Showing posts with label projections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label projections. Show all posts
Saturday, July 27, 2024
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Eclipse Load-In
The load-in for Murrow into the Dallas Opera's Hamon Hall was also the day of the total solar eclipse in Dallas.
Inside, we worked on unloading set materials, assembling the TD's cleverly pre-cut and labeled parts for the fabric frames and stretching muslin over them, trimming, touchup painting, and hanging the fabric panels.
Just after one o'clock we broke to go out and join the sun watchers outside.
The Arts District was interesting during the eclipse: there was a band and a small crowd of people on the lawn of the park. (I got the impression that most locals had been discouraged from gathering by all the warnings about terrible traffic etc.) But this was a happy, chattery small crowd. Little kids ran through the splash fountain. A trailer sold hamburgers (and a bar sold "Tequilla Sunrises" ha!).
Luckily the clouds broke for the totality which was breathtakingly strange. Once I looked away from that black disc moon with white WHITE light ring around it, I could see all the little lighting usually washed out by daylight... the hamburger truck was a beacon - a lighthouse! - and all the lights inside lobbies or offices glowed amazingly ... then quickly faded from view as the sun uncovered. Strange and beautiful.
Then we went back in to work.
This is just after the Eclipse Break (every show should have one!), when we were starting to hang the first panel. The Hall has a beautiful and super fancy fly-in lighting grid... though we ended up using a lift as well.
And here's the almost final result (under work lights), just before we added the black skirts to the platforms:
Set for Murrow - design & photos by Clare Floyd DeVries
(Mind you, I kinda dislike skirts on platforms because they evoke convention booths, but they are fast, effective, and free so I'll live with them.)
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
What a Month
Theater is a marathon not a sprint.
Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but I've been working flat out... mostly trying to get Mainstage Irving's The Addams Family open.
And then - instead of collapsing - trying to catch up on my other shows: Death of a Salesman at Fun House Theatre and Film, Sexy Laundry at WaterTower Theater, and The Importance of Being Earnest at Tarrant County College NE.
Opening night at The Addams Family had a few rough spots in sound and lights, but the set and projections were DONE. (The paint was even dry.) An accomplishment of heroic proportions let me tell you.
Here you can see one scene set in the Addams' conservatory, a combination of built scenery and 3D projection by Nathan Davis. This was a show that really was about collaboration! And even more about drawing than I expected: the Addams Family originated as cartoons in The New Yorker, so it seemed right that the projections be largely drawings rather than photos, but, in fact, they were often, as here, a combination of hand sketches (architecture) and photos (sky, moon, and cobblestone floor). My original background sketch was actually an assemblage of three sketches of about 14" long so it's kinda wild to see them blown up to almost 30' wide.
The projections for this show are fantastic! Three dimensional spaces into which we fly in or out, doors and gates open, animations - Fester's "Moon" scene is wonderful - all just amazing. Nathan did an incredible job. For my part, I'm particularly proud of how well the projected scenery and the built scenery merge.
Even more merge-y than intended, actually...
Because of the press of time, much of the detail on the built set that was supposed to be real 3D construction, ended up as hand drawn/painted linework too, like all the paneling and trim shown here. Which help coordinate the two worlds alright.
My hand is tired.
If you have the chance, go see the show - a still photo just can't show the coolitude of the projections.
(And, you know, the cast are... incredibly good. A very accomplished and fun show.)
Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but I've been working flat out... mostly trying to get Mainstage Irving's The Addams Family open.
And then - instead of collapsing - trying to catch up on my other shows: Death of a Salesman at Fun House Theatre and Film, Sexy Laundry at WaterTower Theater, and The Importance of Being Earnest at Tarrant County College NE.
Opening night at The Addams Family had a few rough spots in sound and lights, but the set and projections were DONE. (The paint was even dry.) An accomplishment of heroic proportions let me tell you.
The Addams Family, Mainstage Irving Los Colinas - photo by Mainstage
Here you can see one scene set in the Addams' conservatory, a combination of built scenery and 3D projection by Nathan Davis. This was a show that really was about collaboration! And even more about drawing than I expected: the Addams Family originated as cartoons in The New Yorker, so it seemed right that the projections be largely drawings rather than photos, but, in fact, they were often, as here, a combination of hand sketches (architecture) and photos (sky, moon, and cobblestone floor). My original background sketch was actually an assemblage of three sketches of about 14" long so it's kinda wild to see them blown up to almost 30' wide.
The projections for this show are fantastic! Three dimensional spaces into which we fly in or out, doors and gates open, animations - Fester's "Moon" scene is wonderful - all just amazing. Nathan did an incredible job. For my part, I'm particularly proud of how well the projected scenery and the built scenery merge.
Even more merge-y than intended, actually...
Because of the press of time, much of the detail on the built set that was supposed to be real 3D construction, ended up as hand drawn/painted linework too, like all the paneling and trim shown here. Which help coordinate the two worlds alright.
My hand is tired.
If you have the chance, go see the show - a still photo just can't show the coolitude of the projections.
(And, you know, the cast are... incredibly good. A very accomplished and fun show.)
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
A New York Minute
Back from NYC.
Fun! I saw three shows: Churchill, a one-hander about the British Prime Minister set late in his career, which was very good; Hedwig and the Angry Inch, with the original Hedwig (also book writer), John Cameron Mitchell, which was excellent rowdy fun; and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, which was fascinating. And the highest tech of the three... In fact, watching as a set designer, these three shows - seen in that order - were a primer on the use of projections on stage.
In Churchill, the set was backed by a large window with traditional mullions which acted as a projection screen. Usually these projections were further "back-grounded" by adding an intervening layer of glazing lines (as in a "leaded" or stained glass window). So images were always mere backdrop to the actor and never pulled focus. The set was a traditional wood paneled room that worked just fine.
In Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the setting was a joke - literally. To explain why Hedwig, the little-heard-of rock singer, had a Broadway-worthy set (as you MUST have at Broadway ticket prices I guess), Hedwig explained that this was a one-night-only concert held on the stage of a just closed musical - just closed during its first night intermission! The unlucky show? Hurt Locker: the Musical. Pretty funny. This "borrowed" set was a faux war-torn city made of vanishing perspective cut-out side flats of buildings, an upstage groundrow of more wrecked buildings, a stage floor of, apparently, blown-up street paving with a destroyed car at center and a whole frozen-moment-of-destruction spray of car parts in the air.
Very cool.
Later in the show all these I-thought-fixed pieces moved or did something expensive and Broadway-y. Sound. Lights! Projections! Amazing. Not overdone. Most projections were the collage of images you'd expect, but there was a wonderful sequence where a scrim dropped and Hedwig (behind the scrim) interacted with cartoon-like animations. Wonderful! Occasionally later bits of these animations reappeared, but never again to such delightful degree.
There was no lack of projections in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. The set for this story of an autistic boy's adventure was set in almost a cubic shadowbox lined with graph paper - big blank gridded surfaces. Throughout the show laser projections were "drawn" on the walls and floor... or suddenly spattered out like exploding stars, or outlined the neighbors' houses, or... The ingenuity and surprise and the interaction between actors, props, chalk, projections, light, sound, and the physical set were impressive and told the story well, interpreting the boy's autism-shaped view of the situations. The scene at the London Underground station was a Wow-er. Very impressive.
I figure they must have Tech Rehearsalled this puppy for MONTHS.
As to whether it's a good play... The story was interesting but slight, so that the fireworks of the tech used to tell it were both the only way to tell it and the most compelling thing on stage. I don't think there'd be much play left if you stripped away the razzmatazz. (On the other hand, it might be a terrific book - I'll look for it.) But the boy's after-curtain explanation of a geometry proof was Crazy Cool! Pythagoras never looked so exciting before.
So did I come back all jazzed to do projections?
Kinda. I actually have a couple shows coming up that will include them, though at a simpler (i.e. less expensive) level. Obviously projections can be a great, even integral part of the theater performance, but I'm kinda a fundamentalist... for me it's The Story. Everything else (even the set?!) must be a distant second to the text. So, for my taste, many projections and, honestly, the whole Broadway way of doing things is often just too overblown, just like special effects in blockbuster films. Spectacle is great fun, but not especially my cup of tea.
So the most influential things to me were probably what I saw of the City itself - more on that later.
Until then, here are photos from my own recent informal Set Tech, experimenting with sky/tree banners in the breeze for WaterTower Theater's upcoming All My Sons:
Fabric an' a Fan. That's Technical, that is.
Fun! I saw three shows: Churchill, a one-hander about the British Prime Minister set late in his career, which was very good; Hedwig and the Angry Inch, with the original Hedwig (also book writer), John Cameron Mitchell, which was excellent rowdy fun; and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, which was fascinating. And the highest tech of the three... In fact, watching as a set designer, these three shows - seen in that order - were a primer on the use of projections on stage.
In Churchill, the set was backed by a large window with traditional mullions which acted as a projection screen. Usually these projections were further "back-grounded" by adding an intervening layer of glazing lines (as in a "leaded" or stained glass window). So images were always mere backdrop to the actor and never pulled focus. The set was a traditional wood paneled room that worked just fine.
In Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the setting was a joke - literally. To explain why Hedwig, the little-heard-of rock singer, had a Broadway-worthy set (as you MUST have at Broadway ticket prices I guess), Hedwig explained that this was a one-night-only concert held on the stage of a just closed musical - just closed during its first night intermission! The unlucky show? Hurt Locker: the Musical. Pretty funny. This "borrowed" set was a faux war-torn city made of vanishing perspective cut-out side flats of buildings, an upstage groundrow of more wrecked buildings, a stage floor of, apparently, blown-up street paving with a destroyed car at center and a whole frozen-moment-of-destruction spray of car parts in the air.
Very cool.
Later in the show all these I-thought-fixed pieces moved or did something expensive and Broadway-y. Sound. Lights! Projections! Amazing. Not overdone. Most projections were the collage of images you'd expect, but there was a wonderful sequence where a scrim dropped and Hedwig (behind the scrim) interacted with cartoon-like animations. Wonderful! Occasionally later bits of these animations reappeared, but never again to such delightful degree.
There was no lack of projections in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. The set for this story of an autistic boy's adventure was set in almost a cubic shadowbox lined with graph paper - big blank gridded surfaces. Throughout the show laser projections were "drawn" on the walls and floor... or suddenly spattered out like exploding stars, or outlined the neighbors' houses, or... The ingenuity and surprise and the interaction between actors, props, chalk, projections, light, sound, and the physical set were impressive and told the story well, interpreting the boy's autism-shaped view of the situations. The scene at the London Underground station was a Wow-er. Very impressive.
I figure they must have Tech Rehearsalled this puppy for MONTHS.
As to whether it's a good play... The story was interesting but slight, so that the fireworks of the tech used to tell it were both the only way to tell it and the most compelling thing on stage. I don't think there'd be much play left if you stripped away the razzmatazz. (On the other hand, it might be a terrific book - I'll look for it.) But the boy's after-curtain explanation of a geometry proof was Crazy Cool! Pythagoras never looked so exciting before.
So did I come back all jazzed to do projections?
Kinda. I actually have a couple shows coming up that will include them, though at a simpler (i.e. less expensive) level. Obviously projections can be a great, even integral part of the theater performance, but I'm kinda a fundamentalist... for me it's The Story. Everything else (even the set?!) must be a distant second to the text. So, for my taste, many projections and, honestly, the whole Broadway way of doing things is often just too overblown, just like special effects in blockbuster films. Spectacle is great fun, but not especially my cup of tea.
So the most influential things to me were probably what I saw of the City itself - more on that later.
Until then, here are photos from my own recent informal Set Tech, experimenting with sky/tree banners in the breeze for WaterTower Theater's upcoming All My Sons:
Sky/Tree Banner test for All My Sons at WaterTower Theater
Fabric an' a Fan. That's Technical, that is.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Minimalism
Sometimes the best set is the least. The simplest.
Simple perfection.
That's all.
A friend of mine recently designed Hamlet for an incredibly successful children's production. Both the budget and space were modest and fine materials and carpentry skills limited. Generally, if a designer is going to pull off a minimalist style then what IS on stage has to be exquisite. Perfect. But here (as often is the case) perfection was kinda hard to come by. Still, theater has its tricks: smooth out lumpy carpentry by stretching fabric over it. If you still can't get a perfectly smooth wall? then texture/spatter the surface so you can't tell it's not perfect. Fool the eye.
Whatever the clunky reality of the build, what the audience saw was clean, simple, geometry.
I love the bold simplicity of this world.
The other remarkable thing about this photo is the use of projections - integral to this production. Here the appearance of the ghost of Hamlet's Father is enriched by this classic illustration. (Sorry I don't know the artist's name.) It was this image, in fact, that was the inspiration for the whole set design.
Below, you see a similar use of Millet's iconic Ophelia to illustrate her off-stage fate.
Simple perfection.
That's all.
A friend of mine recently designed Hamlet for an incredibly successful children's production. Both the budget and space were modest and fine materials and carpentry skills limited. Generally, if a designer is going to pull off a minimalist style then what IS on stage has to be exquisite. Perfect. But here (as often is the case) perfection was kinda hard to come by. Still, theater has its tricks: smooth out lumpy carpentry by stretching fabric over it. If you still can't get a perfectly smooth wall? then texture/spatter the surface so you can't tell it's not perfect. Fool the eye.
Whatever the clunky reality of the build, what the audience saw was clean, simple, geometry.
Hamlet at Funhouse Theatre and Film, set design by Joseph Cummings - copyrighted
The other remarkable thing about this photo is the use of projections - integral to this production. Here the appearance of the ghost of Hamlet's Father is enriched by this classic illustration. (Sorry I don't know the artist's name.) It was this image, in fact, that was the inspiration for the whole set design.
Below, you see a similar use of Millet's iconic Ophelia to illustrate her off-stage fate.
The model gives a better idea of the design: sliding panels plus two rolling raked platforms. Clever. Simple.
You can see more of Joseph's work HERE.
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