In this presentation, the projection designer explains the technical infrastructure behind Motown the Musical’s visual effects. Three synchronized computers—lighting, scenic automation, and a WatchOut server—communicate to position media in 3D space as set pieces move. Timecode from the audio system ensures precise audio‑video sync for key moments, such as the Diana Ross‑as‑Billie Holiday sequence, where a white screen unfurls and projection follows the curtain’s movement. The system operates largely autonomously, requiring only nightly shutdowns, but the designer discusses the inevitable failure modes of digital equipment, the critical role of the master electrician, and the trade‑offs between digital repeatability and the visibility of problems compared to analog methods.
Chapters
In Motown, we are actually listening to 3 computers. The computers are all synced together and we're receiving data from 3 different computers. We receive trigger, go triggers from the lighting computer and we're receiving position data from the scenic automation computers. So as pieces of the set move, it is telling our WatchOut, is the server we're using on that show, it's telling Watch Out where that piece of media exists in space. So we kind of— we've programmed each piece of media to a certain location in 3D space, and the automation computers are sort of pushing those pieces of media back and forth. And at the same time, there are two segments that have to sync video to audio reliably every night, and at in those moments where we're actually taking a timecode signal from the audio computers. And in that moment, this sort of famous recreation of Diana Ross as Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues, a big white screen unfurls and we receive a go from the lighting computer that sort of changes the look a little. And then we receive the timecode signal that syncs the audio and the video, and it's all of the computers sort of working in harmony in order to like create this moment. So as the curtain unrolls, we're only projecting onto the curtain. There's nothing that goes beneath it because our computer knows how far in the curtain is and it just sort of like reveals that little image as it comes down. And the timecode is keeping everything perfectly in sync and like everything is automatically moving. And the projection computer is just receiving this data. No one even has to touch it. When everything is working good, you know, when everything works well, no one really has to interact with the computers at all. They just have to turn them off at night. And there are a few electricians working in New York who, while I love, when their name appears on my phone, I know it's a disaster. You know, I know that, you know, Mike Hyman, who is the master electrician at Motown, I love him, but I told him, I was like, "I never want to hear from you because anytime you call, there's something exploding. There's something on fire or something's not communicating or some series of computers need to be rebooted in an exact order or else the system won't work." Fortunately, we've never had a situation where we didn't have a show. We always have figured a thing out, but computers are— they're not— they're not failproof. They are machines, and fans get clogged and things get unplugged, and, you know, pathways of electrons get severed, and things just happen. You know, hard drives fail. Yeah, so, you know, like relighting the footlight candles. That's right. One thing we've gained in the digital, you know, the new digital era is sort of repeatability, reliability. And another thing that we've lost is You can't see it. You can't see the thing that's wrong. You just— the computer's not doing the thing. It says, you know, something in the log. It says something. There's a bunch of text that tells you something's wrong. You can't see it. You can't, you know, film would burn. You could see the problem. It's right there. It's there or it isn't. Digital, it's, you know, is it— is the file there? I don't know. Reboot. You know, that's all you can do.
