What would happen if a mouse and cursor suddenly commanded the same kind of power OUTSIDE a computer that they do inside? That question was the inspiration for Marco Tempest’s newest creation, the “Marcomaus.”
The Marcomaus piece is constructed from a number of small “techno magic” effects, and can be scripted in many different ways. It is specifically imagined for one of two environments: that of a television talk show, or of a large corporate meeting. Within the piece, we can take the audience to different locales…real and virtual. The context can be that of demonstrating a new product or visiting another part of the world. Within the structure of the piece, bizarre and hysterical things happen…the mouse clicking on objects, both on screen and in the real world…has unexpected effects. The mouse pointer suddenly comes out of the screen and flies about the room. The mouse develops a “personality.” It can “attack” people, and interact with them in other ways. We “lose control” at some point…and may need to use a client’s newest technology to regain that control. The script below is a sample.
As a preliminary demonstration, Marco asks a cameraman at a meeting or on a television talk show to turn the cameras on the audience. “I’ll show you what my new invention can do…” he comments, taking out a small box which turns out to contain a large physical representation of a computer cursor – the familiar “arrowhead,” and a wireless mouse. Marco clicks the mouse once, and the cursor flies across the stage and onto the screen. Waving his mouse in the air, Marco proceeds to click on the images of different audience members. One of them is apparently wearing a wig, which flies into the air. Another looks particularly sour or unhappy…when Marco clicks on them to “cheer them up”, they slump over and “deflate,” instead. Obviously, his new technology has some bugs! He IS able to “click and drag” one audience member from their seat and up onto the stage with him…this person will be Marco’s Guest; the one to ask Marco about the powers of the Marcomaus, and to go on the ensuing adventures with him.
The Marcomaus has unlimited range. To demonstrate, Marco brings up an image of the earth, and clicks on North America, right where New York City would be. We see a shot of Times Square. Marco clicks on the various neon advertising signs—one by one, they all turn into advertisements for Marco! Next, we see a classic shot of the New York skyline at night. Marco clicks on it, and the city goes dark.
Next, it’s onto Paris. All it takes is one click from the MarcoMaus for the Eiffel Tower to erupt in a spectacular fireworks display. Next, we might see a vintage looking piece of stock footage, showing several buildings. When Marco clicks—you guessed it—one of the buildings crumbles.
At this point, Marco’s Guest is really impressed—and curious. While Marco is busy operating the mouse, the Guest walks “into” the large screen, in order to see how the MarcoMaus works. A moment later, Marco notices the Guest is no longer on stage, but in the large screen image. The Guest touches the mouse pointer and it jumps away from him. “I wouldn’t touch that if I were you” warns Marco. But The Guest continues to poke at the pointer. After a few pokes, the pointer suddenly changes personality, as if it has become possessed. The pointer spins around on it’s axis, and starts poking back at the Guest.
“What’s going on? Marco, make it stop!” But by now, Marco has lost control of this demonstration. “Give me your hand—I’ll pull you out of there!” Marco yells. The Guest then reaches his hand outside of the large screen. But just as Marco grabs the Guest’s hand to pull him out, the MarcoMaus clicks on the Guest’s arm, and Marco ends up pulling the hand out, unattached to the Guest’s body!
The Guest is now frozen on screen—but his hand, which Marco is holding, keeps moving! And it gets worse for the Guest. The pointer clicks on his hair, transforming it to bright red curls. A few clicks later, The Guest has been transformed into a woman. We see her yell (but we hear The Guest’s voice) “get me out of here Marco!”
The pointer then “unfreezes” the transformed The Guest. He/she runs out of the large screen, yelling “help! Make it stop! HELP!” As we see the woman (who continues to yell in The Guest’s voice) run out of the large screen and onto the stage, we see that the MarcoMaus pointer is following her! She runs backstage, and we pick up the action on the large screen screen, as our camera follows her.
The pointer soon stops chasing the woman, and finds a backstage control panel. Suddenly, it starts clicking on various switches—lights start flashing, props crash down from above, pyro goes off everywhere! Marco’s demo is out of control. From backstage, we hear The Guest scream, “Marco, stop this thing or you’ll never work in television again!” Then, Marco gets an idea. “Hey, maybe you can give me a hand.”
Marco then puts the Guest’s hand into the large screen. Once it’s in the screen, the hand starts activating a series of on-screen controls, and eventually presses a button that says “re-boot.” A few moments later, the screen blinks off and on for a second, and we see the basic mouse pointer in its original familiar position.
”But what about me?” we hear the Guest’s voice ask. The on screen hand then snaps its fingers, and The Guest reappears—missing one hand, of course. He then reaches for the detached hand, places it back on his arm, shakes his fist angrily at the mouse pointer, and walks out of the large screen and onto the stage.
Marcomaus is always growing. Each time it is performed, we discover new and interesting things it can do. The technology can be used within the context of another speaker’s Powerpoint presentation…on either a very large or very small scale. Marco and his mouse love new challenges…especially those coming from YOUR creative team. So by all means…do call and challenge us soon! |
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