Video Content for “Miracles and Mischiefs” Musical

The musical "Miracles and Mischiefs" is an incredibly bright, exciting spectacle with great music and amazing acting performance. The magnificent is on thanks to brilliant job of Russian Director Marina Shvydka and Canadian Art Director, also the star of the world stage design, Olivier Landreville. Once they decided that they have to make their long term dream of instantly changing set design, which can relocate the act to any fictional setting in a flash, come true. This way the rhythm of the play, which is one of the key components in the musical, is not interrupted by the stage settings change. The Director does not have to think of how to fit these pauses into the action; she or he can lead the spectator through the play without any delays.

As soon as the layouts of the future performance were ready, United 3D Labs together with “Polymedia” system integrator company started the work on the project. The performance turned out to be full of video projections, 3D mapping and animated parts.

Technically complex but exciting was the work with the actors. We even involved professional stuntmen in the production. Also, all the leading actresses were filmed in chroma key pavilion suspended from the trusses on a hidden in a dress hanger. So, in this quite uncomfortable position, up in the air, they had to stay in character and perform their best. The male part of the cast wore heavy make-up and close texture suits for several hours, performing under powerful spotlights. The actors and their video projections should look exactly the same, so all the leading actors of the troop were shot for the installation. Before the performance starts, the right video files with the engaged actors are selected to be shown.

After the shooting, the next steps were complex processing of video materials, preparing for on set projection, programming of the media server disguise (formerly d3 Technologies). At the same time, we worked on animation of the characters and designing of backdrops according to the sketches provided by Olivier Landreville.

For the whole of 2-hour, the spectator along with the characters of the fairy tale moves from Alice’s house to the other side of the planet, to the Wonderland, or from the Card Kingdom to the Chess one. The way our specialists skillfully combined real life with animation eliminates the distinction between real actors with stage scenery and elements of video mapping. With just five powerful projectors (instead of bulky decorations) multimedia content naturally fitted into the spectacle. In addition, this solution saves up time and effort as scene shifting goes without the curtain draw, there is no need to change the backdrop or do any rearrangement - the stage environment changes in a flash!

“My dear, here we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place” say the characters of the fairy tale “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland". The same applies to the use of technological innovations in the theatrical art. Today you cannot imagine theater without powerful lighting and video equipment, control systems. Plus, video mapping on the set allows you to build images and implement the most daring ideas of the director on stage.

But even the most innovative technologies never replace the backbone of any performance: talent and creative vision of the director. Thanks to brilliant Marina Shvydka, the play turned out to be really magical. She was able to combine great music, stunning costumes and spectacular video content in a great modern musical!

As you know, the most demanding spectators are children and, judging by their enthusiasm, the performance was a success! No spoilers here, we do not want to ruin the magic for you.

Take the kids and go see “Miracles and Mischiefs” in the Moscow Theater Musical!