In doing a Multimedia Module we really wanted to push the technical aspect of our performance. We met with Darren Page and the technical team to discuss our ideas and to see whether or not it was possible to materialise them. The first idea we proposed was the idea of suspending a fabric cube within the LPAC Auditorium. After some debate of how we were going to do this, the conclusion was reached that scaffold poles would extend from the balcony enabling us to drape the fabric over the poles until they reached the floor. This was possible for three of the walls – but we were unsure of how we were going to make the fourth wall. The problem was that the scaffold poles would be suspended by a rope, tied to the grid. Therefore the fourth pole would not be able to attach onto anything. We came to a compromise and decided that the fourth wall would be made through the use of a cinematic screen on the stage. Below a template can be seen of how the space will look:
As you can see this still creates an enclosed space with an opening on one side. Doing this helped in terms of projectors as it meant we could use the bigger projector which the LPAC. The benefit of using this projector is that it was connected to the technical desk, meaning footage played on the projector could be put into Cue Lab and manually controlled.
The next technical issue we approached was the use of projectors. We went into the meeting wanting to use 5 projectors, one for each of the sides of the cube and the roof. The idea in doing this was to have different sleep related media surrounding the audience members, creating a visually engaging space. However the technicians raised the view that to do this each screen and therefore each projector would need a laptop behind each one, with someone controlling the laptop. Due to the nature of our performance this would not be able to be us controlling it as we were in the controlled world. The assessment falls in performance week, meaning that there would not be enough technicians available. The point was raised that the use of so many projectors would also run the risk of something going wrong.
We contested this greatly as we really wanted to have four different screens, enabling graphics to change the location of the space and provide multiple visuals at once. However we took their advice as we did not want malfunctions with videos, completely impeding our performance. Therefore we decided to narrow it down to just two projectors, one for the cinema screen and one for the grid. We could still use all the sleep media footage we had acquired and run less of a risk of something going wrong. The technicians also suggested the use of light on the remaining walls of the cube to create the same ambiance and atmosphere.
