The Projection Designer's Toolkit

Jeromy Hopgood

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000487435
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medien & darstellende Kunst
• Subtopic: Theatertechnik & Szenografie

The Projection Designer's Toolkit is an insider's guide to the world of professional projection design, serving as a reference for the planning and execution of each step in the projection design process.

The text addresses the design process within the context of a professional projection designer's workflow, focusing on specific tools of the trade, best practices for communicating your design to collaborators, tips and tricks, determining budget, working with assistants, and more. Featuring interviews with some of the top names in the industry, the book offers an unprecedented insight into the professional projection designer's process across a wide range of fields, from Broadway and regional theatre to corporate design and music touring. The book also includes in-depth discussion on production process, system design, cue and content planning, content design, digital media fundamentals, media servers, video equipment, and projection surfaces. Additionally, it features hundreds of full-color photos and examples of designer artifacts such as draftings, mock-ups, paperwork, cue sheets, and renderings.

Filled with practical advice that will guide readers from landing their first job all the way through opening night and beyond, The Projection Designer's Toolkit is the perfect resource for emerging projection designers and students in Digital Media Design and Projection Design courses.

Part IUnderstanding the Field

DOI: 10.4324/9780367824112-2

1.Projection Design for the Theatre

DOI: 10.4324/9780367824112-3

The primary focus of this book is to examine the role of projection designer for live performance, typically through the lens of theatre. Part I: Understanding the Field focuses on the job of projection design for the theatre and the professional structures in which today’s projection designers work. Theatre is, after all, a discipline defined by creation through collaboration. Because of this, it is not only important to have a working understanding of your own area, but also a grasp of the industry as a whole in addition to other design and production areas, management, and union structures. The following four chapters should serve as a useful primer in understanding these professional structures, and they set the stage for delving into the design process and production workflow.

1.1 What is Projection Design?

The use of projected film imagery in live performance dates at least as far back as the 1800s, but the field of projection design as we know it today is still in its infancy. As a result, we find that the job description and even, at times, the job title remains somewhat in flux and connected in many ways to the expectations of those running the project. For the purposes of this text, let us define Projection Design as the art of integrating dynamic imagery into the dimensional space of a live performance, installation, or experiential event as a visual component of the performance for the purpose of storytelling. This is most often accomplished through the use of digital technology, like projectors, video walls, video displays, or virtual reality headsets (though it can certainly make use of older, non-digital technologies, such as overhead, opaque, or slide projectors as well). In performing arts disciplines, like theatre, opera, and dance, projection design lives somewhere in the realm between lighting, sound, and scenic design. It is both rhythmic and ephemeral, connected to the rhythm and pacing of the storytelling and with other design elements, such as lighting and sound. Projection design dances between the literal and the metaphorical while attempting the complicated balancing act of strengthening the storytelling without drawing too much attention to itself. When successfully integrated into the production, the projection design functions as another storyteller working in conjunction with the playwright and actors.

What’s in a Name?

One of the unique aspects of working in projection design is that the name of the discipline and the job title of the designer are not necessarily fixed. While we often use the term Projection Designer in professional theatre settings, it is not out of the ordinary to hear the artist referred to by names such as video designer, media designer, digital media designer, video director, or even screens producer.

So, why are there so many questions about what to call the discipline or the designer? Much of this has to do with the term projection itself. When we first saw projection in the theatre, it was connected to a physical device used to project imagery onto the stage – a projector. Understanding that, it was a logical choice to call it projection design. Today, it can feel a little less obvious when seeing productions with video and graphic content displayed across video walls, digital displays, VR headsets, or through augmented reality. Is it still a projection design if there are no projectors involved? In short, it depends on who you ask.

In 2007 United Scenic Artists Local USA 829 (USA 829), the union that represents designers and scenic artists in the entertainment industry, created a new membership category and called it projection design. Before this point, projection designers were either not represented by the union or were included under the classification of Allied Crafts. A few years later, the Yale School of Drama created one of the first graduate programs in the country to specialize in training projection designers for the stage. The program at Yale also used the term projection designer since it closely aligns with the union terminology. Conversely, MFA programs at The University of Texas at Austin, CalArts, and Arizona State University use some variation on the term media design (Integrated Media for Live Performance, Interactive Media for Performance, and Interdisciplinary Digital Media and Performance, respectively). Finally, the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT), a large membership organization dedicated to advancing the areas of design, production, and technology for theatre and performing arts professionals, added the new Digital Media Commission. The Mission Statement for the Digital Media Commission provides some insight into how USITT views the field:

The Digital Media Commission provides dialog and the exchange of information about innovation and trends in the field of Projection Design and its related technologies and artistic expressions including, but not limited to, video design, digital media, interactive media, and new media as it relates to theatre and the live entertainment industry.

As you can see, there are a wide variety of terms used to describe the work, even inside of the industry.

From my own observations, it seems that the term projection design is likely to remain a fixed industry title for the foreseeable future, if only because of its adoption by the union. In the process of interviewing the designers and technicians showcased in this book, however, it became clear to me that many of today’s designers prefer the fluidity of code-switching their titles from project to project and even sometimes from meeting to meeting in order to best match the expectations of their collaborators and the specific project. That places the impetus on the designers and technicians to engage in these important discussions with our peers and colleagues in the industry. We are our own best advocates. Even though these conversations may, at times, prove somewhat frustrating and circuitous, this is a wonderful time to be a projection designer.

FYI – What is a Projectionist?

With all of the discussion of different titles used in relation to projection design, it is worth mentioning that there are some terms with specific connotations that should not be confused for others. One such term I have frequently heard to name the designer is projectionist. This is an incorrect use of the word, however, since the title Projectionist refers to the highly trained person who deals with photometric calculations, determining the positioning of projectors, and the operation and maintenance of projection equipment. In the theatre, this position is similar to a master electrician for lighting purposes and is not typically involved with design decisions. Since most theatres do not yet have separate “projection shops” in the same sense as scene shops or costume shops, it is still relatively uncommon to see a Projectionist attached to a production team.

1.2 A Brief History: People, Technology, and Trends

The use of light and shadow to tell stories is not a new trick for humans. The same is true of harnessing the power of a picture for illustrative or storytelling purposes. Time and again, we have seen the marriage of technology and art in creative ways to convey a story from creator to audience. From sunlight to candles, light bulbs, and even LEDs, the methods may have changed, but the goal remains the same – to tell a story. The following section is a brief glimpse into some of the touchstone moments in the history of the use of projection for storytelling purposes. Many of these moments are tied to developments in projection equipment over the years, though in most instances we see the artists of the day using equipment in creative and unconventional ways.

One of the earliest technologies most commonly associated with projection for storytelling purposes was called the magic lantern or, in Latin, the lanterna magica. This device was an early slide-based projector introduced by Christiaan Huygens in the mid-1600s. The mechanics of the device were simple, yet effective: a concave mirror placed behind a light source would focus beams of light through a small rectangular glass slide, which featured a hand-painted image (Figure 1.1). While Huygens is widely credited with the invention of the device, he seemed to have thought it too frivolous and did not want his family name associated with it. Over a short period of time, however, news of the tool spread, and a number of scientists and artists found interesting ways to use the magic lantern. By the 1730s, the magic lantern had become a common tool for everyone from lecturers to travelling performers, educators, conjurers, circus acts, and fortune tellers. In the following years, the magic lantern became ubiquitous and remained quite popular until the modern slide projector came along to replace it.

Figure 1.1An illustration of a magic lantern as presented in François Moigno’s L’art des Projections (1872).

Public domain.

Along the way, other projection devices were introduced, such as the episcope, or opaque projector. Unlike the magic lantern, the episcope was a projector that used opaque materials instead of slides to create the projected imagery. A bright light was shined onto the opaque object and, through the use of a series of mirrors, prisms, and lenses, a representation of the object was projected out from the episcope’s lens. Unlike the magic lantern, which used a candle as a light source, early episcopes used a limelight technology similar to follow spots of the time. This was considerably brighter and could be utilized in larger spaces than was previously possible. In 1872, the technology had come far enough that noted scientist Henry Jackson Morton was able to use an episcope for a public presentation at the Philadelphia Opera House, which seated up to 3,500 people (Figure 1.2).

Figure 1.2This figure represents Henry Morton’s use of the episcope, as illustrated in François Moigno’s L’art des Projections (1872).

Public domain.

The late 1800s brought an impressive addition to the range of projection design tools in the form of the movie projector. In 1891, Thomas Edison released a prototype for his kinetoscope in the US. It was a “peepshow” variety of motion picture exhibition device intended for the use of one person at a time by looking through a viewer window at the top of the device. Since Edison did not seek international patents for his device, the kinetoscope became a springboard for research in moving picture devices throughout Europe. Two French brothers, Auguste and Louis Lumière, were raised working in their father’s small factory producing photographic plates. Eventually, the brothers took over the family business and began creating moving pictures and patenting technologies and processes related to moving picture production. Unlike Edison’s kinetoscope, the Lumière brothers’ films could be watched by a group of people, bringing together an audience to experience a story together in the same room. In 1895, the Lumière brothers gave their first paid public screening. It featured ten of their short films, including the first film they created outside of their own factory, which was called La Sortie de l’Usine Lumière à Lyon (Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory in Lyon). Each of the films was 17 meters long, and their running time of around 45–50 seconds was rather short by today’s standards. Between the late 1900s and the late 2000s, analog film projectors became a mainstay of the industry and continued to evolve until replaced by the digital cinema projectors of today.

To this point, projection was more of a rare theatrical gimmick than a production element widely seen in plays or operas. In the 1920s, however, the German theatre director Erwin Piscator earned a reputation for his use of cinematic elements in theatre productions, incorporating projected newsreels, photography, film clips, and audio recordings as devices for delivering messages to his working-class audience in the Weimar Republic era. Piscator’s techniques and writings became the basis for many bold advances made in twentieth-century European theatre, but he also had a lasting influence on the American stage. Fleeing Europe in the wake of World War II, Piscator migrated to the United States and found himself working in the New York theatre scene of the 1940s. He was invited by Alvin Johnson, the founding President of the New School for Social Research in New York City, to create a drama and acting school, called The Dramatic Workshop, through the New School. His time spent at the New School led to several cutting-edge productions that utilized projection. After leaving the US in 1951 to return to Germany, Piscator continued to experiment with the use of projection and media in live theatre until his death in 1966.

The decades from the 1940s through the 1960s saw the widespread adoption of optical projectors in the theatre. During this time period, the slide projector as well as the large-format slide projector appeared on the market and quickly became mainstays for theatrical design. The slide projector, a mechanical tool used for displaying photographic slides, utilized four components to project imagery: (1) an incandescent bulb as a light source, (2) a reflector and condensing lens to redirect the light through a photographic slide, (3) a slide holder, and (4) a lens to focus the picture. Unlike the older technology seen in the magic lantern, the slides used in these applications were photographs printed on transparent plastic film, not glass (Figure 1.3). The most common size of a slide was 35 mm (1.4 inches).

Figure 1.3A Kodak Carousel 4400 slide projector with 140-slide tray, one of the most popular varieties of slide projectors used by the mid-1960s.

Photo by Steve Morgan.

Large-format slide projectors (sometimes simply referred to as scenic projectors) are a type of slide projector used to create very large and bright projected imagery, typically of scenic backgrounds or architectural projections (Figure 1.4). These projectors utilize an ultra-bright light source and a variety of transparency (slide) materials, including 18 cm (roughly 7 inches) film or glass. Because of these features, the large-format slide projector can output imagery with incredible brightness and vivid color reproduction. For a long period of time, the PANI projector, established by Ludwig Pani of Vienna, Austria, was synonymous with large image projection. PANI projectors offered an extensive array of objective lenses and accessories for their 18 cm slides. Over the years, a number of different models were added to the PANI lineup with increased brightness and added slide effects. In partnership with many of the leading European professors and scenographers of the time, PANI quickly became internationally known as the go-to tool for creating large, bright projected imagery. Though their use is somewhat uncommon in the US today, you can still find them in use, particularly at opera houses looking to recreate the classic look of their repertoire.

Figure 1.4A PANI large-format slide projector.

Photo by Alex Gay.

In 1958, a designer at the Czech National Theatre by the name of Josef Svoboda created designs for two works...