The LDs in Europe use light in a way that we in America can only dream about. And for some reason the laws here forbid us from using lasers like that on people. Just because someone could go blind forever, doesn’t mean we should be restricted from shining “lazer beams” at unsuspecting audience and band members. Ok. I take it back. We shouldn’t be able to wildly swing lasers at a the band and audience. No. I take that back. We should with restrictions. But it should easier for me to get permits to do it. Because I would do it a tasteful and safe manner 100% of the time. Whatever!

This video sparked my curiosity to find a way to create a similar effect on stage sans the use of lasers. So after seeing the effects of a video projector shining on an IMAG screen through fog one day . I quickly started researching how I could use that light source to my advantage. And how to do it without breaking the bank.

Enter Pro Video Player by Renewed Vision.

It is a cost effective media server of sorts. It lacks DMX control, but I’m working on way to get around that, with the use of midi and possibly some other network controls. My software of choice in Quartz Composer. QC is one of the building block programs built-in OSX. It was allowed a few of us in my circle of tech-geek-compter-junky friends to repurpose video game controllers to send midi voice commands to PVP to trigger clips with a device other than a mouse. Simple? Yes, in appearance. Rather complex on the back end, or so I thought when we started working on the problem about a year ago. Easy by comparison to the projects I’ve been working now
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I have several ways that I spend my time. First, I am a designer. For the most part I use light, but I have been know to cross mediums and jump into the vast realm of set design, graphic design, and sound design. Somehow in the last year I have been sucked into the world of Motion Graphics. That sounds like I know what I’m doing. Not exactly.

Well… let me clarify. I have watched hours of video tutorials about how to use After Effects. That by no means qualifies me to call myself a “motion graphics guy”, but I have found a greater appreciation for the folks that make a living doing it. My background in 3D drafting/ rendering has been a great help in the jump into creating digital effects. For the most part, the pieces that I have done have been animated typography and visual effects that play in sync (that’s a different topic) with a live performance. My friend Nicholas Rivero has examples of this type of work on his youtube page.

I have also started looking into different ways to use video sources in conjunction with conventional theatrical lighting sources. The video above shows some of my early uses of converging video projectors into a lighting rig for pure arial effect. The quality of light that video projectors put out is wildly different from the warm punchiness of a PAR64. It has increased my visual vocabulary greatly. The depth of color and speed of change are miles from the old days of color scrollers and autotransformer dimmer curves.

All of this rambling to say that I am on a continuing journey to better myself as a designer and story teller. Maybe this blog will help in both of those endeavors.