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Blog entries posted during May 2012

Followspots

Posted on April 19, 2012 by: Margie Schnibbe 0 Comments:
Followspots are bright long-throw lighting fixtures manually operated by members of our stage crew and are used to highlight performers as they move around stage.

For almost all of the productions at Los Angeles Opera, we utilize between two and eight followspots in various locations. Most commonly these are located in the followspot booth at the top of the auditorium, at the back of the upper balcony.

View from stage looking at the followspot booth

View looking directly into followspots

 
It is over one hundred and thirty-five feet from the followspot booth to the front edge of the stage, at greater than a thirty-degree angle. The geometry of this makes movement highly sensitive, so with a few inches of action at the followspot, the beam moves dozens of feet onstage.

Operator point of view from followspot booth

The lead followspot operator works with the lighting designer during the rehearsal process to develop cues which are then conveyed to the additional followspot operators. Our followspot operators have many years of experience for this deceptively difficult task.

A followspot operator at work in the booth

A followspot operator at work in the booth

Crew View: Simon Boccanegra Change-over to Albert Herring

Posted on February 15, 2012 by: Margie Schnibbe 0 Comments:

The day after Simon Boccanegra opened, our FOH (front of house) crewcam captured the scenery change-over to Albert Herring. When we do more one than one opera in rep (repertory), all of the settings, props and lights must be exchanged one production for the other. The production that has been in storage on the rear stage and side stages is moved to the main stage and prepared for performance.