U*F^#O?

Overview

Type: Projection Mapping / Media Design Performance

Role: Solo Project, Visual Design, Editing, Script, Narrative Concept

Tools: After Effects, Premiere Pro, QLab, Projection Mapping

Stage Context: Media Design final project

U*F^#O? is a projection-mapping performance that blends visual storytelling, sound design, and stage architecture to portray a middle-aged scientist’s surreal descent into paranoia after an encounter with a UFO. Set against the uncanny aesthetic of the 1950s, the piece adopts a pseudo-documentary style, warping reality into glitch, static, and hallucinatory imagery.

Background & Inspiration

The project began with a fascination for mid-century UFO hysteria and how media—especially television—shaped public imagination. I wanted to create a performance where the stage becomes a malfunctioning TV, trapping a character inside his own fractured mind.

Visually, the piece draws from:

• 1950s propaganda reels

• analog TV distortion

• documentary tone shifts

• horror-film overexposure

The goal was to create a performance where every cue—sound, projection, glitch—reflects the protagonist’s deteriorating mental state.

My Role

As a solo media designer, I created every part of the piece:

Visual Design

• Designed all projection content

• Built a stage-sized “vintage television frame” using projection mapping

• Developed visual transitions representing mental disintegration (color breakdowns, shadow distortion, overexposure)

Narrative Structure

The performance follows a three-act emotional descent:

distorted newscast → haunted forest hallucination → absurd rap break → collapse into dystopian vines.

The background music includes lyrics written by me, composed and performed in collaboration with Parker Tey. Together, the visuals, sound, and narrative pacing create a continuous psychological spiral that mirrors the scientist’s unraveling perception of reality.

Technical Execution

• Mapped projections onto multiple stage surfaces

• Coordinated timing with sound cues

• Aligned floor projections with rising vertical panels for the final vine sequence

Process

1. Visual Worldbuilding

I started by constructing a pseudo-1950s broadcast aesthetic:

• monochrome newsreel overlays

• analog glitch artifacts

• warped lens distortion

These elements introduced instability from the first frame, grounding the entire piece in ambiguity.

2. Projection Mapping Structure

The stage was reframed as a vintage television—an intentional constraint that created a “screen-within-a-stage.” This allowed the scientist’s journey to feel simultaneously cinematic and claustrophobic.

3. Scene Transitions & Mood Shifts

The middle section plunged into a forest hallucination: twisted trees, choking vines, flickering shadows. The soundscape mixed digital interference with organic ambience, suggesting the scientist’s mind is merging with something alien.

4. Absurdity as Disruption

To break the horror spiral, I added a sudden surreal rap interlude with disco light projections. This intentionally jarring shift reflects how paranoia can mutate into humor, confusion, or mania.

5. Final Breakdown

In the last sequence, the stage drains of color. Projected vines crawl up from the floor and climb the panels—symbolically digesting the last remnants of coherence.