Tag: media star

Lip Reading…

Yesterday I did my second day of senior shows and it was a lot of fun. I think I may finally be figuring out how to make my coat hanger thru silk routine work. I just need to let the effect marinade and sit with the audience even longer. The trick is a very strong and visual trick, and I think brains just take a long time to process it.

Another thing I’m learning is how much people use their eyes to listen. When we listen we also do a lot of lip reading. When someone is masked, it’s harder to understand them because we can’t lip read. This makes a ton of sense looking into the past. For example my wife uses the captions when she watches movies on a smaller screen like her phone. It makes it easier for her to “hear”. Because of this I’m talking a lot more slowly and deliberately in my shows.

-Louie

Adding Production Elements

While I was on the road last week I ran the production for my buddy’s in person show. I’ve been running the production for his virtual show, so I know his show well. I can’t imaging having to run tech for a show I’ve never seen off of a cue sheet!

One of the cool things about doing virtual shows is that it’s taken a bit of the mystery out of using production elements in my show. Typically I’m a one person operation, so one of the challenges for me was how to use video projection.

Here’s what I did the other night:

The ATEM mini camera switcher that I’ve recently added to my virtual shows, I used for the camera feed in my in person show the other night.

I simply used the Fade To Black (FTB) button on the right to turn the video projection on or off. This was on the floor and luckily due to the placement of the button, it was easy to tap with my toe!

This allowed me to add the camera and be able to easily control it without adding a laptop and running the Media Star software to the mix. I’m not opposed to using a laptop as part of my show production…but this is a lot smaller and more convenient for smaller shows.

Production Value…

Over the last year or so I’ve been wanting to add more production value to my show. One of the ways is using video elements, the added bonus to using video elements is that using them takes up virtually no space in your case, but can play extremely big! The challenge is that it’s hard … Continue reading “Production Value…”

Over the last year or so I’ve been wanting to add more production value to my show. One of the ways is using video elements, the added bonus to using video elements is that using them takes up virtually no space in your case, but can play extremely big! The challenge is that it’s hard to run if you’re a solo show that plays places that have minimal tech.


On the recommendation of a friend who is a hypnotist, I ordered the Media Star Pro.

Media Star Pro live show control


This is a remote system for music and video. I haven’t used it in a show (yet), but really like how it works at home. I’ll be trying it out at a live show soon.


The hidden bonus with Media Star Pro is that it comes with software to run music, and video with. This software was pretty easy to use, and my first attempt at running something “complex” is going to be for a workshop I’m teaching in about a week. It’s going to have still images and video in the presentation and I’ll be suing the Media Star Pro to run that. We’ll see if I still like it after that!