Issues with digital screening

One of the current problems with screening Zashikiro is sound adjustment.
As mentioned above, sound absorption and reflection change in the theater depending on the weather, season, humidity, temperature, and number of spectators.
Therefore, the volume must be adjusted in real time on-site.
When screening MIDORI film, it was easy because it only required turning the volume knob on the film projector.
Ideally, it would be adjusted with the fader on the mixer.
Furthermore, blackouts could be achieved by simply holding a piece of black paper in front of the projector lens.
However, most theaters now have fixed monitors, projectors, and screens.
Furthermore, since Blu-ray is no longer in production (Horizon Blue was a Blu-ray screening), data must be sent directly from a computer.
However, generally, when you operate the computer, the operating screen reacts sensitively and is projected directly onto the screen.
This is a mistake that an artist from the film era should never make.

Furthermore, when screening a multi-screen with two separate projectors, if you use a DVD, even a slight malfunction can return you to the menu screen.

So he thinks it might be safer to use older VHS videos rather than DVDs.

It takes decades for a production at Kiryukan to be completed.

During that time, the surrounding screening equipment environment has changed significantly.
Harada says it's like "Urashima Taro (a Japanese fairy tale)" or "Planet of the Apes."

The darkness of the theater is attractive, but operating the equipment requires ingenuity and experience.

In that respect, the experimental theater of Shuji Terayama and Seazaer has been training in the dark for decades.

Operation at the 2004 Tokyo Fantastic Film Festival "MIDORI."
On the right is the keyboard that Harada plays along with the screen during the screening (playing music along with what is happening in the theater is a traditional technique used by Shuji Terayama).
The Tokyo Fantastic Film Festival was staffed by a professional sound company, so the equipment was easy to use.
For example, Harada's minidisc player is small, with small switches. This makes it easy to make mistakes in the darkness of the theater.

However, the minidisc players used by professional sound companies are large, with large switches (photo: square panel next to the keyboard).

When film was replaced by digital projectors, Harada was thinking about how to create a blackout, and he came up with this mechanism using cardboard and string. (Similar mechanisms are also used in Kabuki.)
Whenever Harada goes to see a stage show or a theatrical performance, he always looks at the operation room.
Even in a large theater that can accommodate a thousand people, he still used the same method to turn off the projector light.
After all, everyone thinks the same way.

(Video projectors always let a faint light leak out, which was a mistake that must never be made in Terayama's experimental theater.)

However, nowadays projectors are almost always fixed to the ceiling.
Even though all projection equipment has become digital, it is not very convenient when it comes to creating darkness.
In order to create complete darkness, we will have to continue to think hard about various things.

Additional note:
Terayama made frequent use of "完全暗転(complete blackouts)."
He would turn off all the lights in the theater, leaving it in complete darkness.
Nowadays, due to changes in the law, emergency lights and guide lights must be on at all times in theaters.
Seazaer, which continues Terayama's theater style, also makes frequent use of complete blackouts. Seazaer also makes frequent use of match fire, which Terayama often used.
Nowadays, fire is not allowed inside theaters, so the understanding of the theater manager is necessary to pull off these stagings.
However, we must not forget that the 1970s, when Terayama was active, was a time when the city itself was burning due to protests against the Security Treaty and other riots.