As large performance houses remain shuttered or lay off their entire staff due to COVID-19, it's easy to feel a bit glum about the future of the performing arts. Historically, these organizations' financial model has always been people in seats and live-staged events. Many have tried re-broadcasting old performances or informal zoom sessions with varying success. While this approach, in the very least, gets art into the world, it is not a viable foundation for financial support and growth.
The arts will surely survive the pandemic if we all continue to look forward and collaborate.
Audiences want fresh, new works - something they've never seen before. Performers want to perform and are interested in getting their work (and new works) in front of audiences. It can be challenging to imagine how to accomplish this, particularly when taking into account strict social distancing needs, and lower than ever operating budgets. Thankfully, we have more technology at our disposal than ever before.
Vegas City Opera and StudioKurcan collaborated on the execution of their 2020 Digital Opera Workshop. Students from across the nation participated in lessons, workshops, coachings, and performances - entirely online. The culmination of the program was the premiere digital staging of Leoš Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen.
Emily Kurcan Stephenson, Director of Education & Outreach with VCO, led all student instruction and music direction. Debora Gordillo paired down the orchestral score and created performance tracks. Students were required to have access to reliable internet - and a video recording device. All students received a chroma screen, orchestra records, and character-specific props. Vegas area professionals also came on to perform the most challenging roles.
Preparing the musicians for the performance was accomplished by providing custom practice tracks for every part. Participants recorded themselves without supervision for progress checks and final performance videos. Two main performances took place; a solo recital, and the Janáček.
All participants received additional guidance on digital recording best practices from StudioKurcan. One hundred eleven (111) individual performance clips were submitted - 38 gigabytes of data. The final assembly took forty hours of pre-production organization/management and 45 hours of editing, audio, and graphics work. A compressed post-production cycle happened in three days.
Still from Act III - the Vixen and family encounter a fox trap.
Pluraleyes by Red Giant handled the first audio synch between the individual performers and the orchestra track. This process was around 50% effective (Janáček's writing is very dense and fooled the program). Second wave synch involved editing with the score in hand, moving parts frame by frame until acceptable.
mmm… layers…
It is essential to note the importance of managing client expectations in this scope and size project. Crystal clear video is not realistic when asking students to capture individual performances at home - many will use cellphones and less than adequate lighting. Audio will not be studio-quality and may clip or have noise/artifacts. Cutting out actors from the chroma screens was, at times, challenging. Future projects of this scope would benefit from a standardized recording setup - akin to the DropKit by Hayden5, or bringing each performer into a soundstage location, such as offered by Digital2Physical Design.
A variety of raw captures came in through 111 individual videos.
Overall, this was most certainly new territory for all involved, and we are very proud of every artist involved throughout this ambitious project!
Creatively, we approached the project as a digital storybook. Doing so allows us to hide some of the deficiencies in the capture artfully. This approach was further enhanced by the use of stock imagery in title sequences. It also allowed for narration to explain the story arc better, filling in the gaps as needed.
A storybook style approach was applied to all title sequences, enhanced by stock imagery.
On-Screen narration helped to explain the story arc better, filling in the gaps as needed.
The final product was striking and very well received by the performers and community viewers. Moreso, it provides a solid proof of concept with endless room for enhancements by utilizing professional capture techniques, a longer production cycle, and larger production budgets.
As a company, the biggest lesson learned from this initiative is that new and innovative performance works can and should happen in the digital space. While it does require proper planning and buy-in from all stakeholders, the results are worth it - a vehicle for continued audience viewership and continued patronage. The arts will surely survive the pandemic if we all continue to look forward and collaborate.
No matter the scope or scale of your project, StudioKurcan is here to help. Drop us a line and let us know what you're working on! And of course, stay tuned for more Pivoting to Digital Events.