STRINA ROSS PROJECTION RESEARCH
PROJECTION VIDEOS
My original idea was to project a live image of myself onto a still object, similar to what Laurie Anderson has done. My idea fell through. I wanted to project onto a mannequin, or something similar,but I don’t own one so I put shirts on a fan to try to mimic the idea of a mannequin. That looked terrible so I figured, why not just test the fan? What happens when I project on it when it’s off vs. on? That also was a failure because you could not see the projected image at all. My projector has a TINY power chord so my options on placement were limited. No matter what I did, the projection screen was too large for something within my ideal range. With the fan, the projection was never on the fan and if I managed to line it up correctly, you couldn’t see anything on the fan. What I ended up doing was using my own body as the “still object.” I found this YouTube video of someone teaching how to draw a person sitting cross-legged. I decided to be the “model” for the drawing. It was a test of improv along with the test of projecting on a still human. I almost edited out the ad break but I loved how the ads looked on me. Sometimes I was almost completely invisible and other times you could see me very clearly. I also, probably, should’ve worn a different shirt. But overall I like how it turned out. I learned that clothes matter in projection art, the closeness of the projector to the projection needs to be planned out accordingly, I have to plan for shadows, and that I need an extension chord.
What would happen if I danced BEHIND a projection instead of within? I set up a projector with a white sheet between me and the projector and I was behind the sheet. The outcome is as you see above. I wanted something more see-through and will definitely be diving into this idea more. I'm also curious what happens if the performer wears something more see-through, maybe not completely but in a way that makes them in tune with the projection. If the projection is on a see-through "wall" then what if the performer is somehow see-through as well? I am actually quite pleased with how this experiment turned out. I did it twice to see how light affected this sheet. I improvised both times but the second one definitely came together more. The meaning behind this piece is quite deep (the whole video is on my YouTube, the link to teh video is attached to the video above) and I think my improvisation actually fits well in the long run, even without sound.
This was an idea I had that I was determined to see through (haha pun). I loved how it turned out because I could see the projection in front of me which made it easier to improvise the movements. It also kind of answers a question I had about how one can be in performance without being in the projection. In a way, I wasn't in the projection. I was behind it. I also was a part of it without fully being a part of it. Sometimes I was very visible and sometimes it looked as if my body was a part of the projected movement. I think I would like to do more research using see-through materials.
After learning that projecting onto a clear tarp created a whole new experience with projection, I decided to see what happens when I project myself onto myself underneath the clear tarp. I do not think I got the result I was expecting but I did learn something. When I was completely still, I blended into the projection and sometimes looked like a bat or a moth or something that was inside the projection. It could easily be used as a metaphor for an old vs. new self or the you that is hidden inside vs. the you that is on display for the world to see. I definitely want to play with this tarp more and see what else I can do with it and maybe, for this exercise, try a different video with a better angle so it fits my body better.
For this experiment, I wanted to try writing on the plastic sheet to see if it would distort the projected image and if it would even be visible during a performance. The first video is me just writing the artist and song title while the lyric video is being projected. In that video, you can’t see the words at all. It is still a pretty cool aesthetic because you can see me and it gives off this idea that I am writing something but you can’t see what it is. I wanted to see if this was just because the video was too dark that you couldn’t see the writing so I did an improvised performance with the music video projected onto the words on the plastic sheet. There are times you can see the end of “Unstoppable,” but not the rest of the word. I am wondering if it is just because the dark door in the background is too dark to see. I also think that the reflection from the actual projection started to cause issues in this experiment. However, I do not know of a way to avoid that. It was cool from my perspective, I could watch the music video in front of me with the artist and song title over it. It was blurry on the sheet for me but it was still interesting to see the video with the title as if the title was what was meant to be seen. Maybe I should have recorded that video from the opposite side of the sheet to discover what it looked like from my perspective.