Storyboard – Kinect Use in “Dusk”

Prologue “Introducing the City” (2-3 Min)

Dark Stage, A basic city-sound-atmo begins.
GORTSBY enters through the door behind the audience and is walking forward to the stage.

GORTSBY:
Under that foggy sunset London glowed,
Like one huge cob-webbed flagon of old wine.

Mode 1Kinect: Press key. A dark city skyline is shown. GORTSBY walks along the skyline and behind him windows of the city houses turn on.

GORTSBY:
And, as I walked down Fleet Street,
the soft sky Mowed thro’ the roaring thoroughfares… Window reveal 1 Window reveal 2Window reveal 3 Window reveal 4

GORTSBY: …transfused Their hard sharp outlines, blurred the throngs of black On either pavement, blurred the rolling stream Of red and yellow busses, till the town Turned to a golden suburb of the clouds.

By pressing key in Processing switch to
Mode 2: The view of the skyline turns cloudy and disappears in fog. 

into fog 1into fog 2into fog 3 into fog 4

 

or alternative transition:

WindowsCityFogParkFog

By pressing key in Processing switch to
Mode 3: A screen full of fog. Kinect: By waving GORTSBY can wave away parts of the fog and uncover parts of the city skyline which shows now basically a park with some windows of houses in the background.

discover park fog 1discover park fog 2discover park fog 3

Scene 1 „Walking to the park “ (2-3 Min)

No Kinect

Scene 2 „Norman Gortsby“ (5 Min) Introduction into Gortsbys thoughts

No Kinect

Scene 3 „Elder man/ forlorn orchestra“ (3-4 Min)

Evtl. Mode 4: Video as background-projection with Park scene, moving sky and fog. No Kinect Interaction.

LayoutParkVideo

The ELDERLY MAN enters the stage. He is slowly walking out of the shadow, heading to the bench and sits down next to Gortsby
After THE ELDERLY MAN sits down, through the performers movements the sound changes into a tragic – funny orchestral soundscape, illustrating the elderly gentleman as member of a forlorn orchestra, a tragic and funny figure. A pale half-light surrounds the elderly man while being subtly observed by GORTSBY.

Scene 4 „Younger man“ (10 Min)

Evtl. Mode 4: Video London Park, moving sky and fog. No Kinect Interaction

The ELDERLY MAN leaves. At the same time a YOUNG MAN appears . He is fairly well dressed but scarcely more cheerful of mien than his predecessor. He approaches Gortsby and plunks down on the bench with curses.

YOUNG MAN: Damn it! Why is something like this always happening to me?!

Short break; feeling of being expected to take due notice after this demonstration GORTSBY starts the conversation.

GORTSBY: You don’t seem in a very good temper.
The young man turnes to him with a look of disarming frankness which puts Gortsby instantly on his guard.


YOUNG MAN [thrilled, with loud voice]: You wouldn’t be in a good temper if you were in the fix I’m in. I’ve done the silliest thing I’ve ever done in my life.

GORTSBY [calmly]: Yes?

YOUNG MAN: Came up this afternoon, meaning to stay at the Patagonian Hotel in Berkshire Square when I got there I found it had been pulled down some weeks ago and a cinema theatre run up on the site. The taxi driver recommended me to another hotel some way off and I went there. I just sent a letter to my people, giving them the address, and then I went out to buy some soap — I’d forgotten to pack any and I hate using hotel soap. Then I strolled about a bit, had a drink at a bar and looked at the shops, and when I came to turn my steps back to the hotel I suddenly realized that I didn’t remember its name or even what street it was in. There’s a nice predicament for a fellow who hasn’t any friends or connections in London! Of course I can wire to my people for the address, but they won’t have got my letter till to-morrow; meantime I’m without any money, came out with about a shilling on me, which went in buying the soap and getting the drink, and here I am, wandering about with two pence in my pocket and nowhere to go for the night.

Long Break.

YOUNG MAN [with an embarrassed voice]: I suppose you think I’ve spun you rather an impossible yarn.

GORTSBY [objectively]: Not at all impossible. I remember doing exactly the same thing once in a foreign capital, and on that occasion there were two of us, which made it more remarkable. Luckily we remembered that the hotel was on a sort of canal, and when we struck the canal we were able to find our way back to the hotel.

YOUNG MAN [sensitively]: In a foreign city I wouldn’t mind so much. One could go to one’s Consul and get the requisite help from him. Here in one’s own land one is far more derelict if one gets into a fix. Unless I can find some decent chap to swallow my story and lend me some money I seem likely to spend the night on the Embankment. [with a warm voice in hopes that Gortby believes him] I’m glad, anyhow, that you don’t think the story outrageously improbable.

GORTSBY [slowly]: Of course the weak point of your story is that you can’t produce the soap.

The YOUNG MAN sat forward hurriedly, felt rapidly in the pockets of his overcoat, and then
jumped to his feet.

YOUNG MAN [muttering angrily]: I must have lost it.
GORTSBY: To lose an hotel and a cake of soap on one afternoon suggests willful carelessness…

The YOUNG MAN scarcely waited to hear the end of the remark. He flitted away down the path, his head held high, with an air of somewhat jaded jauntiness.

Scene 5 „The Soap“ (5 Min)

GORTSBY is watching the YOUNG MAN while he is leaving. GORTSBY is sitting and thinking about the Young Man’s story. He is not thinking what is going on around himself (in city or park), he is just focused on what younger man told him.

GORTSBY: It was a pity, the going out to get one’s own soap was the one convincing touch in the whole story…
London Skyline with Park Projection stops.

Introduction into the soap-theme. Visualizations of Gortsbys thoughts (Visual connota- tions about why it was the only convincing touch in the whole story and these connota- tions might be in relation with some concepts like soap-process, cleanliness, purity, inno- cence etc.) influenced by his voice.

[…]

Scene 6 „Meeting of Gortsby & Younger man“ (3 Min)

No Kinect or Projection

Scene 7 „The Turn“ (3 Min)

GORTSBY: Poor boy, he as nearly as possible broke down. I don ́t wonder either, the relief from his quandary must have been acute. Its a lesson to me not to be too clever in judging by circumstances.

Mode 6: London Skyline Kinect same principle as first scene: GORTSBY uncovers Advertisements (see below) while walking in front of the screen. Visualization of making his way back through a lot of advertisements for soap and hotels. The style is similar to the beginning scene. He passes by a post office and a cinema with a sign on it “Patagonian Hotel closed”. He walks along bars and shops.

Ads 1 Ads 2 Ads 3Advertisements

Transition to Mode 7 Video of Park. Flickering lights. No Fog.

Park

Then he is in the park again.

GORTSBY stops. Spot-Light onto the bench, where GORTSBY sees the ELDERLY MAN who sat next to him before. The ELDERLY MAN seems to search sth. poking and peering beneath the bench and on all sides of it.

GORTSBY: Have you lost anything Sir?
OLDER MAN: Yes a cake of soap.

Outro (2 Min)

No Kinect.

END

 

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Click on the following link for Storyboard as row of pictures:

SB Kinect