Los Angeles Times: For weeks, Finn Ross had been tinkering with one of the most important elements of “Frozen,” then a Broadway-bound musical with a tryout run in Denver. Those seated for the initial preview performance back in 2017 surely adored the Disney movie; they knew every lyric, every character, every line. At that point, could anything about this story surprise them?
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The one time we learned media in before declaring, was the difference between media that is integral to storytelling, and media that is simply for spectacle. It appears as though Ross, Frozen’s media designer has achieved that happy balance between those two concepts. The images provided in the article showing Elsa “freezing” the kingdom within seconds is pretty amazing, and without that media effect, the audience may not find her powers as “believable” as with it. This article also touches on the fact that the use of media can also cater to a younger audience that is much more technologically savvy - which I definitely think is true. The projection designer for Anastasia mentions that he studies films to get his projection designer inspiration for theatre. I find it so interesting how theatre came way before film and now theatre makers are studying films to make better theatre. Oh how the world works in mysterious ways.
A few weeks ago I got to meet the projection designer of Anastasia and got to ask him some questions about why we chose projection design over say lighting. It was very interesting to hear him talk about the drastic and subtle differences between the two. He also mentioned that theater used to be a hobby of his and when it became his work his connection with the art became different. He said that it is sometimes a little sad to be unable to go into a show and just watch it for the story (saying now he sees all the technical elements. good and bad). I had seen Anastasia at the Kennedy Center in DC and the designs were honestly amazing and helped move the story (he found a great line between storytelling and adding projection just to look pretty). On the same trip that I got to meet Aaron Rhyne (the projection designer), I also got to see Frozen on broadway and the projection design was truly amazing. I don't think frozen would have been a success without the added technical element. All of the icy and snow effects where so well-timed and thought out! It was very interesting to see how the lighting design and the projection design came together to tell a cohesive story. Some times I did think that projection was overused but I understood why the production chose projections over scenery (MONEY).
Media and Projection design is far and away the fastest growing design and technical field in the industry, overtaking automated lighting and LED technologies in my opinion. Clearly, designers are really starting to get a hold of the capabilities of projections and how they can function in a theatrical environment for both subtle and spectacle (very much in the same way lighting designers or even scenic designers approach a production). What I have seen as a consequence to this, however, is that many are trying to pull projection design off with an office projector in the regional and community level. I think people are now getting far too caught up in whether they can do something no matter how mediocre it may be instead of asking whether they should be doing it at all. Take Alexander Dodge, the LD for Anastasia. I had the privileged of working with him on a production where we bounced light of a reflective surface to create a northern lights illusion. This could have been done using projections, but the effect was just as impressive without them. This isn't to say that I am excited to see where the field goes, but I think it is important we don't bite off more than we can chew when it comes to projections and theatre.
This article somehow points out so many different parts of projection design and kind of dives deep into what it does for our industry and what its continuing to do in terms of innovation and capability of theatrical practices. I am a strong supporter of projection when its made to to innovate as art, and serve its purpose as a theatrical element on stage. Something that this article does talk about is the incorporation of film and tv within theatre, which is very fitting for the Los Angeles Times. I don't necessarily like that take on using projections, you shouldn't be using projections as a replacement for traditional scenic elements, but rather using it as a method of storytelling. I hope shows that continue to use projections, I hope they take advantage of the artistic aspect, because it could end up being rather detrimental to the art itself when its just cheap and random videos that are just obvious and leave nothing to the imagination.
This article is a treasure trove of information. From the glancing discussion of The Who’s Tommy and it’s first major contribution to projections and the amount of work it took, to the discussion on how projections can help shape and cost save on touring productions, to the stunning gifs from Frozen and Anastasia. I am a firm believer of projections helping save time, money, labor, and also truly creating a stunning and masterful world on stage for audience members. My undergrad is known for using it’s projection design (actually all done by our professor of opera who is entirely self-taught out of a necessity to save money and an eye for technology) with new operas who had their premieres at major opera companies (Minneapolis, Santa Fe, Houston, etc) to major budgets—and then composers couldn’t get people to remount their shows because people thought those major budgets were needed for the show and they couldn’t justify the cost. At Moores Opera Center, they have a reputation for unit sets with stunning projections that can stand up to the original extravagant set designs—for a fraction of the cost. I also think of one spectacular moment in Florencia de Amazones from Moores where at the end the lead, finding out she is quarantined in the dock of a foreign country which has been ravaged by the actual plague leaving the ship no food, no gas, and no ability to move on, and realizing that this was her one chance to see her lover who may actually be dead, “Dies” and turns into a butterfly in some act of movie magic. This had been something from the costumes and scenery departments working together in past productions to try to make this work but in our production it was all projections working very carefully with lighting. I still get goosebumps thinking about it. That soprano turned into a damn butterfly. You cannot convince me otherwise. It was so beautifully and tastefully done. In that same production I could’ve sworn the boat was actually on water—and moving past trees. Projections as a department is so important in theatre today and I’m excited to see where it continues to go.
Projections are a great design tool for theater. However, I would be concerned about saying regional theater should use projection in the same way as Broadway. Technology is moving so quickly that buying the “best” projector today, could be outdated in a few years. Also, you need specialized people. I would be curious to know how many people worked on the Frozen projections to get them to the caliber of Broadway and Broadway tours and what their experience is. I think telling regional theaters to invest in projection may be ahead of the technology and I would be hesitant to take that advice. That being said, it may very well change touring shows. Reducing the number of trucks that a show tours with and install time would decrease the cost of touring productions, as that is a large expense. However, I think, at least for now, this level of projection work may be reserved for high caliber large budget theater.
This article was incredibly interesting and informative. I'm in media stagecraft right now, so it's so cool to see real life applications of the principles we are learning in that class. I saw Anastasia on Broadway and the projection design stood out because it was able to transform the stage, somehow without looking incredibly tacky in any way. The scene where they are on the train definitely stood out, as well as ones depicting the fires of the Romanov castle. I think that the projections in Anastasia created a much different theatrical than it could've been if it lacked projections. I feel like everything in this article is good use of media design, whereas we have shows like Mean Girls that is honestly just overkill. Because the industry is moving so much towards media design, I hope they get a category at the Tony's lol. Also, I like the projections in Dear Evan Hansen but I definitely think they can be distracting sometimes, because they are so busy on an otherwise pretty empty stage. They are visually stunning though. I think that just contributes to what the Frozen designer was saying about trying not to overtake the entire show, but contribute to the experience as a whole.
There is an obvious difference between media design for the sake of the buzzword and the fancy technology, and media design that serves a purpose in the storytelling and is the best choice for the production. Incorporating technological advances into theatre seems to be the obvious step in this day and age, especially when they can save precious real estate on touring productions. But media systems must also be designed to within an inch of their life, more technology means more possible points of failure for the system and more specific technological knowledge needed by the crew. I think there is a danger in going completely overboard with media and replacing virtually all scenery with it, as Mean Girls is often criticized to have done. But according to this article, Frozen seems to warrant the grand scale of media design and technology used, many of the magical effects would not be possible or believable without it.
I haven’t always been a fan of projections. I adore traditional scenery—I love the tangibility of the pieces, the visible 3-dimensional texture seen from the back of the house. But, I will admit, as the technology grows and evolves, projections are definitely getting better. From what I remember, when they started to grow in popularity, it seemed like projections were getting thrown around, just to “show off”, in a way. It’s really interesting and encouraging to hear Finn Ross say that as a projection designer now, that it’s not his goal to make the projections the star of the show. I think the collaboration between traditional scenery and projections is something beautiful and special—when projections are used to take the show where scenery couldn’t before. I will say, I think my opinion was scarred after seeing Mean Girls. I love Scott Pask but I very much disliked the use of the video screens to replace almost all scenery. Yikes. I really appreciated the quote from this article, “projection design has unlocked new storytelling possibilities for theatermakers”. I feel like this is the pinnacle of the intentions behind good projections, and it helps me to keep an open mind towards them.
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