The lighting operator of a
play,
concert or other kind of
show is the person who actually operates the
lighting desk during the
performance. In smaller
shows, it may be a single person fulfilling the jobs of the
chief electrician, the
lighting designer, and the lighting operator, but on larger
shows these jobs may be taken by seperate people.
For the simplest of
shows, the entire job of the lighting operator is to press the
go button on the
lighting desk when he is given the
cue to. If the
desk is slightly less advanced, then he may have to change a few
settings between
cues.
As the lighting for the
show gets more
complex, the lighting operator's job becomes more
complex. Sometimes this only consists of having more
cues in a certain time-frame, but often, due to the
design of the
desk, the lighting operator will have to
activate different sections of the
desk at different times.
Of course, these situations only apply if the
cues have been carefully laid out beforehand. It is a whole different matter for something like a
concert where you need to be able to
control the
lights as and when you want them. For this type of
situation, a
lighting desk with a lot of
presets is normally used. Then, each
song would have it's own set of
presets, and the seperate
presets would be controlled with
flash buttons. This way, the lighting operator can make the changing of the lights go in time with the
music, and isn't tied to a set
sequence of
lights.
If you're after any other theatre tech information, then do take a look at '
Everything you ever wanted to know about theatre tech, but were afraid to ask'