Digital Scenery – Drypigment.net

The Boston Scottish Rite primarily uses an LED wall for the degree production backings. I had the opportunity to examine the effect on April 12 before my afternoon flight. My host went out of his way to take time from his full schedule to share both the building and his work.

LED wall at the Boston Scottish Rite next to a historic dye drop

The Boston Scottish Rite has only a few historic backdrops, ranging from the early to mid-twentieth century. The later versions are fairly crude traditions of standard themes, done in brilliant dye work. It really is an odd mix of painted elements. The theatre is located on the seventh floor of a building with architecture that is reminiscent of many Northern Masonic Jurisdiction Scottish Rite theaters, Gothic in feel.

The Boston Scottish Rite stage and LED wall.

I was anxious to see how well an LED wall worked in a historic venue. There can be many short-term benefits to embracing digital scenery before the system becomes obsolete and/or irreparable. Scene changes require no stage crew and the subject matter is limitless, with endless possibilities for backings during degree productions.

However, I recognized that the use of digital images in lieu of historic scenery could result in an overall loss of scenic illusion on the stage. Until I saw the LED wall in Boston, I was unsure as to the extent. There is increased realism for the backing and more flexibility of subject matter, but there is something missing from the stage aesthetic. It is as if the soul of the stage has disappeared, with the space being transformed into something entirely different.

There are a few things to consider when contemplating a switch from traditional painted scenery to digital imagery for Scottish Rite degree productions.

LED walls are fantastic for many things, but the technology is racing so fast that they become obsolete in a relatively short period of time. This nuance of technology is frequently not fully understood by those purchasing a new system. Often the Masonic clients have lived with their historic scenery and stage machinery for decades, and they expect a new system to last just as long. This is especially pertinent if a substantial amount of money is being spent on an entirely new system.

A parallel could be made with much older adults who consider the purchase of a computer as an investment, not a short-term appliance that will soon have to be replaced as technology continues to advance. The same can be said with motorized line sets, lighting systems, and any other digital systems; at some point they will need to be replaced as they will not last for an extended period of time. Many modern components for the stage with computer systems and software cannot last for decades, as technology races forward, thus making replacement parts often unavailable when the need for a repair occurs a few years down the road. At some point the technology will need to be repaired or replaced. As we experience with many other appliances in our home, it may not be possible to get the necessary replacement parts if our specific the model is no longer being produced as better versions are available. Does the client realize that their new technology has a proverbial shelf life and that the entire system will soon need to be replaced?

Regardless of the ease of use, or anticipated life expectancy of an LED wall, its mere presence is incongruous with the visual aesthetic established by historic costumes and properties. What made the traditional painted illusion so successful was that the selection of scenery, props and costumes where selected as a part of a unified visual whole; one intended to be illuminated in a very specific way. To overcome the brilliancy of the LED screen as a backing, I would be curious to see how bright the front light needs to be during degree productions.

A few digital images that the Boston Scottish is using for their LED wall is identical to that used by the Fort Worth Scottish Rite. The photographs originated from a scenery collection produced by Don Carlos Du Bois, representing the Great Western Stage Equipment Co. of Kansas City. The stage compositions are vibrant and very characteristic of the mid-twentieth century. As projections, there is a tendency for fading and a loss of detail. I again noticed this on the USITT Expo floor when looking at a rear projections screen placed next an actual backdrop. The dark areas weren’t as dark as they needed to be. There is a lack of overall contrast, and everything seems to be a just little too light. At the time, I considered how well a rear projection screen would work for degree productions, with performers being placed in front of so much light.

Now the digital images of historic backdrops on an LED wall are even brighter. The spacing between individual LED lights is based on the viewing distance. Just as scenic art painting techniques fall apart as the viewer nears the backdrop, so do individual LED lights that relay the overall image; the farther away the audience is, the greater spacing between the lights. This is why they work so great for rock concerts in auditoriums that seat thousands of people. At the Boston Scottish Rite, the LED wall reads best from the back row of the auditorium, not from the first few rows. It is almost too much technology for the relatively intimate space as you near the stage, let alone step onto the stage.

Now, let’s consider the overall experience of degree participants, after all, that is a major consideration when altering degree work practices. An LED wall creates an entirely different environment for the stage performer. Stepping onto stage in the midst of a fully lit historic scene is magical. You are encompassed by brilliant color and detail, becoming part of the scenic illusion. In the short time that I stood next to the LED wall in Boston, my eyes hurt. The brilliancy for the screen overpowered the entire stage and was very distracting.

A scene on the LED wall at the Boston Scottish Rite

The same can be said for the audience experience as you are watching degree work in front of an LED wall. There is a distinct light spill from the image on the screen and I would be curious to see how much front light on the performers is necessary. Just as dimly lit stages cause visual fatigue for the audience, so do brilliantly lit compositions, especially if you are ten feet way.

I am curious to see how long this system will last in Boston and hear about the Scottish Rite degree participants’ experiences.

To be continued…

This is my last post on the conference, as I leave for Santa Fe in a few hours and shift my focus to other things. There is a lot that I could discuss about USITT 2019, new friends and delightful reunions. However, I am going to end this section with reflections on painted, digital, and projected scenes.

Stage Expo entrance at USITT 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky

When you visit USITT, it is almost as if you are attending two conferences. There are the expected educational sessions and displays, but there is also the EXPO. You can solely visit the EXPO floor without ever attending the rest of the conference, for a fee. Cutting the ribbon to open the EXPO is a big event and students rush into the space, going from one exhibit booth to another, collecting swag.

The EXPO includes booths advertising products, services, publications, universities and internship opportunities. In addition to student and employment opportunities, the largest presence remains vendors. USITT has made it easy for the vendors to identify those with purchasing power by attaching a black “Buyer” ribbon on their conference name tags. There are designs and new product exhibits interspersed among, and around, the vendors.

In past years, backdrops and projections lined the exterior walls, and a few booths. For this conference there were only a few. As usual, each accompanied a little placard with information about the manufacturer or venue where it once hung. This year, in one corner near a coffee stand, a poorly hung and lit backdrop was placed next to a rear projection screen. Despite the wrinkles and lighting hot spots on the painted scene, there is immediacy to the drop that was absent in the projection; apples and oranges really.

Part of the notable difference is that there is a greater contrast of values in the painted scene. The darks are darker than in the projections. The greater contrast in the painted scene gave life to the composition otherwise absent in the projection.

Now, it cannot go without comment that the painted drop was poorly hung and poorly lit; the wrinkles were pretty atrocious. If this were at any other event than a technical theatre conference, I might not be so critical of the final presentation. I can only wonder why; hazard a guess that it may have been time, poor communication or inexperience. Maybe I am simply overtly critical and wanted the painted versions to far outshine a nearby projection. However, I wonder if we have lost something, such as our understanding of how painted scenery needs to be lit? What I have witnessed over the years is that without a general top light, wrinkles and flaws in the fabric can be accentuated, such as was the case this year on the Expo floor. Some scenes only had strip lights on the floor, blasting color upwards and highlighting ever flaw.

This observation is also after we played with lights on historic scenery at the Louisville Scottish Rite the same week. Richard Bryant was running lights and we saturated with scenes with red and blue. The borders contained white, red and blue lamps. Even with complete saturation of one color, the composition was clearly visible. This is not the case with some contemporary settings, where portions of the painted scene would disappear.

The brilliancy of the projection, although effective for many purposes, does not have the division of value as the painted piece. There is a reality and immediacy of painted scenes that cannot be replicated – yet. This same can be said for digital drops. There is a quality that does not capture the life of a painted scene – yet.

When digital drops were first introduced, scenic artists should have embraced the technology and made it their own. Easier said than done, as I certainly didn’t; initially criticizing and dismissing digital drops. It wasn’t going to go away because a handful of people felt threatened and were fighting change. As our scenic art predecessors, we should have applied new technology and innovation to our trade all along the way.

The heritage of scenic artists is closely linked with applying new technology to an old trade. It is that of a scenic visionary. The scenic artist could be the intermediary, translating the vision for the stage. Scenic artists understand what works from a distance; the necessity to separate values and the appropriate application of color to make it visible from a difference. They understand the way that “painted” light needs to shape objects while reflecting the stage lights at the same time. The magician to make it digital scenery really work will be the person who designs the digital file, hopefully a scenic artist. Whether it is for a projection or print, an artist needs to finalize the scenic vision. I am certainly not the first person to propose this.

As I looked at a digital drop on the Expo floor this year, really studying the characteristics of the print quality, I realized something. The cut and paste approach of the digital design did not work here at all. Some sections were fuzzy and others crisp; some kind of stock art? Some sections were flipped, as almost a reverse and repeat. The problem was that the shadows were not consistent throughout the entire composition. Repeated objects had shadows on opposite sides. I would like to think that a scenic artist would have immediately noticed this in the design and corrected it. Do people notice? I wonder; that digital file was designed, approved, printed, used in performance, and hung at a theatre conference.

What is lost in translation, however, is the unity of the composition when the lighting is not consistent in the paint (or dye) application. It is the use of light and shadow in the design and painting that creates the illusion. Now there is nothing worse, than me casting stones at a person, product or company from a safe distance, commenting online well after the fact. This could be a productive conversation as we look toward the future. I hope that this will spark a debate.

To be continued…

Category: Digital Scenery

Travels of a Scenic Artists and Scholar – The Boston Scottish Rite’s LED Wall

Travels of a Scenic Artist and Scholar: USITT Expo 2019