working on the second evening.
I was tasked with photographing the event, and it gave me the opportunity to be an observer, to look at the big picture while running around watching every single department putting in their efforts to run the show. It amazes me that some of the people behind the show dont have professional experience in what they do, yet together, everyone pulled off a performance that many people enjoyed.
The massive teardown happened on the second night, and everyone headed back to the church building to await the truck's arrival with the majority of the equipment. It didnt arrive until 2am...
But we did set back up what we had brought back that wasn't loaded on to the truck, and got some things back into place.
By the time we got to bed, it was nearing somewhere between 3 - 4am. To us, this was a pretty familiar timing having worked on previous sets before. Comparing past experiences and ChristmaSing, it was a different experience since every department in the production was helping each other set things up, and most people were comfortable working with each other because everyone knew each other, as opposed to different companies brought together for a single production, as would be the case in an external situation.
We used the next morning to handle the remainder of the things we were too tired to do the night before, and went off for the rest of the week to unwind before returning in time for the New Year programme.
Three days were spent up in Lake Tahoe, where we spent more than half the time in the warmth of the cabin watching movies. There was snow up there, but not as good as previous years, and so we forgoed the opportunity to ski and snowboard. We did, however, go on a snowmobile tour. A very scenic view it was, though we wished that we could go full throttle on those powerful machines.
Travelling to and from Lake Tahoe took four hours each, and we returned on the evening of the 28th in time to handle our duties the next day.
Watchnight service came next, a quietfour-hour long event counting down to the new year. With the major event that is ChristmaSing out of the way, we found ourselves being more independent on these smaller productions.
Now that the major event is over and things start to quiet down, the coming days that follow are going to be more of light and clean-up work, and so we begin preparations as well to head back to Singapore. Gigabytes of pictures and videos taken throughout our time here are to be processed, and reflections of our time and experience here to be thought about as well.
Since we have more time available now, some industrial visits have been arranged or are being arranged for us. In San Francisco where so many well-known and key players in the media industry, it'd be a shame to miss the opportunity of visiting them to see how things are run. We'll be visiting one of the colleges here as well, to give us an idea of overseas study opportunities and environments.
So far we've visited the Walt Disney Family Museum, a very educational exhibition showing the humble beginnings of Walt Disney and his life, from beginning to end, the birth of his company, the techniques used that eventually made animation into what it is today, their innovations in animation and the like.
Hope I've covered everything. Definitely one of the longest posts I've made for this blog.
Until next time, a couple more weeks before we depart.
Signing off.
No comments:
Post a Comment