Pretentious, moi?

Had a very good meeting today with a potential client. Very early to tell if it’s going anywhere but I really enjoyed the energy and possibilities that the project holds. It made me think of how I got into this business and how past experiences shape my current views on web design and the process that goes into that.

Bit of background: when I left school at 16 I went on a Youth Training Scheme in the Village Theatre in East Kilbride. I was an apprentice technician and had a great 18 months or so learning the ropes. I applied and was accepted for the RSAMD.

The RSAMD. 2 years of drinking, laughing and meeting some of the best people in the world. Oh yes, and learning bits about theatre too. After receiving my diploma (something that still baffles me considering) I then was fortunate to get a job at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow as junior kack shifter to the senior kack shifter.

I progressed quickly becoming senior kack shifter to the Technical Manager, a sour faced swine by the name of McCall, Nick McCall. Nick taught me so much about theatre and lighting design and laughing. He is by far the best LD that I have seen and worked for, his design for Good by CP Taylor was inspired and I was proud to be his deputy on all the productions we worked on. It’s a great feeling to know that you are creating art. And I saved his life too!

Nick left the Tron to become an international play boy or localised lady boy or something and I became the Tron’s lighting designer and technical manager. My artistic boss was Michael Boyd, now artistic director at the RSC. The work that I am most proud of at the Tron was the adaptation of ‘The Trick is to keep Breathing‘ by Janice Galloway.

I loved ‘The trick…’ it was as liberating an artistic experience that I ever had in theatre. Michael was always a great director to work with as he knew what he wanted and he also trusted me to do my own thing without having to check with him. While that is very freeing it was also incredibly terrifying. Michael is great man manger and knows what buttons to push to get the best out of his people. I can’t find any of the reviews of the production but was a great production to work on and with a great cast and crew. Even now Dave, who became my deputy, and I will get all pathetically sentimental about it. Even though he never got to go to Toronto. Heh.

Michael left the Tron, another director came in then I left the Tron in ‘97 to become a freelance lighting designer working mostly at the Brunton Theatre with Mark Thomson. He had silly hair back then but in spite of that we did do some great work and I really enjoyed chin rubbing with Mark to create some great theatre.

In 1999 I had had enough. I had started doing web design at the Tron around 1995 and by 1999 I was getting more enjoyment doing websites for clients than running up and down ladders for people. Also out with the sweet, creative incubator that was the Tron I just wasn’t good enough to cut the mustard in the Big Bad World.

So why the shift from LD to WD? Well the process is remarkably similar. As a web developer you are asking the same questions to a client that you would if you were a lighting designer to a director. Questions like, What are you trying to achieve, who are you trying to talk to, how will your text flow, what is the end result. All the time working collaboratively with each other to create the best possible experience, the right experience that the director/client is looking for. It was a simple shift. Instead of actors, scripts and sets you’re dealing with companies, mission statements and site design.

You are trying to create an emotional response using a technical medium. The client/director tend not to care about the guts behind the website/production, they just want it to produce the end result that they want.

They are both hugely collaborative process. In theatre you need to talk to the director, designer, actors, stage managers, etc to make sure that the whole production comes together. It’s identical in web development. If there isn’t a common goal, an end result and if no one shares ideas and inspirations then it’ll all fall apart.

At biscuitmedia we aim to create great Internet experiences. At the Tron our job was to create great theatrical experiences. Experiences are emotional responses to what you are seeing or doing. Every new project is essentially a new production with new challenges to deal with.

So that’s why I feel that the leap from theatre to web isn’t really a huge one. I think it’s a logical progression and I’m grateful to have worked with so many great people in both my careers.

I get a bit passionate about this and that tends to get to sound a bit pretentious. It just that it’s what we try to create here at biscuitmedia and I like to share this information with client. Ususally doesn’t take 800 words though. What’s the best Internet experience you’ve had? I’d like to see your examples.

I’m going to lie down after spewing my mentalness. Dimitri, you calm down at the back!

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2005 People, Thoughts, biscuitmedia

5 Comments to Pretentious, moi?

  1. I’ve always wondered why you made the switch from LD to WD. It didn’t seem to me, before now, that the two were even remotely related. I guess I’ve never really considered web development to have any need for an emotional response. I suppose it is true after I’ve had a chance to think about it, though I’m curious to see examples of peoples’ ‘best internet experience’.

    2. Ms Thomas on August 4th, 2005

  2. An ounce of pretentious is worth… oh, nevermind! I loved this entry. I’ve been curious about your background and as a fledgling writer found the story quite interesting. I still say you have a good writer’s voice. I always enjoy your linkage, too.

    Here’s another spot I enjoy visiting, thought you might enjoy a peek at my corner of the world. Go to the “secrets” and find out why I will never live anywhere else.

    http://www.thecreativecoast.org/

    http://www.thecreativecoast.org/why/secrets/

    I’m so thrilled about recent changes with your baby, it’s just amazing. Watching it grow has been like watching the developement of a butterfly. I have great expectations for you. Be proud, be pretentious (I like the way you do it…) and remain your endearingly pugnacious and bodacious self. Just because a cat has kittens in the oven, that don’t make ‘em Biscuits.

    3. Pipkin Sweetgrass on August 7th, 2005

  3. I would say probably not my best, but my favorite moments are when I get inspired by seeing other peoples’ work. It feels so good to see something you like that others do and try to figure it out for yourself. It feels really good to figure a particular piece of coding out, or a technique and then be able to apply it to your own work.

    I also mentioned inspiration earlier. I love experiencing that burst of, er, creativeness and that drive to want to create something with my own two hands. Even though I don’t always like the outcome, there’s always that feeling of accomplishment afterward. At least I am growing and learning through experience no matter what happens.

    Most likely answered that completely wrong, but there you have it.

    4. Holly on August 15th, 2005

  4. I’ll revert to my screen name seeing as Pipkin and Wednesday are using theirs. I will also say that it has been fun learning some of your history. I always like to hear why people chose the paths they chose, what things affected or effected them to go a certain direction. To echo a movie line: You have chosen wisely.

    5. Pearl Took on August 29th, 2005

  5. [...] much, if not even more. I’m so lucky for that. I wrote about how similar I find my process of lighting and web development almost 2 years ago. hmmmm. Same old, same [...]

    6. Steelso V6.0 » Ten on July 25th, 2007

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