PRACTICE 2: Lab 1

MA Digital Theatre

LAB 1

Proposal

For the first Lab my intention is to create a small sample of a physical theatre performance. The theme is based on the 5 Stages of Grief. I intent to create a series of small physical theatre performances, two Labs to be exact, in order to analyze and design digitally the strongest emotions that a loss of a loved one can cause.

The aim is to design this performance from the director’s/designer’s point of view in order to create a more intergraded approach that will help me to take my skills to a higher and more professional level.

I will create the set for this performance in a model scale 1:20. My idea is to design every element of this approach digitally and use the projection mapping techniques in order to present that. I will use still or moving digital projections, which I will design them, in order to create the lighting, the atmosphere, the text and its symbolism.
I will do the design and the performance of the choreography. I will record the choreography rehearsals in the green screen room and then I will use the editing softwares (after effect, premier, final cut) in order to analyze and translate the movement of the body.
I will project the results on the model surfaces with the form of a hologram.
Tools that I will need in order to experiment my idea are: Catalyst, Isadora, Kinect, Theatre lights with colored gels, the green screen room, 1 HD Camera for the recordings with the tripod, a Mac computer, a speaker, a cd player, 3 HD projectors, HDMI / VGA cables.

The time of this sample will last 10-14 minutes. Each of the 2 parts will have the same duration.

The objectives for this work are:

To use a series of editing conventions to add layers and depth and text to the movements of the body.
To create a digital lighting design in a form of a living organism that reacts and acts in relation with the emotions and the movements that the body can reveal.
To see how everything will be combined as whole piece.

DOCUMENTATION

The Process

The idea that I had in mind was to create a performance piece based on the 5 stages of grief. The reason that I chose this topic was because my research is focus on the embodiment of emotions by the digital design. My aim was to see if this exposure of strong and life changing feelings and thoughts were going to have an impact to others or to create a link with similar experiences that the audience had.

The image below is the Kübler-Ross model, or the five stages of grief, is a series of emotional stages experienced by survivors of an intimate’s death, wherein the five stages are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

When I saw that model I tried to find a way that I could translate it in shape or in a symbolism that could help me to create the story line for my piece. The following images are the step by step development of the idea, in order to define the set, the choreography, the atmosphere, the story.

The Set Design

The atmosphere of the space that I wanted to create was based on the aesthetics of an old basement with boxes.

The choice was a result of the feeling that I had experienced in my life. That moment, when a loved one passed away creates a significant "weight" in life of others. Creates obstacles like a "staircase".With every step to represent the fight with the pain and loss.

The following images demonstrate the development of the basement idea in combination with the structure of the Kübler-Ross model. I found this image on the internet and I played with its structure just to see how I can create the symbolism in the scenography.

I created a mirror effect with Photoshop of this solid staircase in order to create:

a: the staircase to the basement,

b: the Kübler-Ross model mirrored,

c: the emotional stages that lead to depression.

Next step was to define the texture for the set/the atmosphere. So I searched for“concrete walls” in Google and the following images are my final choices, which I used for the digital moving projections on the surfaces of the set.

1st Experiment

Set Design & Digital Projection

My first attempt building the idea. My aim was just to experiment on the idea and observe the impact that the projection could create in this space by using it as theatre lighting.

Model in scale: 1/25.

-I used only the front and the top projection for the experiments-

Front Projection

Projection as lighting source.

Front Projection

Mapping the body lines.

Top-Front Projection

Experiment: Adding different mapped layers of color and texture in order to see how they interact.

5 stages Model

5 stages Model in relation with the color and the structure of the set.

1st emotional stage

Digital line as the path of the emotional states. Created as the negative/mirror of the set design and the Kübler-Ross's model.

1st emotional stage

Digital line as the path of the emotional states. Created as the negative/mirror of the set design and the Kübler-Ross's model. Front Projection detail.

1st to 2nd emotional stage

Digital transition from the first to the second stage of grief.

Digital and Theatre Lighting

2nd Experiment

Set Design & Digital Projection

For the second and final result, I created a set which was based more in the Kübler-Ross model and the structure of the staircase that I did in Photoshop. I wanted it to be old and to feel that it has a history, a past. To feel like it is a basement like a limited space but also to give the essence of the unlimited perspective. That is why I kept the negative of the staircase cut-out, in order to create this endless emotional ups and downs.

Building the set

Building the set in relation with the dimensions of the human figure.

Building the set

The staircase was designed with a false perspective in order to create a depth on the stage.

Building the set

First experiment on the texture of the wall as if it was designed by a pencil like a quick drawing.

Building the set

First experiment on the texture of the wall as if it was designed by a pencil like a quick drawing.

Video Samples

2nd Experiment

Set Design & Digital Projection

Music

The music that I used for the piece was from the Max Richter’s album “Infra 2010″

Choreography

According to my research on Meyerhold’s exercises about ” Approach to Acting: non-naturalism”, I found very interesting the part where he mentioned about the Grotesque and its meaning in his techniques, which I found very close to my idea. I wanted to create something that will represent the deep feelings and meanings of my life changing experience in order to communicate it with the audience and create a simple abstract form that the audience can feel attached in a larger or in a smaller way.

Grotesque technique because of its large and long movements and gestures created the basic form for the choreography.

“The Grotesque is a style of contrasts which allows the actors to switch the audience from an emotion or understanding of what s/he has just seen to another which is totally unforeseen (Cutler, 2004, p.17). The Grotesque can be called the 'genre of surprise’ (Pitches, 2003, p.61) and Meyerhold used the contradictions in surprise to help disturb his audience by creating shifts and changes in the reactions to the performance. Pitches says that Meyerhold felt that The Grotesque should have the following unsettling qualities:

it mixes opposites: tragedy and comedy, life and death, beauty and ugliness
it celebrates incongruities
it challenges our perceptions
it is naturally mischievous, even satirical
it borrows from different (and unlikely) sources
it always has a touch of the diabolical, the devil’s influence
it stretches the natural to the extent that it becomes unnatural or stylized
it revels in fantasy and mystery
it is constantly transforming things: objects, figures, landscapes and atmospheres”

The following images demonstrate the movements that I used them as reference for my first attempt:

In physical theatre important role has the meaning of the object and its relationship with the body. A contact that creates for itself a strong language. For that reason I chose a heavy box as my object/symbolism, that refers to the emotional state of grief and loss.

The following images demonstrate parts of the choreography, recorded in a green screen, in order to edit it afterwards with After Effects software:

Green Screen Background

Green Screen Recording

Green Screen Editing

I used After Effects in order to create a total black background, so I could use it for the Pepper's Ghost projection technique.

Editing with After Effects

3rd Experiment

Pepper's Ghost Technique

“Pepper’s Ghost”

Is an illusion technique used in theatre, haunted houses, dark rides, and magic tricks. It is named after John Henry Pepper, a scientist who popularized the effect in a famed demonstration in 1862. It has a long history, dating into the 16th century, and remains widely performed today.

The 3rd's Experiment aim was to see how I could present the choreography of the performance in the model set with every designed element of the piece (projections/digital lighting, music).

The solution came with my tutor’s help, who reminded me the “pepper’s ghost” technique. The use of the reflection of my choreographed video on a transparent surface of glass/acrylic sheet in order to give the 3D illusion/hologram.

Pepper's Ghost Technique

Pepper's Ghost Technique with Digital Projections

Pepper's Ghost Technique

Pepper's Ghost Technique with Digital Projections

1st Lab PRESENTATION

For my 1sr Lab Presentation one of our tasks was to create a puplic event/show in order to present our ideas to an audience. The type of the audience could be my peers and the University students as long as they could give me a feedback for my project presentation, in order to develop it in the future.

The following image demonstrates the design of my public show invitation.

Lab Set Up

Front: The Glass Sheet in 45 degrees position in order to create the 3D illusion. My Laptop screen below for the front projection. Middle: The set model in scale1:25 Back: Back Projector HD Casio.