Sunday, November 02, 2008
Designing History | From the opening gavel at the Pepsi Center in Denver this past August, it was obvious this was going to be a very different Democratic Convention | Oct 2008
Live Design: "From the opening gavel at the Pepsi Center in Denver this past August, it was obvious this was going to be a very different Democratic Convention. That was exactly what the Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) asked for when Emmy Award-winning producer Ricky Kirshner and longtime Democratic Party strategist Mark Squier became executive producers. Kirshner and Squier assembled a top-notch creative team including production designer Bruce Rodgers, screens producer Allan Wells, and lighting designers Bob Dickinson and Bob Barnhart."
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7 comments:
It is very odd but extremely cool to hear about tech theatre used outside of theatre. although some people do not like this, i love how entertainment based our culture is and i love the the obama campaign realizes this and is reaching out. that set was awesome and it was reassuring to hear: "the set work for the people at the convention as an experience, but it also had to be a translatable experience to people watching" because the second debate had a real issue with this - its theatre in the round style and lame background were poorly translated to the audience at home. articles like this are not only cool but give me a lot of hope that i will be able to find a job.
The design of a campaign is very important to connect with the people.
Especially dealing with the Obama campaign he has a large demographic of young audiences so he needs these grand sets to appeal to them on another level. It is also a visual way to compare candidates.
...It's strangely reminiscent of Tsypin's MTV Music Awards in 1999 (? year).
One thing I can't stand about the race this year is the need to have people's faces either CG or actually placed behind candidates as they speak. It's distracting and just generally cheesy. But, I guess if one candidate stops doing it, the other can call him out on it and make up some dumb justification..
Most people's definition of theatre concerns actors, direction, sets, lights and an audience. They might mention thematic elements and the symbiotic relationship between performer and audience member. I think that since a convention has ALL of these theatrical elements, especially those of performance, it too should have the technical aspects of a performance. We are wrong when we limit theatre to the stage. It can be a sporting event, a speech and yes, a presidential convention.
This article shows that theater and the skills we are currently learning are relevant in many aspects of life. Right now we think of our lives as revolving around theater, but there's actually quite a lot of room to branch out once we graduate.
Theatre is unique in that the goal is to create realistic looking things to represent the things that they actually are. However, with these skills, half of the battle is already over. It is just a basic swap. Theatre is function following form while real life is form following function.
I really enjoyed hearing not only about the design procedure for this event but also the implementation of it. I found it really intriguing to look at how such a large event was pulled together. I worked with a firm over the last two years that provided scenic support for the 2004 DNC in Boston and just hearing about some of the things they did was incredible. Its amazing what you can do with an 'infinite' amount of money and resources.
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