MUST HAVE BOOK

It has been a while since my last blog here, not for lack of having anything to say, more a lack of time in which to say it, but I am going to get back to regular blogs.

Firstly, I have been somewhat amiss in mentioning one of my favourite technology books - John Huntington's "Show Networks & Control Systems".

We all know that everything is going over to networks and the ability to "speak" IP has become essential, but how does all of this fit together and what talks to what? Mr Huntington addresses these and other very complex issues in the book - best of all in a language that anyone can understand.

I find myself reaching (ok, opening the e-book) for it whenever I wonder about a new protocol or how do I make this work with that.

He covers just about any protocol currently known, lighting, audio, video, you name it, it is there.

An absolutely essential part of any technician's toolkit! Get it!  

NEWLY IDENTIFIED MALE HORMONES

Recent scientific research has shown that males have a large number of previously unidentified hormones that only manifest under certain circumstances. Scientists are baffled by this phenomenon as no hormones have previously been discovered that are triggered by social situations.

We all know the guy that will never drink anything pink, refuse to hold his wife’s handbag in public and under no circumstances will he wear anything with pink flowers. Once this same guy becomes a father he is happy to drag pink or flowery bags and suitcases through every airport in the world. This is the result of a newly discovered hormone called “parentis hormonis” and scientists believe it is awakened in the male by the smell of babies’ nappies.

Then there is the man who refuses to shed a tear even when Bambi’s mother dies, absolutely never cries, no matter how sad the chic flic he was forced to watch is. Watch him when his team loses in the final…tears may now be shed. This hormone is called “sportis hormonis” and apparently sets in after thirty when the male stops playing any sport except golf.

There is also a certain type of man that refuses to cook anything, cooking being the women’s domain. Light a fire and he suddenly is the world’s expert in the preparation of meat. Add a black cast iron pot and he is better at vegetables and seasoning than Ina Paarman. This is the “manus braaius” hormone. It only needs naked flames to kick in and is apparently latent in all men.

Scientists have identified a number of other weird behaviours that they now attribute to these social hormones, most have no official names yet. There is the “appliance hormone” which generally manifests when a new washing machine, dryer or dishwasher has to be purchased. In a certain class of men, these appliances are never to be touched by a male, unless it is in the shop when they somehow become absolute experts and will inspect every hinge, screw and drawer and then proclaim on the inferiority of the particular brand. Generally it has been found that the more dials and displays an appliance has, the more appealing it is to this class of male. An adjunct to this phenomenon has been found, but so far not scientifically proven, it appears that the appeal of the sales lady also influences male appliance decisions.

Obviously appliances that emit music and/or visual material has always been the domain of the male and it has now been found that there is a hormone influencing their decisions here as well – the “cable hormone”. Basically it causes the male to gravitate towards appliances that require many cables that cannot be installed neatly. It has to be mentioned that some scientists in this field does not acknowledge that this in fact a hormone, but ascribe it the male innate sense of chaos. This does please chaos theorists immensely, a field dominated by men.

It has been further found that no male will admit that any female has any expert knowledge on anything that has to be plugged in to work. This is, however, not attributed to any hormone, but only to a general deficiency of confidence in the male.

Unfortunately the sources for the above cannot yet be revealed, as it has not been published in any respectable journal. Let me know if you have identified any other male hormones that explain behaviour.

OUR INDUSTRY or WHO/WHAT ARE WE? – A GENERAL RANT

We so often refer to “our industry”, but what do we actually mean and what is included in that broad description?

Let’s face it, we are made up of a lot of different components, Theatre, Corporate, Concerts, Events, Weddings, Conferences and more, and even under these there are sub-divisions. It seems like it has come down to individual definitions based on your own background with widely different inclusions.

I maintain that if there is a person performing, it is a Live Event, be that person a singer, actor, speaker or the groom, they are performing live to an audience! Can we please agree on a single term, “The Live Events Industry”?  I come from Theatre, with a lot of Corporate experience, even some Concert work, I deem myself to be part of the Live Events Industry.

So what are the differences? Why do some people feel adamant that they are only part of one section? Why do some, not all, look down on people from other parts? Really, is the guy doing sound for a conference less than the guy on the big concert? Yes, it may involve different skill levels, but the basics are the same.

All Live events require some technical assistance and of the same quality – I don’t care what part of the industry it is, if you are going to do a job, you have to do it with the total commitment and give it your best. The next person that says to me, “Oh, it is just a small show…” is so going to be smacked over the head with a piece of 3X1! (You do know what 3X1 is, don’t you?)

Please explain to me what the difference is in what a Wedding Planner and a Production Manager does? Focusing two lights for a speech is no more technically taxing than focusing 500 for a concert, it just take more time – it should be done to the same high standard, shouldn’t it?

Times are tough for our industry as a whole, anybody that claims to be getting rich at the moment is either deluded or satisfying his creditors – most are merely turning over money and often working at a loss. We all know about shrinking budgets and expanding expectations.

I remember years ago a leading producer of corporate shows’ first question to a client was what the budget is. If it was under a million rand, he was just not interested. Those days are long gone - nowadays you are just too happy to be approached and you make the show fit into the budget, however minute, and you smile because you are working.

Let’s all pull together and recognise that we are all working towards the same goals, pleasing the audience and making a living.

If your job description includes the words technical or production, you are probably part of the Live Events Industry and providing some sort of service to an event where there are performers and an audience – A Live Event.

It really does not matter exactly what you do or how big your event is, you deserve respect for the job you are doing and you should respect what you are doing by giving your all at the highest standard possible – no exceptions!

/End Rant.

FESTIVALS, FOREIGNERS AND OTHER F WORDS

There seems to be an upswing in the number of theatre festivals held around the world and I recently had the privilege of working on a show at such a festival in the Middle East. Like so many others it was billed as an “International” festival and there were shows from around the world, Australia, South Africa, China and, of course, most of the Arabic countries.

While I totally get the sense of pride and the fact that the host country wants to show off their prowess, there are a couple of complications.

The first being language. The second being language… and so forth…

I am not only talking about striking up a conversation with a fellow festival goer, I mean the technical language spoken on stage. Imagine being an English speaking theatre technician ending up in a theatre where they only speak Russian or Azeri – this has happened. In this recent case, the technical staff had some English, but very little and it seemed the vocabulary was spread amongst them.

The theatre we performed in had at least twelve technicians at the start of the setup, I still have no idea what their roles were. Three assisted in focusing the lights, all willing, friendly and extremely helpful. I called them “Little English”, “Less English” and “No English”. We ended up not referring to Profiles, Fresnels or PCs, but pointing and going “that one”. Smaller, bigger, up and down provided their own comic relief as I tried to get it across to “Little English” who was on the floor and him miss-translating to “No English” up on the ladder… Not so much fun at four o’clock in the morning and a lot of muttering of words starting with F.

We had almost no technical terms in common, despite the fact that I was familiar with their equipment, a fairly recent re-equip with all Strand fixtures, dimmers and control.

Language aside, our biggest problem was obtaining technical details in advance. Numerous e-mails were sent, misunderstood, rephrased, resent until we received a synopsis of the equipment, along the lines of “8 spots, 12 spots…” Uhmmmm, where do these hang and what are they? Until we physically saw the theatre, we did not have any idea of whether we could fly a very important prop.

I do not in any way blame the local technicians, the problem is that there was no single technical person in charge of the festival (only two venues) that we could communicate with. There was no list of equipment with venue plans. We literally walked in there not having a clue what to expect.

Please festival organisers, appoint a Technical Director that knows the venues, can speak the local language and theatre Technical English and can go through the various shows’ tech riders and answer questions.

  

A single technical point of contact, is all we ask.

CONSULTANTS – CON OR VALUE ADD?

Consultants are often seen as a necessary evil that is only going to make the project more expensive. They are seen as “experts” that take what you already know and twist it around to what they think you want.

Unfortunately this is true in some cases and some consultants deserve the reputation they have, especially in the entertainment industry.

Contrary to public belief, there are many consultants out there that actually do add value to projects.

I don’t need to tell you that technology is developing at a screaming pace and it has become very difficult to stay abreast of developments in your own field of speciality – never mind anything related.

This is where the consultant can add value – staying up to date with all the related fields. 

Convergence is a reality, especially in the show control area. More and more we see lighting incorporating video, a single “Go” command triggering sound, lighting and visual effects and comms integrating with video and sound. All of it running on IP based networks.

Consultants, like everyone else, have areas of speciality, but they should also have a pretty broad knowledge of other areas and see the wider picture. They must also be aware of what new products and technologies are on the horizon – future proofing.

A wisely chosen consultant will be able to advise you on current trends, locally and internationally, as well as on known issues with products, especially when it comes to interoperability and after-sales support. Do you really want to invest heavily in what you think is the latest and greatest, only to find out six months down the line that it has been superseded or cannot be repaired? Who of us has not fallen into that trap?

Another misconception is that you only need a consultant for big (read expensive) projects.

Not true.

Most consultants do not work to a minimum fee, we are open to negotiation. We mainly charge for time as related to size of project and budget. For the large theatre, R 10,000.00 may be petty cash, but for the smaller organisation, it may represent the annual capital budget. As far as I am concerned, your R 10,000.00 budget is as important as the millions the next guy wants to spend. Making a mistake at a smaller budget level can be devastating, not only to your organisation, but to your reputation.

Another area that is often misunderstood is who the consultant actually works for. It often seems like the consultant is working for the supplier, which leads to rumours of kick-backs… I am not saying this does not happen, but it shouldn’t. Ever. Under any circumstances. The consultant MUST be independent of any supplier.

Depending on the project, the consultant should always have your, the client’s, best interests at heart – after all, you are paying him. That said, the consultant should also be a buffer between you and the supplier. It is the consultant’s job to ensure that delivery and/or installation is up to specification. It is also part of his job to ensure that the client does not take advantage of the supplier – yes, this happens, often, and all it gains anyone is a sour client/supplier relationship.

I see my job as having two distinct parts; During the quotation/tender stage, I am only working for the client and will push the suppliers as far as possible; Once the order is placed, I work for both parties, acting like an independent referee, settling disputes, catching potential problems and solving the little problems before they become major issues.

A good consultant also does not stop when the project is handed over or final delivery made, his responsibility carries on until, at least, the end of the warranty period and most will take an active interest for the life of the equipment. Your consultant should be your first call for any problem – he can kick butt with the supplier as no supplier wants to upset a consultant – this could lead to not so glowing recommendations in the future.

I am not going to go into how to choose a consultant, very often this is a personal choice based on past experience. All I will say is, choose wisely, look at past experience and talk to more than one and discuss your project and its importance to you in detail. Negotiate and ask for a full project methodology and time frame.

Your consultant is on your side and none of us want to walk away from a project not feeling good about it, but knowing that we added value and saved the client money, if not immediately, at least in the long term.

TO BE, OR NOT TO BE...DEPRESSED

Depression is something that is far more widespread than most think, or will admit to. It is a pervasive and debilitating disease that, to paraphrase Shane Koyczan, “…cannot be cured by a pill from the first-aid kit.”

By the way, if you do not know who Shane Koyczan is, or have not heard or read his poem “To This Day”, do so now -  http://www.upworthy.com/the-most-beautiful-way-to-stop-a-bully-ive-ever-seen?c=go1 . If it does not affect you in any way, please stop reading and report to your nearest mental health practitioner, you cannot not possibly understand what the rest of this blog is about.

Depression is real, many of us live with it, too few admit to it. Depression is not only feeling like you are going to end your life at any moment, it is also that feeling of despair when you drop your favourite coffee mug and it breaks, when you ask, why me, what else could go wrong today? It can even be a constant feeling of anger, aggression or restlessness. 

Depression drags you down, you start to believe that it is pointless to continue, it is just not worth bothering…

Long-term depressives can become consummate actors – how many times have you heard “…but he always looked so happy”? Do yourself and your loved ones a favour, learn to spot depression and talk about it, and the reasons behind it.

Remember, men and women are affected by depression equally, men just tend not to admit to it as they think it is a sign of weakness – the weakness is in not admitting it.

What caused your depression is mainly you not dealing with your issues – they may be small, they may be big, but they are real issues that you have to face. It could be a series of events leading up to you giving up. Each of us have their own problems, each of us have to deal with them on our own level.

Face up to them, admit that they are getting to you, talk to your friends about it – this in its own will surprise you. You will receive help from people you would never have thought cared, but be aware, some who you thought really cared, will shun you. Too many people pay lip service to caring, but are so wrapped up in their own problems, they just don’t have the time to help others.

Only by exposing your fears and problems can you begin to address them, only then can you start to overcome them and deal with them.

As the late Douglas Adams said "I have terrible periods of lack of confidence. I briefly did therapy, but after a while I realised it was like a farmer complaining about the weather. You can't fix the weather – you just have to get on with it".

Accept the love and caring from those around you, they are truly there for you, to help you to become who you can be.

I again stress, if you have not yet followed the link above to Shane Koyczan’s poem, do it now. It will change your view on depression and life, it did mine.

CRIME & SELF-PUNISHMENT

I have had quite a few queries as to the lack of blogs lately. There are a number of reasons, the most important is sheer lack of time – if you have read the latest News Update on www.pkctech.co.za, you’ll understand.

The other reason is a bit more difficult, our area has been targeted with a spate of burglaries lately, fortunately, only attempts in our case. This has caused my usual positive attitude to take a nose dive and I find myself becoming a person I didn’t ever want to be – negative and prepared to do bodily harm to any intruder.

Crime is a fact of life and certainly not unique to South Africa – I can assure you that while our overall crime statistics are amongst the worst in the world, there are areas in supposedly safe cities elsewhere in the world, where things are even worse.

How you deal with crime is the differentiator – you can be a victim or you can be a survivor. I have never been a victim of crime, I absolutely refuse to be one, but I have survived:

• Being hijacked at gun point in my own driveway;
• A home invasion where my wife got woken up with a pistol in her face;
• Four attempted break-ins at our house – all stopped by our dog waking us up;
• Preventing a break-in at our neighbor by responding to odd noises at 2:00AM.

The Oxford Dictionary’s definitions:

• Victim: a person harmed, injured, or killed as a result of a crime, accident, or other event or action
• Survivor: a person who copes well with difficulties in their life

While I was not physically harmed in any of these instances, there was mental harm. A psychologist friend described trauma as any event where you, those near to you or your property was threatened.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a condition of persistent mental and emotional stress occurring as a result of injury or severe psychological shock, in other words trauma.

The bad thing about PTSD is that it is accumulative – each instance of trauma is added to the previous ones and your brain processes it as one huge extended trauma. While you deal with the first three or four instances, the next one, even if it is minor trauma, may send you over the edge into full-blown PTSD.

In my mind, admitting to being a victim is a negative emotion and accepting what happened without being able to do anything about it.

By being  a survivor I am not in any way minimising the trauma, I am merely saying it happened, now deal with it as life tends to go on, whether you are on board or not.

Which one would you rather be?

INVESTING IN SOUTH AFRICA’S ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY

I was at the official opening of Christie Digital System’s Johannesburg office last night – their first office in the Southern Hemisphere (we are beating Australia and Brazil by a couple of months).

As would be expected, I ran into a number of colleagues and friends from the industry and the inevitable question is “How are things going?” Half said it was difficult, but surviving and the other half said that it was going very well. The latter half I take with a pinch of salt, they are certainly busy, but are things going that well?

I keep hearing people complaining that customers are slow to pay and that budgets are lower than ever. What is the actual state of affairs in our small industry? I am not an economist or financial wizard (if I was, would I be here?), but I have been around for a long time and talk to a lot of people and I have some opinions.

The only really serious problem I can see, is too many people chasing too few jobs, we are probably heading for a major re-structure of the industry, especially in the rental market. 

While I laud the people that decided to not join the big players, but rather carve their own little niche, I am worried about their profitability on the long term. They seldom can afford to invest in all the equipment they need, so they end up sub-hiring, but still having to charge the low fees that got them the job in the first place – they too often only turn money around, but make very little profit.

What is the first corner cut when the budget is low? Personnel. Less staff on the job means more profit, right? Wrong – all it means is killing your workers by over working them and they leave (huge loss of intellectual capital). Not even to touch on the safety aspects of having dead tired riggers… Very scary!

But I digress, the point is that our industry is in financial turmoil, but not dire straits. Being the eternal optimist, I believe that it will all normalise and settle down with the big guys getting bigger and a strong, but smaller than now, base of smaller companies serving niche markets.

Finally, I take my hat off to Christie for believing in us and investing in South Africa, it certainly shows a commitment and a positive attitude to our industry – one more of us should emulate.

TRADE SHOWS – WORTH IT?

Is exhibiting at and attending trade shows still worth it? With the easy access to information these days and many manufacturers choosing to launch products via the Web, can we still justify the costs involved?

I attended PLASA this year and quite frankly, I did not see anything really unexpected. Everybody sent out advance information about what was going to be new, trying to entice us onto their stands so they could get hold of our contact details (which the attendance list would give them in any case).

Ok, I did get a close up, hands on look at some products that I’ve only read about and I did come across something I would not have otherwise. Was it worth the expense (London is NOT cheap)?

Our local trade show, Mediatech, is already well into the planning stages and I am sure a lot of South African companies are asking whether it is going to be worth their while to exhibit next year. Past experience has shown that very little actual business is done on the floor at Mediatech, so where is the worth?

I can only answer as an attendee. For me, trade shows have two aspects – contacts and seeing the physical product. 

Let’s face it, we are still a touchy-feely industry, nothing beats actually touching the product and seeing what it does and what is under the hood.

Despite all effort, nobody can really look at every possible product on the Web, every now and then a surprise jumps up – happened to me at PLASA. I knew about D3 Technologies and have been keeping an eye on their innovative approach to projection for a while, but completely missed their D3 Designer software. Only a chance stop at their stand introduced it to me, and thanks to an excellent short demo, I am now a fan. Similar thing with Avolites’ Sapphire Touch – I’ve never been an avid Avolites supporter (despite their stunning parties). A personal demo of the new console went a long way to change my perception that their products belong only in the rock arena.

As one of thousands of attendees, these two swayed me, how many others did they do the same to? I would suggest it was probably worth their while to be there.

PLASA was also an opportunity to meet a lot of new people and renew old acquaintances – this, on its own, justified every cent of the cost – we still very much operate on a who you know basis and knowing the face is so much better than only an e-mail contact.

All I can say is that if you are wondering whether to exhibit at Mediatech, do it, you may just find that one client that has missed your product.

Start saving for Prolight+Sound and/or PLASA next year, attend at least one of them. Plan now to attend Mediatech 2013, meet people, touch the product, ask the questions – it is the only gathering of our industry in South Africa and who knows what you may come across.

AFTER PLASA 2012

It was a somewhat nostalgic show this year, the last PLASA at Earl’s Court – next year it will be a month later and at the new Exel London Conference Centre. A good and bad thing, good in respect of more modern facilities, bad for travelling, it is not as easy to get to as Earl’s Court, but we will get used to it. Also the relatively cheaper accommodation around Earl’s Court is not going to be available at Exel.

Now let’s see how wrong I got my predictions. Up front, I have to say, I got some very wrong…

MIXING CONSOLES: Spot on, the only “new” large format console was the DiGiCo SD5. Not that new, but its first appearance at PLASA. Soundcraft showed their Performer, a small digital console with DMX to control lighting – whether this is a good thing remains to be seen, but I can see some club owners going for it to save a salary. The question is, who will operate it, the sound or the lighting guy?

LOUDSPEAKERS: Spot on, nothing exciting or really new.

MICROPHONES: Some new radio mic models, otherwise, boring.

LIGHTING CONTROL: A couple of new models from the usual brands. Of interest was the grandma PC Fader Wing adding 15 faders and 45 buttons to your onPC Command Wing or as a stand alone controller with a PC – due for release at the end of the year. The new Avolites Sapphire touch is a brilliant console, easy to use and a bunch of new features.

LUMINAIRES: Yep, more LED fittings, with varying rates of success. Philips Selecon’s LED Fresnel is a fair replacement for a small theatre used to 500W fixtures. Otherwise, I got it wrong, nothing really interesting. Martin showed their new range of moving heads, but frankly, we could not get a good look at them, nobody on their stand was interested in helping us.

EFFECTS: Spot on. Bigger and possibly better, nothing new.

MEDIA SERVERS: Spot on! Green Hippo showed their V3 user interface which is stunning. Avolites’ AI with its dedicated (optional) controller was another highlight. My award of the show, however, goes to D3 Technologies – if you have not looked at their products, do so, it is an extremely well thought out system, designed by users, not software engineers.

RIGGING: Nothing much on the show floor, but I hear the Rigging Conference was excellent.

DIGITAL SIGNAGE: So wrong here, there was nothing, they stuck to IBC.

LED DISPLAYS: Spot on, some really amazing high resolution displays with some badly shown flexible ones. Quite a few manufacturers are going for more flexible displays, not all very successful, but it is getting there.

EDUCATION: To our shock we realized that our problems in South Africa are not unique, just about everyone was complaining about the same thing – a generation gap in technicians. The ABTT launched two new schemes at PLASA, ABTTech and TAP, you will hear a lot more about this in the coming months.

In summary, for us it was very worthwhile to attend, but a number of the major players passed on PLASA this year to concentrate on IBC as it overlapped totally (one of the reasons it is a month later next year). Despite this, trade shows in general, and PLASA in particular is a great opportunity to meet old friends, make new ones and in general enlarge the contact list.