Song of Ronan
Progress
We’ve been plugging away, trying all sorts of different approaches. Here’s a bit of a recap, then latest steps. We’ve gotten to the point of a working prototype, albeit with some divergence from the initial plan.
We moved on from our initial kinetic sculptor prototype team, when it was clear they weren’t going to get us where we needed to be. We spoke with several D.P.s (Directors fo Photography - they know light and cameras and rigging inside and out), and with a couple of fabricator/art director types from TV commercial world. One of them said he could build us a prototype for $75,000, not including materials, which would run about $45K more, so, um, nope. Then I called my old friend Nathaniel Akin, who’s an animator and industrial designer, and he went down several different paths to find a solution. He came up with an alternative idea that’s very cool, and scalable, and relatively inexpensive.
So I recommend we use Nathaniel’s ALT rig as our working prototype. I’ll continue creating content for projection: I’m imagining about 3 looping clips per ‘movement’ so we can give an idea of story progression, and to leave room to develop from those broad strokes. I’m hoping there’ll be some music to work from, but OK to work ahead if not. And we should talk about likely soft-launch dates at the MUN music school, and what potential paths there may be to funding the next stages.
Early tests
Recap of three stages along the way
Update: Bad News
Here’s Nathaniel Akin with his earlier working prototype, which is very true to Eadward Muybridge’s original Zoopraxiscope: two discs revolving in opposite directions, one with images, the other with slits that work as shutters.
Here’s the trouble: it’s a rig that works great in salons with small audiences where you don’t need a ton of light, but there’s just no way to get the light bright enough to work on a larger stage, particularly one with lit music stands and ambient lighting, and with enough throw to make the imagery legible to a large audience. Tried a bunch of tricks, super bright lights, light-magnifying lenses, you name it.
VERY cool that it works, VERY disappointing that it doesn’t work for the show.
Update: Good News
Nathaniel’s semi-digital solution. He’s solved the brightness problem by using a projector, and the simplicity and contrast of the imagery means we don’t need an expensive projector. In fact, a small portable one will work fine, so that gives us the mobility and flexibility we need on stage.
Yes, it’s disappointing that we’re not able to use a simple light and lens - there’s a beautifully analogue feel to that idea - but he HAS retained the hand-cranked element. The hand crank turns a rotary encoder, which connects to a computer and drives playback speed and direction. His device loads image sequences from a USB stick to a Raspberry Pi (pared back mini-computer developed to help kids learn to code, so it’s cheap and super functional).
The result: a portable device that will work in performance. The operator will be able to adjust playback speed in response to the musicians, and choose when to load sequences in response to natural shifts in performance timing.
It won’t have quite the steam punk legitimacy of the original conception, but it will be an on-stage presence with visual interest, able to respond to blowing fabric and staging needs. Having three of these on stage, variably filling the fabric set with moving images, will help give a feeling of community, and add an interesting performative layer to the piece.