Projection Mapping

So I came across this video randomly earlier on this week and fell in love. Projection mapping is one of the  most interesting things ever in the industry. I honestly have no idea how they do it and if I have the opportunity to do this I will be the most stressed out person ever, but it would be worth a try. In this particular one, they were projecting Ralph Lauren's image with a little skit before putting up a fashion show. The fashion show was being projected as if the models were walking out of the building. It blows my mind how real this looks even with it zoomed up close. Around 3:30, a handbag is being covered with the front of the building in order to make it seem like the hand bag is now inside. Soon after a belt wraps itself around the store and it seriously looked like it was 3D literally wrapped around, you could see around the edges their was depth, so insane! The first few horses seemed to be sort of floating a little bit then the rest were on the "ledge", but I still think it is amazing. Around 6 minutes a spot light circles the building and it could fool anyone whether that was the actual building or not. My favorite part was when the "photograph" part came up. The depth in the over lapping frames was tackled phenomenally. At the end, Ralph Lauren himself pops out of a window and waves to the crowd, looked so real that I am going to pretend it was. Rumor has it, we get a chance to mess with projection mapping. I honestly do not want to get my hopes up because it seems like the most tedious and most ridiculously stressful thing ever, but we will just have to see.

Live And Let Die

So I found this person on youtube who uploads light shows to songs and my favorite is Live and Let Die. It originally caught my eye when I was looking to get inspired for the final project and ended up watching it a couple times because it was interesting. I am glad we learned about tracking because it really builds up when the lights and colors chase each other. The gobos used at the beginning and ending were a perfect touch, they really can set a mood of what is about to come or what has happened. The lights are timed so perfectly it makes me a little nervous and I sense some frustration when I work on my project but it is definitely a challenge worth trying. I partially like the audience-blinding white strobe that flashes only a couple times at a time, it really is a crowd exciter. Also I was noticing the strange setup (well strange for me at least). The back wall is where most of the lights are hung? Maybe it is a weird angle, but it definitely looks like most of the movers are gathered on the same wall, interesting! Oh and the rainbow at 2:09 was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen! :) I would most definitely go and see this live without an artist, it is that intriguing. We should totally video each of our final projects for your class.

I watched the "The Great Escape" video he has on his youtube channel as well and I noticed the designer stilled the lights a few times. I do not know how I feel about that because the song is already pretty slow in the verses anyways. I guess if the band was present it would of made more sense, but at the moment, I did not really understand.

MUSE 2010 Light Show

I am still on edge whether I am more of an audio or lighting person, but one thing I love most about lighting is LED wall shows and projection mapping (I believe they might of used projection mapping on the towers before the reveal???) The insanity that Muse's production team pulled off at their tour last year was amazing. I went to their show in Houston and I remember almost crying in happiness because the intro was keeping us all on the edge of our seats and so thrilling. The awesome part about the video that I posted below is that it captures up close the laser and mirror trick one of the band members was doing on his platform right after the reveal. My friend I was with did not know the band's music so well so she was not super thrilled during the transition right before they came on but it is so crazy how something like that can make anyone get lost in the performance including my friend I was with. It is very cool how each member has their own two little spots over looking them on their platforms because as a whole I love when only the members are individually lit. I noticed the lights are mainly white and shades of blue, but it definitely works perfectly with the red LEDs from the towers they are on. The royal blues at the beginning I feel are such a good color choice for building up the audience’s excitement so I am definitely going to mess around with that color in lab!