r.u.r.

I really liked the R.U.R. performance. I think the projections worked better with this one than with Hamlet. Although I believe it would have been more effective if the projections were chosen deliberately to accentuate the scene. I'd never heard of this play before (outside class) and it was a really interesting story. It seems like it was a clear influence on more modern sci-fi like Battlestar Galactica and Dollhouse. I was also very impressed with the actors in this one, although they were only sitting and reading the lines.

hamlet

The Tank event was today. First up was a couple scenes from Hamlet with our SketchUps/etc behind them. I've gotta say that the projections didn't work as well as I was expecting. I thought it would at least have been full screen. This just looked like someone forgot to turn off the projector and was just messing around. Otherwise, the acting was good and made me look at Hamlet in a whole new light.

what i've learned

Now that this class is over, I'm trying to think about what I've gotten out of this class. I think the biggest thing I've learned is to embrace change. The world is changing, and so is the job market. The people who don't adapt to technology are gonna be left behind. Also, to not only embrace and adapt, but to participate in change.

future

In class we talked a lot about what the future of the audience is. This is also the idea behind Saturday's performance. The idea is that the audience of the future will be more interactive, actually participating in what's going on onstage. I think this is an interesting idea, but one that may not work in all situations. I think in smaller-scale performances, the interactivity may work depending on the performance. But if you start applying this to larger-scale theaters, I do not think it would work. I just can't imagine action going on onstage while half the audience is looking at their phones working out that well. But it is definitely an interesting prospect that could lead to some great things.

saturday

This Saturday's event has been talked about since the first day of class. I had no idea what to expect from it back then, and still don't entirely know. Right now it seems to be that it will be two separate play performances with various multimedia aspects added to them. While Hamlet and R.U.R. are clearly very different, I think these two performances are going to be alike in spirit. Both are taking older plays and adding technology to them that did not exist when they were written.

max

another kinect hack

I have no idea what's going on here, but I approve.

kinect

To be honest, I think the idea of the Kinect is incredibly lame. I'm not much of gamer, but I know people look ridiculous while playing the Kinect. What's much more interesting to me are the possibilities of other things that can be done with this technology. Here's a pretty cool use of it that I found.

max

max

max

machine texture

machine texture

bryce

bryce

bryce

Nothing too interesting; just getting used to it.

textures

more textures

more textures

more textures