Projecting Greatness

Behind-the scenes of a larger-than-life video experience at UAlbany

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Did you know?

San Francisco airport has a new state-of-the-art Terminal named in honor of Harvey Milk.
The Harvey Milk Stamp was issued in 2014.
In 1978 Harvey Milk asked Gilbert Baker to come up with a symbol for the LGBTQ+ community. The pride flag was born!
In 1999, Milk was named one of Time Magazine's 100 Heroes and Icons of the 20th Century.
Harvey Milk Day is organized by the Harvey Milk Foundation and celebrated each year on May 22. Signed into Law by the California Governor on October 11, 2009.
The life and career of Harvey Milk have been the subjects of an opera, books, and films. These include the Shilts's biography, The Mayor of Castro Street (1982); the Oscar-winning documentary The Times of Harvey Milk by Roert Epstein (1884); and the Gus Van Sant directed drama Milk (2008).
A Navy Ship was named for Harvey Milk in 2016. Milk served in the navy from 1951-55.
Harvey Milk Plaza is currently being reimagined. Milk lived and worked on Castro Street and is famous for leading soapbox political rallies at the plaza.

Woodmere, NY

Harvey Milk was born May 22, 1930 in Woodmere, NY.

1930
1951
1955
1960s
1972
1975

Graduated from UAlbany

In the spring of 1951, Milk graduated from the New York State College for teachers, now UAlbany.

1930
1951
1955
1960s
1972
1975

Service in the Navy

He served in the Navy from 1951 to 1955.

1930
1951
1955
1960s
1972
1975

New York

After leaving the Navy, Milk went back to New York. During that time he worked as a teacher, stock analyst and Broadway production assistant. He also became more involved with politics, advocacy and demonstrations against the Vietnam war.

1930
1951
1955
1960s
1972
1975

San Francisco

In 1972, Milk moved to San Francisco and opened a camera store on Castro Street. He ran for county supervisor for the first time, and founded the Castro Village Association which advocated for LGBTQ businesses in the area - the first of its kind in the nation.

1930
1951
1955
1960s
1972
1975

Political Leadership

He narrowly lost his second bid for San Francisco City/County Supervisor in 1975. By now, he was established as the leading political spokesman for the Castro neighborhood's vibrant gay community.

1930
1951
1955
1960s
1972
1975

The life of Harvey Milk

Timeline

1930

Heading

Born in Woodmere, NY

1947-51

Heading

Went to UAlbany (Formerly known as the New York State College for Teachers)

1951-55

Heading

Served in the Navy

1955-71

Heading

Went back to New York and had jobs teaching, working as a stock analyst and a production assistant on Broadway.

1972

Heading

Milk moved to San Francisco and opened a camera store on Castro Street.

He ran for county supervisor for the first time, and founded the Castro Village Association which advocated for LGBTQ businesses in the area - the first of its kind in the nation.

1975

Heading

He narrowly lost his second bid for San Francisco City/County Supervisor in 1975. By now, he was established as the leading political spokesman for the Castro neighborhood's vibrant gay community.

1977

Heading

He ran a third time and won.

Timeline

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique.

1930

Woodmere

Harvey Milk as born May 22, 1930 in Woodmere, NY.

1947-1951

UAlbany

In the spring of 1951, Milk graduated from the New York State College for Teachers, now UAlbany.

1960s

New York City

After leaving the Navy, Milk went back to New York. During that time, he worked as a teacher, stock, analyst and Broadway production assistant. He also became more involved with politics, advocacy and demonstrations against the Vietnam war.

1972

San Francisco

In 1972, Milk moved to San Francisco and opened a camera store on Castro Street. He ran for county supervisor for the first time and founded the Castro Village Association which advocated for LGBTQ businesses in the area – the first of its kind in the nation.

1975

Political Leadership

He narrowly lost his second bid for San Francisco City/County Supervisor in 1975. By now, he was established as the leading political spokesman for the Castro neighborhood’s vibrant gay community.

1977

Milk ran for County Supervisor for a third time and won.

The New York State Writers Institute isn't afraid to take on big things: overseeing the wildly successful Albany Book Festival three years ago; leading a thought-provoking week long series of conversations on America's toxic political landscape; routinely convening the world's most interesting authors, artists and filmmakers. For them, big is no big deal.

So when Paul Grondahl, the Institute's director, announced they would launch their first Albany Film Festival, it was no surprise. But it was how they launched it that caught everyone's attention.

On April 28, 2021, the entire 195-foot-high western façade of UAlbany's Science Library—a behemoth of a building — was spectacularly illuminated in a large-scale video projection mapping event, the first of its kind in the city of Albany. Even by the Writers Institute standards, it was a very big deal.

Watch the film "Passages," in its entirety, at the bottom of the page.

Just how big of a production was it? See for yourself.

"We wanted a 'wow' factor to draw attention and interest to our first Albany Film Festival."

‍–Paul Grondahl, New York State Writers Institute
"We wanted a 'wow' factor to draw attention and interest to our first Albany Film Festival."

‍–Paul Grondahl, New York State Writers Institute

The Inspiration

To remind them of their travels, most people return home from vacation with an assortment of knickknacks. Chet and Karen Opalka brought home a cathedral.

In 2015, while in the Normandy region of France, the Opalkas — one of the area's leading arts advocates and philanthropists — were spellbound by the Rouen Cathedral light show that enveloped France's tallest church. "We said, 'Wouldn't it be awesome if we could do something like that in Albany,'" Mr. Opalka recalled.

They put their money where their hearts were and committed a $75,000 challenge grant to kick start the ambitious project in partnership with the New York State Writers Institute.

What is Project Mapping?

Simply put, projection mapping is the process of overlaying a video image onto many different kinds of display surfaces — even irregularly shaped, three-dimensional objects, such as a chair, a car or a cathedral. Through specialized software, the video is graphed onto the curves, folds, nooks and crannies of the object, which allows for eye-popping optical illusions.

Projection mapping turns the world into your canvas, and it requires much more than your grandfather's old slideshow projector. The Writers Institute's event called for six massive laser projectors, each larger than a coffee table and weighing close to 200 pounds, capable of pumping out more than 30,000 lumens (a measure of visible light emitted by a source). By comparison, an average consumer-grade projector outputs just 2,000-3,000 lumens.

Having an insane amount of light, though, is just the beginning. To pull off a successful projection mapping project, it takes months of meticulous planning, precise engineering and a creative concept worthy of the effort.

“Helping to launch the Albany Film Festival was the perfect opportunity for us to bring our love of film, visual storytelling and technology to the local community.”

–Justin Maine, MagicWig

The Production

In kicking off the inaugural film festival, Mr. Grondahl wanted to tout Albany's creative origin story and needed someone with the expertise to bring the vision to life. He found the perfect partner in Justin Maine, president and co-founder of MagicWig Productions, an Emmy award-winning creative agency in Guilderland, New York.

As with all video and film projects, the process started with a concept and a script. But the challenge here was that the idea had to not only tell a compelling story, but to spectacularly showcase the power of projection mapping. “We love creative challenges," Mr. Maine said while noting the inherent hurdles of the creative process. "Projection mapping can sometimes be reduced to pretty pictures on a building, but we wanted to not only bring the building to life, but really wanted to weave these exciting visuals into a narrative piece celebrating the region and the arts."

For more than a year, the MagicWig team finessed multiple versions of the script and honed a mountain of rough visuals down into its final polished form. It was a stunning feast for the eyes: The walls of the library appear to transform into massive 3D blocks that tumble and shift to reveal indigenous storytellers huddled under a night sky; a pre-colonial fort magically assembles from the ether; an ocean fills the building as a massive whale swims directly towards you; and the building's exterior shell vanishes to reveal an inner skeleton of gigantic gears and pistons churning in a storm of steam.

Mammoth smashes through wall, clears spaceBlue star projectionAnother sketchHarriet Tubman and other historical figures projected on row houses.

As with all video and film projects, the process started with a concept and a script. But the challenge here was that the idea had to not only tell a compelling story, but to spectacularly showcase the power of projection mapping. “We love creative challenges," Mr. Maine said while noting the inherent hurdles of the creative process. "Projection mapping can sometimes be reduced to pretty pictures on a building, but we wanted to not only bring the building to life, but really wanted to weave these exciting visuals into a narrative piece celebrating the region and the arts."

The Build

On April 28th, three massive scaffolding towers, 20 feet-high and engineered to withstand winds of up to 60 mph, were erected by a cadre of highly skilled members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 14 union under the direction of MagicWig Staging Director Don Fisher.

The structures were anchored and stabilized by multiple large water ballasts filled with hundreds of gallons of water. Once the towers were built, the industrial-strength projectors were individually hoisted to the top and set in place, ready to be aligned, calibrated and blended. This is a precise process requiring hours of painstaking work in order to achieve the seamless illusions at the heart of projection mapping. Just two days later, on the premiere night of the projection mapping event, Albany International Airport recorded wind gusts topping 45 mph throughout most of the day and into the evening. Thanks to the expertise of the crew, the scaffolding held without a problem.

The Premiere

In the daylight, the Science Library — home to the University's special collections and archives, the international student programs and the Writers Institute offices — cuts an impressive figure. At night, with nearly all of its lights out, it feels even larger, a behemoth of stone and glass.

Then, it shimmered to life.

A shower of glittering pixels danced across the entire width of the immense building transforming it into what looked like a cloud of fairy dust or a boundless galaxy of stars.

The vibrant logo of Albany Film Festival appeared, and the assembled crowd cheered.

The time had come, after years of planning, a pandemic delay, and hundreds of hours of preparation, production and problem-solving. The audience could finally behold the same magic that, years ago, inspired an awestruck couple in the north of France to bring home an experience of a lifetime.

Now, it's your turn.
A big congratulations to all involved with this production!

The beginnings at UAlbany

While at UAlbany, Milk was a sports reporter for State College News, a member of the Jewish fraternity Kappa Beta and active in student government, including an unsuccessful run for freshman class president that was one of his earliest forays into politics. Milk was a competitive intramural basketball, volleyball and softball player and wrestled on the intercollegiate team. He was also known for being outspoken — a trait that would later become a hallmark of his public life — and a prankster.

A team photo of the UAlbany softball team with Harvey Milk.
Harvey Milk (second row, second from right kneeling) was an avid sportsman during his time at UAlbany. He participated in intercollegiate wrestling and played intramural softball.
The Zanchelli wedding party.
Harvey Milk served as a groomsman (pictured above, left) at the wedding of classmates Joseph Zanchelli, BA ‘49, MA ‘50, and Joyce (Leavitt) Zanchelli ‘52.
“He was a fun guy with a good sense of humor, very intelligent and quite the jokester. He was on our softball team and, though not a star player, he enjoyed challenging the umpires. When Joyce and I asked him to be an usher at our wedding in 1951 he readily accepted and used his charm to escort the 'old ladies' down the aisle.”
—Joseph Zanchelli