#14 Spring Seminar Ideas!
I’m looking at all my options for spring seminar courses, and they fall into a few categories:
Continue the telescope project with some changes
Start a new projection mapping project
Prepare for Praxis project
In the first category, there are a couple ways to tweak the telescope project to spend more time focused on the media aspect. Essentially, I can shuffle the order around so that I create the media elements first, and use a phone or something as a mock-up, and then wind up with a functional-but-incomplete mock-up rather than a completed-but-non-functional prop. Trading out the custom electronics for a phone embedded in the top would also both simplify the telescope and shift the focus away from the prop itself. Either way, the first thing to go would be the fun paddle system.
Looking at new projection & video-design focused projects, this is a perfect opportunity to try out a couple new workflow ideas. Years ago I stumbled on an example of a projection designer scanning the set, loading it onto a computer to render lighting, and projecting the rendered results back onto the set – imitating different (and impossible) lighting environments. That’s something I’d love to explore, and at Becker I’ve got plenty of experience around me to work with to figure out what problems and solutions that might lead to. Project-wise, a few options stand out:
- Holy Cross has a beautiful old chapel that now serves as a small concert hall with beautiful architecture and decoration that would be a brilliant projection surface. A co-worker and I have been talking for years now about projection-mapping the space, and this is the perfect opportunity.
- I’ve signed on to provide a video design for an opera in New York this June, and while I’m not sure about what it will involve just yet, it could be a great personal project to spend some consistent time on over the course of the semester.
- Two spaces at work are each a great opportunity for a semi-permanent projection mapping setup. There’s a lobby space with great wooden overhangs that are a perfect surface for projections, and a concert hall with a beautiful wooden shell that, while simple, is a great canvas for some “stock” projections for performances, etc. in the hall.
The final option, preparing for a Praxis project, stands out as a chance to get ahead of the curve on a possible, small interactive theatre event. Seeing the Interactive Theatre class’s Somnus last week was wonderful and inspiring. I’m impressed at how the wide variety of elements came together in the space. I wasn’t sure how well it would drag me, or any audience members, into it’s world, but it did! I was particularly dragged in by the puzzles, another person I was with was really into trading for items. The structure of the event included some time pressure too, which meant that I felt like I had to pick between spending time working on this one particular puzzle I encountered, or following other routes that would work us towards a “good” ending.
One of the challenges that I see turning that into a project for Studio is coming up with a plan & story that’s specific enough to give collaborators a framework to work in, but flexible enough to accommodate whatever skills and interests they have and want to develop in the class. In some ways, I’m leaning towards developing an open-ended concept that could be realized as an interactive theatre show, but could be adapted to suit the skills of whoever I have to work with. That’s something I feel I need to spend some time developing regardless of it’s status as a seminar project for the spring. That said, there is a bit of middle-ground between all 3 projects – having a workflow to create theatre projection mappings with a 3D environment would make it easier for someone with experience in 3D environment design to use those skills in a live performance context. And in a larger sense, the satirical fever-dream of an Ancient Greek story that’s been an inspiration for this telescope project definitely comes to mind as an inspiration for an interactive theatre project too.
All in all, I’m looking forward to spending some down time over the holidays letting this all process, and getting as much advice as I can on where this all might go.