Today we worked on refining our final project, and afterward, I couldn’t help notice how we were a bit more confident than previous efforts. Why? I think we’ve finally started to rely on some of the stuff we’ve learned this past year. Here are a few of them:
If the Tech seem a little flakey, have a fall-back ready
Sure KiCKASS is relatively stable, but if it should fail during performance, be ready with a a slider in Max that mimics the movements of the dancer (or at least lets you fiddle with the parameter that you had planned for Natasha to control). It may not be perfect, but at least you won’t be frantically trying to get the data up and working while the piece is still moving ahead. How I wish I’d had that when I worked on my first and second (and third) project.
Sometimes it’s easier or better to discover a cool sound or effect than it is to plan one.
So many times during rehearsal, someone will try something weird or hit a setting (almost by accident) and you get something that sounds weird (and that’s a good weird). Contrast that with spending hours trying to get a ‘crunchy yet low rumbling’ that you had in mind for the Spectral Granulator plugin and instead just play with the settings until you get that ‘Aha’ moment. But be ready to look at what it’s set at before you move on to a less compelling effect.
Be ready to go but also ready to change course quickly
The DMX lighting has been… I’ll just say it: A little underwhelming. (Who uses those ridiculous shapes and why? Wait, colours are preset ‘gel’s and not any colour, as we could employ with every other tool we’ve ever worked with?) Instead, we realized that we don’t really need a follow spot (and thank goodness we aren’t doing a riff on Cabaret, where we’d definitely need something like that), but instead, some more subtle lights and in some iconic colours that come up or down at certain points.
Don’t overthink The Narrative
Originally we thought we’d overthrow the evil AI and tech-driven dictator but when we saw the video, we realized that the best we could do was raise our voices (and instruments) against it. The depiction of ongoing resistance to a totalitarian autocrat maybe be more doable in a 5 minute drama than a sweeping revolution where Good triumphs over Evil, we peel back the mask and yes, Old Man Johnson grumbles: “Yeah, and I would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for those meddling kids!”
When you get things right, you may not be the one who notices
In our third (or was it fourth?) run-through, Natasha said “That sounded solid. Best version so far” I was so busy messing with my settings (and making sure that I didn’t get too loud too soon) as well as keeping my eye on the video to make sure we were responding at the right points to notice that we were nailing it.
Those weren’t the only things we’ve learned, but they were the ones that came to mind today.
UBCIMPART 2013/14, 2015/16, 2019/20, 2023/24 