Projection Tips for James & the Giant Peach
Make it Sparkle Video with Price Johnston
Professional Projection Designer
5:01 (runtime)
Director’s Notes
Price Johnston discusses the potential for creativity in visual theatre projection design, highlighting the need to think outside the box, especially in terms of surfaces used for projection.
Price emphasizes the importance of modifying the nature of projection surfaces, suggesting possibilities like bending content around non-flat surfaces, using real-world elements (like trees) and distorting them to bring movement and dynamism into the scene.
He provides an example of his work on "James and the Giant Peach," where he was able to avoid a flat, slideshow-like presentation by altering the shape and surface of the projections, pushing for more rounded and irregular shapes that integrate seamlessly within the environment.
Price recommends thinking in three dimensions for projection designs and suggests projecting elements at different visual levels: foreground, midground, and background, which enhances depth and creates a more immersive visual experience.
He urges designers to add dynamism to static scenes by integrating small moving elements, such as swaying bushes or fluttering butterflies, which can be projected onto physical scenery, enhancing the visual richness of the scene.
Johnston concludes by emphasizing the need to add life to the existing hard scenery, suggesting that adding extra elements to the scene, such as animated butterflies in the case of "James and the Giant Peach," can enrich the projection and stimulate viewer engagement.
About Price Johnston
Price Johnston’s career in design has spanned theatre, dance, and opera in both the U.S. and abroad. With work in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Moscow, Athens (Greece), London, Atlanta, St. Petersburg (Russia), and Denver, he has designed over 180 productions. His credits include: the world premiere of Jomandi Productions’ Lavender Lizards Lilac Landmines: Layla’s Dream by Tony nominated playwright Ntozake Shange (14th Street Playhouse, Atlanta, Ga. and the 2004 National Black Theatre Festival), the Off-Broadway production of Two Rooms (Trilogy Theatre, New York), Guys and Dolls (2000 British Tour), and the world premieres of Huckleberry Finn: The Musical, and A Southern Christmas Carol (Cotton Hall Theatre), written by award-winning playwright/director Rob Lauer. Other design credits include American Buffalo, Oh What a Lovely War, Assassins, The World Goes Round, and Never Enough, choreographed by Shapiro and Smith (Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C.), Company, Art, The Complete History of America Abridged (Greenshoe Theatre Company), Swamp Gravy: Down at the Depot “Georgia’s Official Folk Life Play” (Cotton Hall Theatre), Clue: The Musical, The Miracle Worker, Lighting Director for Bates Dance Festival (Lewiston, Maine), Sabrina Fair, Hamlet (1990 American College Theatre Festival Nominee), Janis Brenner’s Lost/Found/Lost (Isadora Duncan International Dance Festival – Kransnoyarsk, Russia), The 2008 Jeff Award-Winning Production of 1776 (Chopin Theatre – Chicago), Passiones (Athenaeum Theatre – Chicago), Lighting/Sound/Video supervisor for the international touring dance company David Dorfman Dance: Underground, The Pee-Wee Herman Show (Club Nokia Theatre, Los Angeles), A Midsummer Nights Dream (Moscow Cosmos Theatre/St. Petersburg Music Hall, Russia), and the Chicago premiere of I Sing! (Chicago Playwright Theatre). Price has also served as Production Manager for Live Design International (LDI), the LDI Conference – LDInstitute and Live Design Broadway Training and Masters Classes (Lighting, Concert Sound and Projection Design). His recent work includes the 2015 Drama Desk Award Nominated - Best Projection Design - Donogoo (The Mint Theatre, Off-Broadway - New York), Young Frankenstein The Musical (Union Colony Civic Center Theatre - Greeley, Colo.), the World Premieres of Eh Joe and Beckett’s Women (2015 Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival - Enniskillen, Ireland) and The Pee-Wee Herman Show on Broadway (Stephen Sondheim Theatre - New York). Price holds a M.F.A in Lighting Design from the University of Florida, and a Bachelors Degree in Theatrical Design from Colorado Mesa University. He is a member of USITT and the iDMAA.