"Virtual Vaudeville" Vectors Close Reading

By Ashley Hsieh, Rachel Kerry, and Matt Gerhardt

“Virtual Vaudeville” is a Vectors project by David Saltz, which tries to recreate the experience of historical vaudeville theater. The project is pedagogical, teaching laymen what vaudeville is, and introducing key vaudeville figures. Additionally, the project is experiential. “Virtual Vaudeville” recreates famous acts by Frank Bush in 3-D animation and allows the viewer to change audience perspectives. There are a variety of vantage points, including that of the performer. Additionally, the project includes a dialogue box with interesting facts about the performance.
The principle failure of the project is that the viewer does not feel connected to the performance. Because animation is used primarily to create a fantastical world, the audience is drawn in as a spectator, but not as a participating member. The viewer is never actively engaged in the 3-D performance recreation. Perhaps if it were done in live action, the project could be more compelling. Also, we believe that making the laughter surround-sound would be beneficial. With laughter coming from all around, the viewer will experience a more organic project (instead of the current artificial, laughter).
The project is set up for easy navigation by the viewer, but the program is not. The Performance Viewer cannot be viewed on a Mac. The viewer can watch the recreations as a QuickTime movie, but the experiential aspect and scholarly asides are lost.
The project is very interesting and makes a good point for the scholarly uses of video game design, etc. However, with a more user-friendly platform and a stronger attempt at viewer connection (perhaps an actual plot leading up to and after the performance, or an interactive game element) the project would be more engaging.