Breaching the Fourth Wall

We live in a state of information overload.

Daily, our senses our bombarded with innumerable messages by visual and aural means, and the ways in which we can keep ourselves informed and entertained are constantly growing. Between professionally produced television, newspapers, billboards, books, the internet, and our friends, we have an almost infinite number of methods of communicating and messages to be communicated all competing with one another for our limited attention.

When combined with the thoughts and worries of our daily life, it’s a wonder our heads don’t explode.

In the realm of entertainment, especially live events, my interest in how production values, including lighting, sound, pyrotechnics, projection, and special effects, help to further the experience of a show.

Live events, when compared with the rest of the entertainment industry, may seem like a narrow category, but it is surprising just how frequently we are the intended recipients of presentations. Guerilla theater on city streets, corporate presentations to shareholders and industry professionals, theme park rides, and ninety-nine seat equity waiver houses, and even university lecture halls are all viable venues for the live presentation of ideas.

Yet amidst these different options, the collaborators behind each project strive for the same goals: presentation of ideas and communication of a story, and it is how these ideas are conveyed that fascinates me, especially because direct, oral communication is a universal experience. Everyone knows what it feels like to sit through a bad presentation or performance. Whether it was the overuse of technical flash and trash meant to distract an audience from the a lack of plot or an unnecessary amount of special effects employed by a designer with not enough appreciation for simplicity, technology does not make or break a live event. But on the other end of the spectrum where microphones feedback, lighting is not bright enough, and the video footage takes just a second too long to be cued, one quickly discovers that a solid foundation of the most basic of production values can mean the difference between being captivated by the content of a presentation and being distracted by that tiny flickering light just in front of a speaker’s lecturn. As most of have had drilled into our heads at one point or another, presentation is key.

This blog will be my attempt at exploring the clockwork behind live events. What are producers finding worthy of putting in the public eye and how effectively are they doing it? What are the trends in live presentations? What tools are being used and which industry professionals are making the biggest splash?

As a dabbler in all things related to live entertainment (read: I’ve sold my soul to technical theater and production management) I’m intrigued by all things related to it and hope to understand it.

Coming from a collaborative and often crazily artistic industry, all feedback is welcome and appreciated. Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats, the house lights are about to go down….

Looking forward to the discovery,

AlltheWorldsAStage