THEATER EFFECTS includes Theatrical FOG; Theatrical FIRE; Images of eyes, hands, tapestries, statures & dead bodies from a Renaissance horor opera, Beatrice Cenci 1970;
FOG
Fog effects for the theater began with the processions and entertainments at the court of Louis the XIV at Versailles in the 17th century. Since that time theater fog was used to as an element in fantasy, dreams, and as an atmosphere of foreboding or sadness. Usually these effects were created off-stage and blown with bellows onto the stage, often upsetting the actors. In the last century large fog machines were invented to process dry ice into fog as well as a fairly harmless use of oil in large fog machines for outdoor use. In opera, fog as been used since it’s inception. Since the beginnings of film and projection, the fog effects have been created by film on large scrims in front of the stage, or in slow desolving projections (as long as 30 seconds to 2 minutes) which are unnoticeable by the human eye. Often the fog works in tandem with dry ice fog on the stage. The fog images below were created for effects during the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s die Frau ohne Schatten, an for the New York City Opera’s die Tote Stadt. A great deal of experimentation must be done about the order in which they run, but the final effect is uncanhy.
FIRE
IMAGES FROM A ROMAN HORROR OPERA - EYES, HANDS, TAPESTRIES, BUILDINGS, DEAD BODIES
The opera by Alberto Ginestera which opened the Kennedy Center in Washington (1972) was suggested by a story from the Renaissance about Beatrice Cenci, a doomed teenage heroine who hired assassins to drive a stake through her father’s head and was beheaded after a period of toture by the inquisition. These projections formed the atmospheres in which the scenes were performed, lapping one over the other, or as a panorama surrounding the action intercut with films. (see FIlm on Chase’s website) They were images photographed in Rome and then cut together into collages for the projections.
EYES
HANDS
TAPESTRIES
BUILDINGS
DEAD BODIES
