Projections of the imagination in Wagner’s ‘Flying Dutchman'
Posted by: Knifedge Ltd
Date added: Tue 08 May 2012
A powerful new production of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman by English National Opera (ENO) has opened in London with projection design by Nina Dunn of creative agency Knifedge.
Running at The Coliseum until 23 May 2012, ENO’s new production of Wagner’s early opera is directed by Jonathan Kent and designed by Paul Brown.
Knifedge’s video projections play an important narrative role throughout the production, revealing the tale of the The Dutchman to be a recurring figment of the main character’s imagination.
In a dramatic overture, the audience sees a child in bed at the heart of a dark and wild storm, surrounded by the crashing waves of the storybook she clutches. This sets up the director’s concept of the progression from a child’s reality through a woman’s fantasy to a final obsession.
In creating her projections, Dunn worked closely with lighting designer Mark Henderson to achieve the right balance of intensity, colour and mood.
From a technical perspective, the kit consisted of 6 Panasonic projectors, 12 on-stage video monitors, 3 Catalyst Media servers and a Hog lighting desk.
Nina Dunn, Video & Projection Designer at Knifedge, comments:
“One of the challenges I faced was keeping pace with the Orchestra. With the complicated content sequences, it’s all about hitting certain cue points so that music and imagery are symbiotic. But such was the energy that Conductor Ed Gardner invested into the music for this production, I had to rework several of my original sequences to keep pace.”
Knifedge is one of the UK’s leading projection design companies, serving corporate, broadcast, sports, music and charity markets as well as the arts. Other recent theatrical productions have included The Phantom of the Opera Tour, Pippin, AIDA, Backbeat, Emperor & Galilean and Cleopatra.
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