Production was supplied by IEP/MPG from Jessup, Maryland. Programmer Jonathan Goldstein was in charge of the Wholehog II and Catalyst system. Though he'd had training on the Wholehog II, he was surprised that even without training on the Catalyst, he still found it straightforward to use. "I am already very familiar with the (Apple) Mac platform so operating the software was just as simple as using a moving light," Goldstein explains. "Setting it up was as easy as punching a DMX address, and the orbital head makes it even more flexible."
The Catalyst system combines the power of digital media with the effects of automated lighting. At the heart of the system is the digital media server, which can manipulate custom and stock images and video to create virtual sets and imaginative effects. Adding an optional orbital mirror head allows the video and images to be projected in any orientation.
Goldstein explains how the Catalyst was used in the production: "The Air Force created some QuickTime movies of some moving and still images for strict playback. One of the movies was a rendered video of the Kitty Hawk plane's first flight which we played on a black scrim with a gobo from the stock Catalyst library masked over it to give the appearance that the plane was 'ripping' through the scrim. As the plane lunged at the audience, the stage lighting was timed to interact with the video and reveal the scale model of Kitty Hawk hidden behind the scrim. The timing was critical and would not have been so accurate if another person had played the videos from a deck. We also used some of the stock Digital Juice and Artbeats files to paint the town sets during one of the solos. We used the Digital Juice 'flying stars', as I call it, to turn the set into a moving space."
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
