Introduction to Immersive Technology - Isadora Software

It is clear that the future of the arts is being shaped by new immersive and interactive technologies. The development of such has marginalised live theatre (Delgado; Svich, 2002), and it is important that the theatre industry adapts to the modern world to stay relevant, especially where the regulations around COVID 19 has left theatre in economic uncertainty; alongside a lack of funding, outdated business models and an ageing audience.

Young people heavily contribute to the development of entertainment, influencing trends & corporate decisions (Ofcom, 2019). Furthermore, studies have shown that online and digital media has become young people's main source of entertainment (Ofcom, 2019). Therefore, one of the ways theatre can stay relevant is by reaching out to younger audiences. The archaic and traditional image of theatre must be challenged. To do so, risks have to be taken, and the way we tell stories must be adapted. Interactive technology can offer audiences the chance to shape their own unique stories, as well as experience well-known tales in a new and exciting way.

As a study conducted by the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media found, a ‘’greater transportation into a narrative...leads to more intensified emotions”(Park; Xu; Rourke; Bellur, 2019), which offers a heightened experience.

It is my goal, as a theatre maker and as an MA Immersive Arts student, to develop my understanding of these technologies so that I can combine technology and live theatre to give audience members the chance to dramatically shape their own journey which reflects the full potential of immersive storytelling.

I began my journey with a software called Isadora, a proprietary graphic programming environment, with emphasis on real-time manipulation of digital video allowing for audiences and performers to shape and interact with the projections. The best thing about it is how easy it is to use - within just an evening I understood the foundations and the was able to play around with some pre-made scenes and a handful of different applications. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to create any of my own projections because despite my laptop being a powerful one, I did have the software crash on me multiple times and I could rarely get it to connect to my webcam, this made for a frustrating series of events. The man who created it, Mark Coniglio, has developed it completely by himself and has made himself accessible if there are any problems that users face. He also encourages you to get in touch with him about why the software might have crashed on your hardware. This allows him to make future versions of Isadora better so that it does not crash. He's also produced a number of both beginner and advanced tutorials. This makes the software beginner-friendly, you don't need to have any programming experience or knowledge to use it. Used by both amateurs and professionals, Isadora is a useful tool in many industries. Isadora is great because of its flexibility and compatibility with a good variety of development environments from real-time pixel mapping installation art through to panoramic theatrical scenery. I struggle to find any major limitations to it.

A great example of a company who are using Isadora to its full potential is teamLab Borderless who have a digital art museum in Tokyo. The artworks "move out of rooms, communicate with other works, influence, and sometimes intermingle with each other with no boundaries." (teamLab, 2020). They have a number of exhibitions and playrooms that offer interactive experiences that are both fun and educational. For example, the Athletics Forest is a "creative physical space that trains spatial recognition ability by promoting the growth of the hippocampus of the brain. It is based on the concept of understanding the world through the body and thinking of the world three-dimensionally. In a complex, physically challenging, three-dimensional space, immerse your body in an interactive world." (teamLab, 2020)

Despite the software being really accessible and versatile, I personally did not have a great experience using Isadora. To start with, I often couldn't even get past setting up a live video capture without my laptop crashing. Furthermore, the default settings made the software difficult to navigate on my device. It also did not help that due to illness, I missed out on in-person Isadora workshops. This hindered my learning as whilst at home, I struggled to work around the problems that arose when trying to use Isadora as the tutorials I found online were not hugely engaging and I struggled to follow them. I think it is great that Mark Coniglio is so generous and takes time to help the Isadora community, however, he is not a very engaging teacher. As someone with a learning disability, I sometimes need a little extra support, I benefit from learning resources that break down lessons into clear sections, use metaphors and examples, repeat important factors, use humour and use intonation to highlight key points. However, I have always benefited the most from in-person support, so that I can ask specific questions, and check in to make sure I am going on the right path, however, I know this is difficult in our current climate. This is a personal issue that I will have to overcome if I wish to continue to both learn and teach myself other immersive software. I am lucky that I have a small community of other students who can support me, but I will also need to be able to use my initiative to problem-solve on my own, using what I do understand about the different software to approach errors and obstacles.

Delgado, M. and Svich, C. (2002) Theatre In Crisis?. Manchester: Manchester University Press, p.18.

Park, S.; Xu, X.; Rourke, B.; Bellur, S. (2019) Do You Enjoy TV, while Tweeting? Effects of Multitasking on Viewers’ Transportation, Emotions and Enjoyment. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 63(2), pp.231-249.

Ofcom (2019) Media Nations: UK 2019. London: Ofcom

teamLab. (2020) teamLab borderless Tokyo Official Site [online] teamLab. Available at: <https://borderless.teamlab.art/> [Accessed 04 October 2020]