xpo_dk Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 Hi there Is doing a play where there's a very short scene where they're at a river.... Any ideas on how to acchive that? I know lights will do a lot of it, but the times where I've seen that I've often wished for something more.... Any inside tips? Thanks Xpo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 I worked on a youth production of Les Mis earlier this year and we achieved a water effect for the 'drink from the pool' section in the opening scene. We did it on a MAC 700, using blue with a rotating gobo, unfortunately I don't know the full details, as I was a mere runner/rigger. It looked very good and realistic though. I think we may have had a rotating colour wheel too, as there were two directions of movement, one of colour deep blue/light blue, and one of intensity giving the ripples. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomo Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 Tubular ripple (or newer, brighter effect) as uplighting/footlights. You are after the reflections from the water - it has to be uplight or it just looks wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 The uplight aspect in our production was the bounce from the stage, MAC 700s at short range are very bright!The lighter blue bounced, and the dark blue didn't, which worked very nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomo Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 Sounds very nice! Tubular ripples aren't anywhere near that bright unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 There is also an adaptor for a Patt 252 which gives a fairly nice ripple, although that suffers the same brightness problem that normal tubular ripples have. If you want to go down an alternative route, consider using silk-like cloths with a linear fan arrangement. Might take some faffing to get it right, but could be very effective and a lot cheaper than a Mac 700 :huh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xpo_dk Posted May 14, 2006 Author Share Posted May 14, 2006 Did think about the cloths thing - but havn't worked around a way to get it in there - and out again really fast..... Was also thinking of dry ice... and with some moving lights lighting it up. Could work I guess - or? :huh: - Unnecessary quoting of entire preceeding post removed. Read this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mattladkinlx Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 Have seen the following done before (will try my best to explain): A piece of silk with 4 fishing wire lines attached - 1 in each corner - sitting in one wing with wires running accross stage. On cue it is pulled from the other wing into position and lit using a Tocatta Effects Projector with wave ripple effect from above and 4x PAR 16 birdie uplighters on a random chase (coloured in Lee 200, Lee 201, Lee 119 and Lee 068) to act as the reflections. At the end it is pulled completely off with the fishing wire. It looked very effective - only problem are the wires if large cast onstage! If the production is being done non-naturalitically another option is to have 2 members of the company bringng on the silk into position and rippling it and it being lit with a blue downlight and the uplighters mentioned above? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 The MAC 700s were acting as specials for allsorts, we didn't hire on specially for that effect. Though I take your point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thornden-Jack Posted May 15, 2006 Share Posted May 15, 2006 What performance is it? Is it by any chance 'The Miracle'? If so, We've just done it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xpo_dk Posted May 16, 2006 Author Share Posted May 16, 2006 What performance is it? Is it by any chance 'The Miracle'? If so, We've just done it!no it's not that one... Don't even know if it has an english name ;o) But it's a family play - from age 5-?? Thanks for all of your advise so far! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GridGirl Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 Was also thinking of dry ice... and with some moving lights lighting it up. Could work I guess - or? Yeah, dry ice will work (famously used as a river in Les Mis of course), you'd probably need a few fans to get the direction right, as dry ice tends to spread out in all directions. You could also try low smoke, which may be easier to channel and direct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Console Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 One way to create ripples is to have a tank of water, with a lantern pointing at it at the required angle to throw a reflection onto whatever needs the effect. Then aim a fan at the tank to create the ripples. This works best if you can back project it, and oscillating fans help too. And to Thornden-Jack, that is how I was going to do it if we needed to! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GridGirl Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 One way to create ripples is to have a tank of water, with a lantern pointing at it at the required angle to throw a reflection onto whatever needs the effect. Then aim a fan at the tank to create the ripples. This works best if you can back project it, and oscillating fans help too. This also works well if you put a mirror, or broken bits of mirror :huh: , in the bottom of the tank - means you get more reflections :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thelightbulb Posted May 18, 2006 Share Posted May 18, 2006 What performance is it? Is it by any chance 'The Miracle'? If so, We've just done it! So did we infact we are going to bath with it next week! I was the DSM on it and all we did was to completly change it from being a practicle river or effect and rather we had a projectionscreen at the back in a mon shape that was used for otherthings and in the particular scene there was a sequence of verious slides and some loud sentimental music with some fish catching actions by the cast below looked pretty cool but was abit of cueing nightmare forme as there was about 12 cues +visuals to the cast on the page! and it had to be timed perfectly!but we ae in bath theatre royal on the 27th if you want to see it! :) and the tank idea is a good one you could if you really wanted to, put a thin emebeded tray of water with rippling texture in it and have it like a trap but with just lid that is removed by sliding across or flapping open Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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