Green Screen Theater: Macbeth at New Rock
When we heard that there was going to be live theater incorporating green screen effects, we had to find out more! Chicago Performance Magazine talked to Director Mary Reynard Liss and Green Screen artist Gavin Gantner to get the details.
CP: What was the inspiration for incorporating the green screen affect into your live production of Macbeth at New Rock Theater?
Mary Reynard Liss: I followed Shakespeare’s lead. He was a very modern artist for his time and used the latest technology of the day in his productions. For Macbeth he used trap doors and flying rigs to bring to life the supernatural elements of the play. Through my collaboration with green screen artists Gavin Gantner and Josh Binder I have been able to present these elements through the technology of our time.
CP: How does that affect work exactly, using digital effects for a live production?
MRL: Not only does it provide thrilling visuals for the audience, it brings another level of creativity to the production which enhances and intensifies the work of the actors.
Gavin Gantner: The videos that the audience sees throughout MacBeth are being played from a DVD which is projecting onto a screen. There is no live green screen compositing during the play. When the actors and actresses were first shot on green screen, we also had to light them according to how they were going to be seen in the final video. For example, in the witches battlefield scene, we lit each witch with a light source that emulated sunlight shining from their back left side. Additionally we added a wind effect, which was nothing more than a fan blowing on them giving movement to their cloaks and hair. Upon adding them into their respective environments, we then had to match the direction the clouds and the fog moved as well, thus giving believability that they were indeed crossing a windy, fog-covered field. After we completed each video section, we edited them together as one sequence then burned it to DVD which is then played via projection during the live performance. This is the first time we’ve had an opportunity to work on something of this nature. It was a challenge to portray director Mary Liss’s vision as well as getting the right backgrounds for each scene. Nevertheless, we were up for the challenge and were able to deliver exactly what she had envisioned, which was quite gratifying. Josh Binder and I (Gavin Gantner) have worked together for over four years on numerous projects. You can view some of our work at www.binderbender.com and www.vimeo.com/madbutler
CP: What kind of things does the green screen enable you to do that the live performance doesn’t allow?
MRL: In the Cauldron scene, Macbeth seeks out the witches who give him a potion to drink which enables him to traffic with other-wordly entities who deliver prophecies to him. Rather than only seeing the actor portray Macbeth’s fear, anger and glee at these revelations, we see and experience the hallucinations along with Macbeth. This sense of immediacy provides a first hand emotional experience instead of a second hand understood one.
CP: Besides the green screen, what else will we see in this New Rock Theater production of Macbeth that we won’t be expecting?
MRL: I have mounted the opening battle that is only referred to in the text. You will see exciting male combatants in a symbiotic relationship to the witches who are controlling their fate.
