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Petrasonic
No full textThe first piece of the University of Iowa’s 2019 Scientific Concert, Petrasonic is a musical exploration into the life cycle of a rock. The result of a year-long collaboration, this “rock concert” was an interdepartmental collaboration between the School of Music, the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and the Department of Theatre Arts. Composed as a piece for percussion and double bass about the geological uniqueness of the state of Iowa, the music was enhanced by the use of dramatic lighting, a live narrator, and media projection mapped onto the surfaces of the stone percussion instruments.
My media design incorporated a mix of content that I had created from pictures of petrographic slides underneath a microscope, as well as a live feed camera from that microscope with those same slides. During the performance, the microscope was manipulated by a performer from the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences as to create a rotational movement of geologic texture on the various stone instruments that the percussionist was engaging with. To give Petrasonic a sense of dynamic progression from beginning to end, while the audience took their seats before the concert started, I made the stone instruments appear as if they were lava, then showcased the actual petrographic slides underneath the microscope and manipulating their image slightly in order to match the dynamic flow of the piece, and then ending with the stones transforming into crystal. My media design illustrated the life cycle and development of rocks as they go from raw and coarse, to hardened and refined. In order for my media to be effective, I designed the lighting so that no light would hit the performers from the front, thus not washing out the image from the projector.
Overall, this was an amazing project that I was very passionate about as it catered to my musical background, as well as love for art being used as an educational tool. In retrospect, I am not sure that I could have improved on the performance, due to the result of my lighting and media design succeeding more than I thought it would on the day of our performances. In my dream world however, I would have loved the opportunity to design my own light plot to use in the space that would allow for more isolation between the performers and musical instruments. The lighting rep plot that is used in the space did not cater to my ideal aesthetic for the performance, due to the non-traditional set up of musical instruments
The Wolves
No full textThe Wolves take a group picture with orange slices that one of the player’s mother brought for the team. The field is lit with a full even wash of light for the players to travel across throughout the scene.https://ir.uiowa.edu/lighting_design/1085/thumbnail.jp
The Wolves
No full textThe Wolves take a group picture with orange slices that one of the player’s mother brought for the team. The field is lit with a full even wash of light for the players to travel across throughout the scene.https://ir.uiowa.edu/lighting_design/1086/thumbnail.jp
Undermining Fine
No full textThe end of the first duet in Three Completely Distinct Duets with Absolutely Nothing in Common. One dancer has collapsed on the floor due to emotional/physical exhaustion as the other mourns with flowers. To show the difference in emotional quality between the two dancers, I cast warm light on the standing performer and cool light on the performer laying down.https://ir.uiowa.edu/lighting_design/1132/thumbnail.jp
Undermining Fine
No full textThe last duet of Three Completely Distinct Duets with Absolutely Nothing in Common in which two dancers portrayed two partners arguing about how to properly vacuum a rug. To show the discord between the two dancers, I used dynamic shadows representing their relationship being fragmented.https://ir.uiowa.edu/lighting_design/1135/thumbnail.jp
Undermining Fine
No full textA duet between two dancers during Three Completely Distinct Duets with Absolutely Nothing in Common. As this piece deals with exploring the default response “I’m fine” when one asks how another is doing, I lit the dancers in a way that half of their body is in shadows. This is evoke the emotional social mask that one puts on while replying with this false response.https://ir.uiowa.edu/lighting_design/1128/thumbnail.jp
The Social Media Project
No full textFrom the outside, the set-up of the installation can be seen. A large white sheet is stretched between metal stands forming three walls around the computer desk. The installation control system sits behind the room.https://ir.uiowa.edu/media_design/1036/thumbnail.jp
Sunday in the Park with George: Media Sample
No full textThe background for the majority of Act One was a digital rendering created from two of George Seurat’s studies on the park. This image had to be completely redone in Photoshop in order for it to be animated onto the backdrop and viewed at the correct resolution.https://ir.uiowa.edu/media_design/1027/thumbnail.jp
Sunday in the Park with George: Projector Plot
No full textIn order to determine correct placement and lens choice for the eight projectors used in Sunday in the Park, calculations were done on the space and lenses. This document, created in Vectorworks, details the proper position and placement in order to achieve the size image necessary for the screens.https://ir.uiowa.edu/media_design/1026/thumbnail.jp
MERRILY
No full textMERRILY debuted as a part of the 2019/2020 Gallery Series, written by University of Iowa Graduate Student Dakota Parobek. This play explores the relationship between two radically different political and moral standpoints, of Emma Goldman and Wilbur Wright, and questions whether two people so different can find a form of peace when forced to be together in purgatory.
For the costume design, I wanted to focus on giving each character elements of the period which they lived in in history, while also having a contemporary take on them to create a timeless placeless feeling that existed in the entire production design. To accomplish this, I gave the characters both garments that were period and contemporary along with modern hairstyles and accessories. For this show, I did not have a budget and was working with stock items. I was also working with a limited color palette, of greys, black, and creams to evoke the aesthetic of a Robert Wilson piece, as my director was heavily influenced by him.
For the media design of this production, I aimed to help create a world that was abstracted in time. I did this by using 1950s styled TV static and grain, layered over portraits for the 1800s, and more modern imagery-such as high depth videos of mosquitos. The media not only amplified the words of the characters, but provided a visual portal into their thoughts, memories, and experiences.
Overall, both of my designs focused on creating a timelessness to the production that would allow a modern audience to connect with the historical figures on stage and support the idea that in our current world, divided by differing viewpoints we can still find common ground in existence. As I did visual research for my media design, which featured several portraits from the 1800s, and videos of factory works in the industrial revolution, it informed my decisions on what garments each character would choose to wear for themselves. The richness or destressing of their garments influenced the visual clarity of the media from incredibly clear to covered in static; I constantly aimed for both design elements to work in tandem and support one another