UV & Haze

[Psychedelic Theatre]

I am currently working on the lighting design for a show. The stage is relatively small, I can't remember the exact dimension of the top of my head, but it's something in the regions of 6m (depth) x 8m (width) x 4m (height). There are only heat alarms above the stage, no smoke alarms. I have a budget of around £400, this will be used to add any extra things (such as UV cannons) to the in-house rig. I shall most likely be hiring a desk as well as I'm going to need something more advanced than the in-house Strand LX!!

 

 

The director has given me a very free reign as to what I do. The scene is set in a graveyard, there are several gravestones littered around the stage. There are going to be ghosts rising out of the 'ground' (in other words, from behind the gravestones). I have spoken to the scenic designer and currently she doesn't know what we are making the 'ghosts' from. She has said to me that if I have any suggestions that may go well with my design then her ears are wide open.

 

At the moment I am thinking of having haze, or low lying fog across the stage, and then sending a fairly saturated green light through it (lights will be hidden behind groundrow). I will then have a dim purple light above the smoke/haze to light the gravestones.

 

I have been thinking about the idea of the ghosts rising up and thought that if we make them from white silk/other suitable fabric then it would be possible to have several UV cannons and the rising ghost will appear to be shimmering purple/violet in the UV light.

 

First question, would this work?

 

Second question, if I use haze is it likely to be dense enough to become purple/violet in the UV? This I think would give a great effect with the green going through and the UV creating a kind of purple wash across the floor.

 

Do you think a low-lying fog would be more suitable than haze?

 

 

Thanks for your help :D

 

Timmy

[jimbo7744]

This recent thread might help you

 

http://www.blue-room.org.uk/index.php?show...amp;hl=UV+SMOKE

 

Jimbo

[Psychedelic Theatre]

Thanks a lot Jimbo :D

 

That tells me slightly more about what I wanted!

 

From that thread I think I can the fact that it won't work with haze, but there is a chance of it working with a nice dense low lying fog, yes?

 

Thanks again

 

Timmy

[tom_the_LD]

For the gravestones, you COULD screw, if possible, a little birdie on the front of each gravestone. Even if they are just dimly lit it could look quite effective and then if you wanted you could stick some purple gel in the gel holder to make the grave purple which I assume from reading is what you were trying to achieve. Although I think just some dim white could look effective.

 

With fog and haze it all depends on the effect you want. I was lead to believe that fog is better at reflecting lights whilst haze is better at having lights shone at it from the back. I am also told haze settles in one place and sits there, above the ground which could look really effective in a grave yard :D

 

 

Just my thought :)

 

P.S. If I have got the thing about lighting and haze/fog mixed up then I apologise but it is just what I have been told! Please fill me in if I am wrong!

[pete LD]

UV will have no problem at all with haze. I am currently touring a show with a uv scene and we use lots of haze for the rest of the show so its still in the air for the UV bit!

If your after a mist around the grave stones then its low fog your after and not haze which will be to thin!

As for lighting the grave yard is it meant to have cheesy ghosts or spooky ones?

If its scary UV might look a bit panto?

HTH

Pete.

[Psychedelic Theatre]

After a meeting with the scenic designer today, we have come to the conclusion that we are probably going to go with skeletons rather than ghosts. Something to do with her 'artistic image'.

 

She seemed impressed with the UV idea, so I'm going to get some mock-up skeletons and see how it looks under the light.

 

As far as spooky/cheesy goes, I think it wants to be somewhere in the middle. The image in my head is almost 'dreamlike', so it wants to look vaguely serious, though not totally believable.

 

I think I'll definately be going with the low fog, it'll stay around the gravestones much better, and will also be kicked up a bit when the majority of the talent come on towards the middle of the scene. This will add an almost haze like quality across the stage.

 

 

Thanks a lot Pete, useful to know that the Haze will pick it up, it leaves my options open :P

 

Timmy

[niclights]

Haze/fog won't pick-up UV to any noticeable degree. There are UV additives available for fluid but not something I would want to subject my machines to!

 

The ideal effect would be real 'dry ice' (CO2) but this is not nice to work with and difficult to store. Depends on the level of show/budget. Cooled water-based smoke will probably be the more suitable option. I would experiment with the birdie/congo blue gel type idea to get the effect you require. Keep the UV for UV painted objects such as the skeletons.

[Psychedelic Theatre]

Dry-ice is definately a no no. I have no experience working with it, and neither does anyone else working on the show. Plus, the venue is pretty intimate, and ventilation isn't spectacular so I wouldn't want to take the risk.

 

I have just started to plot my design, I think that I'll go for a green, and the congo blue going through the smoke and then the UV for skeletons and any UV paint on the gravestones. Over the next month or so I'll get some smoke in and give it a go, see how it looks.

 

Thanks a lot for all your help, it's much appreciated. I'll get some photos in October when the show is on!!

 

Timmy

[Guest supershowlighting]

one thing u could possible try regarding the ghosts would be put a hazer right below the pack off one or a few off the grave stones then shing just a standerd projegtor from the rear onto the haze with just a basic ghost shighning through , it should then look clear as well as visable , disny world does somthing similar where they spray a mist off water in the air and shine a projector or 2 onto it so u can watch there shows on it , looks fantastic, hope this is off use Joe

 

 

 

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