Punchdrunk in their own words:
“Since 2000, Punchdrunk has pioneered a game changing form of theatre in which roaming audiences experience epic storytelling inside sensory theatrical worlds. Blending classic texts, physical performance, award-winning design installation and unexpected sites, the company's infectious format rejects the passive obedience usually expected of audiences. Punchdrunk has developed a phenomenal reputation for transformative productions that focus as much on the audience and the performance space as on the performers and narrative. Inspired designers occupy deserted buildings and apply a cinematic level of detail to immerse the audience in the world of the show. This is a unique theatrical experience where the lines between space, performer and spectator are constantly shifting. Audiences are invited to rediscover the childlike excitement and anticipation of exploring the unknown and experience a real sense of adventure. Free to encounter the installed environment in an individual imaginative journey, the choice of what to watch and where to go is theirs alone.”
Notes Taken
The Drowned Man
Summary Based on the points raised in this lecture about the use of sound in Punchdrunk's productions, there does not appear to be any way the audience can influence the show, let alone the sound of it. This company focuses on their audience experiencing a story in a non-linear fashion in the sense that they have agency over the order in which they view scenes and scenarios. The sound runs the length of the performance and, while the performers do react to sonic cues, each scene and the show as a whole still appears to move from point A to point B. However, it was interesting to hear about the intuitive ways in which the creative team worked around budget limitations, as is often the case when working in theatre, and sound that bleeds in from other rooms or 'stages'. This will not be an issue for this project as it will be confined to one space, but something to keep in mind should this project expand.
Punchdrunk & MIT
See MIT Media Projects site for information about this project and here for a first-hand account of the experience. Key points: This project was primarily focused on ways in which virtual participants could experience a Punchdrunk show. This was achieved by pairing an audience member through an internet connection to a ‘player’. Very interesting work with the masks, which were “equipped with a microphone, a temperature sensor, a heart rate monitor, an EDA sensor, a Bluetooth location sensor, and a RFID tag to capture an onsite participant’s activities, expressions, and state of mind. Masks were retrofitted with bone conduction headsets to allow operators to send audio messages to onsite participants which kept their ears free to listen to the immersive audio experience”. A number of ‘portals’ were set up around the space where the virtually-connected user had influence the real-world environment. For example a ‘ghost’ typewriter which would tap out messages written by the companion. Other portals were automatically triggered when someone wearing an augmented mask is near, such as ghostly writing on a mirror or books flying off shelves. Each cue controlled by the offsite participant was processed by a “master logic system” called ‘cauldron’. These cues not only controlled actions in the physical space but also controlled all the audio elements experienced by the virtual audience member. “The audio systems for Sleep No More were based around a virtual streaming and mixing environment running inside Reaper. The audio experience was organized into cues, coded in XML, which were executed by the script engine. Each cue could smoothly alter parameters of effects, inputs and outputs, or play back pre-recorded material. Outputs were streamed in real-time to online participants, and android devices in the space using a combination of Icecast and Wowza streaming servers. Live inputs originated from performer microphones and could also be connected to telephones on the set and at participants’ homes. All content for the experience was encoded binaurally.” There is no mention of whether any main sound elements were directly affected, Punchdrunk are notoriously cagey about releasing details, but based on the interview with Stephen Dobbie (which took place three years after the project) it can be assumed that there was no effect on main elements of the sound cues. The audience also had no direct effect on the narrative of the performance.
Inspirations for Project
Position Tracking System Using my own positioning system to track participants position would be very beneficial to this project, this would be possible by using a Bluetooth system: such as iBeacon. Some examples are listed below: It also appears to be possible to build an iBeacon type system using Arduino or Micro:bit (which already contains Bluetooth capabilities) as seen here: This will be explored in greater detail and followed up in a separate blog post. This could be useful for determining where a participant is in relation to specific triggers, what they are looking at and to control real-time game parameters (RTCP’s) within Wwise. It might be possible to track participants mobile phones using built in Bluetooth capabilities, otherwise a small Bluetooth emitter could be used and either given to participants or worked into the narrative somehow, similar to the masks in ‘Sleep No More’. Categories of Sound From Stephen Dobbie’s lecture it seems that the company work with sound based on three defined categories: songs, music and soundscape. Thinking about my own project in terms of sonic categories will help me to define levels of interaction. During a performance it seems participants only have influence over the sound in a very localised sense, triggering songs from car radios etc, whereas the goal with this project is to have an entire sonic world which evolves based around participants actions within a space. Further References 'The Immersed Audience: How Immersive Theatre is Taking it's Cue from Video Games' by Thomas Mullen for The Guardian 'Welcome to Fallow Cross: Inside the Secret Village Made by Punchdrunk' by Lyn Gardner for The Guardian 'A Guinea Pigs Night at the Theatre' by Dave Itzkoff for the New York Times
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