Student Examples – Wish List

Assignment: Make your wish list of 1 to 5 single or combinatory conceptions for invention in entertainment for the future.

Invention #1: The De-Scheduler Virtual Rehearsal System

Coordinating artists’ schedules is intense at best. However, it is critical that artists rehearse in the same place at the same time, in order to “feel” each others’ timing, visual cues, and kinesthetic rhythm. To alleviate the annoying and ubiquitous problem of trying to schedule rehearsals, The De-Scheduler Virtual Rehearsal System is developed. The De-Scheduler is a device that allows each artist to project a holographic image of him/herself into a common space occupied by other holographic images or real persons. One space is reserved for a rehearsal. Each participant “logs on” and projects his image into that space at a time convenient for him/her. If s/he is the first person to “log on,” s/he rehearses the material alone. That session is “saved” to the memory of the De-Scheduler once the participant has finished. Other participants log on at other times convenient for them. They are able to access the complete content of the previous participants’ rehearsal sessions. They rehearse virtually along with those previously-recorded holographic images and add their own digestion of the material. They are able to “feel” and interact with the holographic images and the results of this joint session are stored into memory, accessible by all participants. The result is a “compounding” of the rehearsal experience. Each log on adds more interaction and information to the rehearsal; the rehearsal itself becomes a changing entity, just as it would be if all were in one place at one time. Once the total complement has logged on and rehearsed either alone or with others at least once, all participants log on simultaneously for one session only. This is the only “mandatory rehearsal time” for participants. Each participant accesses the compounded information found in the rehearsal session saved in the De-Scheduler’s memory. All review the material simultaneously and then project their holographic images into the rehearsal space at the same time. A dancer in a studio in France is joined by the image of a musician in Senegal and they are joined by five actors in the US. Their holographic images allow for sensory input such that they are able to see and to “feel” each other as they would if their bodies were together. They save the content of this “grand rehearsal” session and use it as the basis for their subsequent log ins. The process continues and repeats itself until the week of the show. The performers show up for tech rehearsals and perform the material as a unit, with the same accuracy that would have been obtained in a traditional rehearsal.

Invention #2: Dream Dump
Many artists create based upon their dreams. But the translation of one’s dreams to concrete images creates frustration. Sometimes, an artist wants to see whether or not something s/he has dreamed actually can be accomplished/performed in real life. Sometimes, an artist wants an exact representation of his/her dream images. Sometimes, an artist wants to recreate the feelings s/he experienced during the dream. All of this is now made possible by the Dream Dump. The Dream Dump is a device that is placed by the bedside of the artist when s/he sleeps. Upon waking, s/he places a palm upon its touch screen. The content of all of that night’s dreams are downloaded into Dream Dump’s memory and saved for later retrieval. Dream Dump not only extracts images, but it also captures sounds, transitions, words, and even feelings. The artist is free to go about his/her day without worry that any artistic vision has been lost. The artist later connects Dream Dump to his/her computer, downloads its contents and begins the artistic process.

Invention #3: Unlimited resource world environment – less an invention than a state of being
As in the world of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the world no longer functions at the behest of commodities. There is no hunger; there is no homelessness. Human beings’ main function is to create, to improve themselves. There are still disagreements because communication is not perfect, but resources are allocated such that any artist has whatever s/he needs to create. S/he is then left with the more difficult task of creating something of interest. Every film shoot has unlimited resources; it is the creative team of the film who must achieve a superior product. Every artist has his needs met and is left to battle the creative process rather than the economic system.

Invention #4: Production Industry Recycle/Reuse System
All refuse and unused material on film shoots or other entertainment productions are funneled to a central, national warehouse for recycling and dispersal to other productions in need of additional materials. Like Materials for the Arts here in NYC, only on a national scale specific to the entertainment industry. All productions are required by law to comply by donating their unused materials and equipment to the national center for dispersal. All waste must also be recycled at regional recycling centers set up specifically for this program. The whole enterprise is paid for by the National Endowment for the Arts, as specified by President Obama’s economic stimulus plan.

Invention #5: Wearable Thought
Wearable Thought is a small device worn on the body that translates the enormous energy of thought to compute complex algorithms that bring into your environment any person or resource you need. Production managers, directors, and stage managers wear them in order to find, hire, cast, and utilize staff. Also has telepathy function that allows wearer to impart thought into the minds of others, such as stage directions, cue notes, to do lists.

Invention #6 Eyewear mounted cameras for audience – View from any seat in the house:

I think it would be interesting to have a system where people watching a performance at home on TV or DVD (concert, televised play/musical, awards show, etc) could watch from any seat in the house. By pressing a few buttons on their remote, they’d be able to watch head-on, from 3 balconies up, from backstage, from the orchestra pit, etc. This is sort of like taking multi-angle DVDs to a new extreme. I think every audience member should have a wireless camera that can be effortlessly worn during a show so that every seat is being filmed from.

Invention: theatre/performance space/stage that anticipates the needs of the performers and technicians:
For example, for actors on stage who are forgetting their lines – part of the stage will morph into a screen that displays the play’s text, or computerized voice that cues the actors in an in-ear monitor. When the set pieces need to appear/disappear, they literally do just that. They fade/in out of thin air therefore eliminating the need for storage space.

Invention:  Perhaps the theater could benefit from an invention that I will call THE MOLECULARIZER REDISTRIBUTOR, which will scan an object or series of objects, separate them on a molecular microscopic level, and then reassemble these molecules to take on a different shape or form. This would eliminate the need for revolving stages or long set changes between acts. The scenery on stage could change right before the audience’s very eyes. However, this would only work on inanimate objects and is not recommended for use on living organisms.