Final Blog

This week has been a very very slow one in terms of content and workload. The only thing that had to be done was editing the DVD and editing the manual. Out of those two things, the manual was the easiest to do. Since the Lumina Tech is a part of the operations staff and only handles the inside of Lumina, it was fairly simple to insert a section into the Operations Manual. I just wanted to outline the rules of Lumina that are unavoidable and what to expect when going through the job. However, one thing I thought was important to add was that the person in this position should help the others within their department. This will not only get the person more involved in the class, but it would also help the team as a whole. I think that’s a big deal in the scheme of things, because you can feel like you have been a bigger part of something aside just the day of.  On another note, my side project has halted, but not in a bad way. Taking situations without having any data and making them into something worth writing is a challenge I have not faced, but I’m confident that I can make something workable.

Reflection

This week was definitely the hardest one for me of the semester with the event coming and going smoothly. The day of the event went smoothly from the outside, but when you're inside the control room there is an extremely high level of stress. Issues come and go such as the projector shutting off, chairs missing, videos missing, and subtitles missing. All of those things weren't, at least to my knowledge, known by the audience but in the booth all of us were acutely aware. The video race and mic issues were the things that I wish I could go back and change or go back and teach others how to deal with. The video race came out well and there was not much that we could do once it began, but the problem I ran into was the lack of knowledge of groups. Since I am a very direct person and I like to have everything in a row and in on time (Should it affect others or an event), I was frustrated when I didn't know how much time I had or how many groups I needed to get back on track. With an event on a time limit I had to take the lead on a project that was not mine to handle, not that they could not have handled it on their own time, but their job directly impacted mine. And there was no way I was going to let time tick by. The other thing was the microphone checks and walkthroughs with staff. There were a few problems with hearing feedback or crackling sounds from the mic-runners when they were taking questions. I should have told them to mute the microphones the entire time unless they were having someone speak through them. These things aren't a big deal, but in the scheme of things they stressed me out slightly. The projector issues were out of my control, but were the worst of the stressors of that day.

Crunch Time

This past week has been by far the most stressful of them all. I assume that I should be happy that it has taken this long to become this stressful, but at the same time I am still unclear with a lot of things that we have to do for the day. After the Lumina Tech walkthrough with Dustin, I was told that I would not be able to touch any equipment whatsoever within the booth. Because I wasn't aware that this was the case. Now that this has been brought to my attention I am unclear what my position is for aside from sitting up in the booth and offering up a few suggestions where I think are necessary. This frees up my time, however it stresses me out much more because my director does not have any words of advice for me to fill that time. I have assumed the role of what I’d like to call an ‘Event Manager’, which is running through the tech with every ‘civilian’ that is going to use it, but other than that I am lost. My role seems to have diminished and I am determined to occupy my time and help others the day of, but I will go over my own responsibilities first. The strain of being a projectionist that cannot touch equipment and being within the Visions staff is stressful and hard to manage because they are both jobs that I have to do. The conflicting sides have been semi-cleared up now by both sides, however, I am still concerned about my duties.

10 days to go

The work goes on this week and is starting to pick up the pace as the event comes closer. I’m not feeling too much pressure, but I do understand that preparation is key here to make sure this event goes as smooth as possible. As daunting as it is to hear, “Everything on that day that happens in Lumina is on you”, I am very confident that everything will be fine. The projectionists are testing the films and the PowerPoints early, so that is a safety net, the contract is on its way to being confirmed by everyone by Friday. Everything that can be done to make sure the things that happen in Lumina are perfect is being done. I am very happy with the cooperation from the projectionists, especially since they are being so proactive with this event. I work very well under pressure, so the day of, as long as the necessary steps, people, and directions are given, everything will be more than fine. That being sad, this week is going to be a lot of reading. The projectionists write logs detailing how the blocks sounded and looked, so I will be reviewing those to make sure that any problems they noticed have been caught right away.