Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2021 - 54

BOOK REVIEWS CATHERINE MANTOOTH, EDITOR
and offers a well-tested set of best practices
for the industry.
Frank begins the book by explaining
Screens Producing & Media
Operations: Advanced Practice for
Media Server and Video Content
Preparation
By Laura Frank
Focal Press 2019, 258 pages
Hardcover, $160; Paperback, $44.95; eBook,
$40.45
Reviewed by Kristen Morgan
Media has shared the stage with live performance
since 20th century inventions
like the laterna magika, but the recent
decades of rapid growth in media technology
means that screens have increasingly
begun to dominate entertainment
design. The high price tags of most projectors,
screens, and media server systems,
along with the steep learning curve for
understanding how the technology works,
can create a daunting entry into the field.
A lack of formal university training programs
for media can also lead to aspiring
designers and technicians learning on the
fly, often relying on tutorial videos and online
forums. Different performance venues
have a wide array of media set-ups, and in
smaller spaces, teams often must rely on
rental packages. Laura Frank's Screens
Producing & Media Operations is a welcome
addition to the small but growing
number of books that address the integration
of media into live performance. Written
in a straightforward and accessible
tone, Frank's book demystifies the technology
and processes of media production
the complex reasons that media production
does not yet have industry standards,
unlike other related departments such as
lighting and sound. As she notes in the
first chapter, " the language we use to describe
the work is still evolving. " Frank
convinces her readers of the importance
of implementing common standards that
can also allow for growth and expansion.
Over 16 chapters, she goes on to define
key terminology, describe workflows and
documentation, and emphasize practices
of effective communication among media
production team members. The Routledge
website offers a downloadable package
of all the book's images in full color.
The book's preface directs readers to a
companion website that will offer supplemental
photos and video, as well as templates
for paperwork and organization.
Frank's knowledge has been earned
through 25 years in the media trenches.
She emphasizes excellent communication
as the foundation for a process that
can often encompass hundreds of moving
parts. One of the things that makes
this book useful to designers and technicians
of all levels is its acknowledgement
of the variety of scales of production, from
a single screen and projector through
complex sets with multiple projectors and
LED walls. Frank takes time throughout
the book to explain how processes can be
adapted to these multiple scales.
The meat of the book is 13 chapters
that build progressive knowledge.
Frank begins with an overview of proper
terminology for personnel, equipment,
software, and the media itself. Early
chapters review the production pipeline
and delve into how team members work
together most efficiently. Key terminology
is often in all caps, which makes
terms easy to recognize throughout the
book, and helps to ingrain an industrystandard
vocabulary in the reader as they
progress through the book. Real-world
examples in the text are accompanied by
production photos, 2D design renderings,
screen captures of sets in 3D visualization
54 | THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY | SUMMER 2021
software, design rasters, and paperwork.
The images work well to support the text,
and vice versa, offering a welcome clarity
to a subject that often seems mystifying to
novices and professionals alike.
The final three chapters of the book
address more theoretical subject areas:
the future of media operations, best
practices for professional conduct, and
a collection of interviews with industry
professionals. This section provides an
important coda to the technical content
of the book, reminding readers that practitioners
can only truly function well with
flexibility, curiosity, and humanity. The insights
provided in the collection of interviews
with 12 professional practitioners
offer an inspiring conclusion to the book.
Screens Producing & Media Operations
will be a welcome addition to mid- to
upper-level design classes, as well as a
guidebook for those who wish to enter the
profession of media design. For those who
are already practicing media professionals,
Frank's book offers the opportunity
to refine processes and address common
problems. The standardized systems
that Frank lays out so clearly in her book
will certainly provide a solid foundation
for a field she describes as " an evolving
discipline [that] should continue to change
in response to a dynamic industry. "
Kristen Morgan has designed scenery and media
for live performance and art installations for
almost three decades. She is a professor
of theatre and new media studies at Eastern
Connecticut State University. Her most recent
work is a new experimental film, Cultivating
Dignity, that explores issues of ethnicity and
migration in the Connecticut Valley shade
tobacco industry.
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Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2021
