And I keep forgetting to mention that we're having an informal showing of the video that I've shot at DPI.  It's being projected inside the building at 983-A Dean St this Saturday, 26th July.  It's designed to be viewed from the street.  The building is in the middle of the block between Franklin and Classon (nearest subway C train to Franklin Ave).  

Weather permitting, Monica Ruzansky (www.monicaruzansky.com) will be projecting her beautiful photography on the surrounding architecture and up on the roof, where we'll be hanging out and having drinks with anyone who wants to drop by and join us from 9pm onwards.  Hope to see you there!

Last week I did a shoot at DPI with my friends Ariel Efron, Andrew Schneider and Katherine Behar. I went ahead with the setup that I previously described - which is two Panasonic DVX HD cameras shooting through a piece of non-glare plexiglass, with two overlapping retroreflective screens providing the background.  Both cameras were mounted with green led rings to provide a green screen effect.

 The plexi has a matte coating which reduces reflected light, which I thought would be essential in order to prevent the lighting being seen in the camera lens.  However, I discovered that this is more about angle and position of lights and camera than anything else, and the matte non-glare coating makes everything look slightly soft-focus - almost like someone has put vaseline on the lens.  Not what I wanted, but not a disaster, either.  It actually makes the HD video look a little softer and grainier and more like film, so that's really a question of aesthetic.

I tried using a polarizing filter to reduce reflected light, but of course, this just prevents the light from the led's bouncing back and providing a green background, so that was a bad idea.

Anyway, I spent the weekend working in After Effects with the content that we shot. The key is an easy pull (using Keylight), however, there are some slightly dicy shadows around some edges.  This is because of the angles of the lights that were necessary to avoid reflection.  However, I think it's manageable in this context, although would need a lot more work if it was for broadcast.

 
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(just noticed that my last blog entry ended up as a comment, not as a proper blog entry, so here it is posted again)

 Not giantkilling, but giantkeying.
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The new online 2008 - 2009 DPI Artist Residency Application is available at:

Application Form
http://www.digitalperformance.org/2008Application

Residency Information and Guidelines
http://digitalperformance.org/residency

A continuation of my attempt to compile a list of my favorite resources, following up on the Venues list.

If you've got a favorite resource I should add then please let DPI know.

dorkbot
http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotnyc

NYC Resistor
397 Bridge Street, 5th Floor Brooklyn
http://www.nycresistor.com

make and make2
http://www.makenyc.org
http://www.makenyc2.org

Madaigascar
217 Butler Street, Brooklyn
http://madagascarinstitute.com

3rdWard
195 Morgan Ave, Brooklyn
http://www.3rdward.com

office ops
57 Thames St., Brooklyn
http://www.officeops.org

EYEBEAM
540 W. 21st Street, NYC
http://eyebeam.org

LEMUR / LEMURplex
461 3rd Avenue, Brooklyn
http://www.lemurbots.org

I decided that I wanted to use video projection very early on in creating UNPRONOUNCEABLE SYMBOL, for several reasons. It allows you to very easily incorporate outside material in a way you otherwise couldn’t. In this show in specific, we were able to incorporate a lot of footage, both still photos and video clips, that I had taken in Minneapolis and to have the sort of cold “outside”, urban imagery to contrast with the opulence of the “inside” world that we made onstage with heavy curtains, flowers, purple light and haze. Not to mention the easy ability to incorporate Minneapolis itself into the show, which I was interested in. I’ve also always enjoyed the aesthetic of projected video as I often favor very basic, i.e. transparent stagecraft so having slides appear behind the action appeals to me. Generally, the ephemeral nature of projected imagery, lights and shadows and such is something I really enjoy and think added a lot to our show.

Neal Medlyn

SOHO Think Tank ICE FACTORY '08 : TRACES/fades
July 16-19 Wednesday-Saturday 7PM $10-$15
Ohio Theatre, 66 Wooster St

a meditation on Alzheimer's and our national inability to remember history.
an intergenerational performance that examines the fluidity of identity.

written and conceived: Lenora Champagne
directed: Lenora Champagne and Robert Lyons
featuring: Mary Fogarty*, Judith Greentree*, Joanne Jacobson*, Quanda Johnson*, Matthew Lewis*, Amelie Lyons and Lenora Champagne
music and sound:Daniel Levy and Lisa Dove
video: Shaun Irons and Lauren Petty
lights: Stacey-Jo Marine
costumes: Liz Prince
stage management: Nicole Marconi
assistant direction: Tricia Cramer and Janina Santillan