Hands down one of the most stressful things before a performance, for both performers and venues, is figuring out the stage set up. For touring bands, having a stage plot is essential; and even if you don’t tour, you’ll be doing the bookers a huge favor by providing a stage plot and input list beforehand. You are much more likely to get gigs this way, you’ll be praised for your professionalism, and the sound-engineer will be your bestest friend friend for life!
What is a Stage Plot?
So what exactly is a “Stage Plot” and how do we make one so venue’s love you? Well a stage plot is a visual representation of your desired stage setup; detailing the locations of the band members, mics, instruments, amps, and any other details you can provide that will make the stage feel like home. Here I’ll make it clear by throwing this all into a bullet point list.
- Firstly, lets provide some contact info to the most tech inclined member of you band
- Be sure to show where the performers will be standing/sitting on stage
- Best to give the names of the band member as well so the tech crew can interact on a name basis. Oh – and which instruments they play of course.
- Any sound gear that you’re bringing with you, and any sound gear that you need the venue to provide. This includes Mics, monitors, DIs, and cables.
- Of course the desired locations of said items
- Keep it organized and easy to read
- Once you’ve got that puppy all figured out, email it to the venue owner and/or sound guy.
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Did I say be as detailed as possible? Where does the drum set need to be set up in relation to the rest of the band, Which direction does the keyboardist need to be facing, Where do you need outlets for your gear, and how space will the lead singer need in order to move comfortably? You’ve got all this info figured out beforehand, then you’ve already won half the battle.
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Soundcheck
Adding details and info (perhaps on another page) about the inputs and outputs you require for your gear is important as well; an input list. This is also where you’re going to add notes about desired balance levels and mixer volumes for everything; as well as effects such as reverb or delay. With all this info, your sound guy should be able to establish a solid base line for your mix. With that all taken care of, Mr. sound guy is at ease, and you can spend all that time you would have needed simply to get things balanced, tweaking the mix for a superior sound!
How do I make my stage plot?
Twilight saga download free. It’s simple really. If you have basic knowledge in Microsoft office you should be able to make one without much issue. However, there are tons of stage plot builders online specifically designed for the task. I will list a few for you to take a look at.
bosstweedbackline – A standard drag-and-drop stage plot designer, that prints out info in the ideal format.
tecrider – Clean and simple, fully customizable with the ability to add notes about effects and settings for each instrument.
StagePlotPro – Full downloadable software specifically for building stage plots.
So many times I have seen the stress and frustration caused from artists showing up to the venue unprepared for the unexpected. Time is running short, but the vocals just aren’t sounding right, or a Hip Hop artist can’t hear the beat to his backing track. It leads to panic, and frequently puts the performers at odds with the sound engineer or venue owner. With a proper and well designed stage plot you can completely circumvent all the unpleasantness, feel confident in your set up, and give the best performance you can, unimpeded by any technical setbacks.
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See Lighting Design: The Process for the thinking behind each of the stages of the design.
1. CUE LIST
Purpose: A list of the lighting changes required during the show. The complexity of this will vary according to the needs of the show.
Example: Cue list for a drama
Cue No. | Action / State | Page |
LX0.5 | Preset. House lights and dim state on stage | 1 |
LX1 | On clearance, house lights out and crossfade to light through window | 1 |
LX2 | As Mr Jones enters, build state | 2 |
LX3 | End of scene 1, check down to doorway as they exit | 4 |
LX4 | Scene change state | 4 |
LX5 | When set, general state for scene 2 – dawn | 5 |
LX6 | Build state as sun rises | 5 |
LX7 | Snap blackout | 8 |
LX8 | Scene change state | 8 |
LX9 | Scene 3 state | 9 |
2. LIGHTING PLAN (UK) known as the LIGHT PLOT in the US
Purpose: A layout (in plan view, from above) showing the individual lanterns, the bars on which they’re hung, their dimmer number, colour and any focus notes, drawn to scale.
The complexity of your lighting plan depends on how much time you have, who you need to communicate with, and the complexity of the show.
Preparing to draw the plan
Stage 1 – Once you have the cue list and a plan of the set, and have a clear idea of what is needed for the show and what the lighting needs to do, you can draw a pre-plan.
This is a roughly-drawn plan view of the stage, showing the areas that you’ve broken the stage into, and any pieces of set that need lighting. Use arrows to show where you want light to come from in each area.
Don’t worry about which type of lantern you want to use at this stage.
Stage 2 – The next stage is to draw a sketch of the rig, with arrows placed on lighting bars (or in other potential lighting positions) showing where you need lanterns. Again, don’t worry about types of lantern at this stage.
Stage 3 – Once all parts of the show are covered and you have lanterns in place to do all of those jobs, you can start allocating equipment to each job. Use coloured pens or other codes to identify which jobs are to be shared by a number of lanterns, so that you can see how many lanterns of each type you need. For example, the lanterns doing the general wash should all be the same, to ensure it looks completely even. All of the hard-edged spots that appear on stage together, should be the same type / wattage of lantern so they look identical.
By Hand or CAD?
In the days before computers, the options were limited. You had a number of different plastic templates to choose from, which contained many of the popular symbols. Drawing the plan involved marking out the lighting bars first in pencil, then drawing the symbols. Computer-based plan drafting has simplified the process considerably, and also automated much of the paperwork that is associated with a lighting design.
MORE INFORMATION COMING SOON.
When drawing the symbols onto the plan ensure you leave enough space around the lantern so that when rigged, it can be focussed in the appropriate direction, and to allow the focusser to get her/his hands wherever is necessary.
It’s not necessary to be absolutely accurate about the angle the lantern should be pointed in, as that happens as part of the focus, but pointing the symbol in roughly the right direction will aid you (and your crew) in seeing what is what.
See Lighting Rigging Positions for more information on how to represent lanterns rigged on floor stands, bars and booms on a plan
Essentials:
Title Block
This box should be included, and shows the name of the production, the venue, the scale, your name, the date of the drawing and any revision number.
Key
Each symbol used on the plan should be shown, alongside an indication of the instrument it represents.
Gels
The Gel requirements for each lantern should be shown as a number within the lantern symbol. A lantern with no gel should have ‘o/w’ (standing for open white) written inside it. If you’re using Rosco gels, indicate this by writing R in front of the number. Lee gels should have L in front. This avoids confusion when mixing between the two numbering systems.
Focus Note
A Focus Note for each lantern should be written at the front of the lantern – this is a very brief indication to the crew (and a reminder to you) of the function of the lantern.
Example focus notes, with an explanation in brackets:
DSC POOL (downstage centre pool)
A (area A – part of the general cover)
B/L (backlight – coming from upstage)
CHAIR DL (downlight on the chair)
There’s a collection of historic lighting plans from the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and the Northcott Theatre, Exeter in the archive section of this site.
3. CHEAT SHEET / MAGIC SHEET
Purpose: A simplified version of the lighting plan (see above) showing areas and the dimmer numbers that are lighting them – used by the lighting designer as a quick reference at the production desk.
Using a DMX input device (such as ArtNet) and Virtual Magic Sheet software from West Side Systems, a responsive magic sheet can be created on your laptop, which responds to DMX data produced by the lighting desk.
Many computerised lighting desk, including the ETC EOS range, can produce an electronic magic sheet on screen, which can respond visually to the output of the desk, all within the show file. Tremendously powerful and very useful.
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4. PLOT SHEET
Purpose: A list of the cues to be performed by a lighting desk operator, enabling him or her to make notes about specific actions to perform, and to keep track of the show as it’s running.
5. FOLLOWSPOT PLOT
COMING SOON
6. HOOK-UP
A list of circuits around the theatre showing which dimmers they are connected to.
7. LANTERN SCHEDULE / INSTRUMENT SCHEDULE
A list of the lanterns in use in the production.
Example coming soon.
8. COLOUR CALL
A tabular layout showing gel numbers down one side, and colour sizes (or lantern names) down the other, so that the member of the crew preparing gels for the rig can ensure she/he has the correct number. This call sheet also enables the crew to check that enough gel is in stock on receipt of the lighting plan.
Example coming soon.
Author: Jon Primrose
Last updated: January 2019
Create your Tech Rider online, fast and free
When you're playing in a band, you want everything to be perfect. You want to look good, sound good and have a day that's easy with no technical problems. Many bands don't realize that they can make this process so much easier by generating a Stage Plot online. Tech Riders are essential for every band and enable everybody to have a much easier show experience. On your Stage Plot you can show where each member of the band and each instrument will be positioned on stage, including the locations of the mics, amplifiers, monitors and possibly the cable positions. The key is to create a clear but specific Tech Rider, so everything is set up accordingly and everything is prepared for you, get it right and you will find your checks will go smoothly with very little hassle. A good Stage Plot will save you a lot of stress in the long run.
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Stage Plot
What is a Stage Plot?
A Stage Plot (or technical rider) is a document that details exactly what your band needs to make a show fantastic. It details the equipment and instruments of every band member, the input you will need from the venues that you're playing and how you want your stage to look and sound.
What Can You Include on a Tech Rider?
If you're a small band and you don't have much equipment or instruments with you, your Stage Plot will most likely mainly cover the gear that you're using onstage. As your band grows, your Tech Rider will start to include any FOH consoles that you bring with you, the lighting rigs you're touring with and any pyrotechnics that you have onstage. A Stage Plot is constantly updated as you continue touring and continue growing as a band.
How Do You Create a Stage Plot?
You can search for bands who have a similar sound to yours, as they will more than likely have a similar Tech Rider to the one that you'll need. When you don't have a good idea of what you need to include on your Tech Rider, then make a list of the equipment you have for your band and the make and model that this equipment is. When you've done this, you can use an online Stage Plot generator to create your full Tech Rider online.
What Do You Do With a Stage Plot?
Once you've created your Tech Rider, you can send it out to all venues that you will be playing in advance of you doing your shows there. They will know exactly what equipment to expect from you and your day will run a lot more smoothly. You'll soon see what a difference sending this Tech Rider out to venues in advance makes to the quality of your live show!
Don’t forget your name and contact details. Preferably you want to have someone as your technical contact, it can be any members of the band who have the best knowledge and set up experience.
Hospitality Rider
![Plot Plot](https://i1.wp.com/needforreed.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/stageplotpro-nfr.jpg)
First off let us just explain that a rider is a set of requests and criteria made by the performer prior to the performance. Everyone has a Hospitality Rider and everyone uses them, from Adele performing in concert to Hugh Jackman performing in theatre.
What is a Hospitality Rider?
A Hospitality Rider is just as it sounds, a set of requests to welcome the performer and make them feel at home. They can also be contractual, so if the needs of the rider aren't met the performer has the right to cancel the performance and the fees be paid regardless.
What sort of requests are in a Hospitality Rider?
Within reason anything can be written in the rider, from the hotel they stay in to the food they eat and the furniture they sit on. The bigger the name, the more demands you can get away with it seems.
The hotel - In some riders a price for accommodation is specified and sometimes a location.
Food and drink - Most performers stipulate a certain set of beverages, maybe part of their routine is to have a nice cold drink before or after the performance and it has to be a particular brand. Food is also a popular request, some request they must have fruit in their room or strictly forbid deep fried foods. Vicious Cycle for example stipulated a hot meal for the artists and crew but no fried food.
Transportation - Do you need a car to and from a show or to take you to somewhere after a show? Of course you do.
The majority of the Hospitality Rider are requests made for comfort and to help the performer relax but there are times where the big names become 'divas' and demand outrageous requests and god help the organisers if these demands aren't met.
Stage Lighting Design Cad Software is a collection reguarding useful softwares for the planning of lighting shows. You can find both free softwares or free libraries for Autocad and paid softwares that allow you to design, simulate, plot, draft projects on paper.
AutoSTAGEis an efficient tool for the cost-effective and easy creation of professional CAD plans, engineering designs and visual images for fair, exhibition, theatre and live entertainment.AutoSTAGE provides the technical simulation of reality. This is based on an extensive library of over 20,000 2D and 3D symbols in areas such as lighting, audio, video, stage, trusses, rigging, studio and theatre and also banquet and catering.An integral component of AutoSTAGE is the large collection of tools. This allows for designs of great accuracy in the shortest time, even complex trussing or lighting plans. Apart from the actual design, the clever combination of information allows a variety of other data planning functions, like stock lists for example, to be created. These can be viewed, changed and displayed at any time.Despite the complexity of the CAD Software, AutoSTAGE is suitable for CAD beginners as well. After a short training period, due to the intuitive design of AutoSTAGE, the user can create professional CAD plans without extensive prior knowledge of CAD.
is a native macOS and Windows application that lets you work with the lighting, video, laser, moving scenery and water elements of a show. Focus points are ease of use and ability to seamlessly allow switching between design, documentation and visualization oriented tasks. This provides an unprecedented level of flexibility and ability to support any type of design process and also encourages trying out new workflows. The new version is able to connect to other technologies and systems, ranging from screen technology and LED as well as filter colour accuracy to physical media input and streaming technologies, 3D model and fixture data / patch file format interchange to 3D motion tracking. Prices: Solo € 395, Duet € 795, Quartet € 1295, Symphony € 2195.
Is the most famous software known by many lighting designer. Cast Wysiwyg allow to design, simulate, make render and pre-visualize the show. Wysiwyg is an all-in-one lighting design software with fully integrated CAD, plots, data, visualization and virtual show control. Wysiwyg features the largest CAD library with thousands of 3D objects you can choose from to design your entire show.
Price: $899 (Report Version) – 2999 (Design Version) – $5749 (Perform Version). Also available the lease mode (3,6,12,24 mounth).
allows a straight forward design and set up of any custom stage or scenery layout with its 2D drawing facilities and a library of basic graphical elements. Multiple windows both in 2D or 3D view with any camera angle can be opened at the same time and will be updated in real-time. All the stage elements can be positioned in x/y/z directions and can also be rotated around the various axes. Textures to design these elements’ surfaces can be chosen from the huge built-in library, or you may import your own graphic files and even video clips and use them as textures. Position and rotation parameters of objects and cameras on the virtual stage can be controlled via DMX. The equipment can be moved freely in the 3D space via the connected grandMA2 console. GrandMA 3D is free.
software offers real-time, photo-realistic 3D visualization of any type of show. Features include realistic-looking fixtures, photometric rays and gobo visualization, fixture constructor, video inputs, animated objects, animated fog, customizable 3D libraries. Software updates are free of charge for life. The realism and speed are the best in the industry. First up in v56 are new functions for fixtures, including precise 3D volume Focus calculations for beams and beam footprints, accurate Frost calculation covering the complete range of depth for LED modules, Gobo Edge abilities, Objective Mapping for Shapes (RGB rings, segments, etc.) and added Pixel Shift functions for High End’s ShapeShifter instrument. The latest version additionally adds further enhancements to its integration with 3D Multimedia Glasses and Head Tracker support, which allows users and their clients to be completely immersed in a 360° Virtual World of their show or event – a definite way to bring clients onboard quickly. Price: €1071.00 (NET) – €1666.00 (Media) – €3332 (Trace) – €8925 (Unlimited).
help designers and electricians record and keep track of the vast amount of data needed to install and maintain a lighting installation. As the lighting world has increased in complexity due to the proliferation of moving lights and LEDs, the organizational demands on lighting designers, design assistants, and electricians has continued to grow. Lightwright 6, for the first time, fulfills a longtime industry dream of controlling the flow of lighting data from design to console without needing to enter data multiple times by hand, while documenting up to 45,000 universes of data. Inside dozens of other new features for lighting users, including a built in label maker. To organize their shows and to provide easy identification of gear, production electricians carefully label everything, including lights, cables, breakouts, power supplies, dimmer racks, and data distribution gear.
LX Free is an application for drawing light plots and generating paperwork. It combines drawing a light plot with editing information associated with graphic objects in the drawing, and it is able to produces reports by linking the graphics, attached data, and additional databases related to the properties of these objects.
The software is totally free and available as a native application on Mac OS X. LXFree for Java runs on Windows and Linux computers that have a Java runtime installed. LX is a Free CAD Software.
is a powerful visualisation system fully integrated with ChamSys free MagicQ software to enable lighting designers to pre-visualise their shows, to program blind and to automatically generate rigging paperwork including plots and patch lists. MagicQ for Windows/Mac/Linux includes the visualiser and as you patch fixtures they will appear in the Visualiser window and you can easily move them to the appropriate position using the on screen encoder wheels. MagicVis is also available as a stand alone MagicVis application which can be run on a laptop or desktop computer connected via network to a MagicQ console. Just start the MagicVis app and it will find the MagicQ console and synchronise with the show file.
has a newly designed 3D engine which provides photorealistic rendering in real-time using the latest DirectX technology. On MSD 6’s user-friendly timeline control you can create complex presentations including lighting, video, animated scenery, camera motion and animated smoke effects.
The user interface has been completely redesigned with a modern look, offering a rapid workflow to quickly drag and drop fixtures, objects and textures as well as instant access to any object’s properties.
MSD 6 is Vectorworks-friendly and through a Windows-based plug-in, Vectorworks files can be exported and imported into MSD 6. MSD 6 also comes with its own 3D modeling app to quickly build objects and materials or import DXF, DWG and native SketchUp formats along with all textures and UV maps. MSD 6 is available in two versions: MSD 6 Pro™ and MSD 6 Lite™.
Realizzer 3D is one of best realistic real-time lighting simulator. It allows you to create photo realistic designs and instantly view your light show on your PC. The software has a comprehensive library with many 3D models included such as Truss and more. With the Pro, Ultimate and Studio versions you have also the possibility to simulate complete laser and video installations. Also, custom created 3D models can be imported in over 20 formats (OBJ, 3DS, DAE, etc.). Starting with Realizzer Studio you can create highly realistic videos rendered in full HD to present your show designs. Price: €300 (Basic) – €800 (Professional) – €1400 (Ultimate) – €2100 (Studio).
Stage Plot Examples
is a graphical design application specifically for create lighting plots, manage paperwork for all levels of entertainment from theatre to film to TV and is great for students and professionals. SoftPlot makes it easy to drag-and-drop lighting fixtures, trusses, and other elements on the design surface. You can take a bird-eye’s view and see your design in Plan, Cross Section, and Elevation views to make sure all your sightlines and focuses are correct. Working with SoftPlot will greatly increase productivity during design time. SoftPlot will also manage paperwork from gel lists to instrument schedules. Printing is easy with SoftPlot as it can output to any printer or plotter supported by Windows. Many options are available from color to page sizes. You can also create and print reports of inventory, pattern listings, channel schedules, and others. Price: from €245 to €1622.50 (Depend of license).
is one of the most complete software packages for Building Information Modeling (BIM) and planning. The package is a complete and well designed product, including sophisticated 2D design and 3D modelling environments, enabling professionals to realise projects ranging from architectural to landscape, to 3D modelling and Lighting Design. A complete suite that, thanks to the different workspaces, enables its users to implement design in great detail through the many tools and features that simplify and speed up the designer’s workflow. Vectorworks is able to interface with many other software packages such as ArchiCAD, SketchUp, Autocad, Cinema 4D and Revit. It allows users to generate plans, prospects, sections, reports, and material lists based on the information contained in the project, in addition to realising the graphical aspects of a presentation in a completely customisable fashion. Price: €2945,00 (New License Spotlight Version)
software allows lighting designers, teachers, or students to experiment with light, shadow, color composition, and cue timing in a simulated lighting studio. Virtual Light Lab is fast and easy to use: highly realistic images are displayed immediately and there is no complicated 3D drawing system to learn. Models are placed on a stage and lighted, a backdrop image is added, stage looks are composed. Moving a light or changing a color is as simple as clicking and dragging a light icon or a color swatch. Recorded scenes can be assigned fade times, then played back at full screen size and recorded as QuickTime movies. Images can be printed, or exported for use in other graphic applications. Price: $239 (Individual) – $149 (Student) – $195 (Faculty)
puts the power to previsualize and cue your show at your fingertips. Cross-platform, intuitive software that works with your console, Vision equips you to design creatively and efficiently. Entertainment design and production professionals save time and money when they use Vision because you can previz without needing the venue or having a crew standing by. Experiment with looks and cues, review options with your clients and artists, and get buy in – all before you load in. Made for PC and Mac platforms, Vision is built for accuracy with moving light fixtures. It communicates with a wide array of DMX consoles, including the MA2, Hog, ETC EOS, and many more that can send ArtNET or sACN NET protocols over an Ethernet connection. Don’t worry, you can also work offline with onPC support for hog3 MA1&2, and many other consoles. Price: $395,00 (New Licence) – $198,00 (Education).
I gladly wait for your suggestions to raise the bar of this collection. If you please, comment at the end of the post.
Other Microsoft services, products and/or platform like Xbox offer the option to validate that subscription and provide the Microsoft account associated with it. Email recovery in outlook. Moderators will not be able to recover the said account using your mother's personal details or even via the security question, security answer option.
If you are stuck for an idea for Script Frenzy, NaNoWriMo or another other project, sometimes you just need a little creative push. Or maybe you have a few seconds to kill and you just want a laugh. Either way, a random plot generator can help you out either way. There are many, many out there to choose from. There are also genre specific ones so do a quick search for fantasy plot generator, horror plot generator, etc. Whatever you write, someone probably has made a random plot generator for it. 🙂 They can be a great tool for a big project, deciding what happens next in your story or as inspiration for daily writing.
I feel these work best when they throw ideas out there and keep it simple, letting your imagination fill in the rest. But if you have many of the details of your plot set and just want someone to randomize them, a quick Google search can find you many random plot generators like that.
![Plot Plot](https://diymusician.cdbaby.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Screen-shot-2011-07-15-at-1.08.32-PM2.png)
Want to play with one? Here are a few I like but if I missed your favorite, please feel free to add it in the comments. There are many, many more out there but these are some of my picks (I like them short, instead, say, of like this.)
( I originally wrote this post for Screnzy but I think nearly all of these work for NaNoWriMo as well even if they claim to be script generators. Ideas are ideas, I say.)
- Random Logline Generator! This one is really great. Just a quick little plot scenario, this is one based more in realistic fiction than most (ie, not horror, fantasy or sci fi).
- Script Frenzy plot generator. “In a world where cats are currency a life-long bachelor sets out to write a new national anthem.” The most laughs for your button press, the official Screnzy plot generator on their homepage is a great way to waste a few minutes laughing at scenarios.
- Movie Plot Generator. Also great, this one gives you a plot, title and other fun details that make it worth a look even if all you want is a quick laugh.
- Story Generator. This one lets you pick a genre (only Fantasy, Sci Fi, Modern or random) and also lets you pick how many story ideas it gives you. Simple, but good.
- Writer’s Plot Generator. This one is also simple but great. It is also not genre specific and tends to give out more realistic prompts over genre prompts.
- Random Plot Generator. Created specifically for Script Frenzy 2010, this plot generator tends to give more genre ideas but has some very funny plot suggestions. From SooGuy68.
- Random Star Trek & Buffy Plot Generator. Just for fun for the Star Trek and Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans out there. Great if you are writing fan fiction.
So those are some of the ones I like to use for fun and writing prompts. What are you favorites to use? Or have you made one that you want to share? Either way, post the links below so we can try them out as well!
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