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  • 1.  Night Projection?

    Posted 02-05-2018 14:32

    We are toying around with different ideas for Peter Pan and the "flying." We don't have the ability to rent or assemble a true fly system, so obviously we want to be safe. 

    One of the ideas we are looking in to is using a night projection. (one that would maybe have movement?)

    The ones I've see are used for a small bedroom. Do you know of anything that would work in a gym and hit a larger area?
    Anyone use something similar? Thanks for the help!

    --
    Erika Trahan
    Kaplan High School
    Speech and Theatre




  • 2.  RE: Night Projection?

    Posted 02-06-2018 08:01
    I find those laser projection machines to be useful to a degree if your okay with green stars and if they come in clusters or move evenly around the space. I can tell you I bought a few years ago the expensive version from Rosebrand, and other than just covering a larger area, it was no better than the cheap ones from Home Depot Holiday Section. In some sense it was worse because you could control brightness, but not movement, so it was always moving. Frustrating for the major money spent on it. 

    I have done some night projection with actual projectors. The problem is you have to find a bright enough one to cut through your lighting. If you just use side or overhead lighting away from the projected surface you should be okay, but night skies are hard to see. I did it for the end of Charlie Brown and I layered in some swaying trees and a shooting star, and it turned out really nice. 


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    Dan Mellitz
    Technical Director
    St Andrews School
    Barrington, RI
    Www.techiegreenroom.com
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Night Projection?

    Posted 02-06-2018 09:36
    Responding in hopes that I will get updates to this discussion. We are also brainstorming the technical aspects of this show right now, so I'm looking forward to the ideas generated!

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    Darlene Shaw
    Drama Coach
    LaGrange GA
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Night Projection?

    Posted 02-06-2018 14:48
    We did Peter Pan in June and puzzled over that very thing.  No ability to do any kind of flying, and thoughts that crossed our head were to use UV light with the actors who were flying being held up by crew who were in black, or filming it against a green screen and then doing the whole thing as a video projection

    In the end we kept it simple, after I saw what Ozark Actor's Theatre did (on Youtube - below),  We took that simple and effective idea, and expanded it to use Gobo filters that I made out of aluminum oven liner in the shape of our actors and had the gobo lights revolving around the theatre.

    It worked out quite nicely.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsWlZudrTGk

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    Margaret Watt
    Artistic Director
    Mountain Dream Productions
    Victoria BC
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Night Projection?

    Posted 02-06-2018 22:22
    Brainstorming, I would uplight the actors.  Lighting is typically from above in everyday life, so uplighting would make it feel like they were above the world.  Depending on how bright it is, you could also cast shadows from the actors to create larger-than-life shadow puppets.  You could use a handful of star gobos to make the whole stage the sky.

    If you can elevate actors, even slightly on a platform, they would feel farther away from the ground.  You can also consider shorter, moving wagons to add movement.

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    Sydney Thiessen
    Fine & Performing Arts Coordinator and Technical Director
    Reynolds High School
    Troutdale OR
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Night Projection?

    Posted 02-07-2018 06:19
    I have seen it done with projectors projecting a night sky across the back of the stage where multiple units project the sky onto a cyc, you could also light the stage in a dark blue, not sure if your followspot can accept gobos but you could do moving clouds in those.  and you could always use star gobos in your ellipsoidal fixtures

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    Jerry Onik
    V.P. Theatrical Supplies and Equipment
    Omaha NE
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    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Night Projection?

    Posted 02-08-2018 15:08
    Hi Erika (and others:)

    You could definitely use projections to create the illusion of flying on stage.

    You could have your actors climb out the window of the room and then switch over to a video projection animating over the rooftops of London or even just passing through clouds on a starry night sky.

    Another approach would be to change the perspective. So you could transition to the actors standing staggered on something like rehearsal blocks, and have the ground passing beneath them like the audience is viewing them from a bird's eye perspective.

    And of course, the green screen idea of pre-filming your actors is a good one too.

    If you're projecting in gym the main thing I would focus on is getting a bright enough projector to really make the background vivid. And since the scene is night anyways, you may be able to light your actors with a spot or separately so that you keep ambient stage light off your projection screen.

    Feel free to get in touch with me if you'd like any specific consulting or just want to brainstorm. Bottom line is there are a lot of cool ways to achieve this effect and it's only going to get better as the technology does!

    Cheers,
    Mitch

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    Mitch Stark
    Founding Creative Director
    TheatreAve.com
    mitch@freedomhouseproductions.com
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    Original Message


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