“At the end of this book, there is a Selected Glossary of Terms.  The words chosen are presented with abbreviated definitions specific to our craft.  Accordingly, we hold and use them, each in a specific way.  Example:  any dictionary will define “elevation” in multiple ways.  We use it like so:  “an emotional response to moral beauty.”  Or, look up “economy.”  Multiple definitions.  In our orbit:  “an orderly, functional arrangement of parts; an organized system.”  Wisdom is often used interchangeably with Knowledge, but digging deeper we can see that Wisdom requires a rigorous “sorting” of the existing knowledge. This capacity to sort and decide is critical.  

Expanding this discussion of language, we assert that rigor in communication to your team and others in the larger production environment is often where refinement in your design outcomes will be found.  Carefully, intentionally say what you mean and mean what you say.  One can innocently make a horrendous mess in the special events environment, simply through fuzzy, incomplete communication.

Pragmatic Function in language examines the commitment one makes to communicate and ensure that the other party receives and understands your communication.  Pragmatics further references speech acts.  A promise is one of these.  The promise we make to our client, the audience and ourselves.”

“OODA stands for: 

Observation: collect relevant information and data.

Orientation: analyze and synthesize data while recognizing one’s own potential biases and current perspective

Decision: decide on a course of action 

Action:  act.  Then repeat the process with new information from having acted.

The OODA loop process favors agility over force or personal opinion and encourages constant re-evaluation, creating radical honesty about the situation at hand.  The process is a constant refinement of the best course of action in any given situation. It is a process that does not end.”

“What I really like doing is setting myself up onsite (schedule allowing) from the very beginning and just being there, sitting in the middle of the space.  Almost always I catch something- usually not even in my own department.  I’ll see something that will either be a problem for lighting if it’s not adjusted in the moment, or I’ll see something that’s an opportunity for us to exploit, but only if we do it right now.  You just can’t get the whole picture from drawings.  You may catch things right in the moment they are adjustable; a day later they will not be.  Watchful vigilance can only happen if you are actually present in the room. It is feasible to be really good at this tempo, if there is enough care taken.  As I’ve heard attributed to Yogi Berra:’ you can observe a lot by watching.“

“Stanley McCandless spoke of lighting in terms of intensity, color, distribution, and movement (change).  Many designers are in love with color and movement and are pretty casual about distribution and intensity.  In television work, simultaneously managing intensities from subject to subject, fixture to fixture, camera to camera is paramount.”

“It is my personal policy to assume all clients are splendid, courageous people.  In any production, the producer/promoter/accountable party has the most on the line and the most to lose if the project craters.  I figure this person has chosen me to be part of the team they have assembled to bring the project home.  Remember, these projects happen in full public view, sometimes on television.  So, regardless of minor eccentricities, clients are heroes to me.  The promise we’re making to the audience started with them.  Consider.  Being asked to go out on a limb with somebody is a compliment.  Assuming success, trust is built.  This is the “relations” part of client relations.

I am convinced this is the best model for operating in this world:  Leave no doubt who is the accountable party in the design process, while wasting no energy pretending that you have all the answers.  With each new project I meet with key members of our team and start the ‘what is it’ process.  In the first couple of meetings or phone calls, we usually do NOT talk about lighting equipment at all.  We do not start with a notion of what the truth ought to be, we allow ourselves to search for it.  We work that list of ‘what is it’ questions up and down, again and again.   We work through the programmers’ thoughts, gaffer’s thoughts, draftsperson’s thoughts, and equipment/production partner’s thoughts.  I share anything I know or suspect about the client’s issues; financial, creative or otherwise.  We have a first draft group understanding of the occasion/event/landscape before anyone mentions lighting equipment specifically.

When we talk the plans through as a group from the beginning, there will be a shared understanding of the logistics and creative goals.  On site, there is no debating what is meant by any aspect of the plan.  The design goals, the plan, and the build are already known and sanctioned by the group.  The only way I’ve found that delivers quality outcomes in these short schedule productions is a team working laterally, not vertically.   We set the organism up to work at the outermost edge of what is possible to do in a collaborative setting — at speed.“

“In her 2001 book, Seabiscuit: An American Legend, Laura Hillenbrand reports that this undersized thoroughbred racehorse was the subject of the most newspaper column inches in 1938.  More than FDR or Adolph Hitler.  Seabiscuit was a national superstar.  Recently I was streaming Gary Ross’ Seabiscuit, the film adaptation of Hillenbrand’s book.  The climactic scenes of the film feature Seabiscuit’s 1938 “Race of the Century,” against Triple Crown winner War Admiral.  Building to the race, narrator David McCullough informs us that “forty million people heard the call” on radio.  Superbowl/TV numbers.  The aforementioned President Franklin Roosevelt paused his cabinet meeting, allowing all present to follow the radio call.

 It is a wonderful story.  I have read the book three times and seen the movie 5 or 6 times.  During that recent viewing, I realized I had maybe heard about this before – and looked up the date.  I had heard it.  My mother told stories of the years (1936-1939) when her school teacher father owned a store in Moko, Arkansas, which also housed the local post office, the family living on the premises.  In this pre-television/pre-internet era, people got all their information from radio, newspapers, and word of mouth.  Radio was where special events were shared.  Occasions.  The Moko store featured the only radio in the area.  Electricity not having made it to Fulton County, Arkansas, the device was run from a car battery. 

 My grandfather Dave Schauffler’s radio, and others like it across America, would have provided local access to FDR’s Fireside Chats, The Grand Ole Opry, Seabiscuit and War Admiral’s Race of the Century, and much more.  My uncle Jake, Mom’s older brother, recalls that the live broadcast of the 1938 Joe Louis/Max Schmeling Heavyweight Fight, from sold-out Yankee Stadium, was the biggest crowd they ever had, about 40 people gathered outdoors around the radio, as the sun set over the porch of the Moko store.” 

“Special:  Employed for a particular purpose or occasion.  

Event:  An occasion held out as offering attractions to the public. (OED)

Special events are called special for a reason.  For the audience, this night is not like other nights.  In many cases, people get dressed up, get a haircut, book dinner before or after, hire baby-sitters, skip school, etc.  In a typical sell-out, most will not have a great seat, but they come. 

The good faith of the audience is front-loaded.  Your most valuable (and fragile) asset is the audience’s uncritical willingness to love what is going to be presented without reservation.  Their open hearts are the recurring miracle of this work.“

“There is no knowing for a fact. The only dependable things are humility and looking.” (from The Overstory: A Novel by Richard Powers)