New Book: Digital Media, Projection Design & Technology For The Theatre

Projection, video, digital media: Call it what you will, this art and technology has become fairly ubiquitous in live performance, from the stage to concert tours. Designers/professors Daniel Fine and Alex Oliszewski—who are both teaching digital media courses at LDI2018—shouldered the herculean task of writing a comprehensive book on the subject, spurred on to provide something for their students that simply didn’t exist when they were in school, not so long ago. Live Design presents comments from the authors and two short excerpts from The Routledge/Focal Press publication: Digital Media, Projection Design & Technology For The Theatre.

“We wrote this book because our students and our collaborators have been calling for a unified document that could address a very wide range of both common and very specific questions that come up when learning the craft, art, and business of theatrical video and media design. I, and my co-writers, were both incredibly encouraged by our colleagues as well as dissuaded from even attempting to write this book. Indeed, how could we possibly describe and address the technical details of being a media designer when the technology is constantly changing? Yet, there was an obvious need for a common text that could bring together the wide range of information, anecdotes, and hard-won experience dispersed throughout those of us that focus on media design within theatrical contexts. It was a daunting task considering it’s difficult to even come up with a single term to refer to what we do. It was with these known conflicts that we set out to write this book. Where it has been difficult to explain why one technical approach versus tools would be preferable to another, we have turned anecdote into case study to provide context. Where specific technical knowledge and demands needed to be addressed, we have focused on both specificity and generality. That is, regardless of what version of USB is currently the standard when you read this book, we’ve attempted to make sure that we have the essential aspects of what media designers do and need to know about the fundamentals of digital media, projection technology, and the role of the media designer within theatrical collaboration. 

In short, we wrote the book that we wished we had when we got to graduate school. I’m very proud of what we’ve written.” — Alex Oliszewski

 

“In graduate school my colleagues and I often wished for a book that might serve as a guide to our studies. Unfortunately, such a book didn't exist. I never thought I'd end up being one of the authors on said book just a few years later. I hope that it might offer emerging designers and all those interested some insight into the profession as they begin integrating digital media and projections into their designs and productions.”  — Daniel Fine

Excerpt from Chapter One

What exactly is digital media design for theatre? We understand it as an artistic practice and technical trade with five interconnected interfaces.

The first interface is that of the professional theatrical production paradigm. From script selection to budgets to opening night deadlines, the constraints of what it means to create theatre heavily define what is and what is not possible in a given production.

The second interface is the collaborative nature of design within the theatre paradigm. Digital media designers must be ready to work with the director and other traditional design houses of theatre: sound, lighting, props, costume, and scenery.

The third interface is between the designer and his or her primary modes of digital media content creation. Content is king, and the only thing separating a digital media designer from a technician is the ultimate responsibility for generating the content and helping to decide the display method.

The fourth interface is technical—the gear needed for a design and how you use all the software and hardware.

The fifth and primary interface is that of the story being told. Regardless of whether it is a script written by a playwright or a devised work, the designer is a storyteller using the digital media and technology to create meaning. As designers, we should not be guided solely by the specifics of the equipment we are using. Instead our muse should be the needs of the story we are telling and the aesthetic and dramaturgical goals of the theatrical directing and design team.

 

Excerpt from Chapter Four

You have a vision in your head of how you want a certain projection to look and now you need to create it. Sometimes you know exactly how to do so. Other times you may need to watch tutorials and teach yourself a new method. Don’t despair—we all are constantly learning new techniques, new software, and new creation methods. It’s part of the profession. Each time you learn a new way to reproduce a historical photo or a new method to sculpt a 3D model you add to your quiver of creative arrows. By the end of a few designs you will be amazed at the new skills you’ve gained (and the new gray hairs you’ve gained as well).

Making great content can be an arduous and painstaking task. Quite simply, the perfect content isn’t just sitting out there waiting for you to download it. You need to make beautiful and appropriate art while ensuring you aren’t overtaxing your resources and missing deadlines. The proper research and a strong conceptual design provide a foundation and your cue list is your guide.

What is this content we are creating? As we’ve discussed previously, it can be anything from rerecorded live action video to 2D or 3D animation to sensor-driven, data-driven, real-time or algorithmic visuals to live video to user-generated texts to audience-manipulated avatars. As a designer, you must have broad knowledge of many types of possible content, across many mediums. This does not come without study and practice.