Post 16: A RECYCLED CONCEPT

    My friend Mary Foshee and I have have been brainstorming about combining projection and dance, possibly for Light Dreams, but also thinking of a potential independent Stage Show somewhere else. 
  Rather than starting yet a new blog, this blog seems as good a place as any to develop and post our ideas.
  We took the projector into the dance studio the other day, and played with projected patterns on a white leotard. I shot some basic video of some of our tests with my little camera, which isn't very good, but nevertheless shows what we tried:
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI_Kkb-ylqM
  With Chrismas right around the corner, it will be early January before we work on it again. I have yet to meet her friend Amanda Miller, a Dancer and Choreographer whom she holds in high regard, and hope she will be interested in joining us in our Video/Dance explorations.
  Also, Mary, Randy and I have registered for the "Live Performance and Video Technology" Workshop with Bridgman-Packer taking place mid January as a part of the Alabama Dance Festival. They have been for years at the forefront of meshing video and dance in very creative ways, and I am sure we will greatly benefit from sharing in their experience.

Post 15: "SCAENA LUMINARIA" IDEA POSTPONED...

  Well, the decision was made to keep Light Dreams all outside the same as last year, and that may be next year if everything is right I would get to do something inside…

  That puts an effective stop on this blog for the moment, and I am starting a new blog about the preparation of "Light Dreams 2013":

                 http://luxsomnia2014.blogspot.com

   I will hopefully come back to this next year...

Post 14: FULL COLOR 3D PROJECTION TEST

  I did a good bit of research on 3D projection in the last few days, and there seems to be  a number of different systems, both active and passive.
   Barco and Christie both have 3D projectors with built in polarizers that allows the use of passive glasses and as I understand it allow projection on anything. Actually, Barco has a very good primer on the subject of 3D in general on their site that is well worth reading.
  Another option that has been used mostly by home theatre enthusiasts involves using two identical projectors fitted with crossed polarizers, and passive polarized glasses, but it seems tat a special silver screen is necessary that preserves the polarization. There is also the issue of linear vs circular polarizers...Complicated.
  Anyhow, I decided to test the concept on the model of the building wrapped with fabric, and borrowed Ralph's Optoma HD1060P(identical to mine). I stacked the projectors, lined them up, and projected the left image with one and the right with the other using photographic linear polarizing filters in front of the lenses. Nothing happened, it just didn't work. And a simple test showed why: if I hold another polarizer in front of the projector lens fitted with a polarizer and cross them, the image goes dark, but if just I look at the projected image through the polarizer instead, it has no effect, showing that the image projected on regular fabric looses polarization. Back to square one, we can't do it "homemade", and just have to hope we can get a 3D Barco or Christie...

Post 13: 3D EXPERIMENTS

    Well, I have not posted on this blog for a while because I have been posting on another blog devoted specifically to 3D VIDEO. 
  Waiting for the powers to be at Alys Stephens to return from their summer vacations and decide what they want to do next year, I have been working both on the "SCAENA LUMINARIA" concept of a Stage Show, and on the idea of a FULL 3D ARCHITECTURAL PROJECTION. If we are going to try to better last year's LUX SOMNIA 2013, I feel 3D is the way to go for 2014. The new blog should bring you fully up to date on my 3D experiments, but for the lazy ones. I will sum it up here.
   Until now, After Effects CS6 has allowed me to move 2D objects in a 3D space, but not to create or import real 3D objects except for basic boxes. The new Cloud version After Effects CC includes a Lite version of Cinema 4D, and a new Cineware plugin which should allow me to use and create real 3D objects other than boxes. I have been trying to figure out how to use it for a few days, but am having a hard time figuring out how to use this very "nerdy" and counterintuitive interface. I will get it eventually!
   Besides 3D objects, I would like to incorporate 3D video footage, so I bought a little Toshiba Camileo Z100 3D camera to experiment with. It works quite well, but I am still having problems removing the green screen, which I hope to work out eventually.
  I have been experimenting with the existing footage created for Lux Somnia using the virtual stereo rig in After Effects, and getting very impressive results in 3D both on my big screen ACTIVE 3D TV(using expensive shutter glasses), and on a PASSIVE 3D LG Computer Monitor(using relatively cheap polarized glasses like you get at the movies). My hope is that the big 10K Projectors we used last year are 3D capable, and that we can do the next show in full scale 3D on the building. Now THAT would be exciting, and AS FAR AS I KNOW, IT HAS NOT BEEN DONE YET...
   

   

Post 12: RGB LED'S STRIOS AND PROJECTORS

   Vero used LED's in her costume, and I would like to do the same with the multi purpose stage costumes.
   I was at the Lighting place the other day, and saw a 16ft  RGB LED strip that could be controlled with an Infra Red remote and make any color in the rainbow:

 They were selling it for $100, but I found exactly the same HitLights on Amazon for $30, and ordered 3 to play with:

 They come with a 110/12V transformer, a 44 keys remote, and a remote control box with an Infra Red sensor. They can easily be strung together or cut to shorter lengths.  I undressed my Virgin, and stuck the strip(which comes with self stick tape backing) up and down and around the armature before putting the muslin dress back on. Now, we can combine projection with LED costumes.
   I also ordered a $120 RGB 30 watts outdoor remote control flood on Amazon for $25:

and a small RGB  remote control 3 watt bulb to experiment on my "stage" for $12:

   Some of that RBB LED stuff is very expensive, but if you look, you can find good discount prices on Amazon or eBay.
   By the way, have you seen the new illuminated 18th Street underpass. It uses the same kind of equipment, but more powerful, about 160 RGB LED projector bars altogether. It does look nice:

      But is it really worth $200,000?

Post 11: TEST STAGE

     In order to visualize some of my ideas and experiment, I set up a minimalist stage set on my studio table, using a skirted Santo, a disk and a cylinder in front of a black background:

   Of course, I wish I could knock down the wall behind and set up a rear projection screen, but Rachel won't let me... Anyhow, this simple set up allows to make any of the three components look like anything I wish by projecting mapped images:

Post 10: BODY MAPPING

    For the sake of efficiency and to cut down on the workload, I would like the same white costumes to be used in four different ways:
       1. With black light:

       2. With built in LED's:

       3. As shadows:

       4. Projected on:

     The first three are relatively easy to implement, the hard one is the fourth, projecting an image on a moving dancer. That will require not only mapping an image to the body, but doing it as the body changes shape and moves in 3D space, which will be quite a technical challenge. I can sort of envision the way to do it, but will definitely need technical help to make it work.  
      We will need an infrared camera to record the movement and body shape, feed that live video in the computer, process it on the fly applying colors and patterns, and project those back onto the dancer as it moves, with as little latency as possible. Live body mapping, sounds simple enough... May be with Mike's help...
    The best way may be to use the KINECT. This is what the Kinect actually sees, both a normal image and an Infra Red view:

     An interesting feature is the "Point Cloud" 3D view that can be moved in space:

Post 9: THE MUSIC

    I didn't post for a month while in Europe because my computer died, but I did spend some time thinking about the show, especially the music. In every piece I have done, the sound track has come first, and drives the images and movement.
   I love buying singles from iTunes rather than albums because there are usually only a couple of songs per album I really like. As I get older, I like to be surprised, and favor unusual sounds, exotic, original and exciting compositions more and more. But may be because my attention span is getting shorter, I find that even great songs are often too long, and that out of a 5 minutes song I like, I only REALLY like about a minute or so. Sometimes it's in the beginning, sometimes in the middle, sometimes at the end. It doesn't seem to matter whether the piece is classical, pop, jazz, or whatever, it usually seems too long...
   I would like the score for the show to be  relentlessly exciting, original, unusual, surprising, harmonious but sometimes dissonant.  I want to hear unexpected sounds and rythm changes, strange instruments, and unusual combinations of instruments, voices and sounds. Etherial counter tenor and booming bass voices, musical saw and bowed double bass, huge bass drums and pan flutes, jamaican steel drums and tubas...
   Ideally of course, the score would be completely original.

Post 8: SHADOW PLAY

    If we don't light the dancers and musicians, we could get a shadow play with people "floating" in the air.We would have to project the same pattern as the background just on the scaffolds and platforms to make them disappear. Background could change from blue to amber as figures move:

     Hanging figures could swing:

     We could also possibly use two of my "Mannequin Sculptures" , the "Archangel Michael" and the life size horse "Bucephalus":

Post 7: POSSIBLE SET DESIGN

   I have come up with this idea for a set with both front projection on shapes and people, and rear projection on a screen behind the set:

    The white shapes can be mapped with the front projector using MadMapper, and different images and videos projected onto them. The white cylinders are the size of a 55 gl drums, 5 gl buckets, and 1 gl cans. The pan flute shape is a set of PVC pipes played with the hands or paddles like those used by Blue Man and others, but with straight pipes instead of using elbows to lower it:

 Ideally, I would like the platforms at different levels to be suspended on cables as a unit, but that is obviously an Adam thing, as Jessica would say:

   I came up for the moment with three different looks that could be projected on this set. Just keep in mind these are very rough ideas, and the figures would be dressed accordingly (Vera's job). The guy on the top level playing "PVC organ" and a huge drum would be John Scalici (are you still up to it?). Randy is going to have to figure out the "Long Strings Harp" stretched in a vertical plane from floor to rafters, it's strings doubled with EL Wire... 

   First, sort of a Steampunk rust, brass gear and weathered look:

     I could see Steampunk inspired costumes with that:

     Then there is sort of a "Blue Moon" look:

     People could either be lighted with the front projector, or with black light, or wear EL Wire outfits.

   And third, I thought of a "Fire" look. The drums become antique fire buckets. and people could be set on fire with the projector if they wear white loose overalls:

     Please guys, give me some feedback. Jessica, what do you think? Adam, can we build such a set? Vera, do you have ideas for the costumes, which of course should incorporate lights? John, how do you feel about it? Real drums could be inside the white cardboard shaped. Or you could play 55gl drums and Jamaican Steeel Drums... Mary, how do you feel about dancing around the set with EL wire on, or projected on?

Post 6: 3D PROJECTION

    I have been experimenting with 3D Photography a long time, and you can refer for information to my two blogs on the subject:
                                               crosseyed3d.blogspot.com
                                     anaglyphsandphantograms.blogspot.com
the second being the most relevant, as most everything can be applied to movies.
   Because it is the one with the deepest 3D space, I plan to use the "Danse Macabre" scene of my "Lux Somnia" show to experiment with two cameras in After Effects placed more or less an eye width apart, and render the sequence as an Anaglyph movie to be seen withRed/Cyan glasses. This is the cheapest and easiest way to achieve the effect, as long as the images contain neither Red nor Cyan.

We could possibly play a 3D animation on a screen during possible set changes.

Post 5: RANDOM IDEAS FOR THE STAGE SHOW

     Draw inspiration from the Blue Men last shows, which now use a lot of projection, balloons, lasers, BIG LED Panels, and take out the blue:  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wENtnlkLbX4    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bol07E6rt3c

     Also think Cirque du Soleil.

    Make musical instruments: electric washtub and broomstick bass, Long String Harp, BIG drums:

 and gongs, thunder panels, a plastic pipe organ:

Explore sounding the pipes individually with a compressor, coiled hose and nozzle:    

Which can also be used to inflate BIG balloons right on stage during the show:

• Light up instruments: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R09qVSOL5Ko   
  
  
  
  
  
• Use recycled instruments: 55 gl drums, garbage cans, 5 gl buckets, pots and pans, wooden spoons, etc... (how about it John?):

• Use exotic instruments: jamaican steel drums, guatemalan marimba, cytar, Musical Saw, etc...  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Use unusual voices: counter tenor, deep booming Robeson type bass, Bulgarian voices, etc... Use Nicholas Lens music.
• Stage set with many different levels, with platforms, boxes, scaffolds, flying cable, trapeze, ropes, cut out luminescent shapes, etc..
• Suspended Light Sculptures like Randy's Styrofoam piece:   
• Visually defy gravity:    
  
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-RXohKepp4
• Use fire? Or at least sparklers:  
  
• EL wire on black costumes, but also lighted sculptural costumes with LEDS, etc...(how about that Vera?):    
  
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S2cjuTAk-g
• Black light:  
  
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozHAkApTlDg&list=PLAF04DEF5EF730D17      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_9iXFeu5ZA&list=PLAF04DEF5EF730D17&index=33
• Bring a white horse on stage with black lights.
• Shadows in front of projection on scrim(think Balinese Puppet Theatre): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bS1B11-ey4   
  

• Bring the show out into the audience
• Projections on side walls and ceiling, and above the stage.
• Projection on fabric panels, waving banners or loose hanging panels with fans:   
  
• Build a shallow pool of water and do an "Hommage to Pina Bausch" type Dancing in the Rain piece(get ready Mary!), while rear projecting on mist using a 16 ft ring(think BIG Liesa, Tony and Christophe!):     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aANfMDccoy0