Spectacular performers fly with motion controls, STEM, not CGI

STEM and motion control insights

• Motion controls and rigging help theatrical special effects and application examples demonstrate how.
• Engineers and engineering-minded creative help is wanted in theatrical applications with knowledge of engineering constraints, safety, physics and solutions.
• Industry certifications and standards that include automation and motion control help improve entertainment safety, efficiency and profits.

Those interested in the mechanical behind-the-scenes magic of theatrical production can earn a good living with strengths in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, according to Tracy Nunnally, MFA, Northern Illinois University (NIU) professor, technical director, head of design and technology, School of Theatre and Dance. That includes making actors and props fly and delivering a performer on a free-floating zipline from atop an open-air stadium to the stage at more than 50 mph.

Nunnally said it doesn’t feel like work as he brings the visions of theatrical creatives to life with flying rigs, motion controls and automation special effects for theater, concerts and other venues. He has a masters degree in fine arts (MFA), multiple industry-specific certifications, appreciation and common-sense application know-how for math, physics and safety, as he explained at an April 17 STEM Café presentation, “Theatrical Special Effects: Engineering Spectacle.”

Motion controls and rigging help theatrical special effects

Nunnally talked about “How to apply the engineering to get the effect you want,” ranging from manual to automated, including making actors fly without computer-generated imagery (CGI).

The talk was part of the NIU STEAM (which adds arts to the STEM acronym) Center for P-20 Engagement and Regional Development’s STEM Café’s series of “Feed your mind” presentations. Open to the public, the events are designed to interest and excite people about careers in STEAM fields and provide guidance on how to get there, according to Judith (Judy) Dymond, director of development and STEAM instructor, who has coordinated STEM Café programs for more than a decade.

Tracy Nunnally, MFA, is Northern Illinois University (NIU) professor, technical director, head of design and technology, School of Theatre and Dance. Nunnally owns Vertigo, a company that provides automation, motion control and special flying effects services to theatrical productions and spoke in the April 17 STEM Café presentation, “Theatrical Special Effects: Engineering Spectacle.” Courtesy: Mark T. Hoske, Control Engineering

Nunnally’s discussion included stories related to his NIU professor/technical director position at NIU School of Theatre and Dance, Dekalb, Illinois, and as owner of Vertigo, one of just a few companies in North America that provides automation, motion control and special flying effects services to theatrical productions. MFA studies can include a specialty in one or more specific areas of fine arts. While Nunnally doesn’t have an engineering degree, he uses math, physics, engineering principals, industry-based certifications and a healthy respect for safety to know when and how to employ engineers in his projects, making people, objects and props fly for productions such as Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, Seussical the Musical, The Wizard of Oz, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and others.

“Math is an important part of what we do,” saying that he re-read his grade school physics book cover to cover when he began this line of work.

High-speed motion control, short notice for more than 40,000

While Nunnally and his wife were on vacation, he received a Tuesday phone call from Colson Baker, (stage name mgk, formerly Machine Gun Kelly, a hip hop, pop-rap and rap rock musician). Baker was preparing for an upcoming performance in Cleveland where the performer spent part of his youth. He told Nunnally that, during the performance, he wanted to ride a zipline from near the top of the open-air stadium before taking the stage.

Nunnally, who regularly makes performers and things fly safely (Vertigo’s website says: “Spectacular performer flying effects since 1991”), told Baker he could make that happen, then asked, “What Saturday?”

“This Saturday,” Baker said.

Nunnally said he and most of his quickly assembled team worked 47 hours straight to get it done, with a slight delay on letting the crowd in (“hold the house”), for final safety checks.

In this screen capture from a short video clip, Tracy Nunnally, MFA, Northern Illinois University (NIU) professor, technical director, head of design and technology, School of Theatre and Dance, points to where the operator is standing in darkness to control the actor’s on-stage flying sword fight. Nunnally, also owner of Vertigo, spoke in the April 17 STEM Café presentation, “Theatrical Special Effects: Engineering Spectacle.” Courtesy: Mark T. Hoske, Control Engineering

The free-floating zipline project included mgk’s delivery over the audience at 58 mph, using successive sandbag lines to slow him down at the end, like cables that stop fighter planes landing on aircraft carriers. Two 10 horsepower winches controlled rate of descent. Anchor winches were attached to two forklifts, that had their forks buried in dirt and anchored with 10,000-pound rachet straps. Chalk marked the forklift wheel locations to ensure stability during four practice runs, with adjustments, before mgk’s flight for more than 40,000 screaming fans. Two zipline practice runs used sandbags. One flight was with one of Nunnally’s special effects riggers, and the fourth practice flight carried Baker.

With high-risk events, a equally trained backup operator is available in real time to reduce risk, in case Nunnally or the operator in charge should unexpectedly become unavailable. For something such as a flying Santa sleigh, a backup probably would not be used, he said.

Moving platform, staged water, flying fighters, floating objects, more

Other examples, Nunnally described included drummers performing on a floating, rotating platform for a mega church Christmas concert (an effect rented and modified), use of water on a university theater stage, Peter Pan flying fight scene for a traveling show in Asia (see video clip), a floating dagger and bullet, and a performer riding a flying bird.

It’s not all high tech, high-budget or with a lot of motion. Sometimes a single wire and pulley can work with dramatic effect.

In 2004, a dancer gracefully flew, just slightly, after multiple “attempts” written into the performance, for a Smithsonian-commissioned, instrumental-dance event commemorating the 100^th year of the Wright Brothers’ Kitty Hawk flight.

“I could hear 2,000 people inhale at once the moment the dancer took flight. It made me cry.”

In an upcoming effort, Nunnally is planning to provide some “magic” for the first high-school Harry Potter play.

Engineers and engineering-minded creative help wanted, safety

“I love to assist creative people to bring their visions to life. I think about how to engineer the effect, then work with other experts, including engineers, as needed, to make it happen,” Nunnally said. Many people have specialties in theater, including for lighting, but specialists in rigging and automation are comparatively rare. He estimated there are fewer than 10 theatrical special effects rigging companies in the world, and the help-wanted sign is often flying out front, at the intersection of theater and engineering.

A fabricated eagle flies over an audience in the Calgary Stampede grandstand show, first with an actor, then alone, as shown in the April 17 STEM Café presentation, “Theatrical Special Effects: Engineering Spectacle,” by Tracy Nunnally, MFA, Northern Illinois University (NIU) professor, technical director, head of design and technology, School of Theatre and Dance. Courtesy: Mark T. Hoske, Control Engineering

Safety is foremost in any production, and insurance coverages are high to protect performers and those around them. Nunnally works carefully with creatives, talent, underwriters and engineers on risk analysis, risk reduction and associated documentation.

“I want to ensure the actor is safer on my wire than she was driving to high school,” he said.

Another stage production included a fight scene between actors with rubber sledgehammers. To create the vision of a hammer smashing through the floor, a 4,000-pound pneumatic cylinder pulled a section of the stage floor down as the hammer hit the ground, dramatically breaking the “floor.” A human-activated fail-safe “deadman” switch was used to ensure the effect wouldn’t trigger unintentionally from a false positive sent from the lighting control system.

Theatrical engineering constraints, safety, physics, solutions

While safety, timing, schedule and resources are among constraints, the space also is a consideration. He described a high-school production where the lead creative envisioned an effect that would have required a taller theater. In the end, Nunnally provide the perception of the creative vision within the perspective of what was possible.

“I have to see it from how you’re seeing it. I tell my young people that ‘No’ is not part of our vocabulary.” That flipped perspective is shared by many in automation industries. Being “a solution provider, not a problem solver” can help provide a thematic solution that matches the vision, even when the physical solution envisioned isn’t physically possible.

Not every effort produces immediate success. He recently sent an eight-year-old, unused motion effect to another theatrical rigging firm’s owner, who for asked help. When the competitor heard about Nunnally’s prior project, he asked to modify and upgrade it, planning to give Nunnally half credit if it works for a different creative application.

Behind the scenes, the audience doesn’t see the rigging and other engineering that make actors fly, as shown in the April 17 STEM Café presentation, “Theatrical Special Effects: Engineering Spectacle,” by Tracy Nunnally, MFA, Northern Illinois University (NIU) professor, technical director, head of design and technology, School of Theatre and Dance. Courtesy: Mark T. Hoske, Control Engineering

Industry certifications, standards to improve entertainment safety

Nunnally also is involved in the Entertainment Services and Technology Association (ESTA), a non-profit organization that writes entertainment industry standards for American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Ten working groups include control protocols, electrical power, event safety, photometrics, rigging and stage machinery to help conduct business safely, efficiently and profitably. Nunnally helps write standards and has two third-party Entertainment Technician Certification Program (ETCP) certificates for specific areas and a third certificate for teaching. ETCP certifications are available for Rigger – Arena, Rigger – Theatre, Entertainment Electrician and Portable Power Distribution Technician. Certification requirements for theater workers depend partly on local codes and standards and requirements of those producing the event; ESTA’s efforts help, he suggested.

The industry is rapidly changing, Nunnally admitted, with more use of advanced design technologies, simulation software and artificial intelligence, and he’d welcome younger outside experts to help apply that knowledge to his work. The entertainment world has room for experts in nearly every profession, he said, especially for theater-minded STEM specialists.

A theatrical flying director, for instance, needs common sense, but doesn’t necessarily need to know the engineering. Get involved with local stage hands to learn how, he suggested.

“Yes, we need engineers.” Nunnally knows one young woman who excelled in military aerospace and was very excited to hear that similar engineering wages are available for making people fly in engineering theatrical applications.

Mark T. Hoske is editor-in-chief, Control Engineering, WTWH Media LLC, mhoske@wtwhmedia.com.

KEYWORDS

Engineering for theater, theatrical motion control

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