Not Technology

[Bradfo69]

I agree. I'm fortunate that I have a venue. I spend 70-80 hours a week in the place where I run lasers and have tried countless things and effects over time to see what "works" and what doesn't. I haven't mixed in video or a confetti cannon (although I have four of them) yet but, wouldnt rule it out. I just got two more DLP projectors so maybe that could get integrated as well. But, when I "go live" with public shows of that nature, that's along the lines of what I intend to do, or for the show to "be". We've had a test run or two and it's pretty immersive. It needs to be able to hold peoples attention. The drawback is the enormous amount of set up and take down time required.

What I do most though, is beam work over the dance floor for weddings and now a couple of proms. And yes, it's a bit boring to punch the same cues to the same wedding type dance songs every weekend. Not a lot of thought or artistic creativity other than the physical placement of the lasers. As laserist put it... uninspired. But that's what's paying the bills. And even with that, I endeavour to give them a good "show" with other types of lighting and effects.

I'm talking about two entirely different things though, and I realize that. But that's also why I said by utilizing a timeline, I could produce a much better show than something live. If I created a beam show to a particular dance track and the DJ let me flip over from his music to my music/show for the songs that the lasers were runnning, it would be a much better show than what I have the ability to do live. Especially if I added some DMX cues for intelligent lights into the mix.

The real "art" in playing live though is what ImageLight has been doing with the Z-5 analog console and what he's doing is simply amazing. THAT to me is what a real laserist is. Someone in front of a board full of knobs and sliders who can skillfully play along with the music and create on the fly. Granted it's all abstracts and not beams but nonetheless, THAT is a show. I've been able to give him the opportunity to play the console live along with a DJ on several occasions now to practice. Since the ballroom is dividable, the party has been on one side with all the guests and he's been set up on the other side by himself with the console and a laser for three hours at a stretch and the music is playing just as loud on that side. It's another element I want to add to the public, theater style laser shows in the future when we start doing them.

[mixedgas]

I believe the word tying a good laser show to the music or a emotional story is Synesthesia!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia

Good laser shows have a introduction, a plot, a climax, and a conclusion, even if its beams or abstracts.
With some clever work, you can invoke happiness, sadness, love, etc. and even without graphics.

A GOOD beam show to "Also Sprach Zarathustra" or "Starwars Main Theme" evokes a emotion and emphasizes the story. Even though it doesn't tell the story, you know a meaning for "Zarathustra" and the laser (if done correctly) invokes it.

IF you have Pangolin's Showtime, How many emotions (and stories told, memories of history lessons) does the "Creation" show evoke in you, when you first see it?



Steve

[laserist]

I really think we need to stop calling a number a "show". If you want to hold the audience's attention for the better part of an hour (or more) you simply can not cram everything on your pallet into the first number...

[absolom7691]

I really think we need to stop calling a number a "show".

Good point. Pink Floyd wouldn't sing Comfortably Numb for an hour during a concert.

[Bradfo69]

I agree with that too. I think people have just gotten into the habit of thinking: "If I'm dragging everything out and setting it up, it's a show." I just don't know what a good term would be for a single song or portion of one. I have a couple that for their wedding, just want "something with lasers" for their formal introduction. It's an effect that's going to last about 15 seconds. That may be it for the night and yet, I still have to refer to it as a "show" since there isn't another word. It still requires all the same set up of truss/projectors/cabling, control station, haze machines, fog machines, etc. (It's going to be hard to look them in the eye when I give them a price quote but, you really have to with the amount of work involved.)

[laserist]

The Planetarium Pattern

I Background

In the beginning there were domes. They had opto-mechanical star projectors. They were good. Then a world war came along and if you wanted a planetarium projector you needed to build your own. Some of these were good; others were "good enough". It was a simpler time and in these "planetariums" you could turn out all of the lights - even the exit lights - you couldn't see a thing - even after your eyes dark adapted.

Fast forward decades: A young Ivan Dryer saw a demonstration by Elsa Garmire of laser artwork after hours at her lab at Caltech. He immediately knew what to do with it - and where - in a totally BLACK domed space where this new art form could be presented to the public in a totally immersive way. And the stars could turn that immersive space into *outer space*. It worked - he sold more than 20 million tickets.

Fast forward decades: These domed spaces are even more common. But many have become much less dark. Exit lights and other things intrude on the darkness. Many of these "star theaters" have "upgraded" to all dome video projection systems that turn the sky a more or less uniform gray and turn the brightest stars into baseball sized blobs lowering the bar on "good enough" even further. (A very few have installed great opto-mechanical star projectors, but some of those don't even use them...)

Today most planetariums no longer have that ideal darkness where laser shows shine to their greatest glory. They have also installed more comfortable seats which are larger and have reduced their capacity by 40 to 50%. The economics of laser shows in planetariums has changed. Griffith Observatory's capacity has gone from 600/show to 300/show. Fewer people per show means less revenue is available to attract an audience. Marketing today is MUCH harder. It won't matter how good your show is if you don't solve the marketing problem.

In 1986 the International Laser Display Association was formed. They wrote a specification for a standard projector that was adopted by the laser display industry. The ILDA basic projector was capable of a small subset of what existing planetarium laser projectors could do. Along came faster scanners and multiplexing. Multiplexing gave back some of the capabilities that multiple slower scanners provided, but not all. For example early planetarium systems did effects that depended upon slow scans and ramps that depended on the viewer's persistence of vision at very low light levels. These kinds of effects just don't lend themselves to multiplexing. The ILDA basic projector was primarily designed to do animation. Obviously you could do anything that one scan pair would support, but the drive toward standardization was to support plug and play - "my" animation on "your" projector. For years the focus of the software vendors was better and better animation support.

Today there seems to be a reawakening involving abstract and optical lumia techniques employed by the pioneers of planetarium laser light shows. So perhaps we'll come full circle and reinvent the planetarium laser show. My ramblings above are meant to set the stage for a discussion of what was done well, what worked and what didn't work, and general philosophy of constructing a great planetarium laser show.

To be continued…

[Laser Wizardry]

" 15 characters"

[swamidog]

Swamidog's abstract shows in combination with the experimental lumia effects and scan through/ reflective effects that he and I have worked on the past few years definitely are a step in that direction....

yes. karl and i are experimenting with new effects...

http://youtu.be/NpJpPL5K2jw

http://youtu.be/3S8Vo1_Quug

and a very old school effect that hasn't been done in decades.

http://youtu.be/wiBOAMFfBCM

[Bradfo69]

I think DZ's re-introduction of the Z-5 analog console is a step in that direction as well. There are currently I believe 4 in existence (including mine), with more in the que to be constructed but, the concept of "playing" a show live with no two shows ever being the same is very much alive and well utilizing this device.

[Bradfo69]

yes. karl and i are experimenting with new effects...

http://youtu.be/NpJpPL5K2jw

Been meaning to ask you how things with this one have been going.