by Caroline Gabsewics
Staff Writer
It is very seldom people find a job that is different everyday. But for someone who works in a planetarium, they may put on the same type of show, but they change different elements of it each time to make each show unique.
Brett Jacobs is the planetarium manager at the Museum of Science and History (MOSH). He has been there for almost four years. Jacobs produces star shows and laser shows for MOSH.
“Laser shows are the same thing that always changes. It can be the same music, but you can do different combinations of things,” said Jacobs. “Laser shows are like star shows, because it is different every week with new information out there.”
Jacobs has been working in planetariums for about 10 years. He came to MOSH from Bishop Planetarium in Bradenton. Jacobs uses his background in science, art, math, and computers to make each of his shows interesting and unique.
“I have a mesh of skills and I can do them all pretty well,” said Jacobs. “I never thought I would be able to use all of my skills at once.”
Before a show is displayed in the 37 foot by 60 foot planetarium, Jacobs spends about a month producing one 45-minute to an hour show. He works on a computer program that shows all of the laser images that he can put to songs.
“It takes about an hour per two minutes (of the show),” he said. “If I know the song really well it is a lot easier.”
Jacobs said many of the songs that are used are classic rock because they are widely known. Over the years, shows featuring Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin have proven very popular.
After he produces a show, Jacobs records it to a digital tape that will be used in the planetarium. But his job isn’t over. Before the show can be viewed by an audience, he has to make sure the lasers look good once they are shown in a larger form in the planetarium. If it doesn’t look good, he goes back to the drawing board.
“Once in the planetarium we can add different lights to mix with the lasers, or use kaleidoscopes,” said Jacobs. “We can also produce video segments that are funny or serious to go along with the songs.”
All of the extra lights and videos are all done on a large control board inside the planetarium. The cove lights going around the beginning of the dome can be used to go along with the drum beats in the songs. In the center of the planetarium that seats about 200, there is a large star projector that displays the stars onto the dome.
“That is the creative part about it,” he said. “We can go out and go nuts and just have fun with it.”
Jacobs said he enjoys picking the songs and adding lights that he choreographs to the music. In addition to the lights, there are slide projectors and special effects projectors.
“We try to keep the shows current so it doesn’t get old,” he said. “We just pick a theme and go with it.”
Some of the shows in the past featured Aerosmith and many of their hits. A show about dinosaurs for children included the song, “Wild Thing.” He said on astronomy day the songs “Rocket Man,” and “Space Odyssey” are used.
The planetarium also has an 18,000 watt sound system with 18 sub woofers placed in different areas around the room.
“When we show a shuttle lunching we’ll turn it all the way up,” said Jacobs. “And all of the kids are like, ‘whoa!’ ”
During the summer months there were five shows a day at the planetarium. Now that school has started there are three school shows in the morning and one show for the public in the afternoon. Jacobs said many of the school shows are astronomy shows. He is currently working on a laser show that is educational.
Jacobs’ job may seem like all he does is work with lights and music all day, but there is a lot of work behind the scenes to make sure he has all the current information about stars and outer space.
“It’s not boring; not even close to being a boring job because it is changing all of the time,” said Jacobs. “I always have to keep up with space information, too.”
Jacobs said it is amazing that in the early 1970s, lasers were introduced and red was the only color that was used. Now, there are several million colors and new kinds of images are coming out on the market. Jacobs said cartoons are starting to be made with lasers, there is a laser star projector that shows the true colors of stars, and now they are trying to incorporate video games into lasers.
“You always try and find the most distant possible connection to the public and sometimes it works and sometimes not,” he said.
Prior to each show at MOSH Jacobs will give a short introduction before the room becomes black and thousands of stars and colors appear.
“This is performance art; this is fun and I enjoy it,” he said. “It is simply a live show put to music.”