TJ's Faustus Post-Mordem

Dr. Faustus was an exceptional show that exemplified excellent directing, superb acting, and some amazing visual effects.  Having worked on lighting and sound in a number of dance performances and plays, it was an amazing experience being a part of a tech team for a digital theatrical performance.  I had never worked on something like it before, and despite my background in digital software, it has proven to be one of the most stressful and most challenging style of performance yet.

The biggest contribution I made to the show would be the spinning celestial Fludd piece.  It was fun to work on because I had to use flash, a software that I do not use on a regular basis, to separate individual rings of a 2D picture.  After messing up with the resolution, I had to restart the whole project on a bigger scale which was tedious, but it allowed me to learn an easier and faster way to manipulate my piece.  It looked great on screen and I think I would have liked to add some glow to it and maybe a cloud of noise to look like it was spinning out in space.

Another part I made for the show were the devils used during the park scene.  It was difficult finding a man a woman devil that had similar textures and drawing styles.  I cut them out, as well as added a number of blurs, gradients, and colors not only to make them pop, but to look as scary as possible.  Afterward, they were given to Yejee, our personal After Effects genie, to make move along a path so that they could appear to flying across the screen.  When put into Isadora, I was a bit disappointed to see that a lot of shimmer was added to them which ruined majority of the detail I had put into them.  Luckily, the finished product implemented less shimmer and a point where they stopped so they were seen for a few seconds.

In addition to this, myself and Yejee both found storefronts to use for the street/downtown scene.  Yejee found the pictures and I would bring them into Adobe Photoshop and cut them out.  Yejee later posed the idea to Tom to place a wall behind all of the stores to tie them together.  After doing this, and watching the show, I wish I had taken out some of the wall that was left on on the stores because it was different brick.  Regardless I felt it still looked great, and it wasn’t anything majority of the audience really noticed.

Overall this has been a great opportunity, and I look forward to using some of the skills I learned to work over christmas and summer break.  Dr. Faustus is a classic for a reason, and it will definitely not be forgotten by me.

Serena Deshpande Postmortem

Serena Deshpande

Digital Projection Design

Fall 2013

Coming into this course, I had very little knowledge as to what digital projection was and only some experience in digital media. Digital Projection Design truly allowed me to gain hands on experience with the digital design process, familiarizing me with new programs such as Isadora, Gimp and Pd Extended just to list a few. Not only did I get the chance to work with and understand stimulating new programs, I was also able to experience working with a team of driven designers, like myself, to create a full production from start to finish. Over the course of the semester, I worked independently as well as alongside many of the other designers in the class to complete various projections and background images for the show.

Once the director, Paul, interpreted how he envisioned the play, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, I started sifting through images on Wallbase and selecting ones I thought would fit the theme appropriately. My first major contribution to the production was the Faustus Park scene. After finding the panorama online, I used Isadora to edit and add unique visual effects such as bloom, zoomer, HSL (hue, saturation, lightness) adjust and posturize. After the completion of the park scene, I worked on other projects to add to or tweak the show, many of which involved working as a team.

I realized that I genuinely enjoyed working with other students. Not only did we efficiently complete the tasks at hand, through observation we were able to teach one another what we did not know beforehand about the programs we were using. Terrence demonstrated some shortcuts in Photoshop and Yeejee showed how to animate an image in Aftereffects. With practice I know I can build from these techniques to acquire better skills with the programs for future reference. Like I stated earlier, majority of my later contributions involved cooperating with other designers in the class. I found the picture of the female demon that Paul had requested and told Terrence how to edit both male and female demons on Photoshop in order to make them visually appealing projections rather than simply two 2D images layered on top of a scene. I also found the image of the theater proscenium we used for intermission and with Terrence and Yeejee, helped remove the center with an alpha channel and layer mask on Photoshop. At one point, close to opening day of the production, I attempted fixing the rig of Mephistopheles using my knowledge of Maya when we had originally planned to create his character in real time.

During rehearsal week, when the design aspects were almost perfectly completed, I got the chance to experience working as a correspondence between the Acting directors and Digital Media directors. I took notes throughout the rehearsals on some scenes that needed to be slightly tweaked to match the performance. I also communicated with some of Paul’s assistants, noting down their feedback as well. 

Viewing the production on opening night was an amazing experience. I have to admit I was slightly nervous throughout the play but every projection performed perfectly and I believe the production was a success. Tom and Kevin did a fantastic job of hitting every key on point and the audience seemed to enjoy the show, I know I did. Overall, I believe I gained a lot more than I had originally had imagined through this course and I hope to continue the skills and friendships created throughout this semester.

Faust Postmortem

I focused a bit more on the audio side of ts production than the projection side, but I still feel like a got a good amount of time in both. However, before I get into what I did, I do want to say that a sincerely enjoyed the production as a whole. I think everyone involved did a great job and should be proud of their contribution to the project. Now, with that aside, what I was involved in:

First thing I remember doing was getting the set for the dorm. This was just an image I found online, but I was really excited about the resolution it turned out to be. Also, Tom's eventual clean-up and overall manipulation of the image was really cool and served as a perfect backdrop for the majority of the play. After getting that, I focused a lot on trying to find good backdrops for the play (as Paul had said that was most important). I found a few, but most were tossed or served as portions of already selected backdrops.

After getting through backdrops, I very briefly helped out with the scroll by finding an appropriate image online and applying an alpha layer to it for Yejee to use in After Effects. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out in the multiple scenes it was used in. Once that was finished up with, I helped out a little bit with the Kinect functionality which was ultimately botched (in minor ways; I mostly just tried to help with the rigging and utilization of the rabbit).

Once all of that was finished, I really tried to focus on the Clock Scene (or the Midnight Cacophony, as some liked to call it). This was a bit tricky, as we couldn't really get the precise timing down until we got to dress rehearsal. So, basically, I set about finding a good video of a digital counter (I was thinking maybe an analog clock, but given the setting thought this was inappropriate), and speeding it up or slowing it down depending on the speed of the video. Then, in Isadora, I set the video to stop and go at the push of a button. Initially, this was to give the ticking of the clock a disturbing, warped feel disconnected from reality, but it eventually worked out as a transition between Faustus' different lines. Speaking of, Pat and Tom really nailed the chaotic section of Faustus' monologue with their finishing touches. I just wish I had thought to do that earlier.

Also, during the play, I was in the control room handling audio. My job wasn't nearly as stressful as Tom's; it mostly consisted of making sure the fades occurred on time. For each transition, I had to fade manually (as there was no fade point due to the lack of knowing when a stage transition would end), but most automated fades were on point. The one time I remember messing up was the alarm at the end. The fault was half and half. I stopped it early because the track skipped due to incorrect looping. Basically, the audio sounded like a mistake and I didn't want that to happen again. But, in retrospect, I should've let Tom stop it as planned because the audience probably wouldn't have noticed. The actor recovered from my blunder perfectly however and all the audience saw was a prolonged black screen. I fixed the loop and the second night had no errors.

Again, I'm really pleased with how this production turned out, and I think everyone involved should be as well. It took a good amount of time, and I definitely learned something in the process. Really, what more could I want from a class? Hopefully, everyone else felt the same.

Synesthetic Sensory Stimulation

Dr. Faustus Postmortem

    The experience of helping to produce the image and audio content for Dr. Faustus with a diverse group was ultimately rewarding. Learning how the elements of the show evolved and fit together while being under a relatively tight deadline added to the experience. I became familiar with the Isadora program and how it behaved across different platforms and screens. To have a deadline and to negotiate around the desires of the director and constraints of the Isadora program made it apparent that having contingency options was very important. Out of necessity, we had to learn from mistakes quickly.
    One of the main elements I worked on was the dorm room. Kevin found the file and I took it and cleaned up the walls and either removed some features or covered them with other items. I added some books, a fraternity paddle, and a book shelf. The main feature of the room was the circular window which the set designer picked out. I replaced the glass and made the stone frame appear wooden so it would fit better in the room. I had to make alpha masks of the window and of the glass for certain gags to work. I had made simple masks for static scenes when leaning about Isadora, but I found that using the same technique did not work for more dynamic in scene gags and transitioning between scenes. The masks required some adjustments. In hindsight, I would have worked on the entire file more carefully from the beginning rather than doing things quickly in order to test them in Isadora. I would have also offered more previews as the file progressed to get feedback. The dorm would also have benefited from a higher quality file to work with. 
    The next scene I worked on was the club scene. This backdrop was a manipulation of a picture I took close to my house. I created a mask for the sign and to play a video of a neon sign found on videopong.com. I also added the lounge through the windows and a couple of bar signs with masks and more neon videos. Like the dorm, I found that there were some discrepancies between how the projection looked on the big screen and my computer, and I had to make some quick adjustments.
    For the vatican and throne rooms I just took found images and did a feathered erasure around the image so that they would blend better when projected.
    The merchant scene was a group effort. I found two store fronts and cut them out with Alexis’ help. I blended one and turned it into a bar. Yejee found a sign for a Wine bar and I added that in Isadora. Yeejee and Terrance found the other store fronts and cut them out. Yeejee also suggested that we use the brick wall as a background to tie everything together.
    I also worked in control room during the show and cued all the gags, scenes, and transitions. This was fairly tense and every run-through we did during tech week was necessary to get into sync with the stage director. Changes, though relatively minor, were made on both nights of the performance. There were a couple of minor miscues, but I think that everything went well all things considered.
    I am looking forward to gaining more experience with Isadora and learning which adjustments should be made prior to importing into the program and and which should be made inside it. The experience of participating in the production of a staged performance will aid in knowing how to conduct more through file management and improve work flow in the future projects.





   
   

Isadora With PD

Here's a cool video that demonstrates the flexibility of Isadora in linking with Pure Data.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vm7WES79Ymg

Dr. Faustus Review

With Pat, it was my first time working as a group for a projection design for a play. As a telecomm. production major, I haven't quite had a chance to work on this kind of project before. At the beginning of the semester, it was a challenge to learn about the program, Isadora and VJ program, and it was hard to tell what I will be achieving by learning the programs. However, throughout the semester, we worked our ways up to a big group project with actors and our director, Paul. When I finally could see the big picture of where it was all going, it turned out to be very interesting. I definitely learned a lot about how it is like to work as group for a big project like this in many ways, such as in social aspect and corporative aspect. But I finally watched the play. Dr. Faustus on the opening night, I was so nervous worrying if everything will go smoothly as one of the projection designers. I felt as if everyone who worked on the play felt the same, and I think we all did at one point during the show, in fact. I spent a lot of time making parts of the play on my own time. By doing so, I taught myself little bit of After Effects and more about Premiere Pro which I plan to expend my studying on. I was very glad that all of my gigs were used in the play including, the opening (initial F for Dr. Faustus), zooming into vatican, the contract with devil, scrolls for those who brought the show into reality, and axle tree video that was used in the background. Especially, with help of Pat and Tom's tweaking, everything fit together at the end. I was very proud of what we have created, and the show was a big success in no doubt.    

Mapping Example

http://vdmx.vidvox.net/tutorials/the-making-of-pirelli-projection-mapping-by-recipientcc

Dorm Window

Below are several options for the church inspired rose window for Faustus' dorm room. I have several options (I'm still looking for an indoor version of the second- I think it might work best if found).
If you find that one of these works better or the size isn't large enough let me know and I'll adjust the size of images I'm looking for. 

Also let me know if uploading them like they are changed the sizes and I can email them to anyone!

Backdrop and their respective page numbers.

Dorm

Page 1-5

Outside club

5-6

Dorm

6-9

Outside (Park)

9-11

Dorm

11-20

Vatican

21-23

Outside Merchant’s Shop

23-25

Throne 1

25-30

Throne 2

30-31

Dorm

31-END

Clock and other backgrounds

Dorm Picture

Dr. Faustus logo and color palette

Here's the logo that I've been working on After Effect. 

This is the first library color palette I did on photoshop.

Here's a second one 

And this is hell color palette 

I thought I would show what I've been working on 

Backgrounds

Hey guys,

I apologize for the tardiness of this post, but the following is the list of settings we need to create.

1. Dorm room
2. Outside Club
3. Outside (park/campus)
4. Throne Room A
5. Throne Room B
6. Church (Vatican)
7. Outside Merchant Shop

Let me know if you guys have any questions.

Sincerely,

Paul

Ideas for Club and Park Backdrops: Dry

"Throne Room" and Church images to cull through. Raw from Wallbase.

More Color Palette Image Inspiration and My Quick Color Pallete

In addition to Hieronymus Bosch's works, I would suggest doing a Google search for "H.P. Lovecraft artwork" and check out some of these creations. There is a great amount of dark imagery with some excellent greens.

Sound

Hey guys,  I just wanted to share with you some of the preshow music. These songs have directly inspired Faustus and will give you a good feel as to the "feel" of the play. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORAc_hx33-Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UflfdRnrNbg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isVrEaav6ig
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV_94f3CsPQ

Here is a picture of one of the circles I made... I understand from the conversation today that you'd like a pentagram inside so I will redesign by probably replacing the triangles with it... but here you go.

The left is a straight on shot and the right is how it would look when drown on the ground. (And I do plan on making it symmetrical, but I'll do this on the computer).

Cool Task with OpenGL

I thought this was pretty cool last night...

http://www.gamedev.net/topic/646999-mapping-opengl-coordinates-to-screen-pixels/

OpenGL Adds Power To Isadora.

OpenGL(Open Graphics Library) is a 2D and 3D graphics API(application programming interface) that brings thousands of applications to a wide variety of computer platforms. It is window-system and operating-system independent as well as network-transparent. OpenGL enables developers of software for PC, workstation, and supercomputing hardware to create high-performance, visually compelling graphics software applications, in markets such as CAD, content creation, energy, entertainment, game development, manufacturing, medical, and virtual reality. OpenGL exposes all the features of the latest graphics hardware. OpenGL greatly eases the task of writing real-time 2D or 3D graphics applications by providing a mature, well-documented graphics processing pipeline that supports the abstraction of current and future hardware accelerators.

The API is typically used to interact with a graphics processing unit(GPU), to achieve hardware-accelerated rendering. Graphics processors are massively parallelized devices optimized for graphics operations. To access that computing power adds additional overhead because data must move from your application to the GPU over slower internal buses. Accessing the same data simultaneously from both your application and OpenGL is usually restricted. To get great performance in your application, you must carefully design your application to feed data and commands to OpenGL so that the graphics hardware runs in parallel with your application. A poorly tuned application may stall either on the CPU or the GPU waiting for the other to finish processing.

Thanks to the enormous graphics processing power in todays' GPUs, FreeFrame 1.5 plugins using OpenGL run at much higher resolutions and frame rates than older FreeFrame 1.0 plugins. With OpenGLs' 3D functions and pixel shader programs, many new and exciting visual effects are possible.


Sources:
Wiki OpenGL
Mac Developer Library
The Khronos Group
FreeFrame

What we need

Hey guys,

I hope all is going well. The following is a list of designs that we need for Faustus. Please review them, and start coming up with some ideas. I'll be at the production meeting tomorrow if anyone has questions. Enjoy your day!

-Paul

1. Backdrops (Dorm, Throne Room, ect.)
2. Balliol and Belcher (grotesque demons)
3. Good/ Bad Angel (silhouettes)
4. Meph. (Prior to appearing as an attractive female)
5. Pentagram and summoning spell
6. Latin Text
7. All spells
8. Intro screen (pre show)
9. Lucifer's fall (demons falling from heaven)
10. Sphere's of heaven.

I'll post any more that I think of.

MORE ISADORA TUTORIALS

Hello Everyone, i am just adding some links for tutorials of Isadora programming from people who i either know or ones that i think will be of use to you all. Graham is know as VJskulpture and he is extremely friendly and helpful with Isadora issues and always offers some idea or solution to think about when you are working on an Isadora show. http://vjskulpture.wordpress.com/category/isadora-tutorials/

This is just an example of something I have already shot. It's a complete 360 spherical pano , which is over kill, maybe, but it's a starting point.

Dr. Faustus Atmopsheric Photos Part 2