William Shakespeare’s comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream has long presented a challenge to theatrical directors and technicians because much of the story takes place in the twilight of dreams. If not presented well, the illusion necessary for the show’s effect can be ruined.
Kent McQuilkin, a 3D animator, took on that challenge recently when the University of Tennessee’s Clarence Brown Theatre enlisted him to create 3D visualizations for the play. Using Maxon Cinema 4D, he was able to bring A Midsummer Night’s Dream to life on stage in new ways. “I was interested in learning traditional theatre and how it was being altered by 3D projection,” says McQuilkin, who took a course with the theatre’s in-house production and sound designer, Joe Payne. “Joe understood about working with lighting and integrating all that with the story.”
MidSummerNights Beginning C4D from Kent McQuilkin on Vimeo.
McQuilkin, who teaches animation at Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville, has been using Cinema 4D for about 16 years. Knowing his previous work, as well as his book, Cinema 4D: The Artist’s Project Sourcebook, the theatre offered him the job as the play’s projections coordinator, which meant working closely with director John Sipes, scenic designer Christopher Pickart, and lighting designer John Ambrosone. “What I was able to do for them was to bring a new kind of experience into their set design, using 3D animation and keeping the set alive,” recalls McQuilkin.
With projections running from the moment the audience entered the theatre, the set never went dark, creating the kind of immersive environment the theatre had hoped for. “We had a front projector, two side projectors, and a very powerful rear projector, and they all ran continuously through the show,” McQuilkin explains. The theatre’s projectors include a rear 10K Epson PowerLite Pro Z8255, for this production shot through a 24'x27' standard gray RP screen from Rose Brand; a 7K Epson PowerLite Pro Z8050 with 1.35-2.5:1 zoom lens for front-projection; and two 4K Epson PowerLite Pro G5500s for side-projection, each at approximately 20° to 30° angles from the side walls. The side walls were muslin-covered hard flats, painted blue. “I was able to create effects that people hadn’t seen before, like interactive simulations and true 3D spatially-designed backdrops that had elements that were in some level of constant motion. This kept the backgrounds alive without distracting attention from the key performances of the actors,” McQuilkin adds.
MidSummer Night's Dream C4D Oberon Conjure from Kent McQuilkin on Vimeo.
To create the illusion of Oberon, king of the fairies, conjuring a vision, McQuilkin and Payne filmed the two actors whose characters appear in the vision. McQuilkin imported the footage of the actors into Cinema 4D and then projected it with a spotlight using a texture that also included an animated noise distortion. “It has kind of a liquid fire effect,” he recalls, explaining that C4D’s materials editor was essential to pulling off the look. Playback was via Dataton Watchou with four computers, one for control and three for projection, with VGA over Cat5 video feed.
Immersive Experience
McQuilkin says the production was unique because Sipes wanted everything to be in a dream state, so he used that as his launching point and designed backgrounds to have the fluidity of dreams and the ability to interact with actors on stage. “I wanted those liquid transitions between scenes to be consistent throughout the production, so I tried to catch the mood of whatever was going on in the story.”
Apart from a few animations in Adobe After Effects, McQuilkin used Cinema 4D for almost everything he created for the play. Pyro Cluster was used to make smoke, fog, and other environmental effects.
MidSummer Night's Dream Entrance from Kent McQuilkin on Vimeo.
Working at the Clarence Brown Theatre, one of the United States’ few professional theatres in a college setting, had its challenges. One of the biggest was the fact that the theatre wasn’t available until about 10 days before opening night, meaning McQuilkin wasn’t able to see the effects he’d created in action until virtually the last minute.
“There were a lot of things I had to alter once I saw how they were going to interact with the physical set and the lighting,” he says. “All of that had to be worked out in a hurry, and that changed my approach to some of the projections.” For example, Payne was instrumental in guiding McQuilkin through the process of color-correcting right inside Watchout. This enabled him to match scenes with the color direction from the lighting designer without re-rendering.
Using C4D for this and other productions he’s worked on has helped open people’s eyes to what 3D can bring to stage productions, McQuilkin says. These days, he is in the process of finishing his second book, Cinema 4D Apprentice, and is creating a transmedia experience that will use different media to deliver a moral narrative for a children’s story.
Currently, the college offers students hands-on experience with image and video production software such as Photoshop, After Effects, and Premiere, as well as theatrical display software. A Cinema 4D course is being considered for students who want to get involved in projection, McQuilkin says. “Adding C4D to the tools that these students have access to will allow them to help foster in the next generation of projection design. The future of theatrical projection is the ability to create immersive spaces that envelop the audience into the scenes.”
Credits
- John Sipes, Director
- Katy Wolfe Zahn, Musical Director/Choreographer
- Christopher Pickart, Scenic Designer
- Marianne Custer, Costume Designer
- John Ambrosone, Lighting Designer
- Curtis Craig, Sound Designer
- Abigail Langham, Voice Coach
- Kent McQuilkin, Projections Coordinator
- Deya S. Friedman, Stage Manager
Dan Heilman is a St. Paul-based writer and editor.
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