Mcneal

Animating for Broadway was as wild and fulfilling as we've ever experienced. Starting from the ground floor with Director Bartlett Sher and writer Ayad Akhtar, Jake Barton was brought on to put together the projections of a new play called, McNeal. Through the grapevines of New York, he found Uncle George and we immediately got to work. Not only was animation going to be used throughout the show, it was the basis for one of the shows characters.

Diving into character exploration and overall look development for the proposed 5 animations lasting for about 30 seconds in-between scenes. In the true spirit of theater, we had 6 weeks of prep and 4 weeks to implement, tweak, and finesse before the critics were given the green light.

Animation is often seen in theater but usually as set or lighting extensions. This project became a huge step for what animation could do on stage.

Every surface could receive projections in addition to a programmable 9000-pound LED wall.

The character we were tasked to create was AI and it's world as well as an abstract understanding of how it operates. We dug into neural networks, engineering schematics, and space documentation for inspiration as well as the countless forms of AI that currently exist showcased largely though corporations.

AGBO, the Russo brother's production company graciously provided us a digitally recreated scan of Robert Downey Jr. that, via mocap, were able to provide renders of Downey's monologues that we were able to incorporate into our scenes. One of which was an entity known as "Word Man" that utilizes the Downey geometry and applies words generated from the monologues while additional words explode all over the stage and surrounding set.

Ultimately we created 2 Full CG set extensions, over 30 minutes of animation, and a 2 minute deep fake mash up consisting of a custom-run, localized AI workflow taking the movements of RDJ and applying them to historic photographs of Robert Kennedy and Goldwater while morphing faces and bodies into one another until ultimately animating into our previously explained "Word Man" as particles systems of words are vomited on the stage, fill the room and spin as McNeal experiences a series of hallucinations. Or does he? 

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"the sets and the projections — along with Sher’s typically expressive manipulation of them — are the production’s most successfully integrated elements, especially the squircle panels, pop-up rooms and torrential digital imagery. When McNeal, drunk and soul-sick, throws up, he vomits literal words."

- The New York Times

“McNeal is one of the most visually stunning and uniquely staged productions on Broadway. Running at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater, set designers Michael Yeargan and Jake Barton, lighting designer Donald Holder, sound engineers Justin Ellington and Beth Lake and the digital effects by AGBO (and projections by Barton) work together to create a genuinely immersive experience that incorporates gasp-worthy mixed media and projections, keeping the audience engaged"

- Variety

"the set glows with Jake Barton’s iPhone-on-acid projections." 

- The New Yorker

"Swarms of hyper-sophisticated projections between scenes accompany voice-overs and deepfake videos of McNeal feeding classics into the digital maw then directing it to regurgitate them in his style"

- The Washington Post

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