Sample Grant Proposal

Names and personal information have been left off this sample grant proposal to maintain privacy of the students who actually completed this project. Initials indicate a first and last name, and place holders (email, phone, etc.) indicate places where personal information should be included. A video showing the “Perceptions” project described in this proposal can be seen at http://digitalmedia.jhu.edu/Gallery/Gallery.cfm.

Title:

Perceptions

Project Description:

Summary

Perceptions is a walk-through installation that immerses the audience in sound, focused lighting, and video projections that evoke feelings of voyeurism and create an atmosphere that blurs the distinction between watching and being watched. Lights will illuminate certain parts of the Black Box Theatre. As the audience explores the space they step into areas of dark and light. Once in the light, these people become “watched”. The people who are not in the light become the “watchers” since they can see the person within the light without being seen. The audience may experience feelings of empowerment, exhibitionism, fascination, fear, and shame. We hope these feelings will encourage people to interact with the light and video projections as they watch each other, watching others.

What contemporary issues will be explored?

Our modern culture is a society obsessed with looks and what people think of each other. Modern technology facilitates and supports tools to enable us to look at each other – sometimes it is wanted and sometimes it isn’t. This project hopes to evoke the feelings surrounding voyeurism: empowerment, exhibitionism, fascination, fear, and shame in a way that sheds light on both sides of looking; the watcher and the watched.

What is the project trying to accomplish/communicate?

The Perceptions project team is coming together to communicate and demonstrate the benefits of inter-institution collaboration. We are students from Johns Hopkins, Maryland Institute College of Art and Peabody School of Music. We are trying to promote and facilitate the creation of Intermedia art and to further explore shared resources, joint research, and exhibition/performance opportunities. By exploring the theoretical and practical problems inherent in the process of interdisciplinary collaboration we hope to develop skills critical to the real world collaborations we hope to participate in upon graduation.

What does it look/sound like? How would someone interact with it?

The venue for this project is the Swirnow Black Box Theatre at Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus. The Swirnow Theatre is essential to the project because of the nature of the grid setup. Within the Swirnow Theatre, there will be an arrangement of fabric (scrims) such that the light shining above pointing down at s steep angle will illuminate scrims from one side and make opaque the scrims from the other side. From the perspective of someone in the cone of light, the fabric will become opaque and from the perspective of an observer outside, the fabric would be translucent. In order for spaces to be setup as individual arenas of experience – and so that a ‘watching zone’ is not accidentally converted into a ‘watcher zone,’ the lights must shine down upon certain selected spaces and the pieces of scrims must be arranged from the ceiling such that an inviting labyrinth of lights is created. Also hanging from the grid above will be speakers. There will be three projectors (pointing at the scrims) playing looping video in three segments.

What technologies are used to create it?

Support for the experience will be set up above the Swirnow Theatre in the control room. There, computers will be running and debugging/troubleshooting individuals will be at work both carefully coordinating the light interface as well as attending to technical problems that may arise unexpectedly. The standard theatre lights hung from the grid will be programmed to turn on and off in time with the music (slowly - not like a discotheque, but more to emphasize different parts of the music rather than to emphasize the tempo of the beat). In addition, the lights will be synchronized with action in the projections. To achieve this effect we will use Max/MSP, a visually oriented programming environment for audio and multimedia production. It is ideal for the creation of immersive installation pieces, live interactive performance, and audio algorithm prototyping, as well as more generalized programming tasks. Standard high-end video projectors will be used to project loops of video from a DVD player.

Resume of qualifications of the student applicant/s.

The Perceptions project team will include four students from three Baltimore Universities. The group is comprised of two visual artists with expertise in video and installation projects, a composition major from Peabody, and Biology major from Hopkins with expertise in 3-D modeling and theatre design.

§ J.L. Johns Hopkins University, Junior, Major, email, phone number, address

§ Resume/Bio would go here with descriptions of relevant classes, workshops, independent projects, list of creative skills, software, technology s/he is familiar with.

§ J.K. Maryland Institute College of Art, Senior, Major, email, phone number, address

§ Resume/Bio would go here with descriptions of relevant classes, workshops, independent projects, list of creative skills, software, technology s/he is familiar with.

§ P.N. Peabody School of Music, graduate, Major, email, phone number, address

§ Resume/Bio would go here with descriptions of relevant classes, workshops, independent projects, list of creative skills, software, technology s/he is familiar with.

§ E.S. Maryland Institute College of Art, Senior, Major, email, phone number, address

Resume/Bio would go here with descriptions of relevant classes, workshops, independent projects, list of creative skills, software, technology s/he is familiar with.

Anticipated barriers/challenges

Several questions need to be resolved before we can be confident of this idea working as we envision it. We will spend the first few weeks of Intersession finding the answers through testing the technology and on-line research.

Technology Issues

§ What kinds of inputs do LCD projectors take?

§ Can multiple DVD players be started at the same time and remain in sync over several hours?

§ What are the dimensions of a projected image and how will we position the projectors to fill the fabric with video image?

§ What kinds of fabrics will work best with the projections and lights?

§ Can the lights be controlled by computer using MAX/MSP software?

Skills we need to learn and how we will learn them

§ Hanging and focusing theatre lights. - Ask Swirnow Theatre Technical Director

§ Learn how to program MAX/MSP software. - Take workshop at the DMC

§ Improve editing skills in Final Cut Pro - Take workshop at the DMC

§ Sewing panels of Scrim - Ask JK to teach us using the sewing machine in the theatre.

Rules/policies that might impact the project

§ Will we be able to schedule time in the Theatre for the performance or will it be reserved by other groups?

§ Will we be able to access the scene shop in enough time to construct the scrim panels?

Project timeline

We plan to start work on Perceptions during Intersession and continue throughout the Spring (working evenings and weekends) culminating in a performance at the end of the JHU Spring Semester. We will meet every other week with the DMC staff to check progress and get assistance.

Week Of	J.L will do	P.N. will do	J.K. will do	E.S. will do
1/6/02	Plan project	Plan project	Resolve “rules”	Plan project
1/20/02	Test concept	Test concept	Test concept	Test concept
2/3/02	Take MAX workshop	Plan audio	Order supplies	Final Cut Wkshp
2/17/02	Learn MAX	Compose Music	Plan Video	Plan Video
3/3/02	Learn Lights	Compose Music	Shoot Video	Shoot Video
3/17/02	Spring Break	Spring Break	Spring Break	Spring Break
4/7/02	Program MAX Patches	Compose Music	Edit Video	Edit Video
4/21/02	Test/Debug with Video	Record Music	Test Video	Learn sew scrim
4/28/02	Hang Lights	Hang Lights	Hang scrim	Hang Scrim
5/5/02	Rehearse & Open	Rehearse & Open	Rehearse & Open	Rehearse & Open

Estimation of resources needed

Hardware - 3 LCD projectors, 3 computers with DVD drives for video playback, 1 computer for sound processing, video camera

Software - Final Cut pro for editing the video, Peak to edit the sound, MAX, to create controller program

Space - Swirnow Theatre for 4 days, place to cut hang scrim

Materials - 5 -9' x 5' panels made of scrim, 5 rods, 10 overhead stage lights, 8 overhead speakers, 4 stereo power amplifiers, Miscellaneous MIDI cables, speaker cables, power cords, etc. 5 mini-DV tapes.

Personnel - Someone to help with theatre lighting, and the assorted knowledge of the DMC staff.

Itemized project budget.

What is needed	Where to get it	Cost
3 LCD projectors	DMC has 2, MICA has 1
3 computers-video play	DMC has 2, E.S. has 1 to borrow
1 computer for sound	P.N. has 1 to borrow
Video camera	DMC
Final Cut pro	DMC
Peak audio editing	DMC
MAX authoring	DMC
Swirnow Theatre	Mattin Center
Scene Shop	Mattin Center
5 -9' x 5' scrim panels	Fabric store	$ 200.00
5 rods	Hardware store	$ 15.00
10 stage lights	Mattin Center
6 powered speakers	DMC has 2, MICA 2, need 2 more	$ 600.00
4 stereo amplifiers	DMC has
Misc cables	DMC has/purchase some	$ 50.00
5 Mini-DV tapes	DMC purchase	$ 50.00
Help with lighting	Mattin Center Staff
	Total Estimated Cost	$ 915.00

Contact information

Main contact for this project will be:

J.L. Johns Hopkins University, phone number, email address, local address, class standing, expected date of graduation, department/major.