When I was in high school, like many of us, I was in the AV club and did lighting for all of the school shows. I guess that would have been my first exposure to convergence. The idea of using multiple disciplines of technology to create an onstage experience started back in 1988 for me. Even then, we were attempting to use slide projectors for some of the images in our shows (pretty high tech for a school in a town with only one traffic light).
For us, it was a matter of trying to do something a little cooler than the kids did in the years before us. Honestly, I think that is the reason that we see more and more multimedia onstage — we all want to outdo the kids from last year. With or without realizing it, designers are extremely competitive and strive to come up with cool new stuff all the time. It is up to us all to be able to understand and utilize the advancements in technology from both inside and outside our industry to create a better show experience than last year.
A Trip in the “WABAC Machine”
Long before we decided to use slide images in our high school productions, the idea of using multiple technologies to create onstage experiences was in development. Innovators of technology were bringing their own special disciplines into the performance world. Theatrical history is littered with occasions where outside technology has found its way onstage. Personally, my favorite example occurred in the 1900’s as electricity was being introduced to the stage. A brilliant person working on a show called Faust thought it would be a good idea to hook up two swords with electrical leads—one positive, one negative. When they touched, sparks flew. I’m not saying that this was a good idea, but it is an example of bringing a new technology onto the stage. Moving forward, it is easy to find many other examples of bringing in “outside” technology to create new and revolutionary theatrical entertainment. Today, I think that the biggest influence coming into our world is video technology.
Bring On the Video
Video technology has introduced a whole bunch of new ideas and concepts into entertainment technology. While projection of video is nothing new, affordable options for video panels and pixel control is relatively recent. The benefits of using video are plentiful. It is much more versatile than using a white cyc with lighting effects, and can also be much more cost effective than paying for painted backdrops and scenic elements. It is also much easier to ship from location to location as it takes up less space than huge set pieces and packs down much better than a painted backdrop that will start to fall apart after a few folds and fade over time.
Video elements allow us to be much more expressive and more literal in our interpretations of the subject matter. A designer can put the exact image onto the screens that they want the audience to see. If they want to make it look like the entire stage is on the edge of the Grand Canyon, no problem. The audience is taken there at the push of a button. If it is on to streets of Paris next, one simple crossfade and we’re there. Shows like American Idol and the Pepsi Super Bowl XLVII Halftime Show have taken video to a whole new level. Because of shows like these, audiences are expecting to see it on every show that they go to now. Add shows like The Voice, which have successfully combined video effects with pixel mapping, and it takes it to an entirely new level.
However, much like LEDs were a few short years ago, I still think that the usage of video and video playback is just getting started. Yes, we see it more and more, but the methods of usage are still growing by leaps and bounds. As a lighting designer, it was difficult for me to embrace video in the beginning. In my head, all I could see was my fingers pressing play on a VCR and it taking over. (Yep, it’s not a typo. I wrote VCR.) I was also worried about taking the imagination away from the theatrical experience. I worried that by using video, it would overtake the show. And I think in the beginning with the proliferation of video walls, in some cases it did. In the past two or three years, I have finally and completely embraced the idea of video and pixel mapping elements.
Synergistic Video and Lighting
How cool is it that you can easily run video over a pixel map in the console and not have to program every step of an effect? On top of that, we can easily control video clips in the same way that we would run any other effect. While I know that there are many different software platforms out there, my software of choice is MediaMaster Pro from ArKaos. It allows me to load in hundreds of video clips and up to eight layers of playback. Each video clip that you load into a fader can be edited in several different ways, including the addition of masking effects. The software also allows you to select your output style: Art-Net, Kling-Net, or as just straight video. Because I can output video effects in Art-Net, I can make any static wash fixture into a pixel while using its LED mapper. So now, if I want to build a wall of flame, or flash bulbs, or both, I easily pick a video clip, make the clip Art-Net output, and there is my effect on the wall. Because I can trigger the video clip from my lighting controller over DMX, I can easily program the effects in the same way I would run any other lighting effect. The same goes for video clips I am sending to a projector or video wall. Because I can run all of my video clips directly from the lighting controller, it makes it really easy to link my video effects to the rest of the light show. The whole point of any video playback software is that it makes life easier for the design team to program and play back the show. Because of platforms like MediaMaster Pro, Hippotizer, Axon, Maxedia, and the Ai Media Server, playing back video is getting easier and easier.
Pixels Everywhere
Multimedia convergence has gone way past slide projectors in the past 20 years. Video elements are not just big screens or banks of panels anymore either. They have become much more than that. Video elements have become anything that can be fed video footage—either natively, over Art-Net, or by Kling-Net. Because of the fantastic amount of pixel-based products such as PARs, battens, and strip lights that can run direct video effects and the actual video panels and projection sources that can do the same, I believe that pixels can be as interesting as moving heads. Yes, we have always had the ability to do these kinds of mind-blowing effects over DMX. But the level of difficulty for pulling it off was really high. You had to really be on your game to program these amazing looks with just the effects editor in your lighting desk. Compounded by the fact that if you were using a projection source that was not tied into the desk or triggered by SMPTE or Midi interface, keeping the show tight was nearly impossible.
In the future, I think that we will see more controllers with the ability to manipulate video elements natively and not need to trigger an outside source. Video and pixel mapping software is becoming much more complex—and less expensive—in what it can accomplish. With the amazing amount of processing power that is in the latest breed of lighting desks like the M1, Avo Sapphire, grandMA2 or the Wholehog 4, it is only a matter of time until we see one of these manufacturers come out with a fully-integrated lighting and video control platform. More and more lighting and video products are working on multiple platforms like DMX, Art-Net, and more recently, Kling-Net. As more of these types of products hit the streets, the possibilities of design become much more interesting.
As we try to do something cooler than the kids did last year, keep in mind that next year is just around the corner and someone is coming after you — with something even cooler.
Michael Graham, product development manager for Chauvet Professional, has also designed and installed entertainment and architectural lighting systems.
