View from The Bridges -Class Performance Project- #2

Back again.. to get a better picture of who was doing what there is a dedicated list which we
followed except when that person did his or her "segment" - it is as follows :

Andy/Jane - audio
JoEllen - video mixer/audio
Sunmin - camera
Laura - camera
Julie - computer
Scott - computer/ video mixer/ director
Jane - overall stage manager/MC/ video

*The order of segments were those done by the following


Scott's: Blocking The Block
Laura: View from Under the Bridge
Jane: What's Up With Talking?
JoEllen: Ethersketch
Sunmin: Bridge of the Moments
Julie: Dreaming of Going to Korea
Andrew: Andy will be putting together 5 30-60 second transitions that will separate each piece.

Although we had a false start, our first segment by Scott went off pretty well. His collaborator - a guitarist,was on another floor-and was ready to start again. We had, it seemed, taken off without Andy's tabla playing which I really thought added so much-- I was responsible for the on-stage patter, and a Master of Ceremonies ' "act" -

Laura's piece worked well.. she had a dancer at another local location- waiting to dance via skype
and they did well... they danced simultaneously

Jane: I had the most complicated film and skit - I think it went OK- although it needed precise timing to really make it effective.. my long distance collaborators were able to get through
Mariangeles read the excerpt from Luciano Berio's Sinfonia -( very highbrow) and she would lapse into Spanish-
Then my segment went on - me trying to write a song but not wanting to get hung up in words..
Then Ernesto came on board - he had found a way to load in his pictures into the Skype program
as a slide show.

In between the segments came Andy's Tabla

Next was Joellen's Ethernet painting that used the Coccinella server - that has a chat room where you set up a "white board" and various people in different locations can create drawings simultaneously. I did my best with that...

Sumin - used Julie to sing an original piece and she composed something for the piano as well

Julie had a skype collaborator, Myung, from Korea - playing the theme from The Titanic on
a whistle type instrument

It ended nicely - it went over time however and through the whole presentation, we had a n audience person, Synthia - projected on the ceiling through a computer/projector combination.

It was a great experience to work that hard to create something that short!- with collaborators from nearby localities to Buenos Aires and Korea - but we did it and it had a lot of substance...
One has to know the entire production -) - it was experimental - it would have been really awesome if we had had the time to make it "really seamless" -

Our class performance for the final project "View from the Bridges" -was scheduled for Dec 15th at 7PM. As I was driving downtown, with my on stage script, additional papers for the skit and the DVD made from the .mov file, my mind was going through the last details I would need to accomplish for my segment as well as envisioning the set up schematic drawing sent out by Scott. The class needed to arrive between 4-and 430
for our set up and possible trouble shooting

We had decided to scale down some of the equipment after a meeting held two weeks previous to the 15th. Here is the list of the equipment that would need to be in place, based on the needs of each performer.


3 projectors
3 computers
2 cameras
1 video mixer
2 switches
2 VDAs
2 canopus'
3 computer connections
4 composite cables*
10 s-video cables*
Power strips as needed
Extension cords (power) as needed
Converter connectors as needed
1 audio mixer
2 microphones
Audio cables as needed
AND a DVD player

All the class members worked together to bring the equipment into the studio from different locations: Tom Beyer's office, 7th floor and the Monitor Station on the 8th floor. There was trouble getting the ether connection for Dr. Gilbert's Lap Top- (which was dedicated to the "skype" collaborators ) it's connectivity remained unsolvable until Tom Beyer came to check it out- and it appeared that there was something wrong with the school's Ethernet connection- so we moved to wireless for the "skype Computer" -- Meanwhile,I brought in cables, and Projectors, Vda's and switches...made contact via skype with my own laptop to check on my collaborators, Mariangeles Rajoy, and Ernesto Lacalle in Buenos Aires ( they were two hours ahead and waiting patiently for us to contact with them)

We accomplished our set up in approx 1 1/2 hour - and at that point - we had to re-test the Ethernet connection and as mentioned earlier, we switched to wireless. -The DVD player was brought in by Tom Beyer at approx 615 PM..we connected that,
and by 630 were pretty much up and running.

Besides helping with the overal set up, I had to experiment some with Coccinella - which has an interactive paint program with a white wall room -where many collaborators can draw/paint using the tools on the left - Jo Ellen had envisioned this as her segment- and I was to be part of this effort.

To Be Continued: stay tuned

Simplify and Know What You Need

More on the process of developing our production:

We all had to rethink our set up and that process was very positive.
Tuesday, the class was given a deadline - the setup with cameras, projector, audio and computers had to be set and functioning by 8PM - we were not able to make the deadline, hence, the rethinking that went on until 10:30--

The outcome: Simplify and really know what you need for what action TB made three columns on the board and each class member made their choices of "where" they wanted their movie, their Skype, their "live" shots to be projected to..and from that simple thought process, we could then see better, what pieces were needed to accomplish this.

We got a lot closer to realizing the setup and the performance as a whole. We also have a tentative order for each class members' piece.
Here is a list of what we will need "for sure"- as simple organization will save time in the end.

Inventory- Views from the Bridges

7^Th Floor TB’s Office

3 Projectors w/cables

2 switches (Radio Shack)

1 (or possibly 2) VDA ‘s

2-3 DVI Mac Adaptors

1 Tom’s Bag of Tricks

2 Canopus

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2 Mac laptop COMPUTERS

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8^Th Floor Monitor

Mackie Audio Mixer Onyx 1640

2 Sony Video Cameras

2 tripods

2 Microphones

4 XLR Cables

2 Mic Stands

2 mic clips

Ederol Video Mixer

Assorted S-Video, B&C,

RCA connecting cables

Tape

Artists tape