The systems were operated by students on Mountview's Technical Theatre course. The BA (Hons) Technical Theatre degree is a unique two-year fast-track degree, which provides students with the practical knowledge, theory and hands-on experience required in order to achieve a career in the theatre or entertainment industry. The course covers four main areas: Construction, Stage Management, Lighting/Sound and Design. In the second year, students choose a specialist area and then work on Mountview's many public performances. Productions are staged either in one of Mountview's two theatres or in one of many outside theatres that the Academy visits during the year.
Course tutor Matt Prentice commented: "As part of our lighting design training at Mountview we have always put a great deal of emphasis on training with the most cutting edge equipment that is available on the market . . . When we decided to invest in a new lighting console I wanted a console that was the most advanced the industry had to offer, which would not only cope with our heavy usage of moving light technology but also operate media servers which have become an increasingly important part of our work."
Prentice continued: "Since purchasing the console last year the support from Compulite and its UK distributor Stagetec Distribution has been exceptional, they always listen to our suggestions with enthusiasm. As with any new console it will continue to develop over several years and each new software release brings a whole new range of features making the Vector an even more powerful and flexible lighting tool."
For Nine, lighting designer David Wolstenholme used the Vector Green system to control a varied rig of 58 conventional luminaires, six Vari*Lite VL5 Arcs (from PRG Europe) and four ETC Revolutions (from Stage Electrics). Nadene Wheatley, the console operator for Nine commented: "I originally trained on a Strand 520, but using the Compulite Vector Green to program the lighting for Nine, I found the Vector has much to recommend it. The graphic user interface is Windows-based, and therefore instantly accessible to virtually anyone. There are endless options for customization of the layout on the screens, which is especially useful when various programmers, with their own idiosyncrasies, have to use the same desk. The Vector deals with moving lights with ease, using the integral touch screen you have instant access to large numbers of groups and libraries making programming a dream."
For Godspell, LD William Smith used Mountview's own Vector Blue system controlling 72 conventionals plus four Vari*Lite VL6Cs (also from PRG Europe) and 10 colour scrollers. Console op' Robert Stemson said: "Compulite has excelled itself in the lighting entertainment industry with the Vector lighting consoles. The ability to install WYSIWYG on the console enabled us to patch and pre-plot the show on one console, saving hours of time during the production period. The interactive TFT touch screens on the Vector meant that rapid, complicated programming could be achieved quickly and easily. It was great to have the ability to be able to add your own gobo bitmaps to the picker windows and the ease of patching in a wide range of fixtures."
(Lee Baldock)
