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1:1 Performance - FIRE LED 

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Concept Statement

My concept represents Crocodile Fever to be a figment of Alannah's imagination. Crocodile fever has subtopics of abuse, sisterly rivalry, and the troubles. My take on the play suggests Alannah is subconsciously making up an elaborate story, as a way to escape her reality of life.

The design is set within a doll's house, symbolising the idea of childhood abuse and trauma. The play begins with Alannah “building” a perfect house, through propping up walls, etc.

As the play progresses and new topics are suggested, there is a performative approach in watching Alannah add new elements to the scene, such as props and walls, developing the atmosphere and storyline.

Contrasting this, as the play becomes chaotic so does the doll's house. Over the course of the play, the house begins to crumble, walls fall down and fire encapsulates set, indicating Alannahs reality crumbling to the ground. The storyline begins clean and controlled and ends in a chaotic uncontrollable mess.  

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crocodile

I am interested in projecting the crocodile within the play. I like the idea of using fog as it complements my set design and I like the movement it creates. 

the idea of projecting onto fog excites me, as it creates a more immersive projection. Seeing as the fog is constantly moving in all directions, fog makes the projection feel like its coming towards you. this is a bounce effect for making the crocodile appear intimidating. 

precedents for projecting onto fog:

https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2017/03/using-projectors-and-fog-this-artist-created-the-creepiest-ghost-effect-weve-ever-seen/

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DWpWO1XpMmQM&psig=AOvVaw00U0Vxpzj1SDwaJ8z6Wrv_&ust=1602057161948000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAMQjB1qFwoTCJCTiZ6-n-wCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAI

The Influence Machine

Public Art Fund, Madison Square Park, New York Oct. 19 - Oct. 31, 2000

I like 

Fog Screen is breakthrough technology that allows projection of high quality images in the air. It is currently the only walk-through projection screen. You can literally use the air as your user interface by touching only the air with your bare hands. The screen is created by using a suspended fog generating device with no frame around, and works with video projectors.

The fog they use is dry, so it doesn’t make you wet even if you stay under the Fog Screen device for a long time. The fog is made of ordinary water with no chemicals what soever. With two projectors, you can project different images on both sides of the screen. It is a display device which is the application of computer graphics.

The fog screen can be translucent or fully opaque. 

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1:1 model

I am going to be making the effect/illusion of fire.

I will need a plastic tube, led strips and a smoke machine. 

I will only have one smoke machine, therefore I may need to create a tubing system to get the smoke from one area to the other. if the tube have slits cut at different intervals then this will create different areas of smoke and therefore different areas of “fire” 

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Projection development

After having the projection work shop, I have decided to change how the troubles will be projected behind the dolls house.

Charlie suggested that using a screen to show location within a play is a bad use of the tool. this made think of alternative ways I could use the projector to suggest the troubles which is much more aversive and adds to the design.

I have come up with the idea of using the spot lighting to show the environment of the troubles. the beam from the spot light will reveal the the communities, solders and fires from the troubles, white the surrounding area is black. 

overtime the areas in which the spotlights go over will progressively get worse with more fire etc. the flames of the fire will eventually light up the areas enough so you can see the space in full. the space will will also be revealed when explosions happen e.g the frog croaking. 

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Flooring plan

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Stairs

When Fianna learns her father is still alive and upstairs, the play pauses and Alannah goes and “builds” a stair case. todo this is not going to actually build a stair case but suggest the idea.

Alannah will pull the stairs which are on wheels into the scene. todo this I have rearranged the stage design. to the audience the stage will appear to be one room, however the walls will overlap, creating a small room behind the kitchen wall for the stairs to hide.  a diagram of how this would work:

this will be the base of the stair design however the side of the stairs will be covered in the same foam as the walls and decorated with wall paper. this will allow the stair walls to “fall down” revealing the cold metal structure. 

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Precent for fire

Precedent + similar idea and visual effect I am planning on using through 3D projection mapping 

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Projections logistics

within my set projections play a large role communicating my idea. there will be two layers of projection. 

- Firstly:  

I will be using projections of the troubles behind the “doll house” this will  seen through the windows of the dolls house as well as the back ground of the stage. The windows will have window frames, however there will be no glass to reduce glare and ensure clarity. 

Secondly:

The top level of the dolls house will have the wooden framing with a white projection screen. Projections of the rooms up stairs will be shone onto this scene to give the illusion of the upstairs. I am using a projector screen as I feel it gives me more control within my set design. a large portion of the set design regards the burning of the house. projection allows me to create a dramatised effect of fire and crumbling of the house. 

At the end of the play my set design is practically non existent therefore I am able to project black or smoke onto the projector making it seem that only the wooden framing of the house is left. 

Projecting fire:

The top half of the dolls house will have projections of fire on the screen. the bottom level I will use  a strip of orange/red LED lights positioned within the ground. I will also use a smoke machine, therefore when the smoke hits the LED it creates a glowing effect, similar to that of a fire. I will also dim the lights in areas which are burnt. the foam walls will also end up falling down due to the “fire” creating the effect that the house burnt down. 

Some examples of this are seen below:

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Foam wall space + wooden frame logistics

Within my design the walls of the “doll” house will fall down and be built back up again.

To do this my set will have the wooden frame work, outlining the rooms and levels of the house. The top level will have projector screens slotted in between the beams. While the bottom level will have foam walls.

The walls need to be light weight however durable enough for them to be rearranged and propped up throughout the play.

The walls will be made from 5cm thick closed cell foam, wrapped in wall paper giving them the appearance of a wall. The foam will be connected to the wooden beams through magnets. This will allow the wall to fall down with a small amount of force and be able to be lifted up by alannah when building the house again.

Projector connect to wooden Frame:

Closed cell foam: This foam is made from PVN and is three times firmer than polyurethane foam. Closed cell foam is highly dense making it more resilient, and therefore more suitable for everyday, high-traffic uses. High Density closed cell foam is available in medium, firm and extra-firm firmness levels

Looking at how magnets could be used to connect wooden frame and foam wall:

Magnets are polarized with a NORTH and a SOUTH pole. In order for any two magnets to connect, the North pole of one magnet and the South pole of the other need to align. If you try and connect two magnets using both North poles or both South poles, they will resist and it’s impossible to force them together..

I came across the brand “magnetic magic” who explain how they position their magnets within their tiles so every tile is able to connect.

“Magna-Tiles are built in such a way that allows them to always connect, no matter their orientation.

Here’s how:

1 The North and South polarity is not on the outer-facing edge of the tiles. It’s actually on the front and back side of the tiles.

2. The magnets on each side of a tile are oriented in opposite directions. One has the North pole on the front side and the other has the North pole on the back side. The alternating pattern is why the tiles always find a way to click together.

This image helps illustrate the orientation of the Magna-Tiles magnets

How the walls will fall down.

The foam walls will have a piece of rope connected on the inside of the wall. My idea is that a member of the set crew would pull on the rope from above the set, allowing the walls to fall inward onto the stage. Only the smallest amount of resistance would be needed to pull the magnets apart, then leaving the wall to fall on its own. I want the walls to fall inwards as Alannah needs to be able to reposition the walls up.

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Select a scene from the play that could be realised with the use of projection.

Source examples of style, form and content precedents and possibilities. 

Crocodile scene: I am using the crocodile scene when it first arrives within the play “ALANNAH plucks open the curtain, a flash of lightning – she stands before a leviathan CROCODILE”

The crocodile could be projected onto the play set in multiple ways.

The first could be through a large screen or a series of smaller screens.  images of the crocodile could be projected onto these screens, while sounds and other lighting could be added to amplify the experience.

Another possibility could be through creating a basic model of a crocodiles body then projecting onto the model.

The crocodile could be suggested through projection rather than shown e,g green lighting and projection of texture.

Peer Gynt by David Hare and directed by Jonathan Kent.

This included a 100m² curved screen using only one projector positioned within the flying set items and also included a flown screen with tracking media.

The demands of the original writing require a lifetimes worth of location through real and fantastic adventures and the adaptation adds in contemporary perspectives on this. Drowning at sea, visiting the Sphinx en route to an asylum whilst constantly returning to his native Scotland, Peter is assisted in this journey through the realisation of the video design.

The landscape filming was all done on location by Dick and the additional animation effects with the assistance of the Mesmer team. It was delivered using Disguise media servers.

Mosquitoes

Ian William Galloway designed a swirling, planetarium-like immersive projection environment for Mosquitoes from original research material Finn Ross gathered at CERN. We illustrated the numerous big bangs and universe implosions required by the script with a system of cell-like particles, natural in appearance and able to represent everything from the behaviour of an atom to a map of the galaxy. These were projected onto a tracking ‘lens’, onto the floor, and through smoke in the air.

Projection from the inside:

inside-projection with one or two beamers for projecting a world map through a hole at the sphere’s bottom or top via an optical system onto an acrylic glass ball. The optical system is based on a patented convex mirror assembly.

PROJECTION MAPPING ON 3D SURFACES

Rather than projecting onto a flat surface, projection mapping is used to project an image on to a 3D surface, bringing buildings and objects to life. If you were to project a 2D picture onto a 3D, you'd usually end up with a distorted picture, or the final image overlapping the edges of an irregular shape.

Projections with light and shadow:

using lighting close to object aka a model of crocodile, creates a larger distorted shadow of object on surfaces.

The chalk giants:

The Chalk Giants begins in the present with a film of puppeteers Sally Brown and Steve Tiplady and musician Jonathan Lambert on a nature walk at Hunstanton as they invite the audience to come with them on a tour through the ancient landscape of England.

Brilliant Being, 2016, Plymouth State University

Projecting onto glass:

if we projected the crocodile onto glass, this would allow the glass panels to sit on stage and not effect the performance overly. glasses screens also allow the crocodile to be projected in front of other props rather than a white projector which would take away from the set design. 

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looking at how I could make Allananh as on a large scale

- Firstly I am thinking about potentially using projections of Alannah. this could be easy as it would be easy enough to project her to a larger scale through simulation. my only issue with this is that the hands may get lost within all the decor of the dolls house and may be difficult to see.

I could potentially use mechanical hands which move up and down, side to side as the set changes.

- I could use a puppet like structure where people outside are pulling on her hands and changing her body structure and movement.

- Allanah could be walking round closer to the audience so she appears bigger, however the doll house is further away so appears to be smaller than it actually is.

precedents for doll house set:

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Feed back from meg-

Focus more towards the doll house idea, relates more to the idea of childhood drama etc 

Reaseach

doll houses in 1970s / 1980s 

set design - The main set will be a large scale model of a dolls house, the furniture, and probs will all have the plastic, fake/real looking properties you would often find. 

the 

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1000 rats

Grid like structure 

Using polystyrene balls connected to string, using projections of rats onto these balls as they go towards the audience. 

- using wind

- sound 

- cold 

Fluffy duster attached to string, gives the quality if a furry rat. 

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looking at ways I could flip the notepad page throughout the play

Ideally I would have the large scale books pages turn every so often for added effect.  Weather this be done by a timer or a button is pressed. this would likely be done through some sort of mechanical engineering. this could potentially be done through the use of a hinge system, similar to how a garage door would open.

- Robot which flips burger patties. I could potentially look at using a similar mechanical machine which flips the book pages when a curtain button is pushed. https://edition.cnn.com/videos/cnnmoney/2018/03/06/flippy-burger-grilling-robot-fast-food-orig.cnn

- There could be a rope connected to the corners of a book page, therefore when  pulled on the page flips over. 

Similar to that of a shower curtain, if top was treated into a built in hole within the large scale book

- using projections 

If the book was actually just a large white screen and through projects, we could potentially pretend the book was flipping. through use of lighting, and sound this could also be  made more drastic, if bright white lights shine and the sound of a paper is played.

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Set design inspiration

Looking at common style of notpad/books in 1970/80s Ireland

large scale books 

Back ground image of “giant scale” Alannah in her bedroom writing story 

Idea that you can't see much of “paint allannahs” background, just enough to give context and see out the window

Irish farmhouse windows 1970s

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Concept development

Concept:

When brainstorming how i could design a set for crocodile fever i was struggling with how i would go about it. I couldn't get past the idea that we were within alannahs mind/thoughts hence why all the mad and chaotic things occur within crocodile fever.

My main idea is that we are inside alannahs mind. That she is writing this elaborate story as a way to escape her reality of life. Allannahs life is full of violence and anger from the troubles, abuse from her father and loneliness.

Therefore I imagine the “real life allannah” to be incorporating hits of her reality into this story. That the frog croak resembles bombs and violence in her real life, however she masks this through the frog croak. That the crocodile is in fact her father in real life and when he turns into the crocodile she is dealing with the aspects of abuse.  

I imagine this set design to be on a large notepad, with a giant sized allanah over top. On top of the notepad I imagine there to be key design elements of the play e.g kitchen, stairs etc. That progressively becomes more detailed as she writes her story on the note pad.

The giant sized allanah will also be within a dark room where the audience can see the chaos occurring outside of her window e.g the troubles, bombs, gun fire.  This will be less prominent than the main design on the note pad, however give good context to the audience regarding the story line.

Everytime the page is flipped, the stage will change slightly, relating more and more to this idea of the crocodile.

The end of “ACT ONE” the notebook closes and “giant alannah” leaves the dark room, as she stops writing.

The “giant alannah” may speak for little allanah, as if its how she would react (depiction of herself)

Characters within the notebook could interact with “giant alannah” e.g when fianna jumps up onto the kitchen table singing, she could be looking up and singing to “giant allanah”

Some other ideas i have:

I originally saw Alannah in a mental hospital. I imagined she was there dealing with the tramor of killing her family. My idea was that she did in fact burn down her house and kill her whole family. From doing this she isn't in the right mental state, therefore imaging the story of crocodile fever.  

The idea that the play is set within a doll house, that alannah is a child, young teenager playing with their doll house and imaging this scene as a way to escape the violence of the troubles and abuse. I had this idea as young children often come up with these crazy and unrealistic stories which relate a lot to crocodile fever. My only issue with this is that I'm not sure its logical a child would be creating some of the horrific scenes within crocodile fever.