Herbert W. Franke
«Rotationen, Projektionen»

The computer film (computer-generated animation) for a ballet performed on the experimental stages of the Bavarian State Opera, based on an idea by Walter Haupt.
The premise of the ballet was the interplay between a dancer and technical medium. The ballet was divided into three parts in which different technical methods were respectively applied: laser beams, computer animations, and the acoustically-amplified heartbeats of the dancer. Used for the computer animation was a system available for the first time in Germany; it portrayed interactively-controlled, three-dimensional networks of lines. Limited to generating black-and-white images, this system was still in the testing phase at a research center of the Siemens firm. The selected visual elements were limited to the simplest of configurations, since the time needed to generate the image would otherwise be too long and disrupt the continuity of movement. In real time, the created image sequences showed a perfectly-ordered, overlapping of lines and geometric forms—triangles, squares, and more. Through projections, these were transformed in the three-dimensional space. Since these sequences could not be saved, they were recorded directly from the monitor with a film camera and also shown in an optical film projection during the performance.

Alfons Schilling