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Education

Archive · 2020

Theatrical Previs Contest

A free design-and-programming contest for theatrical lighting designers.

Twenty-one industry judges narrowed the field to 8 finalists. A public vote picked the grand-prize winner.

This contest has concluded. The page below preserves the framing, files, judges, and FAQ for anyone using the materials as a learning tool.

Christopher Annas-Lee, Six: The Musical (winner, Best Camera Moves)

Continued resources

The 2020 contest was the seed for two ongoing free libraries, both still actively maintained, both grown directly out of materials built for this contest.

2020 Original Files Still Available

The contest files (a Capture Presentation File, the underlying Capture project, Eos patch documentation, and a Lightwright file) are still hosted publicly. They make a serviceable learning tool for anyone wanting to develop their design and programming skills on a built-out, realistic show file.

2020 Theatrical Previs Contest, original announcement graphic

Timeline

  1. May 18, 2020 Contest opens, files released
  2. June 8, 2020 Entry period closes (11:59pm ET)
  3. June 15, 2020 Top 8 finalists announced; public vote opens
  4. June 29, 2020 Public vote closes (11:59pm ET)
  5. July 6, 2020 Final rankings announced

How the contest worked

  1. Choose a song

    Choose a song from the musical theatre genre that is between 2 and 5 minutes long. While you can choose any musical theatre song, we recommend that you choose one that you feel can best display your abilities as an artist.

  2. Download the files

    Download the Capture Presentation File and supporting paperwork from GitHub. You'll need a computer that is capable of running a Capture Presentation File. See capture.se for more details.

  3. Upload your design

    Upload your design to YouTube or Vimeo no later than June 8, 2020 at 11:59pm Eastern Time. If you do not have a YouTube or Vimeo account, the entry form (next step) will also allow you to upload the video directly.

  4. Submit your entry

    Submit your entry using the official entry form. The entry period closed June 8, 2020.

  5. Judging

    A panel of 21 industry judges reviews each entry. Finalists move on to the final round; finalists were announced June 15, 2020.

  6. Public vote

    The finalist videos are voted on by the general public. Voting closed on June 29, 2020 at 11:59pm Eastern Time. Entries promoted with #PrevisContest and #TheatrePrevis.

  7. Final rankings

    Final rankings were announced July 6, 2020. The winner of the popular vote received their pick of one item from the grand-prize pool; second place chose from the remaining prizes, and so on.

Prizes

Grand Prize Winners

  1. Angel Nuñez, contest winner #1

    Angel Nuñez

    Spring Awakening Don't Do Sadness/Blue Wind

    Del. Cuauhtemoc, CDMX, Mexico

    Watch on YouTube →
  2. Joseph Thomas, contest winner #2

    Joseph Thomas

    The Hunchback of Notre Dame Out There

    Harlow, Essex, United Kingdom

    Watch on YouTube →
  3. Jeff Barnwell, contest winner #3

    Jeff Barnwell

    Original screenshot →
  4. Neil Koivu, contest winner #4

    Neil Koivu

    Into the Woods A Very Nice Prince, First Midnight, Giants in the Sky

    Ferndale, MI, USA

    Watch on YouTube →

Honorable Mentions

All Submissions

The Panel

FAQ

Did I need a Capture license to enter?

No. Entrants were provided with a Capture executable that ran on any capable computer and accepted sACN and Art-Net input. Mike Wood Lighting Design did not provide technical support unless something was wrong in the patch.

Did I need a real Eos console?

No, entrants without a console used ETC's free Eos Nomad. Without an Eos dongle, Nomad ran in "offline with vis" mode; the judging panel weighed the limitations of that mode when evaluating entries.

How was an entry validated as Eos-programmed?

Entrants submitted some kind of proof that the song was programmed on the Eos family. A showfile, a printout of the cuelist, or screenshots all counted. Only Capture Presentation File videos counted as official entries; Augment3D was fine for development but not for the submission video.

Could the camera move during the video?

Yes, anything that helped tell the story.

What about timecode and external triggers?

Timecode was allowed. Cues could be triggered via QLab or any other system, but the cue programming itself had to be done in Eos.

How many DMX universes did the project take?

Four universes for everything: scenery, people, instruments, and camera controls. Entrants with smaller output budgets could pick and choose which fixtures and scenic elements to patch.

What was the DMX scenery thing?

The show file shipped with a full scenic toolkit on DMX: 16 actors that could be placed anywhere onstage (including in the sky, in case you were doing Wicked), trees, foliage, a living-room scene, a bar scene, a grand piano, a car, even a bus. Plus a flyable curtain, adjustable border trims, flyable legs, a removable cyc, and a 20-channel deck system that drove 20 stage-floor sections up to 12 feet in the air. Full DMX patch documentation lived on the GitHub page.

Could I refocus lights?

No. The rig included plenty of moving lights to accomplish anything that needed a different angle. Refocus requests weren't honored unless something was blazingly wrong.

I don't want to send my showfile.

That was fine; the proof-of-Eos requirement could be satisfied with a printout or screenshots of the cuelist.

YouTube blocked my song due to a copyright claim.

Content ID claims were OK; the video would still show up. Sometimes a song was geo-restricted or fully blocked, in which case entrants could upload directly to the submission form instead. Doing so didn't affect their ability to win.