What Makes a Great TD? By Joel Rollins Everybody has a name for the lead technician on a show. In most of the companies I’ve worked for, that person has been referred to as the TD (Technical Director). Regardless of what you call him or her, the skills of this person are often what makes or breaks a show. Listing the skills for a technician is easy, and often starts with the basics, such as an understanding of video and audio systems, lighting basics, and the like. But the skills required to be a great TD are often ones you wouldn’t immediately think of. Many of them don’t involve anything technical – and none of them appear in any certification tests. In fact, most of them seem like characteristics you’d look for in Miss America rather than a technician. For example: Poise – the ability to react calmly and convey the air of being in total control, no matter what unusual thing is happening. My first boss and mentor in the industry (Terry Friesenborg, now VP of InfoComm) used to tell me that the First Law of Staging was “Act naturally and keep moving”. Confidence – Confidence is catchy. Crews, and clients, pick it up and run with it. The great TDs exhibit the ability to make everyone around them keep working, feeling like everything must be going according to plan. This can often buy you the time to make a new plan when you really need one. Congeniality – Technical Directors need to make friends quickly. This brings the ability to coax the most out of a crew, or to influence the house personnel to bend over backwards when necessary to make a show work. I’ve known successful TDs who get shows done by “kicking butt”. However, they tend to burn out quickly from the effort and tension. The truly great ones seem to be able to make people WANT to excel. They also have the ability to express opinions on the worst turkey that don’t make people want to cut their throats. “It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before” is a personal favorite. Talent – As with anything else, there’s no substitute for the talent portion of our little pageant. A great TD needs to be able to take over virtually any position in the show in a pinch. More than that, he or she needs to possess enough talent to be able to judge (and inspire) the work of other talented people. Based on these criteria, some of the best TDs I’ve known could compete for Miss America. Thank goodness there’s no swimsuit competition. — JRR
Daktronics Unveils Freeform ProPixel LED Stick at NAB The ProPixel LED stick made its debut at NAB. Daktronics says this is designed to wrap a structure of any size or shape with video, animation, color effects, text messages and live data. Both the cluster and stick have flexible mounting systems, enabling a variety of applications ranging from channel letters to wrapping an entire building. The company says the products offer a high degree of protection against wind-driven rain with an ingress protection rating of IP-67 on both the pixel housing and the power/signal connectors. The company also says their patented pixel mapping technology allows control of each individual pixel, making it possible to apply image data precisely to individual elements regardless of physical location or wiring order. For more information, go to http://www.daktronics.com/dak_news.cfm?articleID=741 Neat, neat, neat. I’d hate to try to make actual video with them, but they look great for borders and video-based effects. Each puck (in the puck-style piece) is 1 pixel, so you’re creating big stuff with these. Not something to do for a one-time show, but for those of you with repeat big events, like major tradeshows or outdoor stuff, certainly worth taking a look at.. –JRR
Two New Projectors From Christie: Bright New Widescreen, and a Portable With 100 Percent Vertical Lens Shift Christie introduced at NAB the company’s new LW600 projector, a 3LCD model specified at 6000 ANSI lumens and 2000:1 contrast ratio with 12 lens options. This uses 10-bit image processing and has a handy AutoFilter system, which is an automated cartridge filter system that rotates to a new section every 1,000 hours and holds 10 filter sheets, cutting maintenance down substantially. For more information, go to http://www.christiedigital.com/AMEN/Products/christieLW600.htm Christie also has a new single-chip DLP projector, the DS+305, specified at 3300 ANSI lumens and 2000:1 contrast ratio with SXGA+ resolution. Interestingly, this has 100 percent vertical lens shift, giving you a lot more flexibility in placement. This model weighs 6.3lbs, and uses a wide-range 1.7 – 2.2:1 zoom lens. It is also available in a special wide angle model — the Christie DS+305W — with a 1:1 wide angle lens and 80% vertical offset. Both models are capable of portrait orientation for signage applications. For more information, go to http://www.christiedigital.com/AMEN/Products/ChristieDS305.htm The smaller imager size of the DLP has enabled great things with increasing the effectiveness of lens shift – and in staging, somebody always wants us to put projectors somewhere they don’t want to go naturally. Now, somebody give me a 10-15k lumen model with the same feature set. Especially if the filter system is effective in blocking fogger and hazer fluids.–JRR New Mitsubishi Projector Can Create Side-by-Side Images Mitsubishi Digital will ship this month a versatile new projector with widescreen aspect ratio and the capability of producing side-by-side images. The WL6700U is specified at 5000 ANSI lumens with WXGA (1366 x 800) resolution and 1000:1 contrast ratio. This is a 3LCD model using three 1.2-inch panels. The WL6700U can create side-by-side images, so presenters can, for example, project a video on one side and a presentation on the other. This projector also has a built-in motion-sensitive anti-theft alarm. The motion detector is built into the connector panel cover and is set manually by a key. Once the cover is installed and the safety key removed, the projector’s alarm is automatically set and if the projector is moved, it will send off a 120-decibel high pitch alarm. The WL6700U ships this month with MSRP of $9,995. For more information, go to http://www.mitsubishi-presentations.com/products/showroom.html I’ve been writing a lot lately about windowing. While this isn’t large enough or flexible enough for large shows, it’s nice to see the manufacturers understand the future importance of display windowing as well. -JRR
Barco wants to make it easier for you to lease their products, so they are working with IBM Global Financing to set up a CLM Lease Offering. According to Live Design, the program applies to Barco’s CLM line of rental and staging projectors. The publication says the program has a monthly payments structure for the state of the art projector line. “Barco has specifically designed this program with IBM Global Financing to get sophisticated DLP and high definition projector technology into the hands of rental and staging companies in the small to mid-market arena,” says Stephan Paridaen, president of Barco’s Media & Entertainment division. “While we are proud to see our brand featured at many of the larger headliner concerts around the world, there is also a lot of demand for our technology at smaller corporate events and conferences.” The Barco-IBM Global Financing program will be rolled out, for credit qualified customers initially, in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. To read the article, go to http://livedesignonline.com/gear/projection/barco_ibm_global_financing_clm_projection_lease_offering_0429/ Sometimes it’s difficult for smaller rental companies to get lease financing, mostly because the products, their residual value and shelf life are not well understood by the larger leasing companies. So, while it may be a bit mundane, setting up these kind of deals, where the leasing company has been briefed on the products by the manufacturer, is a useful thing for manufacturers to do. –JRR
Well, that's it for this edition of rAVe! Thank you for spending time with us as we muse the industry's happenings. To continue getting my newsletter, or to sign up a friend, click the link below. To send feedback, don't reply to this newsletter – instead, write to Contributing Editor Joel Rollins at joelrollins@mac.com, Publisher Gary Kayye at gkayye@kayye.com or Editor-in-Chief Denise Harrison at dharrison@kayye.com A little about Gary Kayye, CTS, founder of rAVe and Kayye Consulting. Gary Kayye, an audiovisual veteran and columnist, began the widely-read KNews, a premier industry newsletter, in the late 1990s, and created the model for and was co-founder of AV Avenue – which later became InfoComm IQ. Kayye Consulting is a company that is committed to furthering the interests and success of dealers, manufacturers, and other companies within the professional audiovisual industry. rAVe Pro Edition was launched in February 2003. The rAVe Home Edition co-sponsored by CEDIA launched in February, 2004. rAVe Rental [and Staging] launched in November 2007. rAVe Ed [Education] launches this May. To read more about my background, our staff, and what we do, go to http://www.kayye.com rAVe Rental [and Staging] contains the opinions of the authors only and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of other persons or companies or its sponsors. Copyright 2008 – Kayye Consulting – All rights reserved. For reprint policies, contact Kayye Consulting, 400 Meadowmont Village Circle, Suite 425 – Chapel Hill, NC 27517 – 919/969-7501. Email: dharrison@kayye.com |