Like any department within the entertainment industry there are many key personnel. Within lighting, the main personnel you need to be aware of are Director, Producer, Lighting Designer, Lighting Technician, Follow Spot Operator, Production Electrician, Technical Manager and Venue Manager. These roles are outlined for you below.

The lighting designer is a member of the production team for a show who is responsible for the overall look of the lighting. They may have an Assistant Lighting Designer who concentrates on the necessary paperwork for the lighting design. The Lighting Designer (or LD) is responsible for liaising with the director about style and with the set and costume designers about colour and decides on the position, type, focus direction and colour of every lighting instrument in the rig. They draw a lighting plan to communicate this to other members of his team (and to the theatre staff who are rigging the lighting). During a lighting plot, the lighting states are built.

Lighting technicians are involved with rigging stage and location lights and controlling artificial, electric lights for art and entertainment venues (theatre or live music venues) or in video, television, or film production.

The followspot operator is a theatrical technician who operates a specialised stage lighting instrument known as a followspot. A followspot is any lighting instrument manually controlled by an operator during a performance. Generally a followspot will be a dedicated, large lighting instrument designed to pan and change size, beam width, and colour easily by hand.

The Lighting Operator will physically operate the lights during a performance. The are responsible for following a cue sheet and executing lighting state at the right time.

The production electrician is responsible for all lighting elements of production, including (but not limited to) tech tables, running lights and any other elements as defined by their supervisor.

The Technical Manager of Technical Director, under general supervision, manages and coordinates all technical elements of stage production. They closely with venue users to produce stage productions including lighting, sound, scenery and rigging; scheduling crew and facility requirements; provides accounting for performance expenses. Provides specialisation in stage lighting, establishes policies and provides leadership, planning, training, maintains equipment inventory and provides long term planning for equipment purchases.

The Venue Manager is in charge of the venue overall. They oversee bookings, venue security, venue staff, etc.

The Technician on Duty is employed by the Venue Manager to assist technicians hired for the event with their knowledge of the venue and its technical equipment.

There are many departments that the lighting team will need to consult during a production. Apart form the Director and the Producer, the lighting team will need to consult such people as the staging team to ensure that the plcement of lights will not impede on the set and the costume team to discuss colours and what effect they will have on the colours of the costumes.

Discussion: Discuss with the person sitting next to you any other departments that the lighting team would need to consult with on a produtcion. Share at least one answer with the rest of the class.

Complete the following section of your workbook (pages 12 - 20)