by Mikel Rouse
Where to start here? It's Tuesday and we open The End Of Cinematics tonight at the Bluma Appel. We closed Dennis Cleveland on Sunday night with what may have been the best performance in the history of the piece. Everything worked together seamlessly: the New York and local cast, the TV taping and the sound design. Such a complex work that has to look like a spontaneous affair.
Even as we were completing this run, our crew was over at the Bluma setting up the steel and raising the two level structure that houses the six rear projected screens. Sort of like a small home. The performers perform this "live 3D film in a 12 foot area between the six rear projected screens and the front scrim that doubles as both a see through scrim and a movie screen. The live cameras capture the performers on video "sets" or backdrops that are taken from a film shot in Paris. Through CGI, we removed the people from the original film (which appears in the upper three rear projected screens) so that the performers have matching video backdrops that are photographed and then projected onto the front screen. Whew!  Our carpenter, Brad Hepburn, testing the robotic camera for The End Of Cinematics Sound Designer Chris Ericson grabs a needed rest after loading in The End Of Cinematics
In addition to the three stationary cameras, we have a fly camera and a robotic camera that travels along a track in front of the performers (controlled by our director of photography Richard Connors) capturing moving shots of the performers. It's an amazing set up and by the end of the day yesterday, we had it all set up and running. Projector tests for The End Of Cinematics:
And to make things even more interesting, I accepted the generous offer from Luminato to participate in the Canadian Songbook last night. I got the singers from Cinematics involved and we performed Neil Young's Harvest Moon and Broken Social Scene's Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl. What an honor to be included in such great company and to perform in the legendary Massey Hall. I can't say enough good things about the band and the music director Glenn Morley. I'm hoping to be able to work with these musicians again. They were all so kind and generous and the arrangements that they came up with for the two songs were remarkable. Just the right touch.
Now, it's off to our first and only run through before we open. The company is feeling good. Mikel Rouse is a New York-based composer, director, performer and recording artist hailed as “a composer many believe to be the best of his generation.” (NY Times 2002) His works include 25 records, 7 films (including Funding and Music For Minorities), and a trilogy of media operas: Failing Kansas, Dennis Cleveland and The End Of Cinematics. More information is available at www.mikelrouse.com. |
