Moon Effect

[Beacon]

Hi guys, my school is putting on a show in which a moon needs to appear 'as if through clouds'. We are on a very little, in fact minimal budget and I was woundering what you guys would do and if you can help with a cheep rental/donation of an effect to the school for the week of the production.

 

Message back Jay

[Tom Baldwin]

Have you considered using an overhead projector? If you can get the projector into a position where it can project the image where you want it, without being conspicuous, you can do a very nice version of this for the cost of two inkjet prints onto acetate:

 

You could print two transparencies, one of the moon itself - the moon shouldn't be too large on this transparency, and one of streaky clouds at night. The clouds should cover the entire transparency, and should have an area which is really dark (to hide the moon), as well as an area which is much more transparent.

 

At the start of the effect, cover the moon transparency with the darkest part of the cloud transparency. As the effect progresses, move the cloud transparency so its clearer area overlaps the moon, while keeping the moon transparency still. The moon will then appear.

 

There are still some challenges to overcome: it's impossible to get a perfectly black (0% transmission) print from an inkjet printer, so you may need to mask the moon image with some black card. But you might find the slight amount of light which gets through looks more realistic. Also, overhead projectors aren't that bright compared with stage lighting, so you'll need to make sure there's not much light on the area you're projecting to.

 

There are automated variations on the above idea, but they all cost more money and use equipment unlikely to be found in a school. You could of course get a camcorder, wait for a cloudy night with a full moon, video this and then video project it, but it depends on having a decent video projector available, and there are other problems to solve here as well.

 

Can you tell us more about the situation, and I'm sure there are plenty more ideas people can provide.

 

Tom

[Tom]

Just checking but does the script say you actually have to see the moon?

 

Sometimes things like this are better left to the audience imagination. A good lighting effect could reproduce the effect of moon light cutting across the stage. A rapid fading up and down might work for clouds passing in front of it.

 

But this may not be what you want. :blink:

[Guest lightnix]

How about a simple gobo effect ?

 

DHA do a metal Moon gobo (No. 7220), which can be made to look quite good.

 

If your budget is a tad higher then you might want to splash out on a photorealistic (and more fragile) glass one (No. 700/G). DHA do one, but Projected Image have a slightly wider choice (see this page of their catalogue).

 

With a bit of judicious defocussing and some experimentation with strips of one eighth Hamburg Frost you should be able to get what you're after.

[Ben]

the show im currently working on dpoes this very well using a light box that is faded up when it is needed to apear but is otherwise covered with painted gauze so it is invisable

 

just an idea :blink:

[gareth]

the show im currently working on dpoes this very well using a light box that is faded up when it is needed to apear but is otherwise covered with painted gauze so it is invisable

 

just an idea :blink:

One of the oldest (and most effective) tricks in the book, that one. Known as a 'moon box' (for fairly obvious reasons!).

 

Basically, you make a shallow wooden box, with a cutout in the front face in the moon shape that you want ot achieve (full, crescent, whatever). Put some really heavy diffusion over the cutout, paint the inside of the box white, fill it with things that light up (Linolites work well, but ordinary GLS lamps around the edge will do just fine), hang it immediately upstage of the cloth upon which you wish the moon to appear (this is, in fact, one of the very few times in your life when you might find that 'touching cloth' is actually desirable :blink: ), fade it up, and watch the magic happen ...

[Beacon]

cheers guys, there is some good idels there, ill give a few a go.

 

As for the moon being in the script its something the director has come up with but then I will sugest the fading ray of light thing to him and see what he says.

 

The ideas here should be enough but anyone got anymore?

 

 

J

[Matt]

http://www.dhalighting.com/goboview.php3?g...0.gif&mat=Metal here is some clouds from the dha site that lightnix suggested, you can get "daylight" gels, which are like a very lightish blue, in my mind I can picture using this on a profile aimed at the moon, then using a stronger profile or projector to project the image onto/through these clouds. could look good.

 

I like the idea of the moon and clouds, seems reasonably good, might try it myself.

[andy_s]

Have you considered using an overhead projector? If you can get the projector into a position where it can project the image where you want it, without being conspicuous, you can do a very nice version of this for the cost of two inkjet prints onto acetate:

Very good idea: We've used OHPs in a couple of shows (not for moons): we found some that were 400W 4000 lumens, and were able to cope pretty well in competition with stage lighting. (obviously, don't shie anything at the screen you're projecting onto in direct competition with the projected image!). RS catalogue has a NOBO model at 400W 4200lumens, for nearly £500, but I was able to find similar much much cheaper from a company called GLS, which sells educational equipment to schools. If you order something through them, however, order well in advance of needing the items, and be prepared to be very very patient. I wouldn't really recommend them except on grounds of cost.

[themadhippy]

One of the oldest (and most effective) tricks in the book, that one. Known as a 'moon box'

cheers gareth youve just identified something in our raven store :blink: ,often wondered what that box with a hole in it was for :blink:

[Brian]

RS catalogue has a NOBO model at 400W 4200lumens, for nearly £500

Just spotted in the Staples catalogue, NOBO 4500 lumen unit for £230

[Ben]

snip snip ... fill it with things that light up (Linolites work well, but ordinary GLS lamps around the edge will do just fine), hang it immediately upstage of the cloth upon which you wish the moon to appear (this is, in fact, one of the very few times in your life when you might find that 'touching cloth' is actually desirable  :blink: ), fade it up, and watch the magic happen ...

also works well with just a source such as a birdy in one of the bottom corners so that as its faded slowly it gives a nice slow fade over the "moon" alsmost like it is rising, bit of an orange gel, maybe a silk to calm it all down a bit..

umm nice :blink:

[andy_s]

as well as my cheap OHPs, I also have a lovely moonbox - 2000mm dia moonface, with handpainted craters on reverse of twinwhite bpscreen: no light = blank white face, fade up lights in moonbox = moon appears - nice and yellow due to use of archi tubes inside box. Only drawback is it's much too big to go in a transit van, so it costs me a fortune to get it anywhere....

 

PS good tip from Brian above - RS are always a bit expensive..

[Stig]

Here is a cheap idea. You need 2 x profiles. You focus one, hard edged, with a bit of lee 202 onto your cyc where you want the moon. The second you use a leaf breakup gobo in open white and soft focus it over the top of the first image. You will be surprised how realistic it looks and it is peanuts cheap to do. The last time I did this was with two Patt 23ís!! and it worked really well. :blink:

[James]

The last time I did this was with two Patt 23ís!! and it worked really well

 

Did you have to stick an iris in the P23 Stig? (I've yet to get anything other than a rounded square out of any of mine - but it could have been my funny version)

 

James