Video Projection: The Evolution

Hi class, my name is Jay and I'm a third year, marketing major. My plan is to make it into the video game industry as a marketing field rep. Thus, I figure taking these digital arts classes will help me understand the industry better and how the people work in it. First impression of this class is that it seems complicated, but I'm going to trust Pat that if I can understand this first part, everything else will be smooth sailing, which brings me to discuss our first article reading.

First of all, I never knew video projection was considered an art form. I just thought of it as a way to make screens really big for large crowd-viewing purposes. I like how video projection contrasts with traditional art forms such as 2D displays on a canvas. The fact that the beauty of video projection lies in what you see and that it continually changes to tell a story as opposed to analyzing a still image. It's a lot more thrilling to say the least. However, video projection can also be very abstract as Gary Hill demonstrated through his piece, Tall Ships. I'd like to call it moving art just because it seems fitting. Today, art has branched out so far and I feel as if traditional art has lost its prominence, but video projection seems like a promising field in this generation.

It's funny how video projection started centuries ago with the Magic Lantern, and how it was basically used to troll people. The wikipedia article even states that Johann Georg Schröpfer tricked people by depicting spirits of revolutionary figures with the magic lantern mounted on a trolley. Maybe this is where the term, "trolling," comes from. Anyhow, it's just amazing how they came up with this device back in the 17th century and how it has progressed since then. Here is a picture:

Introduction, Magic lanterns and the Emergence of Video Projection

Hi guys,

I'm Wes Rodriguez, a senior Telecommunication production major, who's interests are in photography and film. I really look forward to becoming a Director of Photography for motion picture or television in the future. I'm using this class to explore a different niche in digital media and presentation through projection. Hopefully I'll take these skills with me in my future career.
The Magic Lantern is one of the earliest types of projectors developed in the 17th century. The lantern has a concave mirror in front of a light source that gathers light and projects it through a slide with an image scanned onto it, much like what you see with digital cameras today.



The Emergence of Video Projection talks about how video projection has evolved since its early stages of film projection and how many businesses have adopted video projection into their presentations and locations. A very interesting article that elaborates on the artistic element of projection and how projection differs from photography and film in terms of consciousness. It brings up a valid point because when I see visually stunning display of images interlaced with music, I'm taken to a different place in your mind. As an example, listening to ambient trance music gives some people relaxation and triggers happiness and soothing emotions. The visual artistic projection then allows the listener to go through a "passage of time." A way to leave one's current state of mind and feel the music. It's the beauty of video projection that you can define your own artistic passage and share it in a way others can enjoy.

Introductory Blog and the Magic Lantern

Hello Class,

My name is Nathan Dolorfino, and I am a fourth year History major without a specific concentration. I am taking Projection Design because I have a deep interest in digital arts and media, and in spite of the major I hope to be designing video games one day. Now that I have briefly introduced myself, Professor Pagano asked us to blog about this little thing below.
















That “thing”, as most of you probably know by now, was called the “Magic Lantern”. The Magic Lantern was an early image projector made in the 17th century. It used a light source, a slide with a printed image, and a concave mirror to focus the light to produce an enlarge projection of the image on the slide. While simple by today’s standards of digital projection the same principle is still found in classrooms throughout the United States, i.e. overhead projectors. Since that point we have evolved image projections into fully animated images, provide a depth of field to the audience, and wow them with spectacles of three dimensional images projected in space before them. Nevertheless, it is humbling to know that all our projection media today came from something as simple as casting shadows on a wall at a campfire.

Here’s a video talking about the MosAika Sound and Light Show at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, CA. This is just an example of Projection Design and how far we have come.



Another Example is the Vocaloid concerts in Japan.



Regarding the paper we read as a class, "The Emergence of Video Projection", I found it to be an excellent introduction to the idea of Projection Design and its relationship to art. The author attempts to point out the artistic merits of video projection by explaining its uniqueness as a medium. One of the explanations that really intrigued me being a history major was the authors comparison of single frame classical art forms such as paintings with video projection. The author states that classical paintings and sculpture required an understanding of the stories and myths behind them in order to gain an appreciation for the works, and that without that understanding one relied on symbols and features to try and interpret the work. Video on the other hand provides the artist control of the story and thereby the intended meaning is conveyed better to the audience. While I do enjoy paintings and sculptures, I have to agree with the author in that video does provide accessibility to audiences beyond its time in the way it is able to convey an intended narrative. Paintings and sculptures on the other hand can have relative meanings to the audience if the work is not fully framed in its period very well. This article has really shown me how video projection is in itself a true art form.

While reading this article, all of you have probably come across the names of different artist of this medium cited by the author. One of my favorite of the bunch was Bill Viola. Though I could not find the exact works cited in the article by Bill Viola online, I came across a few nonetheless. I particularly liked his works called "The Reflecting Pool". It uses simple effects by today's standards, but it still interest me how he was able to tell a narrative through the focal point of the video, which was a pool of water.



Well, that all I have to say for now. See you all in class.

-Nathan D

Reggie Wilkerson

Hey Guys, my name is Reggie Wilkerson and I'm a senior Digital arts and Science major in the college of engineering. This is my second class with the digital worlds institute but will be my third project with them. Being a DAS major, I work mostly in the low level programming like C++ (OpenGL) and java but have developed an interest in video making and editing over the years. I want to go into 3D animation ( movies or television) so I look forward to presenting a few of those ideas with a different medium like projections.

To say the least, I thought the article was interesting. Clearly the best line in the whole thing was the last "That may be because video is still too young for art history." Throughout the article I felt the writer was trying to define this fairly new genre with wishy washy descriptions of Artist works. They would comment on how the style has evolved but then say some of the artist would use a contemporary style but because it was so contemporary it was not at all. Granted the article does make a lot of relative points about how advancement of technology has allowed artist to explore more venues and present things in interesting ways but (maybe its just me) I did not think it was well organized.

I guess what I'm getting at is, I do not think one opinion is ever enough to make something concrete. I like Alexa's comment on how it does not have to tell a story but at the same time why can't it. Or why can't you just present a story in a new, visually stunning way. Artist style stays the same until someone breaks the mold and starts a new trend. I believe digital projection is not limited to that definition because it can be almost anything and not stick to some rules or guidelines. This takes me back to the "Magic Lantern" reading where it could used to scare people. Projection is just so incredibly diverse that we can evoke a wide range of emotions.

Tim Difato

Hey guys, I'm Tim Difato. I have worked on several projection designs in the past on multiple screen formats and sizes. Majority of my design and work is video based and comes out of after effects so it is crucial that I learn how to present my work professionally through any medium. (i.e Television, internet, projectors etc.)

I found the article very interesting and with a lot of good insight on a new an emerging medium, projection design. I enjoyed the idea of relating this form of art to the classical pieces such as paintings and sculpture. The article discussed the idea that traditional art, (paintings, drawings) required some form of pre existing knowledge to adequately receive and interpret the story being told from the art. (As well as a post or pre show discussion by the artist). This makes the traditional (canvas based) form of art very difficult to tell a story, unlike other mediums such as video, projections and even novels which can use frames or a linear timeline to layout the story being told. I enjoyed this analysis as I have never looked at those pieces of art in that way.

The main purpose of the article was showing how projection design is not as much about the tangible "art", (by analyzing a free standing piece such as a sculpture) but rather being immersed in the experience. Projection design allows artist to tell stories by creating an environment for the spectator to walk into experience the story.

This was a very interesting piece and I look forward to further discussion.

Tim

Hello Everyone, my name is Alexa Henderson and I am signing in to the Digital Projection design portal... I am excited about this course and hope to create a music visualizer that can be projected during a live music performance at the REVE at the end of the semester (with Pat's permission of course... =)

The paper, "The Emergence of Video Projection", was a good introduction to the concept of video projection and to some of the important artists of the medium. I personally found the work of Bill Viola (Room for St. John's Passage, The Sleep of Reason) and Peter Campus (Three Transitions) to be most interesting and cohesive as visual experiences, or ideas.

The paper's likening of video projection to classic forms of art, ie painting and sculpture, was an interesting insight, in that projection design does not seek to tell a story, but is more akin to evoking an experience. Video projection also lends itself similarly as painting and sculpture do, to the ranks of contemporary art, an educated echelon "steeped in modernist doctrine", who enjoy high culture and disdain base commercialism. In short, video projection is a legitimate form of art that is still young in its emergence.