In this segment of the ShowbizU lecture, the speaker discusses how contemporary projection technology has become affordable and ubiquitous, allowing artists to focus on creative intent rather than technical constraints. They argue that the artistic idea should drive the process, with technology serving as a solution to realize that vision. The speaker emphasizes a teaching philosophy for Projection 101 that prioritizes defining the story, purpose, and desired visual effect before considering software, hardware, or media servers, asserting that once the artistic goal is clear, the appropriate technology naturally follows.
Chapters
the emergence of all the different pieces that go into it. How do you as an artist marry your artistic creative process with technology? How do the two go together? That's an interesting question. I think that technology, uh, it's sort of the abundance and readiness and ease of access. And while projections and technologies can still be expensive, they are not overwhelmingly expensive anymore. Anyone can kind of use it now. You know, like any idea, any artistic idea can come to fruition with a projector and PowerPoint. You know, like you just need an idea of what the thing is and basically all the equipment, you know, everyone in their pocket now has a camera and playback device. You know, you could run an entire show sound and lights and video from an iPhone, you know, like basically everyone has all the technology they need. It's, it's just the artistic idea at this point. I try to not think about technology so much as the form, but just as an answer to the solution, like an answer to the question of what do you want to do. And I always try to think Okay, you can do anything. You can do anything. What do you want to do? You want to coat all the walls with projection? You want to take an object and map every surface of it? You want to have a hologram appear from thin air and then disappear? You know, when I teach the Projection 101 lecture, I always try to say, don't worry about what software I use. Don't worry about how I did it or the hardware or what media servers. Yeah, you need to know that at some point. But I like to at least philosophically look at things like, what do you want it to be? What do you want it to do? What is the story? What is the notion of this thing? Is it a digital character and you need to talk to a character in a screen? Or are you changing the walls? You're in a forest, you're in a castle, you're in a meadow instantly. Are you— is it a digital backdrop? What is the question, what is the artistic desire? The technology basically figures itself out.
