Hey all you media designers out there,

I am an undergrad theatre production student and want to make media design, a.k.a projections, my concentration area. I was wondering what type of representations you use in production meetings? Do you use storyboards, sketches, etc.?

wizard1399,

I generally use something I refer to as animatics, where I use AfterEffects to layer potential media cues on top of a scan of the set designers rendering/sketch or a photograph of the model.

In those parts of the process before there are sketches and renderings, the materials I use vary by show. Usually just test clips and proofs-of-concept renderings.

Cheers,
Jake Pinholster

What I’ve done in the past is create a masking effect in either QuickTime Pro or Final Cut using a png image of the set. Create the negative space where the projections are to go - if it’s a solid screen.

And then place the projected image movie behind it. We need to discuss scaled images when we do that.

If the image is cast all over the set, you can place the image on top of the set rendering and change the opacity of the layer.

All my set renderings are from Vectorworks, so I can control the opacity of the object if it’s a scrim material or not.

Good question. And this subject matter needs to be developed further.

Adam