Page 96 - Lighting & Sound America (December 2019) Magazine

BOOK OF THE MONTH

other. If you’re like me, you might be and documentation. Many of them — into explaining how to create design
learning about some of these roles for like Final Cut, After Effects, Cinema rasters, delivery rasters, and signal
the first time because, as she points 4D, and Blender—will be familiar to rasters, with real-world examples
out, “Media operations is a new disci- anyone who has been involved in taken from projects in which she was
pline.” video, while others—like OmniGraffle involved. There are plenty of practical
After describing the team and defin- and Sketchfab (wow!)—sent me scur- applications of the processes she
ing key terms that are critical to the rying to the Internet to check them describes, and Frank doesn’t shy
success of a project, Frank lays out out. Luckily, she provides ample illus- away from technical details about
the requirements for creating effective trations that show what screen sched- things like genlock, time code, and
documentation, including scenic docu- ules and screen logs look like, and lots more.
mentation, renders, and build draw- more, including renderings, design My favorite part of the book is
ings. Along the way, she also spells rasters, and elevation drawings, buried in the appendices. In Appendix
out some of the software tools that are among others. 2 is a workflow outline, which basically
commonly used for content creation The book takes a pretty deep dive summarizes the workflow in an easy-
to-follow-and-understand list of 13
steps. These include reviewing render-
ings, discussing goals with producers
and directors, reviewing preliminary
shop drawings, building a team budg-
et, confirming the budget and securing
shop drawings, creating a 3D model,
comparing the 3D model to shop/build
drawings, outlining the screens log,
determining pixel density, building a
master template for the design raster,
building a delivery raster, drafting sig-
nal rasters, and finalizing the gear
budget. It’s quick to read and is a
BTG is Lighting Done Right: great overview of the entire book.
Once you see how everything is laid
A Complete Line of Lamps & Production Expendables for: out, it’s easier to make sense of what
Film, Video, Television, Theatre, Concert, Nightclub, you’re reading in the earlier chapters.
Themed Entertainment. In other words, it’s a map of the forest
that shows you where to find the trees.
Lamps Color Filters I was fortunate enough to have
Moving Light Lamps, Theatrical Gel / Diffusion, Sheets, Rolls,
Lamps, LCD/DLP Projection, Sleeves, Panels worked in live entertainment during the
TV & Film Lamps development of DMX-controlled media
servers, LED displays, and pixel-map-
Batteries Electrical Supplies
AA, AAA, C, D, 9V, Alkaline, Stage Pin, Twist Lock, Cam Type, ping, but the technology has moved
Lithium, Rechargeable Edision Type, Multi-Pin, so far and so fast that, fairly often, I
Powercon, Assemblies find it difficult to keep up. Now, it’s
Expendables almost impossible to stay on top of it
Gaffer Tape, Electrical Tape,
Sash Cord & Tie Line without the aid of good books that get
Lighting Fixtures into the nitty-gritty of what can be a
Gobos Led Lighting, Work Lights, Moving complicated workflow. If you’re
Glass, Metal, Custom, Holders, Lights, Followspots, LED Panels,
Stock Gobos Stage Lighting Fixtures involved in video production on any
level, this book will help you have a
clear understanding of the nuts and
bolts of bringing a project to life, and it
will help fill in those gaps in knowledge
Distribution Centers in: NY, FL, NV, CA that we all have. Once you read it,
Email us: sttv@bulbtronics.com | For more info call 1-800-227-2852 you’ll realize that the magic you’re pro-
www.bulbtronics.com ducing actually has a technological
foundation; Laura Frank’s book is the
most complete guide to understanding
it, using it, and documenting it.

96 • December 2019 • Lighting&Sound America