Dear Reader,

This page serves as concept development for a project which will be premiered on May 6, 2018 at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA. 

This project will have two completed forms. First will be a live performance, featuring music composed by Logan Schmidt (piano, two cellos and violin). Alongside these musical performers, will be a video, projected large scale in the dimly lit concert hall. After the live performance, a digital version of the video and audio will be edited together.

When combined, these elements will tell the story of a body - a discordant character - laying motionless in muck... who slowly finds harmony with their environment. 

To create these visuals, the idea is to complete a painting, approximately 7 feet tall and 13 feet wide, on the ground, which disguises a dancer within the composition. The primary viewing angle, from which the illusion will be in effect, will be from directly over head. While the paint is still wet, the dancer will begin to slowly move along the surface, smearing and muddling the colors and details into a muddy mess. The footage of this dance will be reversed in post production, creating our narrative in a manner impossible to see outside of the digitally filmed space.

This idea poses many fun challenges... how can we create a video which looks aesthetically professional yet deals with glossy wet paint and the difficulties of working at a large scale from odd angles and heights...? 

To guide one direction of imagination, here is a sketch composition with poetic narration:

"TODAY'S STARS"

 - an homage to a mountain -

*FLASH*

a body, face down in muck.

the glimpse of a toe, of an elbow

the curve of a thigh leads to soft hills and gentle valleys, motionless.

Slowly now, these places awaken.

Shifting, sliding movement. Color begins to appear.

Stronger Now

Colors solidify, dollops of paint no longer smeared,

hands and legs wave stars into clear skies

Green plants, pink flowers, gold sun

The middle remains a mystery (our body, our dancer, is less muddled now, but remains in discord)

And just like that, with a slow settling,

The mountain stands centerstage.

There are certainly many options for the details of this composition, and the final form will depend greatly on the individuals who join together to bring it to life. 

Roles

Musical Composition: Logan Schmidt

Visual Designer/Project Manager: Cody Burchfield

Director of Photography:

Lead Videographer:

Painter(s):

Dancer(s):

Reference Materials 

(these videos provide aesthetic goals and examples of compositions which we might seek to incorporate)