Illuminating the Projectionists
Posted by Caroline Cooper on 10/02/2008
Tune in to more commentary from projection artists Leo Warner and Mark Grimmer of 59 Productions”
A series of declassified documents marked “Library of Congress” flashed across white panels. A frenzy of equations and diagrams, followed by a cross section of the bomb, floated across a scrim. Clouds drifted in a fictional sky.
Just a few of the images running across the stage during the tech week, a week of staging the lighting and set design for the Met’s debut of John Adams’s opera, Doctor Atomic. Extensive, vibrant projections, courtesy of the UK’s Fifty Nine Productions and last seen on the Met stage in April’s Satyagraha, make up a large part of the visual sparring in Doctor Atomic.
Three young men sat huddled at the center of row Q, surrounded by a bank of computer screens. The founders of Fifty Nine Productions, one of the world’s leading video and projection companies, all are in their twenties, sporting scruffy hair and old style t-shirts. An electrical storm blew by.
“Ok, go back to the equations,” someone said in the darkened house.
“The diagrams too or just the equations?”
“All of it. We’re doing too much storm and sky. And let’s mix some rain in. Close up on the drops.”
They were referring to the range of black and white images that would be projected onto the stage throughout Doctor Atomic, often rendered in chalky lines and drawings, a reference to the by-hand style in which the bomb was created.
“The extensive use of video is what’s new here. It’s a whole new area for the Met,” scenic designer Douglas Lebrecht commented in a low voice.
“Other problems are more familiar. Julian wants the bomb less shiny and new so we’re trying to figure that out now,” he added, referring to Doctor Atomic set designer Julian Crouch. Crouch also served as the associate director and set designer for the Met’s April debut of Philip Glass’s opera, Satyagraha.
“How can debris be made more reflective and better in the lighting cues? These are some of the questions I’m working on right at the moment,” Lebrecht said.
The projections of rapid-fire raindrops died out. A series of colorful lights blasted up onto the bomb itself, a quick progression of hues. The orb glowed magenta one moment, green and moss covered the next. White lights flashed in the background, evoking the storm that delayed the original testing. “We’re using quite a lot of archive material from Los Alamos and some declassified government documents as well,” commented Leo Warner, one of the projectionists from Fifty Nine Productions. “Including blueprints of the bomb and original designs.”
“There are a few different components that will probably be reduced as we go through this process,” added fellow Fifty Niner Mark Grimmer, running his hands through a shock of brown bangs.
“I just want to get to some sun. We’ve been in this dark hall all week! Could we go outside and talk?”
But there was no time for too many breaks during tech week. The projections revived. Webs of equations spun across the set, unfolding in a profusion of numbers, divisions, pi signs, until the flurry disintegrated into a diagram of the bomb itself and, finally, sketchings of trees.
“There’s a chalk aesthetic. These guys that designed this amazing thing literally worked it out with pencils and chalk and bits of paper. So there’s this kind of fairly rough aesthetic chalk thing going on,” Warner said.
“We’re also trying to blur the lines between the molecular diagrams and physics equations with the Native American art of the region,” Grimmer added. “We’re going to make some short animated sequences based on those ideas.”
General Manager Peter Gelb, who had been keeping an eye on every day of the Doctor Atomic tech week, observed the proceedings from row M. “The projectionists are establishing their visual vocabulary,” he said. “It’s great to have the equations and diagrams up on the screens. The imagery plugs the gap between the idea and the real thing.”
The house lights came up and all the projections disappeared in the blaze. It was the end of the day. “That’s it! Game over!” someone called out.
Terry Ganley, a stage manager for Doctor Atomic, headed out the door. Were the projected equations the real thing? “Oh, these guys don’t mess around,” Ganley said. “They have copies of all the original documents stamped secret or classified or unclassified. It’s all the real thing and it’s amazing.”