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The MIT New Media Center (26-139) has computers with the entire Adobe video suite (Premiere, After Effects, etc.) as well as the entire Final Cut suite. It's accessible any time so long as you're an MIT student.
Controlling Video
Video is generally cued from booth - work with the people who will be in booth to figure out a control system that works for them.
Avoid wireless control if at all possible. HDMI cables can carry a combination video-audio signal reliably up to ~50 feet, and as awkward as it may seem to gaff a cable all the way to booth, it's preferable to the uncertainty of wireless control. Many modern computer monitors include an audio port that outputs the audio channel from the HDMI input, so speakers can be connected directly to those.
Using the Ensemble Projector
Mounting on Pipe
Full instructions are in a pamphlet in the projector bag, but the basic steps are:
- Attach the mounting arms to the projector. They may already be attached from the last show.
- Screw the attachments (pipe clamp and mounting plate) onto both threaded ends of the mounting cylinder.
- Figure out how to attach the projector to the mounting plate (by sliding it on and securing it with four hex bolts) but do not attach it yet.
- Climb up to the pipe and use the U-clamps to attach the mounting cylinder to it.
- Attach the projector to the mounting plate.
- Plug the projector into the nearest outlet using one of the Ensemble power cords.
- Aim the projector.
Wiring
The Ensemble doesn't have any long HDMI cables, but MTG has 50-foot and 100-foot ones that they have loaned us in the past. Thread it through the mounting cylinder to avoid pulling it out of the port on the projector.
Control
The projector has a remote control. KEEP TRACK OF WHERE THIS IS AT ALL TIMES. If you turn your back for five seconds, it will elope to Austria with that drill bit you're looking for. The remote control can be used to distort the projector image, and also turn it on for the duration of a performance.
Video Cues
For Lear and She Kills Monsters, we used Isadora to output video. Isadora is amazing video software that can take MIDI cues from qlab over an ethernet connection, and thus allows for video and audio cues to be synced. However, the free version doesn't let you save, so using it means either finding someone with a USB-key license or leaving it open for the entire production (risky, but doable for short productions or simple setups).
Ensemble owns a small router and short ethernet cables that can be used to set up a LAN between a laptop being used for video and a laptop being used to send cues.
During the Show
There are lots of things that can go wrong with video. Make sure you're there before every show to set things up - make sure everything is plugged in, turned on, and if possible run through the cues with the person in charge of that.If wireless video control is absolutely necessary, it's worth noting that bluetooth has proved more reliable than wifi. The "Unified Remote" app provides a nice free interface for