BPMC Speaker Spotlight: Adam Dunaway of Digital Stage Chicago to Participate in Broadway Projection Master Classes

One of the featured speakers at the Live Design Broadway Projection Master Classes in New York on Thursday, May 21 is Adam Dunaway of Dunaway Designs and Digital Stage Chicago (DSC), which Dunaway launched in conjunction with Joe West, with whom he has worked closely (if not almost solely) with for over eight years. “We built our studio—Digital Stage Chicago—in late 2006 to explore digital lighting prior to putting it forth on our events,” says Dunaway.

“Over the past two years, it has become a place where many designers visit to also explore and discuss current technologies for their designs. While we own much of the equipment, we also seek new equipment directly from manufacturers who desire us to gain a solid understanding of what they offer,” says Dunaway. DSC is outfitted with both ESP Vision and Wysiwyg, High End Systems DL.2 digital lights, and Axon media servers, as well as Green Hippo Hippotizer Stage v2 and Hippotizer HD v3 media servers, Philips/Color Kinetics LED systems and Wholehog 3 and MA Lighting grandMA consoles.

Dunaway will discuss some of his recent productions, including a Digital Stage Chicago show produced by Plexus Productions LLC for Ethicon, in March 2009 at the Gaylord Texan in Dallas, Texas. The principal designer was Joe West, with Dunaway as associate, Joe Merrill as graphic designer and Ronnie Chavez as technical director.

“The rig consisted of High End DL.3 units mounted around the outer parameter of the ballroom,” says Dunaway. “The design idea evolved from an earlier event we did last year for Novartis featuring another 360-degree video surround using similar equipment. The graphic designer was plugged directly into High End’s CMA application to quickly edit and upload graphics onsite.”

The rig also included eight High End DL.2s, two Axon media servers, two Christie LX650 6K projectors, 15 Martin Professional MAC 2000 Wash units, 22 ETC Source Four ellipsoidals, six Source Four PARs, and a Wholehog 3 console. “The show was mocked up and pre-visualized at Digital Stage using our DL fixtures,” says Dunaway. “We then only update focus positions and build collage onsite.” Setup and tech were in the same day; the show ran the following morning and strike was that afternoon.

For complete information about the BLMC, BSMC, BPMC, all taking place at NYU the week of May 15-21, plus course descriptions, information about low-cost housing at the NYU dorms, and online registration visit the complete Broadway Master Classes website on Live Design Online.