Lauren Mandilian

This week we did some preliminary testing of the different sections in the theater. We answered some of my questions as well as created new questions.
The bulk of the day was spent testing the projectors (front and rear). We determined that rear projection would not be in my piece after all. The dimensions of the stage did not go deep enough for us to get a big enough image. Also, the image itself wasn’t very bright when it came through the rear projection screen. Instead we will be using the 1500 luma projector at the back of the house onto the video screen. Although the image isn’t as big as the stage, it is pretty darn close (especially when we close the midstage traveler a little to cover the sides of the video screen).
For the remainder of the time, I tested how the DICE filters looked and the end animation on different types of fabrics.
For the DICE test, I had one of my dancers stage right facing stage right with the camera in the stage right wing. It was noted that being able to see the dancer and filter separately made it clear to the audience that this was all happening real time- making it a more interesting interaction between person and technology. With that in mind, I am going to rehash that part of my piece to see if I can come up with another way to stage it.
For the fabrics test, I decided that I want the fabric that the dancers are moving with to be white so that the colors of the animation are the same on the dancer as they are on the video screen. I also noted that I liked textured fabric over flat fabric because there is not texture in the animation itself so the fabric will fill this gap.
Questions that came out of testing in the theater were What transitions am I using to get from scene to scene? and What does the fabric represent at the end of the piece? Do I want the dancers to be holding the fabric or wearing the fabric?
The next time I will be in the theater will be next term, March 13 and 14.

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