BrightSign-enabled
Projection Mapping Brings Creative Performance Theater to Life at the Panther
Room
In
late-April 2017, key players from Blue Man Group, Queen of the Night and STOMP!
assembled at a secret location to workshop a top-secret stage production. The
two-week event was a test-run to showcase a unique stage performance to theater
insiders, investors, family, friends and other VIP guests.
The show was set in Prohibition-era New Orleans. Dubbed the “Panther Room,”
performance acts were spread out across two basement areas within the building.
Traditional seating was dropped in favor of a less formal, more interactive
layout that invited guests to immerse themselves in the experience.
Empty
rooms were transformed into rich, textual spaces by projecting video content on
a diversity of surfaces. Melissa Ulto of creative agency MULTO.com
brought together striking creative assets that married perfectly with the
organic elements upon which they were projected.
One room
– the Congo Room – employed a dual rear-projection set-up that projected images
of New Orleans’ Congo Square on a dozen large strips of paper stretched from
floor to ceiling. The images evoke a bygone era and perfectly set the stage for
the other rooms. The Swamp Room, which used projected images on both paper and
mirror, served as a stage for live music performances by guitarists dressed in
period attire. A third area featured dancers and other performers holding up
pieces of fabric, upon which old black-and-white images were projected.
Additional rear-projection was used on hanging fabric, evoking ghostly images
as the fabric swayed.
In addition to the creative execution, Melissa Ulto also built the video network that
distributed video content throughout the performance. Projectors were attached
to BrightSign
media players, which enabled Melissa to control precisely which content was fed
to the various projectors throughout the performance. Using a single Mac to
interface with the media players, she created and carefully controlled the vibe
in each area of the performance. In some cases, Melissa used VDMX to alter the
color, speed, opacity and mapping size to create precisely the feeling she
wanted for each segment of the performance – taking great care to key map
particular areas while blocking out the rest of the area, resulting in a
perfect visual fit.
The project was met with great enthusiasm and plans are underway to find a
permanent home for the show.
Download Case Study