In recent months I have been experimenting with the Immersive Theater, a series of techniques to perform performances where there is a real direction in everything: scenes, movements, shots, zooms and panoramas.
The opportunity to stage an “immersive” show was the wonderful convention NatureCon 2022 (see here the website), which was also very successful, where I presented my Pagan Evocation Fantasy show.
It is not just a dance show: in the two acts that compose it, you will take a journey through pagan cultures, those in which man had not yet lost direct contact with nature, and still felt that he was part of it, that sense of belonging. which in modern society we have now lost. The journey starts from the Swiss Alps, through the myth of the Horse Goddess, and then crosses other cultures: Celtic, Nordic, Germanic, and so on up to the Greek one.
For Pagan Evocation Show, the challenge is a technical challenge.
Anyone who deals with performance in the 3D world knows who the enemy is, and how much he can impact on the evolution of performance: lag. The causes can be many, so it is necessary to carefully examine what adds lag to your performance.
My show is 50 minutes long, but not like the others. Are you tired of seeing a scene and then a five-minute break? Then another scene and another 5 minutes of break? Shows where the breaks are longer than the scenes? Are you tired of waiting, while behind the scenes they mount, cache, rezz for a longer time than the dance you are about to see? Well, the mine is an “almost” non-stop show. In 50 minutes there are 12 different scenes, with 12 different stages, but only one intermediate break, this is really five minutes.
Of course, the enemy is lag. During the show, the stage changes textures 12 times. The performance has 7 actors, who in total perform 93 animations. There are two dozen objects that need to be rezzed and de-rezzed during the performance. All governed by a series of scripts, some are part of the performance system, many others of my production.
It becomes clear that there is a second enemy, besides the lag: memory.
In fact, in the first prototype of the show after the first 15 minutes of performance, my performance engine went in out of memory, in fact in total 4 separate performance engines were needed plus one for the preshow.
The show date was August 26, in the splendid setting of the Rungardvik Region (yes, you can visit it), in my opinion among the best islands in terms of decorations.
The Region was full from start to finish, and I had a stratospheric success, especially thanks to my crew. For the occasion I wanted with me the best dancers I have available, my dream team, made up of Epona Slayer, Icy Cold, Kitty Amore, Lyra Breil, Lola Nippo and Musa inFabula, who worked on their avatars with a attention to detail that deserves to be rewarded. They had to prepare three versions of their avatars, also facing the challenge of a costume change to be done almost in the open scene, not in the pause between the first and second act.
Here you can see a video summary of the show:
Or the full version
It’s time for announcements, now. Pagan Evocation Fantasy, in the Enanched version, will be replicated on Monday 26 September at the SL Renaissance Festival (here the website) at 12 SLT (we will be there at 11am SLT).
Stay tuned!