Post 40: Our Box Rehearsal Stage

   I  extended the tabletop in length 24" to the right, and am considering extending it 16" or so in width.I have not finished the edges of the box with wood tips yet because of the dust involved would not help the healing of my cataract surgery. I just used white gaffe's tape. Mary has played in it a little, and there are definite possibilities.

  I have been trying to use multiple projectors with processed images. My main problem still has to do with Isadora not handling multiple HD streams very well. 
  I am running v2 of Isadora in beta as an early adopter,and have been emailing back and forth with the guys at Troikatronix about various issues. They have sent me new GPU based actors to test that are supposed to handle HD, but I still find there is a lag, and the Luma Key Actor does not actually seem to work properly. Also, some of my favorite "Actors" like Delay and Difference are simply not available yet in the GPU version.
  I ordered a new Black Magic DeckLink Mini Recorder PCI card to see if it might do a better job than the "old" Intensity Pro I have used for years. The new card has one HDMI and one SDI input:

   I know that Ralph swears by SDI and uses it to connect his live cameras, the main advantage being that the signal can travel further. I hope it will also be faster. 

   I had great hopes for HDMI, but have been disappointed with the results in the field.     It is OK for a fixed Home Theatre installation, but the connectors are fragile and get disconnected easily in a show situation. I regret the old screw on VGA and DVI plugs. In fact, I also ordered some DisplayPort to VGA cables to see if that might be more reliable.My projectors are only 1280x720 anyway. That is what Christophe is using at the Festival Theatre to project his sets, and they look fine.

   In order to connect my video camera, I also had to order an HDMI to SDI converter, and an SDI cable:

Post 39: A Mini Practice Stage

    The main problem we have been dealing with is finding a rehearsal space and setting up our stuff temporarily for practice. It is exhausting to lug everything down to CDF, set up, practice a few hours, and then take everything down and lug it back home. It is also a problem to coordinate with the dancers, and every time I unplug my computer and replug everything somewhere, there seems to be problems getting things running properly again.
   SO, I decided to clear the big table in my studio where the Frida miniature set had been set up for months, and use it as a permanent "Mini Rehearsal and Practice Space". To limit the movements of the dancer, I built a box, more like a deep square frame 48" x 48" x 24" out of left over 2x4'S and two sheets of 1/4" Plywood:

    The "box" will be painted black inside out, with the edge painted green on one side and white on the other. The live video camera is set back just enough to fill the frame vertically.
   I attached two vertical pieces of conduit to my desks about 48" apart, and mounted a 2x4 beam 10 ft up to hold can lights and a RGB LED Wide Flood. Two more 2x4's 7ft and 8ft up hold my old 55" Panasonic Monitor facing the "stage", so the dancer can see exactly what she is doing live:

   Mary and I immediately discovered that because of it's hollow construction,"the box" is actually also a percussion instrument, which adds interesting possibilities.I got some sticks and mallets to experiment with.
   I also extended the stage/table a couple of feet in width, and may possibly extend it also a foot or so in depth.

Post 38: Long Time No See

    Well, we are now mid July 2015, and I am resuming posting on this Blog after a long silence.
   The "Light Dreams" Show at Alys Stevens was not renewed for a third year, and we looked for other ways to keep going with the Double Take concept.

  I started a new Blog Last year called "Frida, Pinche Vida", as we were attempting to put together a "Frida Show", as I put it at the time: "An Avant Garde Stage Show Based On Frida Kahlo's Life and Work, combining Acting, Dance, Music, Sound, Voices, Lighting, Multiple Live Video Feed, Motion Control, and Projection on Movable Sets".
    That sounds ambitious, and it was. It would have required a permanent dark rehearsal space at least 30ft x 60 ft, with a 20 ft + ceiling to accommodate the set, some external funding, and serious commitment from a number of people: dancers, actors, narrator, stage manager, computer geek, etc... We couldn't find a space, and things just get complicated when more than two people are involved. That proved our downfall.
   I have not given up the idea, and still hope to produce this show some day.

   I also went on a tangent for a while with the idea of the Absurdist Theatre Cooperative, an idea fired up by my discovery of and subsequent enthusiasm for dead Polish Artist and Theatre Director Thaddeus Kantor. That did not even take off.
   In the meantime, Mary and I have been playing on a small scale, and with a simpler set up. I built a 18ft x 10 ft wooden frame on which we stretch a vinyl projection screen, and use the long beam  and one of the tall poles from our Light Dreams setup to hang lights, an overhead camera, and the projector:

   A black panel is set up at a right angle and the camera is shooting sideways at the dancers:

   We did a show at the Wine Loft for "Arts de Valentine" using this set up, promoting interactivity and audience participation. I don't have a video of the show, but these video were shot rehearsing and horsing around at CDF just before the show: 

  Mary has been using the overhead camera and a projector to do workshops for teachers.
   I started a weekly Summer Cine Club in my patio, projecting on a new "waterproof" 16ft x 10 ft projection screen with grommets and a black border that stretches on a 1" conduit metal frame that is easier to set up than the wooden frame. But I prefer the later for stage shows because of the clean lines,  and have plans to build a second identical frame to stretch a black background on if we ever do a stage show, so we have a neat closed corner self standing set that can be placed at an angle on stage.  
   We did a 3 day workshop recently at the YWCA with a group of young kids. I built a lighter weight wooden frame using left over 1" dowels and metal corners to stretch either a black or a green background that we used at the Y:

    Besides teaching the kids and putting together a "show" for the last day:

Mary practiced and we got some interesting stage recordings of the computer generated video output:

POST 37: "Light Dreams 2014"

   Getting ready for the "Light Dreams 2" Show at Alys Stephens became too time consuming for me to to keep blogging about it, and I stopped. 
   I will try to update this post at some stage with  an explanation of what we did, and links to some videos of the show. 

Post 36: Starting Rehearsals

     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.

Post 34: Moving to a new rehearsal space

    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.

Post 33: Playing with the Leap motion Controler

   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. 

Post 32: Testing the Set

   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:

Post 31: A New Toy: the Leap Motion Sensor

  I just got a new toy to play with, a Leap Motion Sensor. It is kind off a mini Kinect that works at a distance of about 8 to 24",and is capable of seeing each fingertip:

  Unlike the Kinect, it works right out of the box, and developers have already written a bunch of apps, that are available either free of for a few bucks on the Airspace Leap Store.  I downloaded a bunch of them, and have been playing with the few that have potential for our project.There are a couple of Music apps, particularly Chordion Conductor, which offers many synthesiser sounds and controls, AirHarp:

 and Syntheremin. The drumming apps don't work very well, and would require practice.
   There are also a couple of Particle Generation apps that work very well, like Flocking:






Midnight:

Beautiful Chaos:

Airbow:

VIZ.it

as well as a plugin for Photoshop called Ethereal:

  A search on the internet turned up a lot of tests, demos and reviews, but surprisingly few serious used.
  I am considering mounting the Leap Sensor on the front wall so Mary can control the projected image or the music, at least till we get the Kinect working.

Post 30: Finally building the set

   I have been working for a while now building elements of the set as time permitted, and we are finally able to put it together and test it this AEA vacation week. The Children Dance Foundation , where Mary works, was kind enough to let us use their large studio for a whole week, and we started transporting the parts and putting things together on Sunday. We have done most of the construction and assembly now, and will finish putting up the 10ft x 12 ft fabric panels and setting up the projectors to morrow. Four 12 ft poles on concrete bases with rubber feet hold up a frame made of three 2x4x12ft boards. A 2x4x16ft laying across and a perpendicular 2x4x8ft hold the lights, background projector, and and the live cam. Three 3/4" plywood panel free standing on flat steel brackets make up  the front wall(which will be completed with three 1ft hinged flaps and hinged doors and windows to make up a solid wall when needed:

Post 29: Brainstorming Away!

    That set design that started life a few weeks ago as the "Marrakesh Set" has turned into a "Coyoacan Blue House Set" to stage a Frida Kahlo inspired show. I made Mary watch the movie with me last week to try and fire her up… So much color, so much drama, so much visual candy, and such strong characters. There are certainly already been several plays based on her persona, but I think we can bring it something new and exciting with the use of multiple virtual "reversible" projected sets and multiple angles live camera feeds.
  We basically work on a stage made of three spaces: the virtual space behind the projected backdrop, the actual space between the backdrop and the front set(boxed with two black side panels, and the space in front of the front set. These spaces can be virtually changed ad infinitum, and as I explained in a previous post, switched around 180 degrees. For example, we are in the street in front of the Casa Azul:

 The façade is projected on the front set with real doors, the front space is the street in front of the house, the center space is the patio seen projected on the backdrop. Behind this backdrop is Frida's bedroom, barely visible through the door. The spaces can move forward: the street disappears, the front stage becomes the patio (the image projected on the backdrop moves to the front set), and the patio turns into Frida's bedroom with Frida in her four poster bed. We could even go one step deeper into the kitchen if we wanted to, somehow bringing the bed in front of the front set(wheels?).  
   Now, if we had two more short throw projectors and used white side panels, we could actually create a four sided patio or bedroom. Pushing it further, if the side panels were also plywood and had functional doors like the front set, we could also virtually move sideways to another room in the house… 
   Any of those combinations of spaces could be flipped 180 degrees, and the front stage could become the patio, with doors looking out to the street and the houses across the street virtually visible through those doors:

   Brainstorming some more, we could conceive of using plywood panels with real doors for the backdrop, through which we could see another backdrop 10 feet behind on which the patio of the house across the street is projected, adding a third actual space. 
  If you flipped that back, you would find yourself in the house across the street looking out to the street, to Frida's patio through the open doors of the front set, and further to Frida in her bed into the bedroom though the open doors of the backdrop… I am getting all worked up! But that would of course require yet another projector… It IS possible though.
   Now, we could take Frida in her bed forward from her bedroom to the patio, to a truck in the street:

 that takes her to the show opening with houses moving by projected on the front set with all doors and window closed(making it a solid screen. We stop in front of the gallery, which can be seen projected on the backdrop through the doors that have been re opened, and manually move Frida in her bed into the gallery space behind the facade. We can then enter the gallery by moving the projected images forward, and spin around looking out to the street outside. Did I lose you? Well you get the jest I hope…
    We can the same way take Frida anywhere, in bed with Diego or Trotsky, at the club getting drunk with Chavela Vargas singing, in New York City at the Rockefeller Building, in Paris at a cafe, etc… The possibilities are endless.

Post 28: Building a Portable Set

    I have been very busy with Light Dreams, but since we are going to do a "Virtual Clones" mini impro show and interactive display with Mary at Light Dreams, I am working on that too. Time is limited, so we will not try to come up with a real show, but rather keep things loose with demonstrations, explanations, and interactivity. Anybody will be welcome to crawl on the floor under the overhead camera.
  As usual, I am taking on more than I could reasonably chew, by also moving "The Gate" to the entrance of the parking lot, and creating several totally new animated sequences to play on it. I may rename it "Palladian Dreams"
  So I have been working on a set we can erect in the parking lot as the "Virtual Clones" Point of light, and looking for a rehearsal space. I have ordered 120" wide ivory and black polyester poplin to box our internal "stage", made 12 ft stands to hold them up, made sturdy steel brackets to hold the plywood sheets up. I have ordered a Mitsubishi WD380U Ultra Short Throw Projector:

  But I am already moving ahead thinking of our Scaena Luminaria Project, and designing the set so it can be expanded and modified later to become our basic adaptable free standing self sufficient set:

   I want to be able to take it to small theaters, clubs, school gymnasiums, outdoors, requiring nothing but a plug.