This is an upcoming large-scale projection mapping installation for 800 Yates St. in Victoria, BC as a part of transmission: Global Summit 2012 being produced by Hybridity Media.

My Role

As Technical Artist I am preparing two tools for content creation and rendering. I am also developing pipeline and logistics for the projection of the content, as well as pre-visualizations of the art installation.

The first is an iterator of Malcolm Levy’s Frames works built in Quartz, preparing these works for projections on a series of windows on the facade of the building. The tool allows control of iteration speed, number of iterations in rows and columns, and provides Syphon support and the input and output. The goal of the tool is to provide flexibility in dynamic content creation, allowing the artist to easily manipulate content properties on-site, without having to go into the code.

The second tool is a visualizer built in Unity that integrates BC Ferries route data and scheduling to provide a particle system simulation of a “day in the life of BC Ferries”. Again, a series of controls for animation speed and particle properties have been implemented that allow for artistic flexibility on-site without having to update or build new code. The system allows for realistic visualizations as well as abstractions and distortions for more surreal interpretations – again, allowing the artist creative flexibility and control without having to touch a line of code. The application also supports Syphon output for pipeline integration.

Pixellations is an in-progress set of digital artworks built around themes of geometry and distortion. These works take the form of video or still images and are produced by a wide variety of software.

These works are collected as a series of reference material for unrelated or future works. These pieces can be combined with other, realistic works to provide additional texture and colour fragmentations to formulate a unique look and style through blending of colour and texture. These kind of applications take place quite regularly in my practice and help to define the style, textures, and palettes of current or upcoming projects.

My Role

These works are produced independently by me.

What I Learned

With many of these projects I attempt to learn new software or explore new techniques in creating visual imagery. With this set I explored intersections of analogue and digital in Photoshop, caustics/reflection/refraction in Maya and particles and fractals in After Effects.

The Pixel Dreams interactive art installation was commissioned by Great Northern Way Campus to help celebrate the groundbreaking of the new Centre for Digital Media. The project was developed with a month and a half of concept development and a month and a half of production with a team of five.

Through the concept development and prototyping process, the piece took the shape of two large interactive cube structures powered on the inside by Microsoft Kinect and providing visuals via advanced projection mapping techniques with Unity 3D as the core underlying technology.

The installation provided the audience with the means to literally “step inside” and experience a three-dimensional world built around the theme of nostalgia and the engagement of our child-like wonder of the universe to explore the possibility of digital media and technology. Users were able to fly with a flock of owls through a mountain valley, create solar flares on the surface of a star and conduct their own firework symphony in Vancouver at night.

My Role

As Technical Artist / Director I worked closely with other team members in evaluating technological choices, ensuring that art integration into the game engine was meeting the creative vision, programming, development of lighting and shader effects, tool development, source control, camera assets for projection mapping, rigging for animation, and the physical rigging and wiring of technical assets in the presentation space. I also built the 3D environments for the installation including: skyboxes, terrain, lighting, post-processing effects (e.g. bloom, colour correction) and various 3D assets.

What I Learned

This project brought together numerous technologies in unconventional ways. A large part of the process was evaluating these technologies and figuring out how to “hook them together” through other technologies or tools. This was my first foray into projection mapping and the Microsoft Kinect which provided unique challenges for developing the project: Kinect SDK runs on Windows whereas our projection mapping suite was Mac-based. To get around this obstacle we took advantage of SmartFox Server to build a multiplayer component into Unity that could bring the operating system gap. Restrictions often enable creative solutions.

Developing complex software backends like this shows the important of rapid prototyping and iteration – ‘hacking’ together various tools in a short sprint may be messy at first, but allows for quick evaluation of the technology and better understanding of its capabilities from both art and technical standpoints before entering full production.

Team

Matt Marshall (Technical Artist / Director)

Christine Clark (Project Manager)

Lucas Huang (Lead Programmer)

Leto Yang (Lead Artist)

Vandna Sidher (Researcher / Asst. Director)

Awais Iqbal (Programmer)

This is a was a promotional reel compiled for the Cohort 5 Portfolio Showcase at the Centre for Digital Media. The reel highlights the work of our first term in Building Virtual Worlds, Visual Story and the Game Jam, celebrating the projects, culture and spirit of our class.

My Role

I directed and edited the reel over the course of a weekend and created the animated titles for the intro and outro of the video. I am currently working with many themes of distortion in much of my own work and decided to take this opportunity to explore and develop this motif in an animated video setting.

Team

Matt Marshall

Hayat Khan

This innovative concept features “wearable”, fashion-based augmented reality markers where players can literally wear their avatars and participate in a real-world augmented MMORPG that encourages social interaction and play.

The proof-of-concept was developed for iOS using ARToolworks. The characters were created with Maya. The simple mechanic of achievement unlocking was implemented for the beta test to encourage players to seek out new characters and hidden augmented reality trackers.

My Role

As Creative Director, I facilitated the team’s concept development phase, bringing focus to innovative applications of existing augmented reality technology. I was also responsible for art direction, interface design and the creation of narrative and characters, working closely with the Technical Director to ensure that art assets met technical requirements.

The proof-of-concept was developed with agile methodology in mind, creating a series of working prototypes in short time frames with weekly SCRUM-format updates for the class. As a small team, the process was highly collaborative at every stage, encouraging everyone to adapt and learn according to project requirements rather than job descriptions.

What I Learned

I learned about the artistic and technical logistics of working in augmented reality, how users interact with the technology and got a glimpse of just how far this cutting edge technology can go. This was also my first opportunity to work with and build characters with Autodesk Maya.

I also gained more experience with SCRUM and collaborating with programmers and artists in a digital media environment.

Team

Matt Marshall (Creative Director)

Christine Clark (Producer)

Craig Slagel (Technical Director)

Last Letter is an interactive narrative developed at the Centre for Digital Media in four weeks by a small team of artists. This was the final project for Visual Story with George Johnson.

The players follow Charon on a crossing to the land of the dead. A gust of wind blows open his suitcase and he is forced to collect the scraps, fragments and souvenirs that make up the soul. Through letters and objects the player pieces together a few years in the life of two people, raising questions about our fate and our destinies.

The narrative is experienced in almost entirely random order (with strategic placement of key items to ensure paced plot development) and much of the story is told through image and sound, relying on an interpretive, visceral response from the player.

My Role

As the Story Director I facilitated creative collaboration for concept development and script ideation. I worked closely with the art team in the selection of art style, establishment of visual themes and assisted in the creation of art of assets. I also filled a Technical Artist role in preparing the art team’s assets for implementation into the Unity game engine, maintaining resolution and colour and creating batch scripts for Photoshop to aid in art creation, working closely with the Art Director to ensure consistent style. I also prepared and create textures to compose the larger background assets and did editing and titles for the cutscenes.

What I Learned

This project allowed me to explore visceral storytelling through sound and image, with only partial reliance on word. I learned about constructing narrative interactive structure and working with the logistics of 2D art in 3D space (as demonstrating by the camera transitions between floors). I was able to further my experience working in Unity and collaborating with a programmer to develop interactivity while making strong artistic choices.

Team

Matt Marshall (Story Director / Technical Artist)

Jodi Gregg (Art Director)

Sally Sun (Project Manager)

Lucas Huang (Lead Programmer)

Haneen Mandurah (Artist)

Basmah Almohammadi (Artist)

Ninja vs. Cohero is an HTML5-based interactive narrative developed in five weeks for Visual Storytelling at the Centre for Digital Media. The one caveat of the project was that it had to be told entirely with still images. The story is about a love triangle at the Centre for Digital Media that brings about a flurry of violence and a final showdown at the green screen that will decide the fate of their love. Lighthearted and funny, Ninja vs. Cohero is delivered with a hint of anime flair. The user makes choices throughout the narrative as to which characters to follow, changing the plotline for better or worse.

My Role

Being a small team with a short development cycle we all filled a number of roles and responsibilities. As a Producer I supervised all aspects of production: assigning tasks and aligning priorities in collaboration with the Production Manager. I played an important role in the creative process as well, working collaboratively in the story development process.

During Production I acted as the Cinematographer & Director of Photography, responsible for all photo taking on the shoot days included shot set up, camera settings and continuity of space. I also directed some sequences in the narrative and made acting cameos.

A clip of the “Light Forest” sequence, directed by Matt Marshall

In post-Production we had to address numerous challenges. The original plan called for several visual effects shots many of which had to be scoped out. As Producer I was responsible for prioritizing key visual effects shots and making cuts where necessary to ensure not only a final deliverable on the due date, but a cohesive, interesting narrative for the audience. The final deliverable consisted of numerous blood effects, computer-generated sword replacement for over 100 photos, and several other effects that were completed by our visual effects team in about a week.

A last-minute change from Flash to HTML5 as the background technology also presented many challenges. I assisted our Lead Programmer in building and designing the user interface and front end.

I was also responsible for the creation of the trailer.

What I Learned

This was a project that was overscoped from the start with far too many visual effects shots planned. Throughout the process we had to make many cuts to reach our deadline and I learned a tremendous amount about scoping and how to make selective cuts while maintaining an artistically interesting finished product.

I also learned a tremendous deal about visual effects pipeline in a time-sensitive environment.

Team

Matt Marshall (Producer / Cinematographer / Assistant Programmer)

Craig Slagel (Visual Effects / Lighting / Compositing)

Jodi Gregg (Creative Director / Editing)

Sally Sun (Project Manager / Visual Effects Assistant / Actor)

Lucas Huang (Lead Programmer / Actor)

Ryan Wong (Actor)

Sushy was a 48-hour Game Jam collaboration at the Centre for Digital Media in Vancouver, BC. Our team of five developed the entire game from concept to testing in a short time frame, requiring our multilingual team to fulfill numerous roles based on rapidly-changing project parameters. Sushy was built with Unity3D.

My Role

For this project I worked closely with the programer to communicate technical requirements to artists, and to communicate artistic requirements to the programmer in a timely manner to ensure rapid development. I kept the pipeline moving forward by reassigning team members to new tasks as needed and assisting wherever able. I also animated the main character in Maya, modelled and textured game objects like balloons and sushi, and prepared all sound assets.

Team

Matt Marshall

Craig Slagel

Jennifer Sun

Basmah Almohammadi

Lucas Huang

This was the inaugural production of Theatre Bassaris, a company of emerging artists located in Toronto, Canada. This show represents 10 months of fundraising, planning, collaboration and rehearsal among nearly a dozen actors, designers, directors and technicians. The show was performed at the Eleanor Winters Art Gallery and all four shows sold out.

My Role

As the Artistic Director of Theatre Bassaris I acted as Executive Producer on Closer and was responsible for venue, staffing, fundraising, and preliminary production scheduling.

As the Director of the production I collaborated with all the involved artists to facilitate artistry and creative dialogue in the interpretation of the play. I guided the artistic vision and supervised the pre-production and rehearsal process, ensuring that production milestones were being met. For this production I emphasized collaborative experience and learning by encouraging artists to bring their own impulses and ideas to the table through exercises and improv, acting as an outside eye to direct and guide towards bolder creative choices in the arc of the production.

“Matt Marshall is a confident yet sensitive director. He has a strong vision and posses the unique ability of being able to realize it without becoming overbearing. Passionate and intellegent theatre practitioners like Matt are hard to come by.” – Wade Noble

What I Learned

Taking on this project was an exercise of learning by doing and learning to swim in the deep end. This massive project taught me a lot about collaborating with large groups of artists in multiple disciplines and ensuring tight production scheduling and allow a quality theatrical experience to go on stage. Our production also had very specific technical demands in the form of multiple video projections. With my technical know-how I help facilitate logistics and pipeline for these projections working closely with the designers. This project, because of its large scale and high risk-factor has given me a lot of confidence moving forward to future projects – direction or otherwise.

Team

Matt Marshall (Executive Producer / Director)

Colin Fallowfield (Production Manager)

Sarah Barton (Stage Manager)

Alyksandra Ackerman (Assistant Director / Projection Design)

Sarah Beaudin (Set Design)

Travis Lahay (Lighting Design / Costume Design)

Rob Renda (Fight Choreography)

Jamie Mackzco (Movement and Voice Coach)

Christina Manco (Actor)

Alexi Aslanidis (Actor)

Maya Tekavcic (Actor)

Wade Noble (Actor)

Formed in 2009 by Matt Marshall and Colin Fallowfield, Theatre Bassaris fosters emerging actors and directors in an environment that promotes creative expression, artistic risk, and the collective learning experience of all involved artists. We are a company of learning with a strong belief in “learning to swim in the deep end” in a fast moving environment that encourages risk-taking and wisdom through both success and error. We aim to help post-training, pre-professional theatre artists make the jump to the industry while producing theatre with immediacy and relevance to young adult audiences.

The company’s first production, Closer, was staged in February 2010 with a sold-out run. In March 2011, the company successfully staged its second production, No Exit, directed by Wade Noble. Our co-production of Saved by Edward Bond with Eos Theatre was a Patron’s Pick in the Toronto Fringe and the coming year will bring new plays by Laurel Brady, Liam Hanebury and Jamie Ebbs, Reasons to be Pretty by Neil Labute, and A Bright Room Called Day by Tony Kushner – an ambitious season for this young company.

My Role

As the Founding Artistic Director & Producer, I was responsible for the creation of the artistic vision as well as preliminary creative team staffing. I also actively participated in company management through fundraising, budgeting and scheduling. This past year I handed down the artistic director reigns to Wade Noble and collaborated with him to develop company structure to ensure future growth and prosperity.

I currently sit as a Producer on the company’s Creative Team – a collaborative roundtable of producers who seek out, develop and propose new projects for the company.

“Under Matt’s guidance the Theatre Bassaris team worked as a collective, collaborating on virtually every aspect of the show. His fresh perspective and bold ideas gave me room to experiment and grow as a designer. Working with Matt was a truly rewarding experience, and one that I hope to have the pleasure of again.” – Sarah Beaudin

Team

Matt Marshall (Producer / Founder)

Wade Noble (Producer / Artistic Director)

Alexi Aslandis (Producer)

Sarah Barton (Producer)

Tracie Burgess (Producer)

Liam Hanebury (Producer)