livedesignonline.com: Recently, I was the associate media designer for Magic/Bird, which opened last night on Broadway. Working under media designer Jeff Sugg, we developed a plan of using the NBA's vast resources of archival television recordings, combined with a abstract and sentimental point of view in the design. We knew we'd have lots of highlight reels to choose from, but we also wanted to create a more poetic and rhythmic take on things.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Show Control in Magic/Bird on Broadway
livedesignonline.com: Recently, I was the associate media designer for Magic/Bird, which opened last night on Broadway. Working under media designer Jeff Sugg, we developed a plan of using the NBA's vast resources of archival television recordings, combined with a abstract and sentimental point of view in the design. We knew we'd have lots of highlight reels to choose from, but we also wanted to create a more poetic and rhythmic take on things.
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We're seeing more and more productions that have bidirectional communication between 3 or more departments, and they go about it in a number of different ways. This article talks about using MIDI, which has been a standard for decades, but is rather limited in its implementations, e.g., has seven bits per message type, requires people to independently track for what each message is used, etc.. Other productions, (some Cirque du Soleil stuff and Spiderman come to mind) are using a handful of proprietary formats and stripping data from them, but this requires an intermediary like PureData and more programming chops. I'm looking forward to the next generation of communication protocols, like OSC, finding a permanent home in theatre so that all departments can share a "Show Control" network that is separate from each department's own networks and facilitates show control messages between any two points in any direction with more description and versatility than MIDI. This would also use standard networking equipment.
The audio and media systems mentioned in this article already talk OSC; the lighting industry and the people just need to warm up to it.
I don't quite understand how technologies such as MIDI get their job done, but I do appreciate what they do and the remarkable ways they are being implemented in shows. One question that I have is how such complex, integrated cuing systems work when something goes wrong. I'm sure the systems work 98% of the time, but what about the other 2%? If the light board crashes and it is supposed to be giving a cue, then are any of the other systems able to be cued? I'm assuming there's some sort of plan for people to be able to intervene. I've seen contingency plans for if one area (i.e. only lighting) has a failure, but I would love to know how issues with these multi-departmental systems work. If I were running a show on this, I would probably want multiple back-up boards, as well as a set of cues that are not linked to each other that can be called and taken individually if need be. I am very impressed by these systems, but it makes me nervous to rely so much on technology without a great back-up plan!! I'm sure that Magic/Bird has a back-up plan in place, but hopefully they won't have to use it any time soon...
The technology of this show does not bother me. This is a standard approach to linking light, sound, and video. (I say this AFTER I took a class in show control.) What is concerning to me about his show is the current Broadway tend and a topic that I have address numerous times on this blog. The theatre is becoming more and more of a movie. I felt this way about Spider-Man and the villains of act two, and now, it seems like we are just watching archival footage of Magic and Bird and then watching two actors emote their feelings about it. I have seen a documentary on the parallel careers of Magic and Bird and I am wondering what distinguishs this performance as a Broadway show and that presentation I saw on ESPN Classic. At this point I would say, not much. (Side note: I grew up on Larry Bird. I even played a game based on him for the Apple IIe.)
This just sounds quite impressive. Show control and MIDI have been around for a while. The applications and use of it just need to be taught and used more at an educational level which will allow for more individuals to have this seamless integration that the article talked about. Show control is something I feel everyone should learn, especially managers, because even if you have a little grasp on it, then you will be able to talk the lingo and solve problems when they come up, especially if you are calling a show. If used in a good way, without too much documentary as Dale brings up, you can use show control endlessly to make it flawless. I look forward to see how show control systems develop in the future and how we decide to implement them.
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