“Movies did not flourish
until the engineers lost control to artists – or more precisely,
to the communications craftsmen. The same thing is happening now with
personal computers.” –
P.
Heckel, The Elements of Friendly Software Design. New York: Warner
Books, 1984.
I want to explore
the impact of newMedia on artistic expression .
Part B2: Project description: “in the Spot”
Virtual Theatre- simultaneous multiMedia(m/m) performance/exhibition
Since
1966, I have worked in the theatre, publishing houses, galleries and
multimedia. Throughout my working life, I have been running along parallel
with change: Technology and communication. In college we were trained
on: hot type letterpress typesetting monstrosities, 8 and 16 mm film,
1/4” reel to reel, Kodak Carousel slide players, mechanical mixing
boards, pots of glue and razor blades,
In 1993, I submitted a proposal to Discus – a cdRom company : “StoryStage Books An interactive,
personal and educational CD ROM Play Series. The story forms of fairytales,
theatre classics, and contemporary short literary works are taken and
adapted to play scenarios where the user participates in the production
experience … interactive, personal theatre/computer, a story that
plays itself out for/with/by you, storyplay, live, spontaneous, read/watch/listen/learn
… can take a scene and play it through any/one character's view
point, reading story line and stage directions, watching dialogue action, StoryStage Books can be applied as an introduction to or study of a broad spectrum of Literary Works through ‘computer-theatre’.”
I saw such potential in this new form of media but, at that time, I hadn’t developed the skills-set to design such a production , and the technology wasn’t able to accomplish this. I went back to school – University of Toronto, and immersed myself in this newMedia.
. . . and now, I’ve been working in multiMedia for 10 years – working and learning techniques as applied to commercial and academic productions. There are still some serious issues to deal with in the accomplishment of such a production – specifically a delay of 8 to 25 seconds in live streaming - - but it’s not impossible. Now I will write scenes specifically for this new media’s anomalies.
I want to use these skills and now apply
them to purely artistic endeavours –
I have always been preoccupied with technology in its application
to content and message and the mode of delivery of the material. When
working in the theatre I became interested in a concept I called ‘the
snap-on play’. The idea was a non-linear stream of consciousness
based on a linear theme. Various scenes could be played in any manner
of sequence. Today, online, in newMedia, this is referred to as ‘threads’.
By taking a performance script, I intend to investigate the ways and
methods of presentation of this theatrical object in a non-linear medium.
I want to develop this concept for a production in newMedia. Using scenes from my own script “The Moronic Plague”, written in 1987, produced at the Toronto Studio Players, I propose an investigation of the theoretic of ‘convergence’ in media.
I want to explore, investigate, play with concepts of performance
– online and live as an interactive multi/optioned experience. A scenario:
Picture
this: Kingston: a performance of the stage piece “the Moronic Plague” is occurring. The Space is large, open, with scaffolding all around defining levels, seating, access, and performance. On the performance space are three walls made of white scrim. Actors outfitted with miniCams and mics.
Toronto: a public space – an exhibition of a massive cube - white, also made of scrim.
The scrims are receptors for projection of live streams.
Somewhere: a T.v. sound stage, - a broadcast of scenes, live, and a feed to the Kingston and Toronto events, picked up by a network for view.
Vancouver: An actor plays his part, live via the net.
Winnipeg: An author contributes his piece, live via the net.
Toronto: The serverCentre picks up and WebCasts the live remote feeds and archival materials to the biblioCentre in Ajax for WWW distribution globally.
Anywhere: A user or group at a personal computer, online, passively
watching, actively engaged or personally manipulating the point-of-view
(P.O.V.). Like the television director, the user is presented an array
of windows – different views of the performance in each. The viewer
can pick which view to bring forward. At any given moment, they can
switch the window to another P.O.V. , see the activity on the stage
from the actor’s perspective, shift to the receptors’ P.O.V.
or jump to the back of the house.
Performance/presentation should have no expectations from the audience' point of view. Interactivity can be much more than a means for the producer / artisan to forgo content and only pay homage to the medium. It can be a tool to enhance the existing traditional gallery and performance spaces, and, at the same time, be an online virtual theatrical experience:
Project Outcome:
Three things: 1) A prototype of the project online. (http://www.inTheSpot.org) 2) A detailed production script and schedule 3) Complete budgets and funding proposal for production
Thank-you for the consideration.
Hersh Jacob
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