Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2017 - 24

Diagram of the media system (left) and formatting video in After Effects (above)

the author edited the positions of each rectangle until
anything shown on it would only display within its tile.
When creating all video files to be used in the show, the
author imported each of them into After Effects and
resized and positioned them until they only appeared
inside the desired tiles, leaving the rest of the image
black. This created the illusion the author was sending
one video file to one display, when in reality one large
video was sent to ALL displays, and it had been edited
to only show in the area corresponding to the display in
which it needed to be shown.
Another challenge: PiWall only played video files

(mp4s), and many files were still images of locations in
the play. When a video playing on the PiWall reaches
the end, it simply freezes on the last frame, so turning
an image file into a three-second movie file meant that
after three seconds, the still image would remain until the next cue was executed. The solution was to craft
fade-in and fade-out animations for each individual cue,
which played before and after the still image. These appeared to fade seamlessly into each other because each
fade-in animation ended in the still image, and fade-out
animations began in the still image. Fading to black was
handled in the same way.

Raspberry Pi Computers in Artistic Creation
Although Water by the Spoonful was
the first production to use the PiWall
software in its design, other theatrical and dance productions have used
Raspberry Pi computers in scenic and
costume design. For example, in 2013,
Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London
produced all three Henry VI plays. The
production was a collaboration with
The Space, a program from the BBC
designed to provide artists assistance in
expanding audiences digitally. The plays
were staged outdoors and streamed for
free from multiple viewpoints. Among
the many cameras used to stream the
plays were the "Throne Cams," tiny
cameras filming from the throne at the
center of the scenic design for each
play. This camera was a Raspberry Pi
camera module, attached to a Raspber-

theatre design

& technology

ry Pi computer. The camera was able to
record, process, and encode the video.
Because of its size, it was invisible to the
audience but provided a perfect actor's
view of the performance (Upton 2013).
Other projects have incorporated
Raspberry Pi computers into costumes
for dancers to wear, such as James
Kong's Firefly multimedia dance performance. In Firefly, dancers' costumes
were lined with LEDs to create a glowin-the-dark effect during the performance. Each dancer had on a small
"backpack" containing the Raspberry Pi
and other necessary hardware. And, as
with Water by the Spoonful, QLab was
used to control the LEDs (Kong 2013).
Many such projects that incorporate technology are found in
experimental performance and art in-

S p r i n g 2 0 1 7

stallations. The tools needed to execute
are inexpensive, which makes them
accessible to artists that might not otherwise be able to create multimedia art.
Burnish is a performance installation
that premiered at the Venice Biennale
in 2015. It was created by Erika Batdorf
and Mark-David Hosale, who is credited
with much of the Raspberry Pi programming and design. It is an interactive
performance for one audience member
inside a mini-pavilion.
As performance that responds directly to input from audiences becomes
increasingly popular, creators will find
themselves engaging in collaborations
with those who can make the work possible.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2017