I would argue that almost every performance benefits from an appealing background, one which either supports what the artist is trying to convey or one which at least offers an aesthetic upgrade to an otherwise boring background. In my performance I aim to use a projection to supplement the onstage visuals. I will be centre stage and I would hope to be the centre of attention, with any projections serving the purpose of keeping the eye engaged when not looking at myself.
The idea I had for this was to use a circuit board as a base image and to have a bead of light moving around as the song progresses; this will help reinforce the technological themes brought to mind by the title, “RECALIBRATE,” as well as provide a nice little point of interest. With the aid of Paul and his expertise, I now have a few videos to work from and decide which direction I want to go down.
Every projection I have takes a basic blue circuit board image and imposes a point of light on top of it, this light will then travel around the circuit board in a loop several times over as the performance progresses. This first one is very simple, and wouldn’t distract too much from me on stage. It could do with being cleaned up, the speed of the light being made uniform, and extending the loop.
My second projection makes use of tracking, instantly making the loop more eye-catching as the point of view follows the point of light. As interesting as this is, I feel that it is a bit too active for its intended purpose.
The third projection sees the image flip; this could be an interesting option as it allows the same looped video to be used twice as much without seeming quite as repetitive as the image won’t look the same. However, it could also lead to the loop being even more noticeable when the exact same image could repeat over and over with no hard cuts.
Similar to the above video, we have an original version and a flipped version, only this time both have been layered on top of one another. An interesting take on the circuit board motif which I do like but, again, it could do a little too much for what I want.
Very similar to the previous layered version but this includes a nice vignette filter over the top, which adds more depth and appeals to me very much. It prevents the video from looking flat and too much like a plain projection.
Building on the last edition, we now see a slow zoom added to the mix. Again, I would say that this is a nice addition which doesn’t take too much of the attention away from the actual performance. Unfortunately, this wouldn’t function anywhere near as well within a loop as the zoom would either have to be so slow that it isn’t noticeable (to prevent zooming particularly far in), or the view would be reset at the start of each loop, which could looking rather jumpy and not at all pleasing to the eye.
Currently, the front-runner is the fifth projection. I really appreciate the vignette as I think it is subtle enough to add a good level of interest to the video whilst not actually being noticeable to the point where the audience is made to look more at the projection than the performer. However, I don’t feel that it is necessary to double up on the circuit boards and layer two versions together. This leaves me with a single layer underneath a vignette; once I have worked with Paul further I should have a much more polished version ready to be projected during the performance.
Paul found this pre-made video of a circuit and sent it to me. Obviously as this is a pre-made created by a professional given all the time they need, it looks well polished and really pleasing to the eye, the effects of the glow and the lingering light looks fantastic. I love purple, so this does appeal to me. Whilst I’m not fond of just taking one from online to use, it looks fantastic and will make for the most appealing background when it comes to the performance. This is a short video but in the inbuilt media player on Apple devices we can loop the video indefinitely, allowing me all the time I need to perform.