Design Video in Dance

[Pie4Weebl]

Hey guys thought I would share my final little project I am working on for Webster. Yes, its finally my last show as a college student! Last year I designed the main stage dance show and convinced my employer to lend me a moving lights package for it, this year I wanted to do something different, so I decided to give video a shot.

I'll be edge blending two 12,000 lumen projectors to create one 40' by 18' image on the cyc wall of the theatre. An axon media server will feed them content and some magical video device will split the image up for the projectors.

The part I am most excited about is using the real time capabilities of the server with live image magnification. There is one dance in particular where I will be able to use this. It is a solo dance where the dancer is suffering from a disorder and has fits on stage. Using the Axon we will create effects on the video captured in real time. I'm using an intensity Key to carve the dancer out from the background in the image. Yesterday we set up a scaled down version of the rig in the shop and dry teched out the most video complex piece. Here is a working shot:

We load in in two weeks from today so energy is certainly ramping up!

Has anyone here done anything like this before, what issues did you encounter during the tech? My biggest physical concern is blending the projectors and then on a design side I am worried about being too over powering for what is going on stage.

 

[bdkdesigns]

I have not done it personally but I would love to mess with it sometime. I just got to work with Bebe Miller on a piece at my university. She loves to play with projections in the background. I had forgotten to ask her what she wants for a cyc because everything that I saw from her had projections. The dance department ended up taking the piece to the regional ACDF and it got invited to the national conference.

Anyways, here is an exert from youtube of her work and how she uses projections. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MunqzQT4w-s

 

[shiben]

I think your biggest issue is going to be keeping focus on the dancers on stage. Is the projection going to be Imag, or other content? At our dance shows, many acts want to use the cyc with projected images rather than colors, and it looked fine. However, moving content is something i have never used in a dance... ought to be cool tho. I want to see pics.

 

[SHARYNF]

Technically it should all work, but you will have to decide if it works artistically. The issue is going to be is the show the dance or your imag? If you choose the close up shots like shown in your post, then it will totally overwhelm the dance. BUT you could combine the images like you are showing with the dance by using lighting to say, wash out the imag to the degree that the dancers were large shadows on the cyc. Are you going to have live camera operators feeding the Imag via a switcher? I have done projects like this and the key is to make sure it is the DANCE that dominates, not the Imag and that the Imag becomes a background not the foreground image.

Use of lighting, and being able to fade back the Imag and have the camera operators follow the dance makes it easier to have it creatively work.

Sharyn

 

[Pie4Weebl]

Anyways, here is an exert from youtube of her work and how she uses projections.

I love that content! I was going to try to get to get some scenic designers/ animators to make content for this show, but everyone is too busy this spring.

The show consists of 8 pieces, I will be using the projection for only 3 of them.

-One piece (a solo) will have I-mag + moving abstract background.
-The Second is an aerial piece with a flying cube (The background is actually going to be the video of the HES people driving around Austin....)
-The third piece will use I-mag for the solo sections and a primarily static background.

 

[Pie4Weebl]

Technically it should all work, but you will have to decide if it works artistically. The issue is going to be is the show the dance or your imag? If you choose the close up shots like shown in your post, then it will totally overwhelm the dance. BUT you could combine the images like you are showing with the dance by using lighting to say, wash out the imag to the degree that the dancers were large shadows on the cyc. Are you going to have live camera operators feeding the Imag via a switcher? I have done projects like this and the key is to make sure it is the DANCE that dominates, not the Imag and that the Imag becomes a background not the foreground image.

Use of lighting, and being able to fade back the Imag and have the camera operators follow the dance makes it easier to have it creatively work.

Sharyn

I had a long talk with the choreographer for the video heavy piece yesterday, our feeling is if the imag shots are all very tight and we use effects to abstract the image of the dancer it will be a compliment to the movement on stage as opposed to a replacement for looking at what is going on on stage. That dance will be lit sparsely so the dancer will be the brightest focus on stage and a good bit further DS then the screen will be.

From a creative perspective when the dance is as much about what is in ones head I think it is okay if the focus shifts some to the screen, especially considering what we are seeing on screen is still the dance.

Lighting is about creating focus and showing the audience what to see and in this case the imag can help that along quite a bit and let people catch subtle details they would otherwise miss.

Regardless this is the first time I've ever done anything like this, so we will see how it works out...

 

[SHARYNF]

Not saying it cannot be done and work, but you need to be careful. I only had your example image to go by, and based on only that input, I raised some concerns. I do think that if you go this route, you and the choreographer need to recognize that it becomes a combined work of art, and as such can be great, but again IMO it can cross the line from a creative design to support the dance to a mixed art form.

Again you raised the question and as always it depends on what you are trying to achieve.

Sharyn