Long awaited update...

it has been a long time, i know.
more than a week , which is bad, but i have a lot to talk about. I might even break this up in to two posts.

LDI

for those of you who dont know i was in Vegas at LDI from Tuesday until yesterday. or was it friday... it was a bit of a blur.
Iwent to LDI to take the projections master class taught by Bob Boniol, and it completely changed the way i look at video as a form of art. It has also made me think of changing my focus to be more towards the video and media aspect of theatre, that is not to say i wont still design lights, but i think Video might be the way i want to go.
one designer of note is Pablo Molina, he teaches at Calarts and works with Bob at Mode studios
Pablo designed video for a show that was going on in new york. the show was called Abacus. What impressed me most about this show was, the way he designed the control. Pablo built his own media sever, which was controlled by by a Wiimote that was held by the main character.

it made me realize that as a designer you dont just need to think of the content but also the control and the way the actors can interact with the control and media. This can turn the projections from digital scenery to basically another performer on the stage.

Peter pan 360

we went to See peter pan 360 on Tuesday.
i was realy looking forward to this production, not only because i love the story and im a big kid at heart, but because the show was done in the round with projections projecting on to a 360 degree surface above the audience. content wise the projections were a bit childish, but its to be expected since the target audience is kids.
the video was used to basically be the stage, and there were 4 backdrops, there was the nursery, the pirate ship, the forest and the lagoon. and the video would change sometimes depending on the scene. for example when peter and the kids first fly off leaving the nursery the projections become a flying tour of london, while the actors are raised in to the air.
there were about 10 or 12 barco 10000 lumen projectors at the base of the stage creating the interactive video.

one thing i found very impressive was the lighting designers use of mirrors. since the only good place to hang moving lights was at the top of the circus tent. this would make most low angle shots impossible, but what he did was put mirrors around the outer circle of the tent. therefore he was able to make almost any shot possible, despite having a limited hanging position.

Photomerge

been experimenting with photomerge when i have some spare time.
it basically does panoramas for you, which is convenient, but i have been trying to do a big photo with all the dancers in 9, but its not working out exactly how i expected...
perhaps this warrants more trial.
heres the one i did of the players theatre during tech weekend