The Tank

well it went better than i thought!! i honestly thought it was gonna be a complete bust but it went really well. the kinect thing failed but the stories and poems were very well presented. some things that could have been better were:

-Actors speaking louder and having their stories linked: I.e. the lady with the book with the name and the guy whose name was in the book. their stories should have been run back to back so the audience got the joke or the relevance of the name in the book. but they didn't run like that so the story was pointless to the unknowing audience.

-about the kinect and projectors

- the kinects and projectors could have been more in the middle of the stage. that would have made it easier for actors to walk out, calibrate dead center stage and have the visuals projected onto them. it seemed a bit foolish to have the projection stuff off to the side. ALSO though the kinect failed part way through the computer that was connected to it could have put on a slide show of photos or SOMETHING!! the visual of the dead program was not attractive.

-loud people should have been asked to leave...

-though it was not an upscale Broadway performance people should have still been respectful. for those who did not should have been booted (just my personal opinion)

-the mini rehearsal that took place b4 the show only benefited the actors

- being in the film group i submitted my and other people's media which never got prepped to be played even wayyyy b4 the actual performance took place. granted they were not that important i feel as if they would have added to the stories. the music got DJ'd from a laptop as the show was going on WHY WAS THERE NO LAPTOP LIKED TO PROJECTOR PLAYING FILM AS THE SHOW WAS GOIN ON? that whole department was poorly planned...

-WE NEEDED MORE TIME TO PREP!

- we only ran through the entire show once in the little black theater and it was the last day for us to work stuff out. we should ahev started getting stuff ready weeks B4 the show or the first run through. i know the kinect hacking was goin n but i fee as though we were not allowed to work with eachother enough during class.

The Tank (Part 2)

Overall, the performance at the Tank was an amazing experience. I got to experience soo many aspects of technology that I normally dont get to. I've used the Xbox Kinect before to play games on my Xbox however never to put on a show in using it to manipluate space. I've seen "off-broadway" performances before however never ones using media and technology as a mashup. It was a great learning experience that taught me alot about the future. We, as students, are the future and these are some of the most important times of our lives. That being said, we must go out and experience, explore, and be users of media and technology. It's a fact that we never know what tomorrow will bring so we must stay thinking, and become the future of tomorrow.

Below are other pictures that I took durring the performance:

The Tank (Part 1)

The Tank is a really cool space, but much different than I expected. In my head, I pictured the lobby bigger (and the bar) and the actual theatre and stage a little smaller. What I really enjoed about the whole setup was the fact that everything was up to us. There were no "rules," we go to do whatever we wanted to do in order to increase the efficiency of the performance. Before hand, we were able to collect almost all the movies and music so that when we got to the space, we had that done. What we focused on setting up were the lights, the projectors, and the laptops to run Max MSP.



The picture below is an action shot of the performers warming up. It was interesting to see their techniques but judging by their performance, they seemed to work. I think the most entertaining one was the one where they went in a circle and everyone made up their own "act." Going around the circle, everyone else had to copy that act. Besides the actors, I was pretty happy with the turnout. We had almost everyone from our classes and some extras too. Some were parents and some were locals who stoped in to check out what was going on. Overall, the energy in the Tank was good.

Stress is wearing me out...

Well, classes are almost over and finals start in another week it's no wonder I feel a bit stressed out. However the stress I feel now seems even worse than what I felt in the fall. You dear reader may be wondering why I feel as such, though I'll tell you why. It's all because of the different classes I'm taking, two in particular.
Let's begin with the first one, which would be this class. I feel stressed about this class not so much because of the 50 blog assignments( which I should start finishing) or the projects. I feel stressed because of the performance, and just a general feel that this is a roller coaster of a ride I'm going on right now. It's not to say I'm not enjoying the class but, I can't help but feel that he gives us too much free reign and that at times could be a little bit more specific. Well not much I can do now except to do the best that I can.
I'm also stressing about my final conceptual project in art. I originally had a lot planned for it but now I may have to scale it down. Though I still have time for it. I know in the end I'll manage, and though it may seem like a lot to me right now, I'll get through it. Not only that, it'll be the best.