BACON MOVEMENT · WHITE NIGHT

White Night
Laser design for a performance film

The moment two dancers’ movements expand into a space of light.
We designed the laser forms that appear on camera.

Client
BACON MOVEMENT
Year
2023
KNOVCOMPILE's role
Laser visual data creation
Laser projection · Banding direction
A performer dances among blue laser planes and wave-like lines.

From two bodies in motion
to scenes shaped by light.

White Night is a roughly two-minute performance film by BACON MOVEMENT. The camera follows two dancers in a dark space before blue lasers transform the scene in the latter part of the film.

KNOVCOMPILE created the visual data for these laser scenes and directed both the projected light and the forms it produced on camera.

Before the lasers A scene focused on bodily movement
Laser scene Light surrounds the two performers’ space.

From laser data
to light captured on camera.

  1. 01

    Visual data creation

    We create laser data that defines
    the patterns and transitions of light.

    Pattern · Form · Movement
  2. 02

    Laser output

    Laser scanning projectors cast
    light into the space where the performers move.

    Projector · Light plane · Space
  3. 03

    Shaping light for the camera

    Changes in data interact with camera settings
    to shape the light recorded on screen.

    Laser banding · Camera image

Laser banding is the effect of light appearing curved or divided on camera, depending on changes in the laser data and camera settings. We used these differences as expressive elements within the film.

Two scenes,
shaped by light.

Close to the performers, planes of light fold; in wider shots, they form a space surrounding both dancers. The same laser creates different scenes through framing and the forms captured on camera.

The storyboards below were newly drawn to explain the visual treatment in the finished film.

01

Planes of light folding in front of a performer

Light descends and overlaps in front of and behind the performer, continuing as waves across the floor. The curved laser planes captured on screen overlap with the body’s movement.

Reconstructed storyboard Relationship between light and performer
Filmed result Scene from the finished film
02

A space of light surrounding two performers

Wider shots reveal the full outline of the light, from its apex to the curves on the floor. Both performers move within it, with the lasers defining the scene’s space.

Reconstructed storyboard Relationship between light and performer
Filmed result Scene from the finished film

Watch the laser scenes
change on screen.

The laser sequence from the latter part of the finished film. Use the timeline below to view moments when the light planes and floor curves change.

White Night full film

Watch the full progression from the two performers’ dance into the laser scenes.

Credits

Client
BACON MOVEMENT
Work
White Night
Laser direction
KNOVCOMPILE