The Wizard of Oz

Angela Groeschen as Dorothy

Photo by Rory Dale

Additional work on this project

A Little History

Originally I was tasked with creating still projections for the show, but as production meetings progressed and excitement about the show grew, it became apparent that I may be able to offer a little more, and the idea to create the animated Tornado sequence, floating Wizards and morphing Auntie Em and Wicked Witch, were developed.

3D??

We considered the idea of projecting the Wizard in 3D and so I researched and experimented with several anaglyphic images. Unfortunately due to the budgetary constraints of obtaining two identical cameras, and two identical projectors, plus hundreds of 3D glasses, we did not proceed past the experimental phase.

The Wizard

Several more tests were conducted to discover the viability of some of our other ambitions, and first was the Wizard. I took a little footage, imported and masked it, adding it to the original set design sketch. From here I colourised it in After Effects.

Once happy with the test and the potential, we shot the real footage.

With this I was able to animate a variety of effects and really just play around to create the finished projection.

The Witch

Next was the morphing of Auntie Em into the Wicked Witch. Again I shot some footage and performed a quick test.

Satisfied, we set up the shoot for the final footage.

Running the show required three people. I was the Live Sound Engineer and Projectionist, and we also had a Light Board Operator, and a Stage Manager calling cues, even operating the power to SFX fans with a foot!