Imitating a computer screen

Yesterday I rebuilt the animations for the show—the "build it twice" technique. Not only was I able to make the requested changes to the cues, I was able to solve a host of technical problems. First, I had done everything at video resolution using non-square pixels. I forgot... we're using a projector, not a DVD player. Duh. Square pixels. Then I fixed the scrolling text animation. The first time I did it I just screen captured myself scrolling through a Word document. But I needed more control for the final version so I created a long Photoshop file with the text in it and keyframed it. Keyframing enabled me to solve a bunch of problems including the fact that the line spacing wasn't consistent in the text file— I had made the double lines of text tight for legibility's sake. I used hold keyframes for the animation, the first time I've done that. A hold keyframe doesn't interpolate so in this case, the text just jumped from one line to the next. It looks very realistic. So that's how you simulate scrolling text in After Effects.

One way that John (set designer) has influenced me is that I now put an arc into everything I do. John's sets were always growing or shrinking or changing. So I have a text color arc thing going. The text starts dark and then gets brighter at the end. It's at maximum brightness when it's conveying important information in a climactic scene in Act 2. I'm not sure it makes much difference, but it sounds theatrical.

Looking at—and making text—is not particularly visually exciting. But even with something as minimal as this, I did have to make a number of artistic decisions. So there's a reason why I had to actually read the play! There are Buddhist references here and there and the director used the idea thematically calling for a set that looked like shoji screens and sound design that included taiko drums and flutes. I suggested simplifying the chat room design to better match the zen aesthetic (the original design was more literal). My concern about the ability of the text to perform in Act 2 was warranted. The sound designer remarked that it was difficult to pay attention to it when the actors were talking. I might email the director tonight and see if he's happy enough with the slightly brighter and bigger text in that scene.

All in all I did about 46 cues. I think that's a lot of video cues, especially considering I did only four last show. There were about 24 sound cues and 70 light cues. I estimate that it took about 30-40 hours including designing, attending run throughs and fixing.