We practiced with Sarah this week for the piece on live cam from the front, using a piece of spandex with a small hole the head can barely get through. We will stitch two pieces together and trim a circle for the full costume. Having the purple LED Flood on the white backdrop, the live image has a bright blue background, and the dancer is magnified.
We decided on music by HildegardeVon Binden.
We were able to store our set parts at CDF for a week or so until we found a free rehearsal space, graciously loaned by a dear old friend. We immediately started to move all the stuff and getting the space ready. It was a bit of a mess, having been abandoned for so long since it was a night club in the 70's, but the lights worked. And that happens to be where I met my wife 40 years ago, at the Opening of the Joe Namath Club, featuring Lou Rawls! Memories…
Anyhow, it's a little cramped because of a very low suspending ceiling, except over the dance floor, which was just big enough at roughly 12ft x 13 ft.There is just enough space to back up the front projector against the wall using the wide angle adapter.
We painted the floor flat black, and attached all the front panels together.
I am still amazed at the amount of cables necessary for power, AUDIO and VIDEO. I had to get HDMI Repeaters, HDMI Signal Splitters, a Dimmer Pack, a Dimmer Controller and a 50 ft DMX Cable, a powerful Amplifier, a Blue Ray Player.
There were two huge speakers left in the club, and we can use then, as well as some old stage lights.
I hung a monitor on a swing arm just above the window so the dancers can see where they are in Livecam. There are both an overhead live cam, and a front one mounted just under the window.
The Mitsubishi Ultra Short Throw 1280 x 800 Projector is hung high to cover the backdrop.
Finally, before we took the set down on Sunday, I finally got the Leap Motion Controler to work, and we could play with projected particles following finger movement and position:
My intention is to mount it just under the window the a dancer can "conduct" the movement of the projected images with her hands.
I set up my 5K projector on the floor to project images on the plywood set, and an identical 5K borrowed from a friend on a 10 ft pole connected to a live cam either facing the backdrop and placed inside the set right beneath the window or overhead. I also installed the new 3K ultra short throw about 7 ft away from the backdrop and 2 ft above.
I moved my whole MacPro with quad monitors to the space, and we started playing with things.
We don't have time to put together a "real" show for light Dreams by May 5. So we ended up with ideas for 4 short very simple demonstrations that could be followed by public interactivity periods:
1."SHADOWPLAY": Very basic, but effective. A bright graphic image is projected and the dancers move in front of the projector.
2."GIANT CLONES": A live camera is mounted beneath the open window facing backstage, and the enlarged live image is projected on the plywood panels, while the dancers are seen through the window and move from the front to the back of the set through the doors interacting with themselves, the set itself, and their virtual selves:
3."NEWTON CHALLENGE": An overhead live camera image of the dancers crawling on the floor is projected on the front plywood set, giving an illusion of weightlessness:
Charling may do a version of her hand and feet drawing.
4."BARN FLIP": The front of the barn is projected on the plywood set and the inside on the backdrop. Then the point of view is turned
180 degrees and the inside wall of the barn with farm implements is projected on the plywood set while the landscape outside is projected on the background while the dancers circle in and out:
