In response to Nivan's question about what I want him to be taking shots of, I wanted to dialogue a bit about the use of projections and videos in this play.
I think it's really important that in the production there is a consistency in the usage of video. So I pose this question: what are the possible reasons for using video?
Some reasons that I have come up with:
To show time and place, as marked in the script.
To enhance the setting (especially since, due to the number of scene changes, it will be difficult to add too much to each setting)
To show something that is happening outside of the real world (such as when Gabriel sprouts multiple arms). This reason is further divided into a few reasons. There are three different types of unreal occurrences - those of dreams (Jewel walking along the highway in Scene 0, and Sam's dream of Jewel and Gabriel in Scene 11), what I will title hallucinations because I don't know what else to call them (Rosalind/Sam/Young Man on street corner in Scene 2, Gabriel and Sam in a jazz club in scene 9, Sam's reflective monologue in Scene 11, the five Sams in Scene 14), and then just plain weird shit happening, such as when the dead Hank answers back or Not Jewel shouting out in the subway what Samantha has probably just read. Furthermore, there are recounts of dreams, such as Gabriel's of Zachary, which could be interesting to project during the retelling.
Are there any other possible reasons we could use video?
I definitely want to use video for the first two reasons, but I am torn on the last one (showing something that is happening outside of the real world). It will definitely be challenging to do some of the dream sequences, especially the Gabriel one, but I think the physical contact of Gabriel touching Sam is important. Also, since I definitely want the dream of Jewel to be live, I think the second one needs to be live as well. I think the "hallucinations" and weird shit can all be done live.
So how can we use video projections to enhance scenes? And if we do not use video to enhance every scene, should we find some other (technical) way to enhance each scene? Or maybe that's just overkill.
Here are some ideas (and when I say no ideas, that just applies to videos. I will talk about sound, etc. in more detail at a later date):
0. Path near the highway - Alex wanted a video of the path near the highway, but I wasn't able to get that footage while I was in New York. Ben, as busy as I know you are, would there be any possible way you could get that footage?
1. The apartment - no ideas
2. Street corner - how could we should that taxis are zooming by? We can use sound, and I actually did get some footage of taxis driving by that intersection (on a Canon point and shoot, so I don't know how good that quality would be). I wish we could have a very strong, very silent fan that could shoot air past the actors to simulate the wind from the taxis. But I think that idea is just way too grand.
3. The spa - projection of steam
4. Cemetery - no ideas
5. Magazine office - no ideas
6. Stylish eating establishment - no ideas
7. Library - no ideas
8. Multiple locations - no ideas
9. Internet cafe - we will need the typed words projected. This is very similar to the scene in Closer when the two men or chatting. How can we make it different? Is it necessary to make it very different?
10. The subway - I also took videos out the windows of the subway while I was in New York. Using those might be interesting. How else can we portray that they are on a subway? Obviously seating, sounds, how the actors move. This scene will need to be choreographed.
11. Seedy basement bar - projection of Sam's dream of Zachary?
12. Nearby the Hudson in Tribeca (sexy time scene) - no ideas
In between 12 and 13 we need to show that it is raining. I would like to get videos of rain to possibly use. Nivan - remember it is at dusk, if that is at all important to the filming of the rain. How else can we show it is raining? I would love to get her as wet as possible.
13. Maternity ward - no ideas.
14. Night club - videos of bodies together. Nivan, be a creeper, please. Also, we need to address the breaking of the disco ball. Obviously, we cannot actually break the disco ball, so how else can we create the same kind of effect?
15. Inside of a taxi - lights going by on either side, or behind them? Or projected over them?
16. Apartment - no ideas
17. The bed - no ideas
So let me know what you think. There is a lot of information here, don't feel like you need to address it all, just whatever sparks some thoughts or feelings within you.
Also, Ben, if you could speak a bit about the process of working with projections and lights, that would be wonderful.
This is Nivan's response
ReplyDeletethis is what i'm thinking as for video opportunities.
We need to figure out which projections of time and place and scene title to put.
i don't think the hallucinations need projections, but maybe in reheasal you might discover you neeed them for some. I definitely don't want video overkill in the show, and you have to have a very good reason to see someone projected instead of really there.
i would divide the video 'interference' in several categories
1. enacted scenes, with characters from the show (to be shot during the rehearsal process)
2. setting shots, designed to show the place
3. abstract shots, for emphasis. i think these would be nice if they were animated, or at least some of them (for example, when erik tries to explain jewel's article's idea in the magazine office, there could be an animation in the style of the patty smith drawings,maybe botched to match erik's failed attempt)
also this is very important : the more light there is, the less you see the projections. if they are on the play's surfaces (as opposed to screens or scrims) they will become almost invisible as soon as there is any light
here are some suggestions/questions:
do you want the scene 0 dream sequence to be projected or not?
5. magazine office - shadows of the other room's chaos?
6. Stylish restaurant - A.A.M. cold be projected, but it might be too complicated.
7. Library - we could project some patti smith stuff? abstract stuff and animations?
8. multiple locations - delineate with lights and lighting?
9. Net cafe' - easiest thing is to have the computer connected directly to a projector and the actor actually typing, with someone else actually chatting back. otherwise it could be pre-done, but i don't know if i can make it cueable, it might have to be a plain video track that gets paused to fit the time needs of the scene. but i think live is better.
10. Subway - this one would look great with rear projections, like of a receding tunnel, or of windows if you want the scene sideways.
11. i need to reread the scene, i don't remember the dream
12. i don't think anything is necessary, unless you want river stuff (say if it's in a tunnel near the river the ceiling could have projections as if light was being reflected there off the water)
scene 12/13 - rain looks amazing projected on a scrim, as if it were on a window pane. could we maybe have scrims like that in certain places, maybe as wings of flies, or on diagonals?
13. materity ward - nothing, i guess
Night club - i think the shots of bodies should be actual bodies writhing, like in the opening credits of brüno. have you seen it? that wold need to be shot with people willing to show some skin. i guess in their underwear. it can really be anyone, like a bunch of gay guys, cause you won't see faces or anything clearly really.
15. taxi lights above could work, or light of other cars behind them, in the distance. many things are possible here
16. do we need anything?.the apartment is not hallucinatory, it's very "real"
17. the bed ending - circle around the bed has to be a light. is that possibe? the writing and the arrow will be projected
And this is my response to that:
ReplyDelete"We need to figure out which projections of time and place and scene title to put."
What do you mean?
That's a really cool idea about the animation of the Patti Smith drawings, especially because I would like to show them to the audience, and I think that is a very clever way to do that.
Alex and I were discussing the possibility of the pathway being projected over Jewel as she walks along the stage, but how big could we get that projection? It would look silly if it only took up about half her body. Also, we need to get a video of that, which only Ben can do, unless someone else will be in New York, or we can find a place similar to that in Chicago. I don't even know what it looks like there, as I was not able to make it there in my 7 hours I was in New York.
I definitely want in enhance that office scene in some way to make it seem very chaotic. That idea could work.
I don't think we need A.A.M. projected, I would rather see her love. It also makes Samantha's job of responding easier, I believe.
Again, love the idea of projecting Patti Smith art.
Multiple locations - since most of it takes place outside, we will probably want to stick to using lots o' light.
I love that the easiest way for the internet cafe is for it to be real. People will be able to tell, and that is really awesome.
Subway - yes.
We need to figure out exactly where they are. Are they in a park? Behind a building? In an empty truck, reminiscent of the gay 80s?
Wings of flies? What?
I don't think we will have a problem finding people in the theatre department who are worried about showing a little skin.
In the apartment scene the projections will just be what is written in the script - what is going through Sam's head. But we need to think about how that is written. Does each thought pop up one by one? All together? Is it typed out? Do they overlap on top of each other as previous ones fade away?
Can the circle, arrow, and "You are here" not all be one projection?