Description
Design and integrate projected media for theater, film, television, live events, and exhibits. Interpret scripts and concepts to create content, projection mapping, and playback systems; collaborate with directors and designers to meet artistic, technical, budget, and venue constraints.
- • Survey venues, surfaces, and sightlines to plan projector placement, scale, and coverage.
- • Source or commission video, imagery, and motion graphics; manage licensing and clearances.
- • Create storyboards, projection plots, and scaled drawings showing projector positions, lenses, screens, and cable runs.
- • Meet with directors, producers, and designers to define creative goals, scope, schedule, budget, and technical needs.
- • Estimate costs for projectors, media servers, lenses, screens, rigging, content creation, and labor.
- • Develop projection concepts and content based on scripts, research, and available surfaces or LED options.
- • Lead and coordinate load-in, rigging, and system integration to meet design, budget, and schedule.
- • Calibrate and verify systems, including focus, keystone, warping, edge blends, brightness, and cueing.
- • Plan for venue constraints such as throw distance, ambient light, power, heat, noise, and safety.
- • Present designs and budgets for approval; revise to address narrative, technical, or budget limits.
- • Produce previsualizations and animatics with detailed specifications for resolution, aspect ratio, frame rate, and color space.
- • Specify and arrange rental or purchase of projectors, lenses, media servers, screens, mounts, and control hardware.
- • Coordinate with scenic, lighting, video, and sound teams to align cues, brightness, color, and placement.
- • Research visual references, typography, and period media to support storytelling and accuracy.
- • Design projection surfaces or select materials such as screens, scrims, cyc, or scenic treatments to optimize image quality.
- • Plan strike, equipment returns, and archival of media and show files.
- • Curate and prepare media assets, textures, footage, and animations as digital props within scenes.
- • Consult with venue and IT staff on power, networking, HVAC, and environmental conditions to protect gear and performance.
- • Assign and supervise content artists, programmers, and technicians; review iterations and technical drawings.
- • Attend rehearsals to refine timings, masks, and content to performer blocking and camera angles.
- • Build projection maquettes, tests, or miniature mockups; create mapping templates from scenic models.
- • Analyze scripts and shot lists to determine content, cueing, and surface requirements.
- • Participate in production meetings to coordinate schedules, notes, and change management.
- • Hire and manage rental houses, riggers, content vendors, and integrators.
- • Deliver documentation, cue sheets, operator manuals, and media backups; support marketing captures as needed.
- • Implement media and equipment security, including content encryption, watermarking, and access controls.
- • Coordinate shipping, on-site setup, alignment, and commissioning for touring or off-site productions.
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Related Pathways
Arts, Entertainment, & Design
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Tasks & skills:
O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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Sources & Standards:
This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
