Hello all,
After a rather needed break to catch up on work missed and tying up ends from the trip, it is time to for a closing remark about what was and remains to be an undeniably valuable experience. As a final part of our CURCA award project I made a poster about everything I had learned at the conference which will be displayed at the University at Buffalo Celebration of Academic Excellence. This poster will be poster here with a few days as soon as our webmaster Chris can help me out with posting it.
Throughout the five day trip many I learned countless new things and heard from professionals in the field who gave great lectures on a vast range of topics. My first thought looking back on the conference now is how much I cannot wait for next year. By far the most interesting part of the trip was getting into the Vari*Lite unveiling of the new VLX, that instrument was groundbreaking on so many levels and proved to be far more than I had expected. Imagining the possibilities of a show that has a row of VLX’s hanging over the stage is a rather exciting thought. However this did not personally affect me as a designer nearly as much as some of the other elements of the trip did; throughout the entire experience hearing from designers and technicians alike and seeing other student works I feel that I really came into myself as a young designer. Once torn with decisions between what to do with my future in the field, and though a great amount of uncertainty still exists this conference made me want to be a lighting designer unquestionably.
Some of the sessions that proved very interesting included magic sheets where designers talked about the importance of good magic sheets; and in contrast to that was a session on developing design where these equally distinguished designers referred to them as the very last step in the process. This was very interesting to see just how different the design process is to each person, and how though there are many very important things to be learned on design, a lot of it is personal and must be self extablished. other good sessions were knots knots knots, top hats, and the cirque de soleil session. I walked away from each with new knowledge and many new ideas I cannot wait to employ in my design/tech work at the University and beyond. Hearing from Jules Fisher and the Beijing Olympics Designer were also some great experiences and a good insight into some of the largest scale lighting designs one can do in the bussiness. From Jules Fisher’s beautiful designs in shows like Le Reve, to the 3000 moving light 3 GrandMA show that was the Olympics opening ceremony, it was really great to get to hear from those two great designers.
Thank you for reading and following my journey to USITT 2009, please continue to check our site regularly as we will be posting on many other design/tech related topics from UB. I cannot advise strongly enough how valuable this conference was and if at all possible make your way to USITT 2010 in Kansas City next year.
For now,
Andy