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SMODE Takes the Spotlight in a Modern Adaptation of Platonov

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Paris (France), 23rd September 2024 – A new stage production in France, Sur l’autre rive (‘On the other side’), a diptych that is freely inspired by Anton Chekhov’s early play Platonov and a film directed by Cyril Teste and produced by Les Films du Poisson. The play incorporates live performances and video, blending theatre and cinema courtesy of SMODE, the real-time compositing and media server platform, proved to be the ideal solution for this live cinema performance, and marks the second collaboration and sponsorship between Smode Tech and creator Collectif MxM.

Platonov is a four-act play written in 1878, featuring the character Mikhail Platonov, a dissatisfied provincial schoolmaster, set in a dilapidated country house in the Russian provinces. It revolves around themes of societal disillusionment, love, and existential despair.

Sur l’autre rive is a modern adaptation by Cyril Teste and Collectif MxM, a collective of artists and technical creators, and uses multimedia to explore the unspoken moment and internal lives of the characters, using contemporary staging to create a more immersive and dynamic experience for the viewers.

“The play involves 13 actors and 30 spectators who are invited on stage every night and their presence leads to many unforeseen events and adaptations which require daily adjustments for capturing and editing images live,” says Mehdi Toutain-Lopez, video creator for Collectif MxM, who is responsible for setting up and integrating images into the scenography, as well as live image editing during performances.

With 60 performances scheduled in 14 different venues during the first year of the tour (May 2024–May 2025) and a second year of touring to follow, Toutain-Lopez, who utilised SMODE’s media servers in his previous project La Mouette (The Seagull)also relies on SMODE during this theatre tour, stating: “We transition from large, open stages to much narrower Italian-style theatres. This requires numerous adaptations but not so much for the projectors as for the image capture on stage. Ultimately, it necessitates extensive adjustments in editing.”

The setup for Sur l’autre rive is designed to create a dynamic experience for its viewers, blending traditional theatre with cinematic techniques, where the actors’ narratives are helped to bring to the audience by camera close-ups. It features a minimalist design, allowing for focus on the actors and visual elements with several screens placed around the stage to display live and pre-recorded content.

On the stage, during the two-hour performance, the images are projected by a Panasonic RQ 22K video projector onto a screen mounted above the stage, as well as on four movable 75-inch monitors. All imagery is captured live by three Sony FX3 cameras: two operated by the company’s camera operators and the third by the actors themselves, which is then projected onto the screens in real-time. “The camera operators’ cues were written during the creation by Nicolas Doremus and Christophe Gaultier. I handle the editing and projection of these images,” explains Toutain-Lopez, who edits the images live via SMODE.

The use of the SMODE media server played a significant role in the production, integrating video and live performance by allowing real-time video creation and editing. “All images are fully edited and processed in SMODE. There is no other element between the cameras and projectors except SMODE,” says Toutain-Lopez.

“SMODE handles colour correction, generates subtitles, and performs many geometric adaptations. The four 75-inch monitors are sometimes used as well, sometimes individually, and I also use some light effects in certain scenes to enhance the look of the camera feeds.”

Toutain-Lopez, who is also one of the first users of the new V10 SMODE update, highlights the “stability of the video inputs, which has been greatly improved in V10.” He says: “I use three cameras for this project and, for artistic reasons, cannot receive genlock. I find that the feeds are perfectly synchronised and fluid thanks to the V10 improvements.”

He is also pleased with the simplicity of SMODE’s operation, which was achieved thanks to the Companion module, and also praises the Smode Tech’s support team during his early access use of V10: “The assistance helped me remain 100% focused on the artistic aspects of the project’s creation.”

Sur l’autre rive has gathered many positive reviews and is set to continue its theatre tour from 27th September at the Nanterre-Amandiers National Drama Centre, France and broadcasted on Arte and arte.tv in autumn 2024.

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