Video Design & Live Performance
Exploring the intersection of cinematic narrative and physical space through immersive projection mapping and audiovisual installations.
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Portfolio Selection
The Tempest (2022)
with Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Irish Classical Theater at Kleinhans Music Hall
Category
Video Design
Video designer Brian Milbrand has become a large part of the Buffalo theater scene. His work seems to be everywhere. His design for A Midsummer Night’s Dream is inspired, and perfectly measured to Kleinhans, making brilliant use of its architecture while augmenting the play with a sense of enchantment.
The Hairy Ape (2015)
at Torn Space Theater
Category
Video and Surround Sound Design
Milbrand’s “live surround sound” and Justin Rowland’s sound design is powerfully alive. It’s not often sound gets its creative due, and this makes the best argument for it I’ve seen – heard – in ages
Bridges of Madison County (2020)
at Kavinoky Theater
Bridges of Madison County (2020)
at Kavinoky Theater
The other ‘star’ is the video and photos captured by
Brian Milbrand: he and director Loraine O’Donnell, with Copps and Roberts, traveled to Iowa to pose at the storied bridge and other locations. This element that the Kav is elevating to higher art form grows on me each time I see it so artfully done on this stage.
Big Fish (2019)
at Second Generation Theater
Category
Video Design
"Themes and locations are whimsically suggested by Milbrand's superior videography"
Hairspray (2019)
Theatrical Video Design & Live Feed Integration
Category
Theater Design
"You’ll love all the 60s references from the historic photos and vintage videos which appear on the back wall, courtesy of videographers Brian Milbrand and Holly Johnson."
Video Projects
Science Fiction Double Feature
at Kavinoky Theater
Category
Video Design
Cell Phone Show Ending
with Nimbus Dance
Category
Video Design
Down to the River
Cinematic Performance Piece
Category
Video Design
Silent Night
with Buffalo Opera Unlimited
Category
Video Design
Forbidden Fruit Flies (The Outlaw Show)
with Real Dream Cabaret
Category
Video Design
The whole surrealistic affair is narrated by Mary Whitehouse (Milbrand, in drag), the conservative crusader who campaigned to ban films and television programming in the United Kingdom. "We wrote act after act after act banning film after film after film," she says proudly. To illustrate her points, Whitehouse shows examples of depraved films (also produced by cabaret members), which -- squeamish viewer beware! -- include graphic scenes of torture and sex.
The whole thing ends, in spectacular fashion, with a virtuosic, hallucinogenic, four-screen projection by Milbrand that sucks all the air out of the room and inspires far more dread than laughter. It's the highlight of this manic evening of boundary-breaking performance, and more than enough reason to venture out to Torn Space to see the show. It feels a little bit like breaking the law.
Woyzeck's Dream
Theatrical Dreamscape Projection from Woy/Ubu
Category
Video Design