Special Cloth Things

[DanielArkley]

I saw while doing Rock Challenge (Stu!) the use of floods to light up cloths at the back of the stage. Are these cloths called coloramas? I seem to remember our old Head of Drama telling the lighting club that we had a colorama, and at the time had no idea what it meant!

 

If it IS a colorama, how easy is it to produce even colour washes over one using 4 CCT floods?

 

Ta.

[Stu]

Although I have incredibly little recolection of Rock Challenge, if your using a big white sheet at the back of your stage it is referred to as a cyc.

 

They are normally white, or an off white (probably because it's been sunned that colour over time! :().

 

4 floods will light a cyc evenly of about 20ft - providing they are asymmetrical (so more light goes down that up from the flood) as oppossed to symmetrical (where light goes equally in both directions).

 

Remember if you want to use several colours you'll have to have 4 floods of each colour to do the job - so for instance for a Red, Blue and Green cyc you'll need to do the following on the cyc bar :

 

--------------Cyc-------------- Cyc on Bar

--RGB     RGB     RGB     RGB-- LX Bar infront of Cyc

 

As normal, experiment til it looks right.

 

Hope this makes sense!

 

Stu

[Rob]

If it IS a colorama, how easy is it to produce even colour washes over one using 4 CCT floods?

 

This all depends on how big the cyc is (height and width) and how far away the lamps are. Once you know those you can work out what your coverage will be like.

[NickLee]

If you haven;'t got asymmetric floods, you could at a push put some silks in to try and make them a bit more even. Not as good, I know, but it might just make that difference...

 

N.

[euan]

Cyc is short for cyclorama... hence the "colourama" mentioned.

 

Cyc from the greek cyclos meaning circle.

lorama from the greek horama meaning small furry monkey divots (I think)

 

 

 

 

sorry

[Kate Bonney]

Sorry about Euan, long day... plus HE is a monkey divot.

 

CYCLORAMA

Usually shortened to just "cyc" (pronounced sike). The Cyclorama is a curved plain cloth or plastered wall filling the rear of the stage or TV studio. Often used as a "sky" backing to a traditional set, or as the main backing for a dance piece etc. The term is often loosely applied to a blue skycloth, or any flattage at the rear of the stage. Although strictly a cyc should be curved, most cycs are flat with curved wraparound ends. A more effective backing can be obtained by hanging a sharkstooth gauze just in front of the plain white cyc which gives a hazy effect of distance.

From Greek Cyclos (circle) and Horama (view or vision).

 

Hope that explains it somewhat. Info came from the glossary on this wesite. Quite a useful reference.

 

Got to go make sure Euan takes his nap.

 

K

[Matt]

"lorama from the greek horama meaning small furry monkey divots (I think)"

 

love it, hah hah. we just use some canvas, which we keep all nicely rolled up and stored out of the way of the little brats, aka school children, who seem to have a tendency of screwing about with things that cost a lot, and not touching the cheap nasty stuff.

[Bryson]

Hope that explains it somewhat. Info came from the glossary on this wesite. Quite a useful reference.

 

Yes, that's Jon Primrose's site. It's very useful.

 

(Useless fact: Theres a chapter in Danny Wallaces new book "Join Me" that has Jon Primrose in it...I was sat there thinking: hang on, I know him!)

[Stu]

Hope that explains it somewhat. Info came from the glossary on this wesite. Quite a useful reference.

 

Yes, that's Jon Primrose's site. It's very useful.

 

(Useless fact: Theres a chapter in Danny Wallaces new book "Join Me" that has Jon Primrose in it...I was sat there thinking: hang on, I know him!)

Ah-ha you've read it too? Top book...

 

Stu