Laserium

[dsli_jon]

...so after reading this thread i was thumbing through PLSN mag and i saw..

..So *that's* where the marketing-budget went!! .. *sigh*.. Some people just have 'more pesos than brains' Oh well.. maybe once they see this Next Place open up, that'll clear the fog out of their heads, and help them get 'em out of thier...

..Thx for the find / post, J..
j

[Vidal Wolf]

Ive been to a couple of the shows in oakland and its pretty cool. The laserist is really a performing artist. It looks tough as hell too, juggling graphics, beams and lumia all at once.

[laserist]

Hey guys, the last thing I want to do is vilify the St. Louis Science Center. Figuring out that your marketing doesn't work is easy. Figuring out how to make it work is hard. My grandfather used to say that the worst two weeks in Vaudeville were Easter week and the week you play St. Louis... As you might imagine I've given Laserium's original success and the lessons from my experiment in St. Louis a lot of thought, and if I knew then what I know now I might have structured things differently, but I might not have. First and foremost I wanted the experiment to take place. Getting all demanding and ruining the relationship with the Science Center was never an option. We wouldn't be having this conversation if the St. Louis Science Center hadn't stepped up. Something that's important to recognize is that "way back when" Laserium did its own marketing... Somewhere along the line I decided that the best thing to do with Laserium in St. Louis was to shut it down, and maybe relaunch it at a later date. We'll see...

[dsli_jon]

Hey guys, the last thing I want to do is vilify...

..I (purposely) hadn't mentioned any names, Chief...

..but by the same-token, 'the experiment' proved that 'it's not the shows / Product', nor, even 'that market', imo... But, while I'm not about to (directly) 'villify' anyone, I'm also not keen on allowing any perception that 'we flopped', Nope. You did a fantastic job, and - We - clearly, 'made the point'... But, again.. people aren't going to come see something they don't know about... ..and that-part, warn't our (primary..) plant to water...

..jus' sayin.. Hopefully, we'll see our 'Next Show at...' banners, flying yet-again, over SLSC's gracious-doors, yet again..

cheers..
j

[Bradfo69]

Marketing certainly is the difficult part. With my recent experiment around the holidays at running some plantarium style laser shows, one of the things that became apparent is the public needs to be (re) taught what a laser show IS. It's a different world. In the 70's, people didn't have trippy screensavers or wild Microsoft developed splatter running on a media player with music in the background. The younger generation in general seems to suffer attention span issues to where if a laser show lasts longer than a 5 minute Youtube clip, you've lost them. With the ever developing technology and over the top staging of current concerts with sharpys, LED walls, bazillions of moving heads and other non-coherent "wow" happening, lasers are just one more "effect".

Being quiet and "melting" into a plantarium seat for an hour is pretty tough stuff I think. But beams shooting around a 25,000 seat noisy stadium for 4 minutes is about what they can take. So, just advertising a laser show, I don't think, is enough to get many people motivated the way it might have - at least in non-tourist destinations. It works in Miami. It probably would still work in London. And there is enough ecclectic artsy folk that might make it work in NYC. Otherwise, I think part of what needs to be done is education.

I'll admit I didn't push it as much as I should have and just tested it with some existing clients and not the general public. I almost think it's something that needs to be "portable" enough to take to college campuses somehow. But many of them don't even have planetariums so, it may almost have to be portable inflatable domes or something.

Many of you know my son Matthew who has been to SELEM the past couple years. If you've paid attention, he pretty much sits in the back of the auditorium with his laptop and plays video games the entire day and will pop his head up to see a few minutes here and a few minutes there of something graphic, if he likes the song or, it's something that's unique like Tim Walsh's scanner music. Other than that, he's pretty bored. Club SELEM on the other hand, which is all beams, he's more attentive and will record video with his phone or take pictures, etc. And he actually HAS a little bit of an interest - unlike someone who knows nothing about lasers.

Just musing and offering my $.02

[laserist]

Ivan did a laser demo for Griffith Observatory back in 1970 and they said "no". The simple fact was Ivan wasn't ready in 1970. He had the vision, but didn't really know how to turn that vision into reality yet. So he spent 3 years doing a documentary film exploring laser imagery and music, and all the while developing the expertise to do what became Laserium. He was also thinking about how to combine his fledgling Art form with a business model that could move it forward. So in 1973 he did another demo and Griffith said yes, but still the projector wasn't finished until 6am the morning of the first show.

Failing to interest Griffith at that first demo was a good thing. It allowed Ivan to hone his craft, and led to the "over night success" we see in fuzzy hindsight. Perhaps if I'd gone all in and didn't split my attention between Laserium and my full time job things would have been different in St. Louis, but I'm not sure that would have mattered. Art takes time, commitment, experimentation, contemplation, and once you get it right it needs an audience. There were lots of things I did wrong setting up this experiment, but they were my mistakes. And during the whole period I often felt a kinship with Ivan's wild ride over 40 years ago. But having done it all - now I feel a kinship with his vision.

The problem with most laser shows today is they're not remotely Art. In fact they're much closer to screen savers. Sorry! I didn't have any problem keeping people's attention for an hour using techniques and a console that were "ancient". I absolutely believe that marketing is the key to the success of Laserium's reboot. But the reason that marketing is so important is we've already done the hard part - We've already got great shows.

[djeric68]

Jon,

The Coachella pictures are very cool. I would love to see the Laserium shows in person.

What about projecting on an IMAX screen like we have here in New Orleans? If it could be done, that would be a good venue complete with a good sound system and lots of tourists in a great location on the Mississippi river between the French Quarter and the Casino & Hotels.









An even better outdoor venue/event would be for the New Orleans Jazz Fest. They book all types of entertainment not just jazz bands. In fact the majority are not jazz. This year's lineup was just released http://photos.nola.com/nolacom_photo...dule_2014.html and it includes a variety of different genres: Robin Thicke, Robert Plant, Santana, Public Enemy, Phish, Boz Scaggs, Irma Thomas, Eric Clapton, Charlie Wilson, Rebirth Bras Band, Bonerama, The Soul Rebels, Cowboy Mouth, Amanda Shaw, Christina Aguilera, Chaka Khan, Better Than Ezra, Bruce Springsteen and literally hundreds of other bands attracting 300,000 - 450,000 people over 5 days of music on 11 stages.



Drop a screen down from the truss on the main stage and rear project. Even do beams over the crowd. It would be unlike anything ever before it at the Fest.





I think the crowd/smoke machine at Jazz Fest would be a great match to the Laserium visuals and style of music.
It would be a great way to end the show on Friday or Saturday night!


I can dream.....


Eric in New Orleans

Heya Troy -



..Well, I think it has every-potential, but.. the whole thing is just 'seed' at this point.. A filmmaker, Los Angeles-native / old-skool Laserium-addict, with (purported..) big-$$ connections in Gold Coast, so.. ..could be pretty-mega, if we 'based' there, and then 'toured-out' from there.. It certainly has a lot of 'potential', and.. heck, if 'L@ser$pectacular', here in the US, can have such a long-standing / financially-successful Tour-run, well.. shoot... all due-respect, but... Laseriums' Floyd-shows beat the panties off that Co's show... on our worst-day.. ..And, I'm sure we could 'evolve' it as-need be, to blend-well with the 'Aussie-flav' / vibe..

..We've scaled-up the shows, w/ interactive video, etc, before for large 'Coachella'-audiences, here...

Attachment 41511Attachment 41512Attachment 41513Attachment 41514..so..know it 'can be done' / can-work.. 'Open-field Laserium' sort of turned into a 'Laserstock' ...people were dancin' / chillin' / kissin' yada yada.. just havin' a great-old time.. ...And, with Gold Coast weather near-perfect, an 'outdoor-circuit' just might be even more 'doable' - quicker - than trying to lock-into costly / long-booked-up venues.. Then-again, nothing quite 'beats the intimacy' of the dome-experience..

..Point-being.. yeah, it's Got Legs.. But, we'll have to see where it goes.. 1st - and foremost - I've got LOTS of 'homework' / backlog to ketchup on (..though, I am seeing 'light (the good kind at the end of the tunnel', but.. still, severely-behind, atm.. and, of course, I'd absolutely need to do a 'Scout-trip', first..

..2014 could shape up to be a very-interesting / exciting year for Laserium... we're 'tickling the chin' of a 3rd major-market Planetarium / former Laserium-install, here in the states, and, well.. they're not saying 'go away', so.. we'll see.. But I will *deffo* keep you blokes tuned-in.. and, I'm sure we'll need to enlist all the 'brethren' from The West, and South.. wow - what a party we could cook-up, eh?

.will 'KIT'..
cheers..
J

[swamidog]

The problem with most laser shows today is they're not remotely Art. In fact they're much closer to screen savers. Sorry! I didn't have any problem keeping people's attention for an hour using techniques and a console that were "ancient". I absolutely believe that marketing is the key to the success of Laserium's reboot. But the reason that marketing is so important is we've already done the hard part - We've already got great shows.

is new laserium content being actively developed?

[dsli_jon]

Hey C -

is new laserium content being actively developed?

..'tis. We're actually working on an all-new, all-Electronica sho, as I type.. ...and, Yes - in-part - LSX will 'be involved'..

---

Hey E -

...The Coachella pictures are very cool. I would love to see the Laserium shows in person.

Ya, everytime we've 'taken Laserium out to play', it's been an 'off the hook' response.. ie: Ford Theater, CA...(oversold the 1200-seat house by 500..)

(ps- 'DSLI-logo' is used, cause we 'produced it' / 'rep' it, when it goes out, etc..)...and, in-spite of the 'oldness' of some of the show-content, it's just a) something-about having a 'Live Laserist' performing (like a 'star-DJ'..) and b) the Quality / variety of the Art-aspect.. it's a true Laser-light *show*.. Like 'planters' was lamenting in another thread.. all the 'umpteen-projector' "laser shows" done at concerts, these days, are - really - nothing more than Laser FX.. Laserium is the Show - not just 'the sprinkles'..

..Sure, we can - and have - done 'multi-projector shows'.. ie: album-release gig for Linkin Park couple years-back had 8 pj's..

..but it was the Laserium-fx, that got the most cheers / applause.. People just hadn't 'seen anything like that' in a "laser show".. That's because there's so-few Co's that 'get it' / even try to make 'art', anymore.. In fact, I only know of two. PS - No, that's not 'badly-tuned galvos' / scanner-noise ..that was LP's 'glitch logo', animated along-with one of my own humble fx-creations, 'laser film-grain'..

What about projecting on an IMAX screen...

Doable. Certainly not as 'immersive' as a Dome, but.. 'doable'. ..And, if they allow haze / fog in there, we can 'supplement' with aerials, etc, and 'bring some of it out' over the crowd.. ie: 'The Vine'...

...and, for RP, we'll usually try to do a really-cool 'layered depth-effect' (in-lieu of the 'depth' of a dome..) with FP-video, behind the RP-scrim, ie:
..etc..

An even better outdoor venue/event would be for the New Orleans Jazz Fest. ...Drop a screen down from the truss on the main stage and rear project. ...It would be unlike anything ever before it at the Fest. ...great way to end the show on Friday or Saturday night!

Yep, definitely-doable. And ya - 'DSOTM', presented h u g e, could blow that Fest away.. So..

..I can dream.....

..Well 'wake up and get me a Contact'!! jk.. If they've 'already got the line-up', for 2014, it's prolly too-late, for this year, but.. 2015 is still open.

cheers..
j

.. do you want the original mag ?

Hey J - Mmm, sure, hang onto it, I can grab it from ya sometime.. :cool; Thx..

[VJ AIWAZ]

Hey J

do you want the original mag ?