The Clear Com tutorial

[pounce]

Enjoy this primer on how to use com. Feel free to print it out to get clients and crew to use clear com properly. It's an attached pdf right now, i'll likely post it inline via html soon. This just gets it out there a little sooner.

[Thud]

I'm gonna start wearing a t-shirt that says -

"Hey, turn your fuckin' mic off!" Roll eyes

[pounce]

can you tell that i wrote it while a particularly inexperienced and bad mannered client was on com during a boring business theatre type event? they commited every clear com sin possible during their two day visit to my venue. this was truly written for them.

i have given it to the clear com company as well, who warmly received it. while this is common protocol in professional circles, i'd never seen an explanation in print before, so i hacked one together. it seems like a useful primer for those beginning theatrical work of for clients who insist on being on com. my original goal was to have something i could print and give to clients who wanted to be on com and didn't know how to talk to the crew. frankly, it's unfair to them for them to not have this information and to expect them to be able to run the crew and call the show in any reasonable manner.

[nobby]

I had a belt pack to use once while on a crew filming a commercial. No mic though (didn't need one).

I don't think it was a Clear Com... it had a speaker on it like a walkie talkie. Needless to say they all fell silent during the actual filming after the producer said "action".

[AxeSlash]

It amazes me how ignorant I am sometimes.

Granted, I rarely do theatre shows. Or shows where there are many cues at all, to be honest. Still, good reading.

I'm hoping that people I've gigged with in the past don't think I'm a complete wanker now :P

Thanks.

[jerryskid]

Nice Pounce....thanx for all the great info.....

[Johnny Gash]

"No chit chat or shit talking"? I thought that's what the audio private channel was for. :grin:

[G. Hoffman]

Very good, Pounce.


Mind you, if you were to actually record most com lines, well, you might see something altogether different. At least, when there is no client on the line.

Now, if I could only find a way to give that to clients who believe they know it all. Like the ones who get on wireless com and then proceed to walk out of range as fast as possible.

Too many corprate clients just don't have enough respect for what we do to understand that this stuff actually matters for how well their shows come off.


Gabriel

[clicktrack]

"No chit chat or shit talking"? I thought that's what the audio private channel was for. :grin:

Until that *one* time when the client overhears something that wasn't mean for their ears...:icon_eek:

Oops...<insert shit-eating grin here as you try to explain to the client that the comments heard herein aren't necessarily the views of those associated with the venue and they are to rest assured the crew lends their full support and are committed to the quality of the client's production and...umm...yessir, yessir...three bags full sir>

We've all enjoyed comm talk, but it only takes one fuck up to know what it tastes like to talk outa your ass...

[Brendo]

What do you do when there's not enough comms packs and you're the only one not on comms?

[pounce]

at risk of stating the obvious, the options seem to be rent a few extra packs, buy more packs, or determine who doesn't absolutely require it to get cues from the sm realtime during the show and make the best of what you have. I suppose budget will dictate which approach you take. I do have a handset next to me, so I'm sort of available on com, I just don't have it in my ear for the whole show.

[Tim Halligan]

Best Clear Com tutorial ever:

:lol:


Cheers,
Tim

[pounce]

Best Clear Com tutorial ever:

:lol:


Cheers,
Tim

one of the best posts in this forum ever