CMU School of Drama


Saturday, February 27, 2010

Video projection has an expanding role in mainstream theater

The Boston Globe: "In Clifford Odets’s “Paradise Lost,’’ Ben Gordon is an unsuccessful former Olympic track star who remains, in his own mind, the “champ miler of the world.’’
The idea of getting into his mind intrigued Daniel Fish, who is directing the American Repertory Theater’s production of this drama about a family’s shattered dreams, now playing at the Loeb Drama Center. Fish wanted to find a way to convey what Ben himself envisioned when he reflected on his glory days. But how to depict, in theater, someone’s private ruminations?
His answer: video."

7 comments:

Bryce Cutler said...

This article raises some really good points about projections in that they are a supporting medium to aid a story, becoming characters in themselves. Working on our playground project right now, the main character is just words or text, rather and working with the director on how to make these words visible to an audience the answer for this issue is projections. Although there is a fear that things will be lost, we are sure the projections of this character will aid, stimulate and involve the audience unlike projections have done before, for this character is just words projected onto a screen. It is a character and an add on, a supporting mechanism that will aide the story, the other characters and the audience into an interactive experience!

Chris said...

As I work more and more with projections in theater, I am finding several truths about the use of this new(ish) technology in the theater. First of all, like all elements of theater, the projections exist to help tell the story, not to be a marketing gimmick. Secondly, as the article stated, it is important to remember that what sets theater apart from film and TV is that it is LIVE human to human contact. It is easy to forget that and get caught up in the use of projections. It is also very important to remember that in order to be useful to the story, the projections have to be adding emotional, plot, or point-of-view content that is not available to the audience in any other fashion. This is a really interesting field, pushing the interaction between people and technology further than it has ever been. Using film, media, and projections in live theater is going to allow artists to do things never before imagined, but we have to remember why we are telling this story in a live format.

MONJARK said...

Projection work is still a new thing in theater, and must be treated as such. As artists push the limits of what projection should do (and not what it can do), the opinions of the arts community will help keep projection work in check. One just has to hope the all mighty dollar does not have final say.

As a proud viewer of every performance of Inspector General (I went there out of my own free will AND fear of a bad grade), I felt that it was so necessary for the audience to see America's major political scandals to be reminded that though the show is exaggerated, there exists political corruption. Projection and sound design complimented each other nicely, and made this a reality. You go Eric and Michael!

Annie J said...

I actually really like how shows are using projections today. I don't think they become overbearing, I think they add a lot to the show. I mean, this is a new approach to theater design, so of course there will be some bumps in the process. That's how anything new works. But, for example, the projections in Inspector General were fantastic. Michael did an excellent job designing them to make them completely relevant, and they added a lot to the show.

A. Surasky said...

As theater progress and evolves, bringing in new types of media to aid in a show seems to be getting more an more popular. Seeing the addition of projections and video to the mix helps a lot. The addition of the projections to the recent production of Inspector General really added a lot to the play and was able to help interweave the story into the fabric of our own government in the U.S. The use of projections in this way really does add something to the theater experience, and as it becomes more popular, designers will respond accordingly and begin to come up with new ideas and ways to make it a work well in a theater environment.

Rachel Robinson said...

I really think it's interesting to see how video projection can add to a theatrical production. In the case of the production discussed in the article, the video projection serves to add another dimension to a character and how an audience perceives this character. I'm working on the same playground piece as Bryce mentioned earlier, and I think it's fascinating how we are using projection to entirely create a character, and I'm anxious to see how an audience will connect with this character.

HJNDesign said...

The use of the video for this production might be very effective. I like such an way of utilizing visual effect that "audience would see what Ben saw in his mind’s eye". My attention to pay to the idea is how they integrate this technology into the nature of actors, set and story, because I think we perceive video materials differently from what live people do on stage.

I found myself disliking how the projection was used in some productions. Am I so conservative, classical or traditional person? Yes, I might be. Basically I prefer the classical theatre to experimental ones, although it does not necessarily mean I do not have any insight to the effective use of projection.

In some productions, whether intentionally or not, the monitors, cameras, screens etc., are revealed just as technology. It is interesting to see how those different media cause creative certain impression so
the spectator might digest presented materials in their conscience through the interaction of these media, but it can not go beyond that. Also, I saw a few musicals, in which PC graphics were projected as moving landscape. It just made me dizzy, and that effect clearly separated the world from what it has been there on stage.

As long as technology is clearly revealed on stage, the world of magic can not be encased in the proscenium.