Creating in telepresence requires preparation and adaptation time for the whole team. It often requires more time from the team for research, reflection, preparation, communication, adaptation and rehearsal than an event in a single location. A preparatory residence and tests with the equipment will allow all the creators around the work to grasp its challenges and better understand this artistic language.
¶ Artistic direction
¶ Multiple addresses
For the interpreter, telepresence work represents a challenge of adjustment. The latter must divide his attention between his playing partners and the various audiences, local and distant. He must not only play and keep in touch with the public in front of him in the hall, despite the distraction of the technological equipment, but he must also continually pay attention to the public in the other halls.
A degree of difficulty is added when the space is all around him. For example, when he is in frontal contact with an audience and the projection of the other audience is at the back of the stage. He must divide his attention between two sides.
Who will move 2.0 is a remote dance improvisation show currently being created, the performers will have to, when the public is in the room, work with the partner on one side and the public on the other.
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Some interpreters experience a loss of bearings with regard to address conventions and may feel overwhelmed by the plurality of elements to be considered in the communication diagram. This leads to a dizzying sensation in terms of concentration.
The recommended solution, so that the presence of the interpreter is unified in all rooms, is to promote a constant balance between public contact and camera contact (other room).
Here are some possible solutions as examples:
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Constantly dividing your attention between the camera and the public, having fun between the levels of gaze: address to the public, address to colleagues, address to yourself, address to the camera and address to the video projection.
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Do not prioritize one address over another, seek to be complicit with all levels.
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Use the evocative power of the gaze and play with the intimacy that we can create with the camera. The performer has several possibilities to create a unique and empathetic relationship with the audiences of the other rooms.
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Adapt the sequences of his performance to these scattered conditions.
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Organize your performance and mark your positions in space.
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Visualize the experiences that other rooms provide to the public and accept a loss of control of certain parameters of communication with them.
Varying their skills in different media can allow the performer to decompartmentalize their playing and as such, the rehearsals are greatly used to explore the limits of the playing spaces.
¶ Freedom of movement and projections
The interpreter must also adapt his level of acting. Some scenes will require a more theatrical acting and others a more cinematic acting. The alternation between different levels of body and voice projection is a significant challenge for performers in telepresence, like any show using video on stage. In a close-up context, for example, he must respect a particular framing, a more realistic level of play and avoid too hasty movements. On the other hand, even if the camera captures him in close-up, the rest of his body must remain active and alive for the public watching him in the room.
The CorresponDanse war project navigates between a game on camera and a theatrical game.
The interpreter must find his freedom of play within the technical parameters and this requires a period of adaptation.
¶ Telepresence language integration
Appropriating the codes of language in telepresence mode requires work and concentration. It is strongly recommended to start this work with an automation phase, in order to master the technique, and to make your ranges throughout the learning of the new constraints. It is also necessary to take into account the fact that the technical device is often intrusive, which requires the team to accept that the first attempts may be inconclusive (technical problems, deconcentration, etc.).
It is important that the performers who will “put themselves in danger” on stage enjoy the time necessary to appropriate the playing environment: to understand it, to find their bearings, to visualize the projections from a distance and other playing considerations.
Example of exercises:
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To gradually integrate the technological material, the performers must be allowed to take liberties with the levels of play, offer interactions with which they feel comfortable and assimilate the elements gradually (microphone, camera, projection, etc.). When we feel them in control, we can:
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Teach the limits of framing and allow them to tame them;
- Experiment with microphones to explore vocal possibilities;
- Once the recording equipment is in place and the remote technical team available for interactions, give them time to dialogue and improvise with the projection of the remote location.
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Have an excerpt from their score rehearsed (text, choreography, musical piece, etc.) while simultaneously giving technical indications, such as where to direct your gaze and who to address (camera, room, partner, etc.), then help to find the appropriate tone, rhythm, body tone and gaze for each type of address.
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Take the time to master and understand the limits of the various technical components of the installation. By improvising with the help of video directors, playing with perspectives, framing and camera shots, or even by creating new images and interactions, the artists appropriate the vocabulary of telepresence and understand its artistic possibilities.
¶ Communication between managers
Creation in telepresence represents a real challenge of communication between the creation teams of the different places. Because the communication channel involves technological intermediaries, the communication is not as direct as meeting behind closed doors, there is more interference and responses come with a greater lag.
These situations can irritate, impatient and increase the stress of the key people in charge (directing, choreography, writing, composition, technique, etc.) who must agree to lower their expectations in terms of communication. It then becomes useful to diversify the forms of exchange (text, audio and visual) and to be as clear as possible to avoid any interpretation.
- The visual elements in telepresence are the most suitable for creating an affective relationship, because it best reproduces the body and the carnal. We prefer this form for the direction of play (describing a movement by showing it physically rather than trying to describe it) and everything that enters the sphere of affect.
- General notes are often communicated audio and visually to the entire team.
- More personal notes can be transmitted in writing or by videoconference to a small group.
- In telepresence, it is often the voice that best manages to bring artists together in the work. This easy and stable mode of communication makes it possible to react quickly without interrupting activities during rehearsals. By keeping microphones and speakers always connected, performers not only communicate more clearly within themselves, but also more easily.
- For technical instructions (mic position, change to text, cut, position on stage, entry/exit, etc.), it is good to vary the means of communication: text message, email, voice notes, specific or general audio instructions …the way depends on the situation and the importance of keeping written records.
- Every team/trade should have a way to communicate remotely. It is good to determine the methodology in the preparatory meetings.
The person responsible for the staging must also learn to direct from a distance and agree to trust his collaborators in the other room. Even if the technology in place is effective, it does not replace eyes and ears. We recommend the installation of a monitor with a wide shot camera to see live at all times in the other room. Despite this, we must assume that certain elements will escape us and that we will not be able to control all the points of view in each of the rooms.
To work on the Bluff show, director Mireille Camier works with monitors that allow her to see what is happening on the 3 stages simultaneously.
In order to create better team cohesion, we suggest taking a moment at the end of each rehearsal for a round table with the separate groups to discuss the day. Telepresence work can create a feeling of emptiness and loneliness when sessions end. Indeed, once the communication is over, the two teams find themselves alone on their own and team spirit can be affected. The work sessions seem abrupt if we do not take transitional periods towards the start.
See Good Coordination Practices.