By cracking the cover and starting to read this book, perhaps you are preparing to tackle your first automation project, seeking to expand your existing automation toolkit, or just curious to understand how the magic works. Stage automation is technically fascinating, visually exciting, and terribly addictive. The combination of machinery, electronic controls, and software used to choreograph the movement of scenery on stage is exhilarating. The thrill of watching giant pieces of scenery gracefully sweep across the stage with surgical precision never gets old.
This is a marvelous time to be a technician in the entertainment industry. Automation technology is rapidly becoming both less expensive and easier to use. Designers are employing automation as integral aspects of their creative intent, not merely as an expedient tool for changing from one scene to the next, and those inspirational designs require technical expertise to be realized on stage. Automation is not reserved solely for high-spectacle productions, but also used for delicate, understated movement in dramatic performances. The demand for skilled automation engineers and operators is growing, and you are at the forefront.
This book is the handbook I wished for when I started automating scenery in 1992. It is a combination of pragmatic advice and fundamental theory written by and for the practicing theatrical automation technician. The following chapters consolidate information that previously had to be gathered from industrial handbooks, application notes, equipment reference manuals and standards documentation as well as hours of trial and error. Those are all good sources, but when you are first starting out it is difficult know where to look and frustrating to dig through when working to a deadline.
If you are new to automation, I recommend reading the book in order since the chapters build sequentially. Don’t despair if some of the advanced topics are a bit too dense upon the first reading. Instead, plow ahead and come back when you need deeper understanding. If you are an automation veteran looking to brush up on a specific topic or curious to read another point of view, feel free to skip ahead to a chapter of interest.
Enough preamble. Let’s get started.
Manual vs. Mechanization vs. Automation
If we boil our purpose down to the bone, the goal of stage automation is to move scenery around the performance space. Clearly there are several ways to achieve that end and not everything needs to be automated.1
Manual: Elbow Grease
The simplest, time-honored way to move scenery on stage is to put your hands on it and push. The beauty of manually moving scenery is that it takes very little time to set up and minimal effort to train a crew to perform the task. The versatility of people is unmatched. The same stagehands can push a wagon onstage, scurry into the trap room to load an elevator, and sweep up before the next performance.
Figure 1.1Moving scenery by hand
However, manually moving set pieces gets trickier as the pieces get big and unwieldy.
Mechanization: Stick a Motor on It
When the turntable won’t budge with a chorus standing on it during the finale, or the crew groans when dragging the two-story house upstage in the second act, a machine can add the extra muscle needed to get the show moving again. However, adding a motorized machine doesn’t mean the set is automated, rather it is merely mechanized. The motor is useful brawn, but the brains are still supplied by a person controlling the speed and position of the scenery with a knob and a button.
Figure 1.2Mechanized scenery with manual control
Using a machine solves the problem of moving a behemoth set piece, but mechanization hits its limit of usefulness when the motion requires precise positioning and timing.
Automation: Computers and Motors – Two Great Tastes that Go Great Together
Add sensors to the machine, an electronic controller, and a computer interface, and the brawny machine transforms into an automated mechanism capable of moving heavy loads with programmable precision. Once the automation backbone is in place, many machines can be commanded from a single button for intricate scenic choreography. Layering the requisite electronics and software on top of the machinery enables immense creative opportunities for the staging of your show. Coordination between the scenic motion and projection systems or lighting consoles can be easily achieved by sharing information across an information network for sophisticated effects.
Figure 1.3Automated scenery
There are several big advantages to adding automation to the stage. Scenery movements will become remarkably repeatable. The wagons will move to the exact same spot and the backdrops will land at the precisely programmed height, in the same amount of time, every night for weeks on end. Heavy pieces can be moved at the press of a button, eliminating not only operating costs but also reducing some of the risks of workplace injury. Designers have more creative options available when motion can be relied upon as another palette for artistic expression. Not only can the scenery be choreographed, but those movements can be coordinated with projection, lighting, and sound.
Engineering is filled with compromises and striking the proper balance is our duty. Automation is mostly a boon, but there are drawbacks. Recognizing those shortcomings is necessary for the success of your production.
First, complexity is automation’s albatross and it would be disingenuous to pretend otherwise. I am a firm believer that dedicated folks like you can, with the proper training and knowledge, become skilled automation technicians. However, automation systems are complex and require commitment from the production team to properly install and maintain the equipment, and provide training for personnel.
Second, automation is initially costly. The equipment is necessarily expensive when compared to the traditional materials used to construct scenery such as lumber, steel, aluminum, and plastics. However, this is a false comparison since automation equipment can be repurposed repeatedly for use in many productions. The investment is better compared to lighting and sound systems, which also require large up-front investments that can be amortized over years of use. When viewed as a facility investment rather than a production cost, the expense of automation is more palatable.
Thinking Top-Down, Designing Bottom-Up
The complexity in automation can be systematically tackled by dealing with it in bite-sized chunks. In this book, I outline a method for dissecting automation systems into five separate modules using a concept that I call the Pentagon of Power. When approaching an automation project, it’s useful to first imagine the solution in simple terms, e.g., press a button to lift that 500 lb platform, then spin it, then set it back down. Once it’s time to develop the concept into an automated effect, start designing from the lowest levels and work upwards. The lower points of the Pentagon are designed first (Machine and Amplifier), and then the next layer is designed (Feedback and Control), before finally the last layer (Operator Interface) is added.
Figure 1.4Pentagon of Power in layers
By the time you reach the end of the book, rumors of automation’s complexity will seem overstated.
There’s a lot to learn, but I will break it down into digestible portions. After more than 20 years of automating effects on stage, I am still giddy about designing and building all the software, electronics, and machinery that move when I press a button on a computer screen. This is the last bastion of engineering where you can do it all. You can design, build, and install incredibly sophisticated automated machines. There is no other field that has such a heady mix of mechanical design, electronic engineering, software development, and creative inspiration. I can’t wait to see what you make next!