Says the company: "We are honoured to be able to give potential future designers, programmers and operators the chance to explore the industry and its products hands on, hopefully helping them to explore previously unknown territories and strengthen their skills."
Norvydas Genys is studying the 'Theatre Lighting Design' course at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. He says: "I was fortunate to have a lighting designer around my house, my father, whom I used to help and share my ideas with, as well as study his way of working in the industry. I grew up surrounded by lights and music and it helped me to realise very early on that this will be a creative activity that I can achieve something more in and be passionate about. However, I found it hard to move to the next level; I wanted to develop myself further both as a person and as an artist."
He continues: "Nowadays the competition is growing really fast. Artists want to achieve something new and spectacular on stage, to surprise their audience with concepts that haven't been seen before, and as a designer you must keep filling your toolbox with new skills that will help you to achieve THAT look on stage.
"It was only a year ago that I was introduced to the world of video. Since then I have mainly done content design. However the projects I am working on at the moment require more and more technical knowledge and I just felt the need of it to support my design ideas. One of my favourite designers is Andi Watson, who has incorporated video elements in many of his designs. The way he manages to use video as a medium to support the artist's message as well as create a perfectly aesthetic look on stage was something that really inspired me to explore video.
"I knew that understanding the technical side of it would help me to create even more sophisticated designs. (It also helps you not to look like a douche when other people ask you how are you actually going to make it happen!). I have heard many good things about Green Hippo products, and its ease of use, so I thought it could be a good place to start and support the knowledge I had so far."
At Green Hippo, Norvydas completed a month-long placement in the technical support department. "I was taking care of demo equipment as well as testing new products. It was a great chance to explore every component of the machine in detail. I have also learned quite a bit about networking which has already come in useful on the projects I have been working on."
(Jim Evans)
