3d lighting effect

[AndrewE]

I am lighting a production of Moby Dick the Musical next year, and have been presented with an interesting challenge. Something previous productions have used to apparently good effect is a live 3d demonstration as part of the action.

 

This is achieved by giving the audience 3d glasses (red lens one side, blue lens on the other). A gauze or canvas is put in place downstage, with red and blue lanterns positioned upstage pointing toward it. Objects are then thrown toward the lanterns so that their shadows on the gauze get bigger, causing the 3d effect.

 

So my question is - has anyone tried this? I have to say it's a new one on me though I'm very much looking forward to giving it a try. I'm going to be road-testing in a few weeks, so any suggestions as to which lanterns work best, whether to floor mount them or hang them, what surface works best (ie: plain cloth, sharkstooth gauze etc) prior to trying it out would be great!

 

Many thanks.

[indyld]

Hi Andrew,

 

I can't say I've got any experience of such an effect and it certainly sound interesting. A few thoughts:

 

Light sources and positions - You might only want source per colour so you only get two shadows in total. This means that a lantern with a wide-ish beam would be needed but you don't get the crispest shadows from a flood. It might be worth looking into the kind of lights that shadow puppetteers use which, as I recall, give quite wide coverage and good shadows. They are usually mounted on stands at a height about the same as the centre of the projection area to minimise keystoning - and to the side. The "puppet area" is a pretty small point in 3d space which might make things easier but the focal length for sharp images is quite short IIRC.

 

Another alternative might be to use battens like coda 4s in two colours and the seperation between adjacent cells might create the two colour shadow effect you need. The multiple sources might make it all a bit fuzzy though. Putting the battens along, a little above the floor at the rear would mean that the "pupetteers" could get in a good position for throwing things usptage. Might need to use a ground row too.

 

As for material, you just need the find the best thing for "Rear Projection" I.e refractive, for your budget. Do you need to use gauze for another effect (or buy it for future use) ? It hangs well and is free from weaving defects like some plain cloth has when you light through it.

 

We would all really like to hear how you get on, as it is going to interesting. It sounds like one of those things that seems theoretically possible but could be tricky. Hope this has given you some things to think over.

 

Good Luck.

[DaveBeattie]

A pair of Source 4 90 or 70 degrees might be a good way to get an even coverage with a good effective point source.

 

Hope this helps

 

Dave

[Chiefy]

I have always found that taking the lenses out of source fours works well for any kind of Shadow imagery, anything like a flood where the source is more linear then you tend to get very soft shadows. Also try to keep the sources as together as possible to try to keep the separation of the shadows to a minimum. We did something similar to this a few years ago onto a BP screen whilst playing around during a dark period. After a lot of playing we did manage to get something, must admit for all the time spent playing we could of just hired in a 3D movie!

[indyld]

I have always found that taking the lenses out of source fours works well for any kind of Shadow imagery...

 

I'll second that. I forgot to mention in my previous post that the old theatre way to do shadow effects was to take the lens out of a Patt.23.

[AndrewE]

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

For shadow puppetry work I've done before I used a Selecon 90 degree, which worked quite well, but I like the interesting thoughts on removing the lens from a Source 4 - think I'll give that a try.

 

I'll let you know how I get on ... :)

[gareth]

Removing the lens from pretty much any lantern will get you a nice point source that's good for shadow work. In fact, something like a fresnel might be better if you're looking for maximum spread, because the lamp in a Source4 is quite a long way back from the front of the lantern and the metalwork that the light has to pass through on its way out is always going to reduce its spread (if you see what I mean).

[jimbo7744]

"and the metalwork that the light has to pass through"

 

Not sure I really understand?

 

 

 

Guess people don't always say what they mean to say.....

 

 

Edit: due to afterthought

[Ike]

Not sure I really understand?

Take a wide angle source, shove it at the end of a tube and the spread decreases. In this case the tube is the lens tube, gate, etc.

[kitlane]

I've not done this but I saw it done a few years ago at Nottingham Playhouse. I think the luminaires should be either floor mounted or on short stands. Something like a 2kW fresnel with the lens removed would probably work. Try them up left and up right to begin with. The gel colours need to match the colours in the spectacles. The effect was suprisingly good.

[SmokeAndMirrors]

Have you guys seen this?

 

:)

[Joe]

I've seen the fogscreen, fantastic effect, and using the software to "draw" and the fireworks - stunning.

 

Wait till you find out how much they cost to hire (or buy) :o

[caliban]

Nottingham Playhouse are doing exactly this in "Dick Whittington". Very effective everyone in the audience was ducking and screeaming as boxes anchors and charachters were thrown, or jumped straight at us.

[AndrewE]

Nottingham Playhouse are doing exactly this in "Dick Whittington". Very effective everyone in the audience was ducking and screeaming as boxes anchors and charachters were thrown, or jumped straight at us.

 

Fantastic! Can't wait to give it a try.

 

Fog screen looks amazing, but I think my meagre budget won't stretch!! Saw a similar effect using water as a projection surface years ago at Disneyland Los Angeles, which was also very effective.