Bakerlite.co.uk

Cold Turkey (continued)

Day3

Ebru informs me that I should attend various prayer meetings this morning! This I found amusing and bewildering until I realised that she meant planning meetings.

The first part of the day was spent brainstorming with some devastatingly pretty young designers. It seems that there are very few male designers now at TRT. Various news type programmes were about to be re-launched with new sets; the main news programme, with three separate deep backings (there's a change) and a rotatable, circular desk. The designer had made a beautiful model nearly as attractive as her smile. That made it more difficult to criticise. I did foresee some problems and hinted at them. I got the feeling that as we were now so close to D Day, I was really just expected to give the design my blessing. Diplomacy rules OK.

Then across the corridor to watch an amazingly accomplished 3D computer animation of the Eurovision Song Contest for the Turkish entry. It never fails to amaze me that TRT had clearly invested huge sums of money in new equipment and technologies and yet I knew from my previous visit that lighting kit was often very old and poorly maintained. But then, I believe that was partly why I was there.
 

And then there was a computer simulation of the new newsroom with its round the clock operation planned to start soon. It was a long thin room with windows down one of the long walls and up to three camera positions at one end looking at a desk with a maximum of three people. A series of panels down the camera left wall effectively hide the windows, or at least that's what the computer simulation suggests. Each panel also was to have four small monitors mounted into its edge.

After lunch, I was whisked to my first lighting workshop down in TRT's big studio; the converted cinema. I proceeded to start lighting the orchestral and soloist positions with much translation and animated discussion. Sami one of the lighting men who had been on our training session in Istanbul two years ago, was there and very much acting out the role of the man in charge. Other lighting men had been scheduled in to watch and supposedly learn from my experience and Western ways.

All very well, but how often do you have to fine light a large studio with no plan whatsoever and everything to be rigged over and above the set. No pre-rigging, no rolling pantographs, monopoles, drop arms, magic arms or floor lamps.

Well, not quite accurate, any floor lamps are the province of a separate department called Lighting Special Effects Department and under the control of the Scenic Designer!! More of that later. A ring of Par lights rigged on barrels around the periphery of the studio seems to be the main way of lighting the set and floor.