Michael and Mikayla sit down for their first of two Let’s Talk episodes this month and discus the progress of reopenings as they relate to arts and entertainment and the trends of digital events and experiences that have been increasing in popularity.

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Michael: Hello listeners, and welcome to our let's talk episode for July brought to you by the Arts Management and Technology Lab. I am Michael the podcast producer and technology manager.

Mikayla: And I am Mikayla Dimick a content creator for AMT lab.

Michael: Each month we bring you trending stories and discussions with the goal of exchanging ideas, bringing awareness, and staying on top of the current trends.

In this week's episode, we will discuss the progress of reopenings as they relate to arts and entertainment and the trends of digital events and experiences that have been increasing in popularity.

With Grace and Alyssa gone for at least the summer. This will be our first of two Let's Talk episodes together.

So, Mikayla, could you give a little bit more of an introduction to yourself?

Mikayla:  Absolutely Michael. So, I am a Master of Entertainment Management student at Heinz college, and I was the former social media manager for AMT lab for the last year. And so currently I'm doing remote work out of Nevada for the summer for both AMT Lab and another company that I'm interning for. And, outside of school and work, I've been doing a lot of video and video game streaming, crafting and staying inside as much as possible.

Michael: What kind of stuff have you been streaming?

Mikayla: Well, they're a mix, but the mix between comfort, a lot of Bob's Burgers and a lot of, kind of documentary/true crime content, because that seems to be popping up everywhere lately.

Michael: Alright. So, my name is Michael Butler. I'm also an Entertainment Industry Management student at Carnegie Mellon.

I have an undergraduate film degree from the University of Utah's Entertainment, Arts, and Engineering, and a computer science degree from Tidewater Community College.  I tend to focus pretty heavily on gaming and want to focus on production and project management in the future. Right now I'm working as the podcast producer and technology manager at the AMT lab, and I'm doing technical and administrative support, basically also technology management for the Thomas Merton Center.

Mikayla: Interesting. So, What kind of video game content, have you been interested during COVID or just in general for bringing you into the entertainment industry

Michael: I tend to play a lot of multiplayer games, like competitive multiplayer games. So recently I've been playing, Legends of Runeterra and League of Legends. Every once in a while I've been dipping into other things like single player RPGs that take far more hours than I actually have to complete. [Light laughter]

So that leads us into our first major topic. reopenings I think it's safe to say everyone would like if we could, you know, just return to normal, but unfortunately we can't do that just yet.

As of July 3rd, new cases are still on a rise, with a 24-hour increase of 212,326 cases according to the WHO. With the U.S. accounting for 57,718, Brazil accounting for 37,923, and India accounting for 24,850. Those are the top three contributors at the moment, with the U.S. having the highest population percentage affected daily of the three.

Despite the increases, in an attempt to return to a little bit more normal conditions many places are continuing to reopen. And in these places a lot of people aren't observing the recommended or required guidelines. This has caused locations to roll back the reopenings, such as the recent bar closures in some Nevada and California counties. Despite many places following the guidelines, a few bad actors are ruining it for everyone else.

Locations where cases are less prevalent in their climb have recently begun reopening their arts institutions. Notably those in the UK, who are also reopening their borders for small film crews without a mandatory quarantine time, and here in Pittsburgh museums are operating at about a 25% capacity.

Outside of areas where masks are mandated by local law and policy for arts institutions, we are seeing some places recommend masks, operating at reduced capacity, and requiring their staff wear PPE. But what steps and technology have we seen be successful and which do you think are going to be necessary to allow for reopenings to be successful?

Mikayla: Well, Michael currently,  there are museums in Italy that are, using, utilizing technology such as vibrating necklaces that will vibrate if you're within six feet of another person wearing a necklace, in order to help enforce social distancing policies in museums. But, I believe in most countries where it's very uncertain as to what regulations are going to be in place at any given time, a hybridization model is the most effective where you do have some events in person and some events digitally. This allows museums and visual art institutions to be able to uphold their promises to artists and their audiences by actually displaying works of art through digital means instead of going completely dark at any given time.

Michael: So, the museum of play is also reopening with strategies, similar to the ones we had mentioned, but they have also stated they'll be continuing their virtual programming through the summer, which is a step that I believe should be maintained beyond the current state of the world. Which leads us a little bit into our next topic of digital events, showcases and experiences.

We've seen a lot of innovations in the fields of entertainment and art lately. A lot of those are born out of necessity for the current situation, but many are also important steps to reaching broader digital audiences, that have been neglected. Hopefully, artists event organizers and institutions will see the value of reaching these digital spaces and we can continue to see these improvements beyond the reopenings.

One of the changes that actually started before COVID was digital and VR concerts. There are in some cases, entire venues that are now rigged with virtual reality cameras to capture any manner of event from comedy show and live music to sports events.

Within this space there is room for all sorts of things, innovations, one of which being audience participation and engagement. You can allow audience members to view each other or their avatars and vote in polls that affect the shows. But really this is just scratching the surface of the possibilities. With sporting events in particular, you can maintain the hype that some players thrive on by having digital displays of the VR event in the stadium or even include them in the virtual stands in the TV broadcast and allowing the virtual attendees to have items, supporting their teams and streaming the audio of the cheers and whoops and hollers.

For the film industry and live theater, there are also virtual theaters that have been used for playing videos and films and watching performances. One film example is an app that allows you to view a movie in a private cinema inside of a head mounted display, and pairing that with high quality surround sound or even just a pair of nice headphones can give a great experience during something like a flight, especially for people who suffer a little bit of anxiety in flight.

VR is still a very niche technology though. And without improvements to it, its accessibility, and its adoption. These experiences probably won't take off in the near future. There is some hope that with the release of the next generation of gaming consoles, particularly the PlayStation 5 and the PlayStation VR technology, that it will be more accessible sooner rather than later.

Taking a step back to just digital events though. We're also seeing concerts, screenings, premieres, and announcements taking place within games. One of the most notable was the Star Wars trailer premiere, in the Free to Play Battle Royale Shooter Fortnite, where you not only got to see the trailer, but they had exclusive gameplay elements featuring X-Wings flying around and Stormtrooper outfits that the players could equip to their avatar.

They've also hosted digital concerts in Fortnite, among other games. Some Massively Multiplayer games, like Final Fantasy 14, feature music performance tools which allow players to create their own concerts. And sometimes we'll see quite large gatherings within games to, listen to some of these live performances.

There are a lot of tools out there for this one, including some of those that Mikayla's article will be going over in the next couple of days. In the realm of conferences, we have many being canceled and the major players who would be making announcements have been putting on live streams to house the announcements. One company Devolver Digital, who is known for going above and be beyond with wacky content and marketing, even created a short high production game experience where players can explore the show floor and experience some of the content like trailers. While, this is an expensive marketing strategy, once the tools are developed, they can be reused. And that has a promising outlook for anyone who might be able to attend digitally, instead of in person for these events in the future. What do you think about these trends continuing on in general and how might the industry prepare for that future?

Mikayla: Well, tying some of the examples that you brought up in the entertainment spaces, to the arts scene. I believe that, there are some institutions looking at putting together permanent digital exhibitions and conferences, because this helps in the times of crisis that we are seeing now where no one could have seen this coming. But if there is an event, such as COVID that comes in the future, having a permanent exhibition or conference allows for there to be kind of a lesser cost of conversion from physical to digital, and it also allows for more user input. If we look back at your example of Fortnite and concerts, I believe one of the first concerts was put together by Marshmello, who did his concert for people attending virtually. And artists are actually turning to this realm as well, such as with the newest offering from Nintendo with, Animal Crossing, artists have been both creating their own original works of art on their Island. As well as recreating both visual and performance art pieces that other users can come and view by coming to visit their Island. This is actually a topic we'll be seeing more of in an article that we'll be putting on the AMT Lab website this week, going over how digital expositions and digital experiences affect the art scene and how institutions can adapt in the future towards having these as a more permanent digital strategy.

Michael: That's interesting. So, what else do you think will be most worthwhile going forward for the, arts and entertainment, creators and audiences?

Mikayla: I would say use the digital environment to their advantage by looking at what artists are doing now art institutions can predict digital trends for the future. And also looking at the digital Avenue, we can see that there is a lower cost of putting together digital events than having in person events, because you don't need to worry about the matter of where to keep people or where to keep works of art. The physical costs of having an event are no longer applicable, and there's also a higher capacity of people that can attend your events. This means that people that may not be in your time zone, or your geographic location, or those that would be financially impacted negatively by attending a conference are now able to access arts exhibitions or museum spaces that they would not have the availability to see without these digital means. So, I would say that while this digital movement came out of a sort of tragic event that has impacted our world, there are ways for the art and entertainment industries to use this, to increase how we operate and how we connect with people.

Michael: So, you mentioned COVID basically pushing forward these innovations and we talked about virtual reality, but what about augmented reality and those future innovations by institutions or for artists?

Mikayla: Well, I'm glad you bring this up because, like you stated earlier, the use of VR is a little bit of a niche community while AR is able to be developed, I feel a little more easy just because everyone has a smartphone and a camera in their pocket, as opposed to virtual reality head gear. And the arts industry has actually had some connections with the technology industry in the world of AR such as with Snapchat, there have been artists that have worked with this technology company to create AR filters that actually create digital art. And this is a topic we, again, will be going over in the article that will be available in the next few days where Snapchat and Damien Hirst, an artists that is notable for his spin art paintings, work together to create an AR filter, overlaying, a interactive spin art studio, a top of whatever landscape a cameras pointed at.

And this was born out of COVID where the tech company and Hirst. Worked together to put this filter together in order to help support COVID affected people with medical costs. So, this shows that this is an Avenue where artists and tech companies can come together, create something. And this product is able to impact people, not in just the way that art does impact people emotionally, but also making a difference in an environment where a lot of people are in a vulnerable position right now. So, I think that these are technologies that are. Definitely going to be future innovations being used by institutions and by artists as well as technology institutions, coming to the arts in order to create these innovations. So, it's a product that benefits both sides.

But all this talk actually makes me curious, Michael, how do you feel artists and arts institutions are able to create this content from their home? And, what technology do you feel can benefit those trying to put content onto digital platforms?

Michael: So, that's a pretty good question. We’ll be having an article in the near future, dealing with home studio production, but there are quite a few options when looking at producing things from home. One of the first steps you're going to want to figure out though, is deciding what you want to produce and at what level do you want to produce it. How much do you want to spend on getting the equipment necessary? I've been interested in creating video and audio content as a hobby for a while, and I've picked up some equipment along the way. So, let's talk about that equipment first though. Keep in mind that for a lot of this I am either mostly or completely self-taught, so it might not be 100% accurate.

I have a few different microphones that range in quality, and they all have some important information to know when purchasing. My first ever microphone was a Floureon BM-800. It was like 17 bucks on sale when I picked it up, about six years ago. It's a surprisingly good microphone for the price though. And, the accessories that came with it were worth the price itself, but it does have some drawbacks, which make it hard to recommend for anyone without some preexisting audio knowledge. The polar pattern for a microphone is essentially the shape that the microphone picks up sound in. And this one has a unidirectional polar pattern. So, it's only supposed to pick up sounds from a single direction, but condenser microphones are pretty sensitive. So, it does pick up room sounds pretty easily on that one. That microphone is also an XLR microphone, which an XLR microphone is just telling you what type of cable it uses to connect to something. it's a condenser microphone, like I mentioned, and those types of microphones sound much better when you speak directly towards them within the sweet spot for their polar pattern. It also means that the microphone requires an external power supply usually referred to as a phantom power supply,  in order to be effective. So overall you'll need a second device, to even use that microphone with properly. I used a cheap external power supply with mine when I first got it, and I was able to make it sound good after playing with the options for awhile.

The microphone that I'm using right now is the Blue Yeti USB microphone and it is widely regarded as one of the best microphones you can get for a lower end streamer or podcaster.  I picked up mine on sale about four or five years ago for 90 bucks, and it came with a stand  and some other stuff. The microphone is fantastic when it's used properly, though. It does require a bit of space, and again condenser microphones pick up a lot of sound in general. So, they aren't the best for a noisy environment, but it does allow you to select from four different polar patterns: cardioid, which is, is good for a single person; stereo; bi-directional, which is great for having a second speaker opposite yourself; and, omni-directional which will pick up multiple people around a table or something similar. If you're looking to invest in something that will last, this is my recommendation.

There are similar microphones to this one that are a little bit cheaper, and those might be where I would recommend someone who doesn't want to spend much to get their feet wet. I haven't used one of those and I don't know anyone who has, but I've seen, the Amazon Basics and the, I think it's, Fifine, F I F I N E USB condenser microphones be recommended as the lowest end entry devices, that still sound good. This Blue Yeti USB microphone is optimized for vocals though. So if you're looking to do instrumentals this mic might not be the best entry for you. The next one might be though.

The Blue Ember is another XLR condenser microphone. It's a low end professional microphone, but really does sound fantastic. It's, again, going to need a phantom power source of some kind. This is my go-to microphone usually, but I have already packed it up with my other audio equipment for my next move in a couple of weeks, so I'm using the Yeti USB right now. I use the Blue Ember with an XLR interface to adjust the levels and to provide that phantom power. I was doing an in-person podcast with a couple members of my program before the COVID situation. And we would have two or three mics plugged into the interface, and it did have a little bit of audio bleed from the other Cohost, but we only had a couple of episodes to really try and figure it out the levels that we needed and how loud everyone was. And, the room we are using is also super echoey, which may have been the entire problem in the first place, but it at the very least didn't help. I unfortunately haven't kept up with any of the instruments that I used to play and I'm not a good singer, so I haven't used the microphone myself for any musical production, but everything I've heard produced on, it sounds fantastic.

Because I mentioned condensers are relatively sensitive though and that they're bad for noisy environments. There is an alternative, dynamic microphones. They have a much tighter area that they pick up sound from making them better for noisier environments. I've never used one myself, but one of the more recommended ones that are in the same price range as the last two is the Audio Technica ATR-2100. I've heard some great things about it, but like I said, I can't personally vouch for that one.

Video and photography though I'm a little bit less up to… More like, a lot less up to date on, I basically did all of my filming and photography in undergrad on the same Sony DSLR that I kept checking out from the film department. There are definitely some cheaper solutions though that can make use of things that you already have. I actually use my phone as my web camera and it does a relatively good job. There are a few ways you can set it up, which use free apps from either the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, or whatever other apps store you're using, I'm sure there are some available. And, others can run through more complicated setups, but have functionality beyond being just a mobile web cam. Like with my setup, I can use my phone as my webcam, and then I can also just switch it over and start streaming like a game I'm playing on my phone or something similar.

A good webcam though, for streaming, zoom calls, and starting off with video blogs is the Logitech C922. I haven't used it myself, but it is one that I know a couple of people who use and they say it's great. If you want to get a good camera though and use it as a webcam,  that's also a possibility. There are some good guides out there to setting up DSLR cameras as a webcam.

 I'll be going much more in depth on these topics in the article that I'll be posting though. And I'll also be using that as an excuse to teach myself even more on these topics. Overall, though, there's a lot out there that creators and institutions can use to get started.

Mikayla: Oh, interesting. So, you believe that you don't need to be partnering with a huge technology companies, such as Snapchat to be putting this kind of content on digital platforms.

Michael: Yeah. So, I definitely don't think it's a requirement to partner with those platforms, but there are cases where it can definitely help boost your reach by partnering with them. Overall, you can do some simple things like creating overlay filters without too much preexistent knowledge. I had taught a colleague how to do things like those overlay frames on Facebook for his business, not too long ago, and that can be done in something like Photoshop, but there are also free alternatives, if you don't have the budget for those types of programs. Gimp is what I actually used as the Photoshop alternative to teach him. Course, to make anything more complicated, like the filter you mentioned for Snapchat earlier, you will probably need to partner with the company, or at least have someone on staff with a good amount of technical knowledge.

Other free content creation software includes Audacity for audio content, which is how we're actually recording this episode. And, that would be an alternative to something like Adobe Audition. Although I will still be editing in Audition because that's just what I'm used to. It's very easily possible to do it in audacity.

Once upon a time, I used to use Windows Movie Editor to make my YouTube videos, which I mean, I never had a really big YouTube channel, but I would say that they are very good quality YouTube videos. Which may surprise some people with that as my movie editor, but that is what I used before getting Vegas, and then switching to Premiere with my Creative Cloud subscription. Depending on how technical a creator wants to get, you can create a piece in unity, which is a game engine, but it can also be used for creating interactive virtual spaces or even just 3D movies or Machinima type projects. There are a lot of free resources to help someone put together a navigatable environment in unity, and unity is free for anyone who has made or received less than, I think it's, a hundred thousand in revenue or in funding in the past 12 months. Beyond that though, you may need to look into a license option before releasing your product, but getting development started is free.

Live streaming has also blown up for creative content recently, too. Many people are streaming creative processes and getting encouraging or helpful feedback from audiences. Let's see, XSplit and OBS both are/have free software options to allow you to stream to websites like Twitch or YouTube,  that houses live streams. Streamlabs also has audience engagement tools to make the stream more fun for everyone, pretty much, with audio and our visual call-outs for people who follow the channel, subscribe to the channel, or donate to you. These live streams can be either digital or physical content,  with physical content there are options to stream from something like a phone or you can use the earlier mentioned apps that let you use your phone as a mobile camera, that's wirelessly connected to your computer. And, that can be a permanent solution, or it can just be one to see if you like creating that type of content.

Mikayla: Great. It's definitely nice to hear that there are very reasonable ways for arts and nonprofit institutions to be taking advantage of these digital experiences that we've talked about for the course of the episode. So, I'm fairly optimistic about the future of our entertainment and arts industry and arts and entertainment managers, being able to utilize these digital avenues and hybridization models in order to effectively bring content to their audiences and for audiences to be able to consume it, regardless of if they're in person or in their own home, which in this climate is difficult to know which where one ends and where one begins.

Michael: So, I think that about covers it for this episode. Thank you for joining me, Mikayla.

Mikayla: Thank you for having me, Michael.

Michael: And we will catch y’all on the next Let’s Talk episode.

Alyssa: Thanks for listening to the Arts Management and Technology Lab podcast series. You can read more on the intersection between the arts and technology at www.amt-lab.org Or, you can listen to more interviews and discussions in our podcast series on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play or Stitcher. Thank you for joining us.

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