The buzz around the industry is the convergence of Lighting and Video – how these two departments are getting closer to each other and going to become one.
I agree that on the technology front they are converging, but on the operating front I think that they are diverging. The more specialised they become, the higher the demand for specialist designers and operators will become.
The need for media servers to be closely integrated with lighting control is an established fact and consoles like the grandMA2, AvoLites and Jands Vista offer full control with preview and the bells and whistles. The LD can now control what media content is used with the lighting – no more yellow backgrounds with purple spots during moodily lit red scenes… we hope. And this is different from the LD and MCD (Media Content Designer) sitting down and talking about the show?
I think we should be clear about exactly where the convergence lies – in the operating, the final execution of the show, not in the design.
As media is used more and becomes easier to generate, the need for overall artistic control of it becomes essential – it is not the role of the operator/programmer to “slot in” whatever clips are available. Media content design is a fully fledged design discipline and requires as much attention and credit as the lighting design, thus the MCD (just invented this and you saw it first here!).
Just like the Lighting Designer and Set Designer have to work together, the Media Content Designer has to become part of this design team.
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