COSTA MESA, CA – Video Applications provided projection and video support for the premiere of The Trey McIntyre Project's The More I See You at the Orange County Performing Arts Center (OCPAC). The Trey McIntyre Project is an Idaho-based contemporary ballet troupe known for its repertory of ballets and its embrace of technology. During the troupe's recent residency at OCPAC it staged two performances of The More I See You at Segerstrom Hall, held master classes for local students and danced several "spurbans" (spontaneous urban performances) in the Orange County area.
John Oliphant, technical director at Segerstrom Hall, brought Video Applications in to create a custom solution for the interactive ballet performances, which began onstage in the Hall then encouraged the audience to join the dancers in the outdoor plaza which was encircled by video screens.
"It was critical for us to be involved early and to enjoy such a collaborative environment with OCPAC and Trey's team," said Video Applications' vice president of sales, Shawn Oatey. "Trey had a vision of what he wanted to do, and OCPAC knew what could be physically done in the space. We were able to fit Trey's vision with OCPAC's budget and deliver a custom solution."
"The key to the success of the project was Video Applications' willingness to communicate with the artist and give Trey the flexibility he needed," said Oliphant. "The digital video industry has become so high tech that it's difficult for a layman to figure it out. When Video Applications talked to Trey they devised a best-of-all-worlds approach within the given parameters."
Trey McIntyre noted the complexity of the project. It "was so epic, with so many things going on at once that a lot had to be created during the period we were at OCPAC: video onstage, a live video transition to the plaza, massive structures offering different content outside," McIntyre said. "Video Applications grasped what I was looking for very quickly and executed my concepts in a very thoughtful way that far exceeded my expectations."
Inside Segerstrom Hall, pre-recorded video footage shot by McIntyre was displayed during the onstage performance of The More I See You. A live camera feed captured the dancers making their way offstage to the plaza as the last dancer invited the audience to join them outside for the continuation of the ballet. Video Applications provided a video director and two Hitachi Z4000 SD cameras for the transition, to follow the dancers as they left the stage, moved through the lobby and then entered the outside performance space.
Outside in the plaza, Video Applications projected McIntyre's content on a 30-foot-high portion of the side of the building, and also onto 10 custom screens raised on truss and configured in a circle. After performing in the center of the plaza, the dancers positioned themselves in the "booth" formed by the truss under the screens, where the performance continued as video played over their heads. The audience was invited to join the troupe in the middle of the plaza and to mingle as the dancers performed in the booths.
"The content was all designed by Trey and was synchronized to the dance," Oatey said. "Shane Zinke was our Video Applications EIC for the project, and he designed an elegant but simple solution for controlling and routing signal to each display location."
Two Christie Roadster S+16 projectors displayed content on the side of the building and Panasonic 7700 projectors were rigged on custom truss to light up and fill each of the booth screens with content.
A variety of options were explored for the booth screen surfaces before Video Applications determined that spandex would be the best medium for the screens which needed to remain outdoors between performances and be resistant to the plaza's wind corridor. OCPAC's wardrobe department fabricated the custom spandex screens to Video Applications' specifications. Accurate Staging built the booth structures and Brite Ideas provided lighting support on the plaza.
"It was a real collaborative effort all around, and everyone was very happy with the outcome," Oliphant said. "Without Video Applications we felt it wouldn't have happened," added McIntyre.
Oatey noted that The More I See You was "different from the typical event we do. It was an exciting piece of performance art, and it was a thrill to be able to contribute to the realization of Trey's vision."
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