GESAMTKUNSTWERK

The use of video projection in this piece serves as a set - establishing the setting of the piece, and also incorporating some elements of characterization and symbolism.  I went through a number of ideas of how to use video projection in the piece - from projecting directly onto the dancers’ bodies to projecting onto the cyclorama - before settling on framing the space with screens so that the dancers appeared to be dancing within an image.  Again, Cuong Nguyen’s expertise in video mapping allowed me to frame the space with the video images I created from stock footage.

 

One of the greatest assets of using original music and video in the piece was having the ability to establish themes for different characters and events.  For example, when the community dances together, there is a specific landscape depicted in the video, accompanied by the whining soundscape of the score.  When the rainmaker enters, a musical theme emerges along with images of billowing smoke.  As the rainmaker becomes more integral to the community, the first color images appear on the screen.  At the end of the piece the rainmaker disappears and the followers dance fervently to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony until the fall limp to the floor.  At this moment, a flash of colored smoke crosses the screen, symbolizing the rainmaker’s lasting impact on the community, and raising questions about what his true role and intention was.