I came from live entertainment, where groups were a fixed concept (to me) attached to a plot.  In movies, obviously except for Stage rigs, groups have a very different implementation that is almost always temporary, maybe just for the length of one setup.

On the fly combos

The Gaffer calls for two Titans to be put in a cross plate and hung somewhere.  The electrician grabs 101 and 107 because they are near each other.  I would make these two units group 101. This uses less key strokes to give the gaffer what they call for, plus it makes it easier to remember since it’s one number rather than two.  Rewrite as necessary for each setup.

Too Many Numbers

My other main use case is the gaffer doesn’t want to remember your numbering, so they tell you “these lights I’m gonna call 1, those are 2, those are 3”.  Great.  Group 1, group 2 and group 3 it is.  Neither of us care what the channel numbers actually are after I have written them into the group.  And again- fewer buttons to press.

Plausible Third Use

Maybe your electricians call out to you what is a key, fill, bounce, etc as they do the setup.  If so, have your groups as objects on your screen (though of course, you could reserve groups 1-5 if that works better) and record whatever channels are being used so when the gaffer calls “take the bounce down by 5%”, you just touch the same place on your screen and lower the value.  I seldom get this information, so I haven’t really been able to test this myself.  But it might work with your team’s work flow.

That’s it for this week.  Enjoy the temporary and I hope your programming goes smoothly.  If you have other ways you use groups, hit me in the comments!

Thanks for the Photo by Andrew Moca on Unsplash