Live Vs. Taped

The planetarium/star theater community, like any other professional community, has its standard practices and controversies about them. They don’t rise to the level of scorched-earth politics (usually, unless you happen to bring up “global warming” or “Pluto is/is not a planet” in a discussion group) but there are a few topics that are guaranteed to stir up some strong emotions. One of them used to be “live vs. taped” shows.

Back in the early days, before automated projector banks, planetarium lecturers had to rely on pushing buttons as they lectured for images to come up, and do this while they were talking. This could get complex if a planetarian had a lot of images to bring up in just the right sequence. If somebody was good at it, they were smokin’. If they weren’t… well, think about how it feels nowadays to watch people do PowerPoint presentations… trying to mouse and talk at the same time.

In the 1970s, automati0n started coming into the planetarium, and that meant the lucky planetarian could program a show to happen without having to push buttons live. Add in a soundtrack and you had a nice presentation that was the same for everybody who came to the theater (barring a slide projector jamming or a power outage, or something like that). That practice grew, and so did the discussions about whether a live or a taped presentation was better.

Nowadays, with fulldome digital video theaters on the rise, the ability to simply push a button and play a movie to deliver significant, good, entertaining content is a good one to have. It doesn’t preclude live presentations, but it does allow greater flexibility for planetarians who want, above all, to deliver a message about astronomy in the best, most efficient, and hopefully entertaining and educational way possible.

So, I said up there that there USED to be a controvery about live vs. taped. Actually, there still is. But, now it seems to center around whether or not we should have live star talks or taped star talks. My answer: whatever works for YOU (in your theater).

You see, I’ve done both. And, I can definitely see the need for both types of shows. There are times when a planetarian want to have interactivity with your audience (say, a teacher with students doing an interactive session in a small dome, for example). But, there are facilities that see much larger crowds, or don’t have enough trained staff to do star talks, or for many other reasons wish to show a taped star talk. What to do?

A few years ago, at the request of a colleague who wanted to experiment with taped star talks because he couldn’t give all the star talks at his facility and he didn’t have access to trained staffers to help out, I scripted a set of taped star talks. He was happy and we decided to take that kernal of an idea and turn them into fulldome video presentations (you can read about them here).

Once we (Mark and I at Loch Ness Productions) publicized them, we came in for praise AND criticism. That was to be expected, given the passions that such things ignite among our colleagues. I’m happy with the way they turned out, and those who have gotten them (or seen them) are impressed, too. So, I conclude that there’s room for both and I don’t suggest that one replaces the other. Each has its place.

So, what ties this to yesterday’s commentary is what goes in a star show (whether live or taped)? As I mentioned yesterday, I prefer not to go hot and heavy into the star legends in my live (or taped) talks. It’s a matter of choice, but one that stems from my own childhood frustration at not being able to see those patterns in the sky that I saw in the elaborate star maps that some of the books had. I remember feeling really dumb because I thought I was the only one not seeing those patterns. Then, when I first visited the planetarium, it dawned on me that there were simpler patterns to see, and easier ways to learn the night sky, without all the confusing mythological patterns.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. I love the star myths. And, there’s a place for them in certain types of star presentations. But, I still think that a good beginning star talk should simply show people around the sky, minus the street theater.

Astronomy is a fun science, but like anything else with levels of complexity, it can seem daunting at first. Sometimes you have to start simple and work your way over to the complex stuff (like the star legends or the science topics) once you’ve made sure that the audience members have a good feel for finding their way around the sky.

What DO They Do?

I want to put my planetarium hat on here and talk about star talks. You may, if you go to the planetarium regularly (or even if you went to one in the past) have heard a star talk. In the trade, we call them the “green arrow shows” because the presenters used to (and some still do) chase stars around the sky with a green-arrow flashlight while pointing out the stars and constellations. Nowadays, we also use red pointers, or sometimes a mouse arrow if we’re using a digital system. Star talks can be done live (with a living, breathing person doing the talking “in the moment”) or as a pre-recorded presentation. Either way is effective.

These shows are a staple of star theater repertory. If you’re a good story teller and can bring the stars alive with some flair and elegance, chances are your audiences will come away having learned a little bit about the night sky and some memorable legends.

So Easy Even a Cave Person Can Do It

Now, people have been telling stories about the night sky ever since the first cave person stepped outside, looked up, and saw those little twinkling lights in the sky and tried to explain them to the rest of the clan. Over the millennia, all kinds of star tales and legends and lore have sprung up. And, many of those stories get told around the planetarium campfire each day, ranging from the ancient Greek myths, which may be based (in part or at least in spirit) on older Mesopotamian myths and legends. There are also Egyptian legends, Native American legends, many flavors of Asian star lore, as well as African tales, and stories of the Australian, South American, Inuit, and Pacific Islands peoples.

Instant Diversity

There’s a lot of interest in these tales for a number of reasons. First, they have many similarities while at the same time have different flavors that come from the different cultures where they were hatched. Second, they often tell stories with morals or important teaching and social goals (sort of like the way fairy tales teach important lessons cloaked in fantasy). Third, they allow a sort of “instant diversity” in the dome, allowing an astute storyteller to bring a lot of cultural material to help teach important science lessons about observation, patterns in the sky, and seasonal change in the skies.

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

So, is there a down side to these talks? Not in talking about the stars. I encourage star talks, whether live or recorded. Knowing the night sky used to be a survival skill; now it’s part of what makes a human well-educated, whether he or she uses them to survive or simply know more about the universe.

I do think there is a danger of trying to do too much in a given star talk. Why do I say that? Because the night sky, a resource that is NOT available to all people equally, given the vicissitudes of light pollution, lousy weather, or lack of access, can be a bit overwhelming the first time someone looks at it. The first thing you think is “Wow, so many stars!” And your mind tries to make sense of what you’re seeing.

The key is simplification: simply tell people about what they’re actually seeing in the sky. Help them learn THAT before inundating them with half a dozen or a dozen cultural myths that aren’t well illustrated by what you’re actually seeing in the sky.

Look, the starry night is beautiful all on its own. There’s nothing like stepping outside and just confronting the stars, letting them shed their light onto your retinas. And, if you watch long enough, you start to see patterns in the stars. THOSE are the first things that a star talk should address. HOW to find one’s way among the stars and recognize Betelgeuse or Orion or the Big Dipper or Vega or the Andromeda Galaxy or any of the hundreds of other celestial delights that are up there.

After you get through the basics, and people are clear about how to find their way around, then yeah… let’s bring on the cultural street theater of the stars. Those are fun stories and I love reading them all. But they’re not the first thing I would choose to tell people in a star talk. I want them to know the stars first, without the cultural trappings, before moving on to the legendary aspects of humanity’s perceptions of the night sky.