---

OUTLINE (18/3/97)


PROLOGUE (60min)

ACTION
Crowd ushered in via booths (x4) & processed to various destinations:
1. freedom (free access to wander around the space)
2. medical centre (samples of body matter taken for magnification & projection)
3. passport control (NSK passports issued)
4. confessional booth (video / audio & computer data recorded for transmission)

Meanwhile, roving laptop scribes / sound (& video?) recordists gather material at random
(laptops carried on "usherette"-style trays).

STAGING
4 x colour-coded booths across main entrance (tickets & "uniforms" to match),
decorated & lit in primary waveform colours (eg. silhouette lamps, from above)
1. freedom = white (composite red+green+blue, focused from 3 different angles)
2. med centre = red
3. passport control = green
4. confessional = blue
Corresponding destinations marked by rotating FX lights mounted above entrances
(emergency service-style).
Passport office on central platform, others off to the sides.

AV
SLIDE: testcard (version 1) across 8 screens - exploded fragments of text (formulae) magnified to abstraction,
tinted as per spectrum of light (clockwise around the space):
B&W NEG / VIOLET / BLUE / GREEN / YELLOW / ORANGE / RED / COL. NEG

VIDEO: screen A: blown-up detail of animated VWO logo, keying through oscillating colours over black
(ie. rapidly scrolling through spectrum)
screen B: oscillating waveform on vectorscope (looped)
side-screens: live feeds (med slides / laptop & confessional material)?

SOUND
ambient (DJ) + live feeds mixed in at random? (eg. confessional / passport control)

NOTES
An atmosphere of anticipation & intrigue.
Selection process should feel more like a game of chance than some kind of oppressive control mechanism.
Important to set up interactive nature of event asap.
With this in mind, can live feeds (mixed in at random) begin from the outset,
to enable all spectators to experience a hint of what's going on in the building?
2. INTRO

PART 1: BIG BANG (15sec)
AV
"stargate" effect using exploded fragments of text (formulae & colours as per test card )
zooming up & strobing to negative at high velocity (CG animation repeated on 4x video screens).
SOUND
dense wall of white noise/subsonic frequencies, imploding (eg. reverse-gated reverb?)
NOTES
physical shock, like earthquake or mars attack - grab the audience's attention. Cut to:

PART 2: SUB-ATOMIC (3min?)
AV
"starfield" effect using tiny fragments of exploded text zooming up over black
(8 x side-screens for slide / 2x end-screens video (CG animation).
SOUND
ambient soundtrack (implying weightless velocity & vast space) + doppler-type sound events
(like tiny fragments of voices and musical sounds spinning past at speed)
ACTION
rocket-propelled "light-particles" shoot overhead on wires (as per the Doc)
"killer-mosquitoes" whir crazily overhead (as per Baginsky)

PART 3: MOLECULAR (2min?)
AV
spinning molecular & DNA structures (CG animation: 4x video screens)
genetic "bar-codes" across 8x screens (slide) ?
SOUND
introduce shifting poly-rhythmic noise patterns over ambient track?

PART 4: CELLULAR (5min?)
AV
Blown-up details of cells / magnified specimens of body fluids: 8x side-screens (slide),
4x screens (video/CG animation)
SOUND
womb-like, claustrophobic rumble + fluid -type noises (slowed-down pumping/squirting?)
ACTION / STAGING
Glowing balloons descend from the ceiling until they draw level with the projectors
(at which point they function as sperical projection surfaces).
Meanwhile, a silhouetted human figure appears inside the central balloon
(using a moving internal light source to project distorted shadows).
This balloon keeps dropping, and finally bursts (above the passport office) to reveal the doc,
who drops out of sight.
CUT TO:

PART 5: BIG BANG 2 (15sec)
AV
speeded-up endoscope footage on 4x video screens
(as if shooting out through body at the speed of a bob-sled).
Colours enhanced towards abstraction?
SOUND
intense "sonic boom" type overload (backwards, slowed-down sounds... fast tape rewind...
effect like ripping through membranes etc.
CUT TO BLACK.
NOTES
emphasis on pure sensory experience - colour, movement, reflex reactions.
Feelings of awe, mystery, vertigo. Graphics & CG should be simple , bold and raw in texture.
3. DAEL ORLANDESMITH

ACTION
Dael emerges from shadow & delivers monologue.

STAGING
Dael on central perch (stage left) in pool of light.
Minimal lighting of architectural features as monolgue progresses
(to work in tandem with slides).

AV
SLIDES
1. Greatly magnified architectural / textural details of performance space,
repeated uniformly on all screens.
Enhancing the existing architecture in a subtle way... a simple fractal,
using juxtapositions of scale to create a surreal effect.
The magnification decreasing past normal as the piece develops,
so that by the end the projected images are like windows into an even bigger space
(ie. wide shots of the interior rather than close-ups).
2. Close-up "objective studies" of Dael, used architecturally (ie. repeated graphically across screens).
A handprint, a scar, eyes, ears etc.
3. Blown-up details of personal artefacts: family snapshots, fetish objects, ID etc.

VIDEO
Live camera feeds used to increase intimacy and shift perspective in dramatic ways
(live vision mix to end screens).
eg. close-up on screen A + reverse angle on screen B (ie. O/S dael's point of view of audience)

NOTES
Emphasis on personal connection with performer,
the AV elements providing a subliminal connection with the overall aesthetic of the show (ie. visual subtext).
CUT TO:

TEST CARD (version 2)
Text / logo becoming recognisable (ie. as characters from mathematical formulae).
4. MACHINE CREATURES (Baginsky robotic sculptures)

ACTION / STAGING
4x central side screens lowered to form a "ceiling". Baginsky robot life-forms crawl out over audience's heads.
Low-angled moving light sources & sporadic strobe-flashes cast distorted shadows along the gauze.
(Additional robot(s) used to project moving shapes across end screens - as a replacement for humunculus?)
At end of scene, screens raised, using CO2 gas to create a "virtual screen" for projecting moving shadows.

AV
SLIDE: 4x projectors with 45deg. mirrors project abstract textures onto overhead screens (rusty metal / circuit boards etc?).
Other screens echo this theme.
VIDEO
Live mix from cameras covering robot action from balony + moving lipstick cameras mounted on robots themselves
(end screens).
Prepared footage of robotic movement (looped & treated)?

SOUND
rumbling machine loop (like distant engine-room) + startling percussive interruptions (electronic & metallic noise).
Hints of piped music wafting by? Cut in sections of manic robotic synthesised rhythm? (ie Kraftwerk on dodgy speed).
Maybe generate some of this (live or in advance) by recording / amplifying Baginsky's machines for real.

NOTES
scary but fun (as in a fairground ride, or futuristic action movie)
CUT TO:

TEST CARD (version 3)
Text / logo becoming more legible as formulae.
5. STELARC

ACTION / STAGING
Central side-screen drops right down to floor, revealing Stelarc on balcony platform.
His body is already wired-up to enable remote control of his muscle actions, via computer (live & internet).
Audience is invited to induce involuntary actions, creating a weird dance. At end of scene, screen is raised.

AV
VIDEO
2X side screens (flanking the performance) dedicated to live vision-mix of his performance (end screens also).
Cameras on balcony show details of electrodes/sensors etc, computer set-up in operation.
(Lipstick & CCTV cameras would be extremely appropriate here).
SLIDE
Blown-up details of Stelarc's schematic diagram (taken off computer, colorized & degraded).
Project images onto dropped screen as well (using projector with mirror from previous scene?). Primarily a scenic effect.

SOUND
amplified body noise?

NOTES
We need to use NVA's extra video projector to achieve symmetry, perhaps for rear-projection if power-rating is low).
Placing a screen behind Stelarc seems less effective than using screens on either side - rafters provide a striking backdrop,
and sightlines are bad as regards anything placed behind him.

6. NSK Global Address

AV / SOUND
INTRO: main screen (B) shows a propaganda-style montage of images set to a rousing score,
ending on a wide shot of an imposing facade (neo-classical building).
Dissolve to a closer detail of the building (eg. balcony) & fade up side screens (repeated image of neo-classical pillars x8).

ACTION / STAGING
NSK emerge from "virtual door" projected on the screen (eg. by means of a drawbridge-type platform).
Their address constitutes an ironic attack on the cult of the individual in decadent western art,
and invites the audience to join their global state.
The uniform architecture and sheer scale of the space is emphasised by dramatic lighting
(eg. raking back-light across the ceiling, up-lighting pillars in a uniform pattern).

NOTES
Side screens could also be used to display video material which illustrates the speaker's points
(as in a corporate presentation).

7. DR. RAPANIKI

ACTION / STAGING
Giant marimba (with Angus +Gus playing live) enters on scissor lift and cuts through the crowd,
leading them to the opposite end of auditorium.
There they are joined by additional musicians on mobile staging
(2nd marimba on scissor lift 2, emerging from under balcony...
drummers on 2x mobile stages wheeled into the space from under extended balcony section & from behind main screen (A).
Once assembled, musicians are plugged into umbilical feeds and music becomes fully electrified.
Full set follows - climaxing with introduction of Sativa drummers (on opposite perches)
and Dael (reading text-poem created from VWO web-site stories).

AV
VIDEO
main screen (A): Live camera feeds + pre-edited internet footage + rotating VWO globe logo (CG animation).
(Maybe also an abstract impression of data transfer (CG) based on the idea of travelling at incredible speed through fibre-optic cable...
fragments of text and binary code flying past?)
side screens: vectorscope & oscilloscope reacting to audio & picture signals.
SLIDE
Test card theme explored as a a way of including edited fragments of text from VWO web-site,
no longer sticking to rigid colour scheme
(shuffling & mixing the colours of the spectrum in a vibrant way, eg. through "mis-printing" effects).
Some specific "internet" info may also be required to re-inforce & clarify the concept of on-line jamming.

SOUND
Live mixing of "confessional" material gathered earlier? Also sounds sampled off the net
(with appropriate visual displays, pre-recorded from computer feed).

NOTES
Action very much focused at main stage end.
Important & difficult task for AV is to convey the idea of freedom through global communication.

8. EPILOGUE

ACTION
Dael reads short & poignant text (based on a poetic interpretation of the universal theory of everything?).

AV
TEST CARD 4
SLIDES: text reduced to the point of abstraction, laid out as per spectrum.
VIDEO: VWO globe logo, repeated into infinity (like a galaxy of planets)

NOTES
implication is that the real transmission is only now about to start... putting the night back into the hands of the audience.

9. CLUB

ACTION / STAGING
DJ's take over (staging removed?). Passport office / med centre / confessional function as before.

AV
SLIDE: test card graphics.
VIDEO: live mix using source material from interactive stuff going on in the space (as above)


Brett Turnbull 18/3/97