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A stagehand is a person who works backstage or behind the scenes in theatres, film, television, or location performance. Their work include setting up the scenery, lights, sound, props, rigging, and special effects for a production.
Stagehands are usually skilled in multiple disciplines, including rigging, carpentry, painting, stage electrics, stage lighting, audio, video/projection, and props. Stagehands are often responsible for operating the systems during shows or taping and also for the repair and maintenance of the equipment. Most stagehands have a general knowledge of all the phases of a production, but tend to develop specialties and focus on specific areas.
Riggers are in charge of the things that hang. This may include building structures that are tens of stories high. They use safety gear similar to that used for mountain climbing. [1]
Carpenters construct and set up scenery. They may also move scenery on stage during a show.
Electricians, or more commonly known as "Lighting technicians", set up all the lights, program the light design in the lighting console and run the follow spot (what people often call a spotlight). Audio and Video departments fall under the Electricians label.
Stagehands are generally employed on a show-by-show basis, although most major theaters and studios maintain staff heads of departments and assistants. Often, they are union members, typically part of the I.A.T.S.E. in North America or ABTT in the UK.
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Stagehands may work in many venues, including both large and small traditional theatrical spaces, convention centers, outdoor venues, concert arenas, film sets, television studios and others. Skilled stagehands know how to work in a wide range of theaters and other venues to support successful shows.
Different disciplines experience different risks. The most serious injury risk for riggers is falling. [2] The primary risks for carpenters are things falling on them or being injured by power tools. Electrocution is the most serious risk for stagehands working with lighting or power.
When a show travels or goes on tour, some stagehands travel with the show (sometimes known as the road crew for a show) and others work to support the shows at each new venue (sometimes known as the local crew). Usually everything the show needs is transported from venue to venue in trucks. Local stagehands load-in a tour under the direction of the road crew, also known as roadies.
After the show, which can be one day or as long as a month, they take it all apart and load back onto the fleet of trucks to haul it to the next city.
When a show is produced locally, stagehands build and set up the scenery, hang all the lights, and set up sound systems. Stagehands work closely with the directors, lighting designers, set designers, costume designers, and sound designers to ensure their visions are realized.
Some stagehands work conventional hours but more often they work nights and weekends. Employment can be intermittent due largely to the seasonal nature of theatrical production work.
Many production companies and venues have union contracts. Stagehands in the United States and Canada are represented by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. In smaller productions, stagehands are not all paid; many are volunteers, theatre students or unpaid interns.
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A film crew is a group of people, hired by a production company, for the purpose of producing a film or motion picture. The crew is distinguished from the cast, as the cast are understood to be the actors who appear in front of the camera or provide voices for characters in the film. The crew is also separate from the producers, as the producers are the ones who own a portion of either the film studio or the film's intellectual property rights. A film crew is divided into different departments, each of which specializes in a specific aspect of the production. Film crew positions have evolved over the years, spurred by technological change, but many traditional jobs date from the early 20th century and are common across jurisdictions and filmmaking cultures.
Stage lighting is the craft of lighting as it applies to the production of theater, dance, opera, and other performance arts. Several different types of stage lighting instruments are used in this discipline. In addition to basic lighting, modern stage lighting can also include special effects, such as lasers and fog machines. People who work on stage lighting are commonly referred to as lighting technicians or lighting designers.
In theatre, a lighting designer works with the director, choreographer, set designer, costume designer, and sound designer to create the lighting, atmosphere, and time of day for the production in response to the text while keeping in mind issues of visibility, safety, and cost. The LD also works closely with the stage manager or show control programming, if show control systems are used in that production. Outside stage lighting, the job of a lighting designer can be much more diverse, and they can be found working on rock and pop tours, corporate launches, art installations, or lighting effects at sporting events.
Stagecraft is a technical aspect of theatrical, film, and video production. It includes constructing and rigging scenery; hanging and focusing of lighting; design and procurement of costumes; make-up; stage management; audio engineering; and procurement of props. Stagecraft is distinct from the wider umbrella term of scenography. Considered a technical rather than an artistic field, it is primarily the practical implementation of a scenic designer's artistic vision.
An electrical lighting technician, or simply lighting technician, are involved with rigging stage and location sets and controlling artificial, electric lights for art and entertainment venues or in video, television, or film production.
In the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, grips are camera support equipment technicians in the filmmaking and video production industries. They constitute their own department on a film set and are directed by a key grip. Grips have two main functions: The first is to work closely with the camera department to provide camera support, especially if the camera is mounted to a dolly, crane, or in an unusual position, such as the top of a ladder. Some grips may specialize in operating camera dollies or camera cranes. The second function is to work closely with the electrical department to create lighting set-ups necessary for a shot under the direction of the director of photography.
Grips' responsibility is to build and maintain all the equipment that supports cameras. This equipment, which includes tripods, dollies, tracks, jibs, cranes, and static rigs, is constructed of delicate yet heavy duty parts requiring a high level of experience to operate and move. Every scene in a feature film is shot using one or more cameras, each mounted on highly complex, extremely expensive, heavy duty equipment. Grips assemble this equipment according to meticulous specifications and push, pull, mount or hang it from a variety of settings. The equipment can be as basic as a tripod standing on a studio floor, to hazardous operations such as mounting a camera on a 100 ft crane, or hanging it from a helicopter swooping above a mountain range.
Good Grips perform a crucial role in ensuring that the artifice of film is maintained, and that camera moves are as seamless as possible. Grips are usually requested by the DoP or the camera operator. Although the work is physically demanding and the hours are long, the work can be very rewarding. Many Grips work on both commercials and features.
Set construction is the process undertaken by a construction manager to build full-scale scenery, as specified by a production designer or art director working in collaboration with the director of a production to create a set for a theatrical, film, or television production. The set designer produces a scale model, scale drawings, paint elevations, and research about props, textures, and so on. Scale drawings typically include a groundplan, elevation, and section of the complete set, as well as more detailed drawings of individual scenic elements which, in theatrical productions, may be static, flown, or built onto scenery wagons. Models and paint elevations are frequently hand-produced, though in recent years, many Production Designers and most commercial theatres have begun producing scale drawings with the aid of computer drafting programs such as AutoCAD or Vectorworks.
A sound stage is a large, soundproof structure, building or room with large doors and high ceilings, used for the production of theatrical film-making and television productions, usually located on a secured movie or television studio property.
In theatre, the running crew are members of the technical crew who supervise and operate ("run") the various technical aspects of the production during a performance. While the "technical crew" includes all persons other than performers involved with the production, such as those who build and take down the sets and place the lighting, the term "running crew" is generally limited to those who work during an actual performance.
The light board operator, is the electrician who operates and may even program the light board. They are considered part of the "Electrics" Department or LX Department. All non-design elements of lighting will be handled by the LX Department, i.e. electricians. Light board operators mainly are responsible for decoding the light designer's ideas from paper to opening night ready. In some cases, the light board operator is also the light designer.
In theatre, the master electrician is responsible for implementing the lighting design for a production drawn up by the lighting designer. This involves overseeing the preparation, hanging, connection and focusing of stage lighting fixtures.
A fly system, or theatrical rigging system, is a system of ropes, pulleys, counterweights and related devices within a theater that enables a stage crew to fly (hoist) quickly, quietly and safely components such as curtains, lights, scenery, stage effects and, sometimes, people. Systems are typically designed to fly components between clear view of the audience and out of view, into the large space, the fly loft, above the stage.
Performing arts – are art forms where the participant engages in a physical performance using their body, voice, language, or use of specific equipment for entertainment purposes.
A theatrical technician, also known as a theatrical tech, theatre technician, or theatre tech is a person who operates technical equipment and systems in the performing arts and entertainment industry. In contrast to performers, this broad category contains all "unseen" theatrical personnel who practice stagecraft and are responsible for the logistic and production-related aspects of a performance including designers, operators, and supervisors.
In theatre, a carpenter is a stagehand who builds sets and stage elements. They usually are hired by the production manager, crew chief or technical director. In some less common cases, they may be hired by the director, or producer. They are usually paid by the hour.
In theatre, an electrician is a person who works with the various aspects of lighting. Some of the positions among electricians include the lighting supervisor, master electrician, deck electrician, light board operator, moving light programmer, followspot operator, as well as simply electricians. This group is generally known as the "Electrics" Department or LX Department.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to stagecraft:
Peter L. Feller was an American theatrical set builder who worked primarily on Broadway.
Jay O. Glerum was an American theatre consultant and author, best known for his book, Stage Rigging Handbook, Jay O. Glerum was widely recognized in the technical theatre circles as the author of the Stage Rigging Handbook, referred to by many stagehands as the bible of the industry. Published by Southern Illinois University Press and continually in print since 1987, the book has been revised each decade to stay current with the rapidly changing field of technical theatre.