Playback Demo

Experiment of Projected Sequence of Drawing in the Palace of Arts

On February the 17, 2010, one of the third-year-students’ groups belonging to BUTE Faculty of Architecture is about to draw interior in the vast hall of the National Concert Hall of Budapest. The teacher is experimenting with a new teaching method. Before the course he paints in advance the chosen view whilst video documenting section by section the stages of his way of perspective freehand construction.

He is working with two tripods. One serves as a painter’s easel. The other belongs to the camera. Using white lifted lavish brush technique on beige colored cartoon of 65 x 50 cm, he is hastily painting to be ready with everything as far as his students arrive.

To facilitate this, he has to upload (temporarily uncut) clips from camera to laptop right on the spot. He needs a local plug to this action. The movie has been finished just for time. The whole preparation took place within 60 minutes. By the time the first students turn up, the whole structural building procedure in freehand drawing of the interior can be projected - as an individually formulated, continuous show, from launch till finale.

The aim of the live experiment is to swing students over initial hesitation and usual inactivity in the starting stage of outdoor sites. To answer frequent questions like “Where should I begin? How much of the view should I show? Standing or laying form should I start with? What is the advisable chronological order? Where is the horizon? Where are vanishing points located? How far should I elaborate the item?” etc.

Beyond pattern giving the procedure gets a role in documentation as well. Edited and completed with the best students’ works later, the subject’s personal treatment as described above might be saved in archives for coming semesters.

As a result of the playback demo on site even latecomers quickly close up. In the pictures it is clearly visible that, while the first group is diligently drawing already, the third group is just joining to the second group of spectators. According to the experiment, zeal redoubling is as continuous as self restarting show projection.

Students rapidly get an overview of duties. Uploaded with inspiration, without hesitating they get down to draw their own panorama.

The task of the pattern is to show a certain personal path (to be followed or avoided) concerning first of all the sequence of drawing.

There are many ways leading to the summit!

Differently of ready, finished examples, it demonstrates in its progress the feasibility of realization, pacing through separated construction stages from node to node, starting early at the yawning whiteness of the empty paper and finally achieving a sort of palpable result: a linear drawing filling out completely the picture’s surface.

The idea of the Playback Demo is related to that of Projected Demo. Here we neither need any projector nor canvas screen. On the other hand, simultaneity vanishes; car played back procedure details are filmed some what earlier. In spite of this, spectators (having visual contact with most characteristic details of the site being a part even of the film) can almost in live identify themselves with presented drawing sequence. Only an eventual changing in light and shadow indicates the passing of (relatively short) time between play and playback.

The material of slide show consisting of still images is based on a reproduction of the lavish and partly colored brush painting, which has been transformed (using Paint program) backwards into solo stage drawings.