This year’s A Christmas Carol has some exciting new elements that we are very excited to share with audiences. Projection Designer, Anthony Churchill answered a few questions on what to expect from this new production at Metropolis. Thank you to Metropolis School of the Performing Arts Education Community Engagement Coordinator, Abby Vombrack for gathering and compiling all of this information into a study guide for the hundreds of students who will be coming to see this adaptation in the coming month.

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1. When and why are projections used in the show? What is their artistic effect on the story?

We’re using projections to create several special effects in the show.  We’re creating several elemental looks with the projections and we’re creating the Ghost of Christmas Future.  Part of this story revolves around Scrooge’s decision to change his life and what pushes him to make these changes needs to be really powerful in order to make his decision believable. One of the ways we’re doing this is to use projections to create something really magical, which is unique to our production. The entire show has a lot of magical elements and the projections are one of these elements which help make the show really special.

2. How do create projections to use in the show? What technology is used?

Projections can be created in a number of ways.  For this show, we recorded live actors and puppets to create the Ghost of Christmas Future. Once these elements are recorded, we process them through a number of programs to get them ready for the show. Every designer has their own process and a lot of times, it depends on what the show needs. On A Christmas Carol, we’re processing things through three programs for the Ghost. This software lets us fine-tune how things look on the stage and control where the projections go.

3. Are there any other special effects (fog, strobe lights, mist, etc) that you use with the projections?

In a really special show, all the design elements work together. For this show, projections are particularly connected to a special kind of fog machine called a fog screen. The fog screen creates a super-dense wall of fog by chilling the fog too a very low temperature so that it doesn’t spread out too quickly. In conjunction with the projections, the fog screen allows us to project on a surface that actors can walk through, which allows us to create something really magical.