Post 43: Bottom Line, and technical specs

    I have to admit I was rather disappointed overall with the Festival of Lights 2011, and I heard many people around making the same comment... This is supposed to be one of the oldest, largest and best Festival of it's kind in the world. Only the largest and probably most costly show on the "Place des Terreaux" impressed me. According to my calculations, just the 4 day rental for the 7 projectors used would be in the $200,000 range. I brought that up with the Artist, and she told me they got special deals on rental, and that her total budget including production costs was 160,000 Euros, about $210,000. One of the other Artists told me a minute of show cost around 10,000 Euros, which explains why the show was only 5.5 minutes long. 
  In my opinion, the global budget was split between too many shows, a total of 70 in all, scattered all over town, many of them rather uninteresting. Granted, big Architectural projections are expensive, but I would personally much prefer only a dozen really impressive shows gathered in the walkable downtown area.
   Nevertheless, this visit was very important and valuable because of the first hand information I gathered from the Artists themselves, that changed our approach to the Alys Stephens Center Project, and made it feasable. The main info was that they used only between 50 and 65 lumens per square meter, which translates to 4.7 to 5.5 lumens per square foot. Granted, they all agreed they would love to have twice as much, the brighter the better, but we are far below the 20+ lumens per square foot used in the American estimate. The info I found on the Coca Cola Projection in Atlanta seems to have been correct after all.
   I immediately got in touch with the suppliers in Birmingham and the Alys Stevens Center to get revised estimates with half the power we thought we needed, and that brought the project within budget. Using only two 20, 000 lumens projectors on the 4250 sq. ft of facade would work out at 9.4 lumens per square foot, almost twice the French figure. We have a good deal of ambient light, but that still should give us a reasonably bright image. Of course, the more outdoor lights we can turn off near the building, the better the show will be.
 The big show used two stacked 35,000 lumens Christie projectors for each half of the large 32,000 sq.ft facade , or 4.4 lumens  per sq.ft. That was sufficient, as the square was very dark, but the HD image didn't look very sharp at such a scale. We will get almost 4 times more detail on our "small" 4250 sq.ft wall...

Post 42: Fête des Lumières, Lyon, France, Part 2

   I saw the second Architectural show on the first day too, but went back the next day to talk to the two young Artists again and do a video on a tripod. It was at the "Théatre des Célestins":

which has seen impressive shows over the years:

   The idea this year was to be interactive with the public, and the façade was turned into a simplified pin ball machine with a console where people took turns playing:

 The public apparently loved it, but the Artistic value was in my opinion rather limited, and it became quickly boring to watch, with only a red curtain opening at the beginning, and vegetation growing at the end:
               "Urban Flipper"

  The third true Architectural projection was on the "Gare Saint Paul":

which had also seen impressive shows in past years:

   This year, it was also an interactive show with a large touch screen where the public could choose a theme, colors, and patterns:

   I was the first in line that second night, and the possibilities seemed rather limited. There were long interruptions between "players", as things had to be explained again, and numerous computer glitches. There were a lot of choices and combinations, so it was more interesting than the pinball machine to me, but too slow and with long interruptions. Not much true Art there either, as most people didn't know what to do, and no story at all:
      "Gare Saint Paul 1"
                     "Gare Saint Paul 2"

Post 41: the Festival of lights 2011 in Lyon, France, Part 1 December 8-11

   My sister and I went downtown early on the afternoon of the 8th to look around at the installations and try to talk to the technicians before the festival started that night at  6. I had time to observe the projectors used, and luckily was able to talk to the three Artists in charge of the only 3 true Architectural Mapping Projections this year among a total of 70 light displays or events.
   I have to say I was expecting more impressive stuff for a Festival that prides itself as being one of the first of the genre in the world. I don't know if it was cutting the budget, trying to save energy, or just spreading 70 events in multiple areas of the city, but the fact of the matter is that the main downtown area has less big shows than in previous years. My view, and it seems to be supported by a number of regular visitors I talked to, is that the quality is going down overall, and that it would be better to do a smaller number of impressive stuff in the downtown area than to do a lot of mediocre stuff all over the place...
  For example, there was no illuminations at all on the Eglise Saint Nizier, which had great shows in the past:

         The Cathedrale Saint Jean only had very basic color washes and pattern instead of a "real show as in previous years:

  Anyhow, I manage to observe and talk to the three Artists in charge of the only three true Architectural Mapping Projections this year, and collected valuable first hand information and advice that changed my approach to the Alys Stephens Center 2012 Season Opener.
  By far the largest of the three was on the huge Place des Terreaux: 

with its famous fountain by Bertholdi:

 There have been memorable shows on this square over the years:

   The Artist was Marie-Jeanne Gauthé, an "old timer" that has worked with the famous French composer/light show producer Jean Michel Jarre since before there were even digital projectors in 1986. The "Grande Dame" really wasn't particularly friendly, but did answer some of my questions. The concept for the show was great, the idea being that the four horses get lose and run wildly around the square while the woman driver runs around and laments trying to catch them and the buildings contort and shake and finally fall down:

   The above image was a concept rendering, the final show used a contemporary "too cute" young woman on a red background instead of the Rubenesque figure, and the buildings shook and moved and fell down, but never bent and rolled the way it looked in the concept.The horses were much bigger. It was nevertheless a great show, but only 5.5 minutes long. It was called:

             "Transe Nocturne"

  The video is shaky because of the crowd moving and the camera held above my head, plus the projection was from the 4 sides. I returned the next day and shot stationary videos on a tripod from all angles. I will post an edited 3D version when I get home.

Post 40: The Test

  The only way to know just how many lumens we need was to do a test and see for myself. I have a 2500 lumens projector, and Alys Stephens Center has a 5000 lumens projector, so I picked a roughly 260 sq.ft area at the bottom of the building, onto which my projector would be appear roughly the equivalent of 40,000 lumens for the whole building, and their projector the equivalent of 80,000 lumens:

   I built 2X4 frames to fit in the niches on which I stretched 120" wide quilt backing muslin, one bleached, one natural:

 I made a short animated presentation animation with a variety of colors and brightnesses, and tested it last week:
      Alys Stephens Center Mini Test Show
 I seemed obvious we needed the bigger projector, which confirmed my estimation of about 80,000 lumens.

Post 39: The Logistics

  My Alys Spephens contacts Jessica and Adam came to my studio to talk about the projection, and view a projection of my Red Cross Show, and liked my proposal. The big question now was the cost of the project. I tried to get an estimate on equipment first from the guy that rented the projectors for the Red Cross PTTR, who told me he understood what I needed this time around, but in the end, he dragged on giving me a quote, I got tired of calling him back, and he still has not called me back. I guess it was out of his league, and he got scared...
   Adam suggested I call Holt Audiovisual, the oldest in the business in Birmingham, whom he had worked with before, and felt were very reliable. We had a meeting in front of the building to talk to them about the project , measure distances, look at possible projector locations, etc... They came back with an estimate of $42,500, which they found too high. So I got another estimate which was lower, but using only 30,000 lumens instead of 80,000lumens. I also contacted LG Systems in Texas and Obscura Digital in California, which are the big players in the US and have done major shows internationally. Only Lg Systems answered my enquiry, with an estimate that blew mw away: 200,000lumens(10 projector), and $469,000 for one night with 4 minutes of custom show with 15 minutes of "filler" images playing for about 6 hours in a loop. Plus $166,000 extra for a week, and $25,000 to $50,000 per minute of extra custom material...So a 20 minutes show for 4 days would be over a million dollars! No wonder we see so few Architectural Mapping Projections in the good old U.S.A...Only Coca Cola and the movie studios can afford them.
  So the other question was: do we need 30,000lumens, 80,000 lumens, or 200,000lumens? Quite a range for the same 4300 sq.ft of facade...
  My own guess would be about 80,000, 20 lumens per square foot being the average standard for a dark area.

Post 38: Some Rough Ideas

  We definitely start the show with a projection of the building as it normally is:

  Then the sign swings,falls off, bounces off the lower colonnade, and crashes to the ground with  a big noise:

  Strange things start happening to the brick facade, with the blocks sliding in and out with the beat of the music, flying off and turning in space,falling to the ground with a thump, flying up like balloons, etc...  At the same time, things can appear in the doors and windows, drive by, fly by,colors can change and flash, just about anything is possible...

We could as evening comes tear a hole in the facade, and show dancers performing inside:

Or we could open up a larger stage and have any kind of performance we please:

The whole building could become a stage with a red curtain:

  Or we could have crazy performances taking place in front of the building. Motorcycles are one of my passions, and I have already talked to Mary Foshee about possibly choreographing an acrobatic "Bad BiKer Dance" on top of my big Victory Vegas:

  Once we are over playing with the real building, we can make it into another building by stacking the colonnade, 

changing colors, etc... 

  We could burn it:

  We could have an antique set of tarot cards flip and rotate and fly around in the openings:

  We could make it into a 17th Century Spanish Vargueno, and have stuff jump in and out of the drawers as they open and close:

 Stay tuned. More ideas to follow later...

Post 37: A Trip to the "Festival of Lights" in Lyon, France next December

     I happen to have family in Lyon, and I remember the "8 Décembre" since my days as an engineering  student there from 1963 to 1967. It was not much back then, except candles in the windows and a few illuminations. I have not attended it since, but I will be there this December 8-11. It has become the premier Architectural Mapping Projection showcase in the world, with fabulous shows on all the main public buildings and churches all over town. It now last 4 nights, and is called the "Fête des Lumières". Architectural Projection is only part of it actually, there are many other types of light shows and luminous Art also, and I am expecting to learn a lot there. I have found a number of often low quality hand held amateur videos of previous years shows on the Internet, so it will be nice to shoot my own with a tripod this time.
Here are some examples of what I have found:
 Example 1      Example 2      Example 3
        Example 4      Example 5

Post 36: A Show for the Alys Stevens Center?

   I was contacted a month or so ago by the Events Coordinator at UAB's Alys Stevens Center for the Performing Arts about the possibility of doing an Architectural Projection on the facade either for the opening or the closing of the 2012 Season(September 2012 or April 2013). The idea is to reach out and try to get interest for the Arts and draw in a public from the community at large that would not normally come inside the building for shows, and hopefully make them new spectators for the rest of the season.
  Obviously, I am very interested in doing this, even though the building is a little underwhelming architecturally to create this kind of show. It is a big challenge, and that is what I live for... 
  There are a number of technical problems to deal with: the large expanse of plain red brick, the curve of the wall, the rather ugly sign, the asymmetrical design, the rotating sculpture in front of it, and the solid awning on the right side(that could cast a black shadow). Also, not so much can be done with the building itself in terms of "transformations". I could obviously not make it into a bronze clock, a pipe organ, a wooden cabinet of drawers, a curiosity cabinet with loaded shelves, or a church choir like I did for the Red Cross Show on a symmetrical columned Art Deco downtown building. But then I wouldn't want to repeat myself anyhow! I can come up with a different kind of show, invent more, go further afield...
  To get good varied clear and bright images, the brick would really have to be covered with some kind of light colored fabric. The main projection would have to be limited to the main facade, with possibly an extra sideways lower definition projector on the side building to the right for color effects. The main HI DEF 1920 x 1080 digital projector would have to be placed right at the foot of the sculpture with a wide angle lens capable of covering the main facade. I have a meeting lined up with my projector guy Mat next week to see about that:

  Ideally, the fabric "screen" should be stretched straight in front of the curved brick wall on some kind of frame, and the glass areas and brick recesses in the lower colonnade filled in with panels stretched on wooden frames as I did downtown back in April:

  
That would give us a projection area on which to both recreate the actual building, make it move, shake, open it up, tear it down and rebuild it, but also invent new buildings and make all kinds of things happen totally unrelated to the architecture of the building.

Post 35: The Lyric Theatre Project

   There is that old run down abandoned Vaudeville Theatre right across from the Alabama Theatre in downtown Birmingham called The Lyric. It was donated by the owners to the organization that restored and runs the Alabama, and they are trying to raise funds to bring it back to its former splendor. It is decayed, but not in real bad shape actually except where there was a leak in the roof. 
    It is a wonderfully atmospheric/surrealistic place, and I proposed to do an Architectural Projection Show on the stage area that would both " restore the curtain, proscenium and stage area, as well as bring back former performers on stage such as the Marx Brothers, Roy Rogers and Trigger, etc... The idea would be to use it for a fund raiser, may be have  a black tie dinner in the theatre, and cheaper public performances.
   The problem is that there is lead paint and asbestos in the old place that needs to be cleaned up before a public can be admitted, and although there is talk of some grants to do that, there is no time frame or guaranties it will be done, so I cannot very well invest 500hours or so in benefit show that might never happen. 
    I shot a series of HDR images of the place, and will make a short demo of possible effects and animations.
   My friend Randy and I have also been talking about a short surrealistic movie shot at the Lyric, recreating a crazy vaudeville show in front of a sparse "Felliniesque" audience scattered in the remaining seats, broken boxes and bleachers among the dust and cob webs. We are toying with the idea of bringing as "star spectators" in an aging Zelda, Tulluhla, Capote, etc...

Post 34: Better Late Than Never

Sorry it took me so long to post a small movie of the show, I tried repeatedly, but Facebook does not seem to process vertical format videos, and I kept getting an error message. I put it on my me.com Gallery, and you can hopefully download it from there if you are interested in seeing the show "sort of as it should have played" had I gotten the proper projector:

POST 33: S.N.A.F.U

    For those of you too young or unfamiliar with military jargon, S.N.A.F.U. stands for: Situation Normal All Fucked Up. Which is a frequent occurrence in military operations.
  The last few days getting ready for the show were harrowing because I got major computer failure, but I did somehow manage to deliver twice what I had committed to: a 30 minutes Architectural Projection show mapped to the façade of the building. I trusted blindly I would be supplied with the proper equipment for projection and audio, which I had clearly specified to the tech people in charge of procurement.I will never do that again. I do not have a completely clear explanation of what happened, and probably never will, but the fact of the matter is that instead of the single 20000 lumens High Definition 1920 X 1080 Digital DLP Projector with a Zoom lens that was necessary to play the material, I got 2 x 10000 lumens analog low definition projectors with mismatched lenses and no signal splitter, that could not fit the image onto the building, much less align the image with the architectural features. I was livid, and almost pulled the plug and went to bed. My friends, who had showed up early and paid their 15 bucks for the event, and  been waiting for hours while the technician was desperately trying to make it work (I knew all along he couldn't) insisted that I play the show anyway, and give something to the sparse public anyhow, so I did play the show in the worst possible conditions: the image was dark(only one 10000 lumens projector), low resolution, analog quality, smaller than the facade, and of course, the most crucial thing and what I had put so much effort and time into achieving, the images were not lined up with the architecture of the building. The columns of the cabinet, clock organ, the rebuilding, everything was way off. It was awful, but somehow was enough to impress the dwindling public and give them a very poor illusion of what the show should have been. 
  I have been in recovery mode since, and just today came out of a quasi catatonic state induced by overwork, exhaustion, and a huge let down. I have been sleeping and napping a lot.
   My computer is in the shop for a week and they are supposed to pretty much replace everything in it... They ordered over $3000 worth of parts for it! No wonder I had problems...
   I will be posting a movie of the show as soon as I get my machine back. Check back next week.

POST 32: Last Stretch

  I had not posted in weeks because I felt I could not divert any time from the work at hand, and have been working 12 hour days trying to get this show together and polished up. After Effects is a wonderful piece of software, but I think I am stretching it to the limit, and keep encountering numerous bugs and problems. If it wasn't for the time wasted because of bugs and crashes, the show would be ready today. I did managed to solve most of them, or at least coerce the software into doing what it is supposed to, and will be at it till Thursday.
  An article came out today in the Sunday paper with a lot of pictures, this time I am really sitting out on a limb, and hoping everything will get chewed, and digested, and that the show will play well on the "big screen" Saturday... 

Post 31: Plodding Along

   The week has gone by very fast, and I have been working hard on several sequences. I have made good headway on the Cabinet of Curiosities, the Church Altar, and on the Time Travel Sequences. I have also made a simple Title Sequence, and am now trying to work sequentially, so everything does not have to be moved in the final Premiere edit when sequences length change.
  I spent a good deal of time animation the ivory scrimshaw eyeballs in two different ways, and used them in the Church Altar Sequence.
  Just to give you an idea, here is the Time Travel Sequence still a little rough, but close to completion: 
       TIME TRAVEL TEST 3-12-SMALL
       TIME TRAVEL TEST 3-12-MEDIUM
   
   Here also the current stage of the Cabinet of Curiosities Sequence:
      CABINET OF CURIOSITIES TEST 3-13-SMALL
      CABINET OF CURIOSITIES TEST 3-13-MEDIUM

Post 30: Progress, sort of...

        This is one of my favorite "Transformations" of the building, and I decided to start over the sequence based on my early test, adding a number of new ideas and colorful details. I made a musical "contraction" of the Presto Organ Finale of Saint Saens Organ Symphony, and and attempting to time everything to it's strong and dramatic tempo.

  I added a second set of brass "Trompettes en Chamade" at the top of the case, a big drum in the middle with and arm and hammer beating it, a singing monkey skull, two veined black marble "bénitiers", home to a collection of green frogs("grenouilles de bénitier"), and the green snake. 

  The body of the organist was reassembled in After Effects from all its separated parts so it could be animated, with 3 frames of hands pounding the keyboard as it sways back and forth. The sequence was divided in several compositions to keep the number of layers reasonnable. 

  It is rather awkward to work in After Effets, as one has to constantly use Ram previews to play the animation with the music and check the timing. It is rather slow, even with CS5, which still leaves a lot to be desired. To help wit the timing, I created a special null layer of beat markers, that was then duplicated into all the compositions. After a day of work, I still only have a very partial rough animation, but that gives a better idea of what I am trying to do:     In the last few days, I worked on the organ sequence, which I started over from the short test, adding a set of trumpets and a drum beaten by an arm and hammer, green frogs bloating, a monkey skull singing, and animated the body of the organist. I also worked on the clock sequence yesterday, but both are very difficult to time,and I am not happy with the results yet.
  To change my mind today, I built all the drawers for the cabinet in 3D in After Effects, but am having some difficulties getting the camera to see them properly when they go in and out.
  To make me feel better, I got an e-mail yesterday from the lone student I thought was working for me on the ball sequence, telling me he was dropping out...

Post 29: Getting this thing finished pretty much on my own

   It took me way  to long to finally recognize that I would have to do most everything myself after all. I tried and tried to find help and thought at one point I did, but in the end, nobody has come though with anything at all, so I am re thinking the whole concept. I was going for the most sophisticated animation possible, but it would probably be a waste of time. There are so many unknowns and things I cannot control: weather, ambient light, other shows nearby, degradation of image in projection.
  I went to the technical meeting at the new Red Cross building Monday, and was told I would have a 20000 lumens projector and a big sound system, and will be able to use a scissors lift the day before the show to set up, but that I would have to find funding for the foam panels and tape to board up the doors and windows. I was also told we would have a dress rehearsal the night before with the projector, and that is a big relief... We should be able to get all the adjustments taken care of in advance, and be operational quickly on Saturday night.
  Randall Crow, a local professional Photographer, Videographer, Movie Maker and Artist was just now recruited by PTTR, and is going to try within tight time constraints to come up with a short show to play on the same building, and share the projector with me. 
  I believe I will take a more cartoonish and stylized approach to the animation, and play up the strength and originality of the images, the surprise factor, the colors, the movement, alternating "mapped" sequences of the building itself in various guises, and fantasy images.
  I will work up the main sequences to an adequate stage and put together a playable movie. Then, if time remains, I will go back refine the details, and possibly add more sequences.

Post 28: A rough test movie at D-47

   Christopher is coming this morning to look at what I got, advise me on technical aspects of the project, and give me his Artistic opinion. 
  PTTR has a meeting on Monday for the participants to discuss needs and progress. They asked that we bring what we have to show, so I spent most of the day yesterday reworking my previous full length test with some new roughed in sequences and place holder still images, moving some sequences, and adding some sound effects and music.
 I posted several sizes in my Dropbox Public Folder:
        PTTR2011TEST5/27-BIG
        PTTR2011TEST5/25-MEDIUM
        PTTR2011TEST5/25-SMALL

Post 27: The Run Down Building

   I had to redo it twice because I forgot to save and lost the first version... I hate when that happens... But the good thing is that the second version is better. I am trying to decide whether to keep the stark black background, or go to a dark brown as in the bottom center window. The old plywood is a nice touch.
  Now, I got to go back and break the glass, and then break it some more till the holes are big enough to let the snake go through. Of course, I could break chunks as part of the stop motion animation as the snake pushes them out. The cutouts in the wood panel would have to be the full size of the opening, and sections of glass could be snipped out from the photograph pasted to it as the snake moves.The chunks could be animated falling down too.

Post 26: A Route 66 Service Station

   I wanted to go ahead and build the set for the snakes animation, so yesterday morning, I started to work of the idea of a decaying sequence leading to an abandoned building with a darker run down facade with broken windows through which snakes could weave, but with window frames still in place for the snakes to have support when I very slowly inch them in and out of openings to shoot the stop motion sequence. 
  But somehow, things took a different turn, and I ended up with a funky Service Station on Route 66, with vintage enameled signs covering the facade, and an old Model T parked inside(a picture I shot on Route 66 couple of summers ago). 
   That's not exactly whatI was shooting for, but I am pleased with the picture, and it will be a good addition to the Time Travel sequence as part of the beginning "decay". I will get back to that right now.

Post 25: Working on the Fire

  This is one of the key sequences of the show, and I have been thinking of the best way to achieve the effect: build a model and burn it, video instances of fire and combine them in After Effects, create virtual fire in software, or somehow animate the still images to give the illusion of burning fire?
  Software fire is not realistic, real fire is dangerous and difficult to control and video. I chose to find as many pictures of fire as possible and "animate" them. I found a great source for sequences of images of different fires at Mega-Tex Studios. Using these and others combined and blended, I created several Test Fire Animations.

Post 24:Roughing in the Rebuilding Sequence

  This is a very rough first draft, in fact, I am not even using the appropriately "new" construction blocks,just pieces of the actual building, and the crane is not used to move anything yet. I just wanted to get the general effect. 
  You can see 2 different sizes test movies In my Dropbox:
        016REBUILDING-TEST2-SMALL
        016REBUILDING-TEST2-BIG
 A considerable amount of work remains to be done: in a first stage, create all the clean "new" building blocks out of the dirty ones, and then make the crane pick them up and drop them in place one by one with appropriate sound effects. A complicated refinement to be attempted later if there is time is to make the blocks 3D, and have them move in space and rotate as they are lifted and installed.

Post 23: Roughing in the Radio Sequence

    I spent all day today roughing in the complete radio sequence. My reasoning is that it would be difficult to explain precisely enough what I want with words, and it is easier to demonstrate it in a rough movie. Plus I have to research and find images and sounds, choose the best, and process them to my liking. 
  Volunteers can refine pick up here and refine it later, if any appear to help.
   I believe I will apply the same procedure to all the sequences: first rough them in, then polish and refine, and then if there is time, polish and elaborate some more... For example, the mechanical hand is pretty effective as a still image, but it would be better if the fingers and the wrist had at least some limited animation, and that can be added later if we have time. Refinements may not be noticeable enough in the final projection to warrant spending a lot of time on them.
  The video does not seem to play well, so here is a link to 2 different sizes in my Dropbox:
          RADIOTEST2-SMALL
                                  RADIOTEST2-BIG

Post 22: "Ruins Under the Sea"

 As I was waiting to start on the snakes, I played around with the idea of the fish tank, but things have a way of taking a life of their own, and the fish tank turned into Ruins Under the Sea, with a coral reef, fluorescent purple anemones, a school of sardines swirling, and a blowfish swimming around with a starfish. We could make the anemone flutter, the sardines swirl, and the blowfish puff up as the starfish touches it.
   Actually, instead of starting on the snakes, I played with this one a little more and made a test movie:

Since these don't seem to work too well, here are links to 2 different sizes in my Dropbox:
      RUINSUNDERTHESEA-TEST1-SMALL
      RUINSUNDERTHESEA-TEST1-BIG

Post 21: The Snakes Sequence

   This picture is merely a place holder in the Storyboard, and I have to figure out how to animate the snakes(I only have two).
  I first thought of doing a stop motion animation in front of a 30" x 45" or so wooden blue screen cut out with holes matching the doors and windows of the actual building, keying out the snakes, and layering the animation in After Effects on an image of the facade. But the problem would be in getting realistic software shadows.
   To get the realism I am after, it seems I am going to have to actually glue a photograph of the facade to the board.
  In that case, what photograph? It could be the  burnt out building(the bright colored snakes would look good on that darker background:

  On the other hand, if the window frames were in, the animation would be both more intricate (there would be more possible paths),and easier , as the frames would provide structure and support to the snakes, especially in the lower part of the building. But the just rebuilt "new" facade is more light in color and would not be as interesting a background:

   So, may be I should create a special background image of the facade in a "run down derelict abandoned " state with broken windows, but with most of the frames and the doors still in place...

Post 20: The Cabinet of Curiosities

  I spent a whole day working on this composition, working from my vast library of images of my collections, mixed with some pictures collected on the Internet, and am pretty happy with the result. Once upon a time, when I had boundless energy, and still had hopes of recognition as a painter, I would have made it into a painting, which probably would have taken me months to complete, and would most likely be in my collection...Just too weird to sell, there are not enough weirdos with money out there to buy my work! Plus I have become lazy, and spending months pushing a paint brush to more or less reproduce this image does not seem worthwhile anymore... I am digressing...
  Anyhow,the composition was built in Photoshop using png files, and each object is on a separate layer, so the whole thing can be opened in After Effects, and the objects animated individually.
  I can think of a number of things to do: start with empty shelves , and either have the objects appear magically and fall in place, may be even jumping from one slot to another. Or the mechanical hand could move them. We could have a "Nutcracker" kind of sequence where they come alive at night, move, turn and talk. That would probably require some stop motion animation for some of them, or at least using the puppet tool. 

Post 19: The New Cabinet of Drawers

   Here is the new "improved" Cabinet of Drawers with more drawers to play with than the original design. I am very happy that Christopher has volunteered to model it in Maya so the drawers can be animated, and project realistic shadows when they move in and out. I would like stuff to come in and out, and tumble from from to the next drawer, possibly a mechanical hand open one, drop something in and close it. I have not watched it in a long time, but I am thinking of the fabulous 1974 animation "The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer" by the Brothers Quay .

POST 18: Modifications, and More Whacky ideas!

I started improving my "Chest of Drawer" with more drawers and better "Burl Oak" veneers. So hold off a little before you start making them go in and out with the beat, I will post a new folder shortly. Actually, I made a brief test a year or so ago animating my 17th Century "Spanish Vargueno":

  And then, more ideas are brewing up: a "Jukebox, a Puppet Theatre, a "Collector's Cabinet of Curiosities" with little cubicles full of weird stuff(I got plenty of that!),a Fishtank, a Greek Temple Ruin, an Astronomical clock...

POST 17: Fifth "Transformation" as a "Faux Marble Italianate Church Altar"

   I have been up since 5 o'clock this morning putting this one together, and it was again great fun looking for and choosing all the pieces of the puzzle from my numerous collection of Religious Art pictures. I didn't make anything up, and I hope our traditional Southern Baptists don't see it as sacrilegious...Italians would probably understand it better.
   As some of you may already know, the three main figures come from the most famous painting by Jan Van Eyck: the Ghent's Cathedral "Altarpiece of the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb". I just slightly "super sized" Adam and Eve, the American way...
  The Sacrificial Lamb is an "Agnus Dei" by Zurbaran. The statues on each side of the Altar are Judith holding the head of Holophernes and her servant(the servant is always there so as not to get her confused with Salome holding the head of John the Baptist, a theme I actually recently treated photographically in my recent "Self Portraits Gaga" Series.
  I am not sure yet what is going to happen in front of this altar. I could see Judith do a little Salome Dance, the candles burn out, the red drape catch on fire,the dead bishop get up and leave,my mechanical puppet celebrating mass, the dog jump down, the doves shot down, etc...I won't even mention actually sacrificing the Lamb and blood running down the Altar...You may think of better gags too, I am open to any suggestions...