Some reflection on stage design and image projection

Just finished a school project on producing a dance with full stage design and digital media art. The first similar show I saw was Blue Man Show and the reason why I'm interested in this project at the first place. The show was successful overall...however our degital media part got totally defeated by natural light. It inspires me to draw down some notes for furture reference:

1. Know you projector!!! You have no idea how frustrating it is to see the cool animation you make project onto the screen but looks like crap. It happens this time. I saw it would happen,so I was not unhappy. The next time, either move the projector much closer or maybe we should have much more profectional projectors.

2. Contrast. No matter what projecting condition you have, animation with high contrast always helps. In this case, we have dark yellow/brown pipes and gears and light gray background. It works in sense that at least the shapes come through... Anyway~

3. Don't do it at 6:00 PM!! If it's a open space with big windows and you are asked to do it with daylight outside, DON'T DO IT! The reason is simple, it's not going to work. I realize in order to have a decent project quality, it has to be a surface with limited other light sources' interuption. White surface is prefered, but it's something can work around.