I read an article in the paper about the application of multimedia(video projection) on stage. Live Theatre Award giving away award for the best use of such a media. The multimedia techniques employed on local stage seem to be predominantly video projections on hard surface or projection screens. I have only seen one of such local production where multimedia was employed. I remembered, Pierre Salim invited me to watch the production and after that we had long discussion about the use of this technology onstage.
When I was in the Prolight and Sound exhibition, video projections on LED panels and lasers display dominates most of the exhibition stands. This show that this technology is already very widely employed in most exhibitions and performances display everywhere in the world that support this technology.
What I would like to say is, not all staging would work with the use of multimedia (video projections), its not a cheaper alternative and not a staging solution to the conventional brick and mortar "stagecraft".
The charm of theatre is first and foremost, for a theatre practitioner like myself, in the process of building from scratch and making someone visual comes to life in 3D format. Maybe I'm a little old fashion or nostalgic about staging, video projection is an additional media that can be employed as part of this endeavour. To fully dominate a stage with only video projections, there must be a very valid reason to do so.
That aside, the LED panels technology I have seen in the exhibition in Frankfurt is rather stunning, it will make for good installation presentation for Trade and exhibition stands, concerts, dance events and special venue application.
I'm going to dedicate sometimes to thinking about how to best use this technology without reducing the magical power of conventional theatre setup. Got to tune and open up my mindset alittle and be more receptive to this optional staging idea.
Multimedia(video projection) seem to shout to me, modern and electronic...need a little more digesting for my visual preference for a theatrical environment.
Here's a few interesting LED panels products:
Coolux Pandoras Box,
Ayrton Dreampanel wall 64 and
3D LED Nova
