A composer working for the cinema would say that, “You don’t hear good film music!” – “You don’t see good projections!” should therefore be the translation for the projection theatre genre. URBANSCREEN has not staged the video as a narrative entity which spatially supplants the set and behaves like a kind of illustrative voiceover track. The basic idea has to be understood as being quite the opposite. By completely covering the set using high-performance projectors and by adapting the video images exactly to the existing set, the video disappears optically into the stage. For the spectators the set and the video are merged into one visual impression. In this way the surfaces of the set can be highlighted with colours and textures without the video being recognised as an independent “video image”. In this sense video is no longer a performing medium but rather a dramatic entity. The set and the video form a synergetic whole whose effect cannot be separated. New creative dimensions become tangible through such dynamic sets.
Complex technology comprising software and hardware which in combination enable precise projection is at the centre of all creative considerations in video design. In this way a complete virtual image of the stage situation is recreated in a 3D programme. All the resulting images are rendered here and "captured" by virtual cameras from the virtual 3D object. Via precisely positioned projectors these images can be transferred back to the real object. The resulting design options are extensive and not limited by any physical boundaries. URBANSCREEN sees totally new potential concerning design options in lighting in particular. Lights are generated in the virtual room, which illuminate the set with practically unlimited degrees of freedom. At the later stage when images are "projected back" into the stage area, incident lights, peaks, coloured light or shadows of objects are projected into the stage. However, that is not enough; the designers from Bremen also have the “stage lights” fly dynamically through the stage area and understand the wandering shadows as a central narrative aspect.
The entire production was programmed using AV Stumpfl’s Wings VISIO, playback was through Stumpfl’s Media Engines.
Realized by: Urbanscreen