Move
In Black (MIB) Move
In Black (MIB)Half of the trick of using multi-parameter fixtures is not showing the audience how you use them. Each time a light is needed to illuminate some piece of scenery or an actor, they need to be setup (i.e., positioned correctly, colored right, have the proper gobo in it and finely tuned the edge so it's just the right sharpness). This process is sometimes called 'marking the light' or 'locating the light'. Marquee does all of this work for you automagically and it's called Move in Black.
How does it happen? The rules are:
The fixture must have 0% intensity in the cue before it is used.
The fixture must have an intensity greater than 0% recorded in the next cue (the cue it will be seen again).
There must be time for the MIB to occur AFTER the last cue completes and BEFORE you [GO] into the cue it is used.
The MIB attributes (discussed below) belong to the cue that the light comes up in although the affect will be seen before the cue is run.
Here is a scenario:
Fixture A is on the cyc in blue in Cue 1.
It tracks for the next 4 cues then fades out (intensity only) in Cue 5.
It does nothing for Cues 6 through 9 (so essentially, if you brought it up, it would be on the cyc in blue).
Cue 10 uses the light to Down Stage Center, the color is Open White and it is irised in on an actor's head.
What happens when you are building this sequence is that you move along, as expected, from Cues 1 through 9. When building Cue 10, the first thing you probably do is grab Fixture A, bring up it up and see it on the cyc. Then you say, "Hey, what is that doing there?". Then you remember, "Oh ya, that is where it was last. But that is not where I want it now." You then move it as described in Step 4 above and record Cue 10.
Now, if you didn't have MIB and you ran this sequence, one of two things would happen.
A) You sit happily in Cue 9 standing by for Cue 10 when you press Go for Cue 10 and you say, "Ewph, what a mess!" as the light moves from the cyc, clears its color and irises in on the actor's head.
B) You are clever and write a cue 9.5 that sets up all the parameters of Fixture A that you steal from Cue 10, but you leave out the intensity and just bring that up in Cue 10.
The issue with item B) above is that if you ever decide to alter Cue 10 (maybe because the actor moves - they do that), then you also have to update Cue 9.5. This is dull.
With MIB, what happens is this:
Fixture A is on the cyc in blue in Cue 1.
It tracks for the next 4 cues then fades out (intensity only) in Cue 5.
It does nothing for Cues 6 through 9.
Once Cue 9 is complete, a Move In Black occurs to setup up all of Fixture A's parameters.
You press [GO] for Cue 10 and Fixture A fades up nicely in cue time: Down Stage Center, in Open White on the actor's head.
If you ever need to alter Cue 10, just got to it, fix it and press [UPDT] [ENTER]. rather than having to remember to record a manual marking Cue 9.5.
The important thing to remember here is that magic happened AFTER Cue 9 completed, but it is Cue 10 that has the MIB properties in its Action dialog box. Move the Blue Box to Cue 10's action column and press [EDIT]:
.jpg)
The Move In Black Time is the fade time that the attributes use (while in black, of course). In this case, there is a one second wait after all the fades in Cue 9 have completed (this insures that any residual tungsten filament glow has cooled off) and then there is a 2 second move. Even though we're in black, a 2 second move is a little more subtle than a snap. This could either be because the audience can actually see the moving heads, or it is an attempt to reduce noise. Another example may have a much longer wait and fade time, particularly if scrollers are involved, as you often want to move them very slowly to reduce noise. You may also do the whole thing in zero time if Cue 10 follows on from Cue 9 in a hurry. Remember, this adjustment can be made on a cue by cue bases. The defaults come from the Show Options.
Using the scenario above, let's say you wanted to see the light move off the cyc and change color as it move towards the actor's head before properly landing on him in Cue 10. You could do one of two things:
A) Suppress the MIB on Cue 10 by checking off [S6] in the Action dialog box. This will suppress ALL fixtures from automatically setting themselves up for Cue 10.
B) Update Fixture A to have an intensity level of 1% in Cue 9. Following the rules set out above, Fixture A cannot MIB before Cue 10 because it has an intensity. This may be the desired 'fudge' if you want other fixtures to take advantage of MIB for Cue 10.
If you start a command line with [CUE], the softkeys become cue specific and [S7] is labeled MIB. If you type [CUE][5] [S7 - MIB] [ENTER], it will toggle the MIB check box in the Cue Actions dialog box. That is, if MIB is on, it will be turned off and vice versa. (If the Cue List has MIB Suppressed - see below - the Use MIB checkbox will be toggled). You can also type [CUE][5] [S7 - MIB] [5] [ENTER] to turn on MIB and set it to a fade time of 5 seconds. [CUE][5] [S7 - MIB] [2] [/] [5] [ENTER] would put a 2 second wait before the 5 second fade. Cue ranges are also allowed. If you omit the Cue Number, the current cue number will be used.
The Fixture Grid Toolbar has a MIB Global
Suppression button 
. If
you press this button, it is like turning on Suppress MIB for each and
every cue. During editing sessions, where you may be inserting new cues,
it may be desirable to turn this option off because sometimes when you
turn a light back on, it may not be in the position you thought you left
it. For example, if you wanted to build a Cue 9.1 in the scenario above,
using Fixture A, when sitting in Cue 9, if you bring the light to full,
the fixture will not be in the correct location.
Do not run shows with this option set!
If you prefer not to use MIB, or only call for it when desired, the easiest thing to do is adjust the Cue List Properties to Suppress MIB on the entire Cue List. If you choose this option, the Suppress Move In Black check box in the Cue Action dialog box becomes Use MIB and it not checked by default.
In Show Options - Cue List there is an option to turn on Suppress MIB for all new Cue Lists.
See Also: