We Will Rock You

[Stutwo]

Hello all,

 

What I am looking for is a low-budget way to imitate a laser effect. Specifically this one:

 

http://admin.schoolswillrockyou.com/media/000000/81.jpg

 

Does anyone know of a disco effect type light or something similar? If it rotated then that would be even better :unsure:

 

Ta!

[AndrewR]

custom gobo in a high power moving head? Mac250 in green with the eclipse gobo? a high power (maybe discharge) profile with a gobo, and rotator. Or just a high wattage tungsten profile.

 

Youre not going to get anywhere near as sharp an effect though!

[tokm]

I second Andrew's idea, short of getting a laser there's not many ways around it.

 

Only other half decent, sort or similar-ish effect (beams of light around someone in a circle) would be to get some very narrow angle profiles and rig them in a circle above the person and focus them accordingly, no where near the same effect as the laser but same idea.

 

If you go with the profile or mac250 sorta idea, remember that the lantern/fixture would have to be directly above the person otherwise it'll look like just a gobo'y special out of place.

 

Tom

[Stutwo]

Thanks for the replies so far! I'm in a college theatre space, so no Mac250's I'm afraid, and circuits above the stage are limited, so was hoping there might be a disco effect someone knew of. Looks like I may have to stretch the budget to bring in a 250 or similar.

[dave singleton]

I've about the same thing. Im doing an schools version of We Will Rock You. I have been lucky enough to find a friend with a suitable sized laser which is being donated, however if it is to be like the original then not much light is on stage so depending on the stage size you could use a mac 250 or even move up to Mac 500/550 level to increase brightness.

 

Another idea I had used pinspots rigged in a circle to create a cage. With a bit of haze you have the same effect, the only downer is its not a laser.

[the kid]

Has it GOT to move?

Has it got to be points/lines?

 

If it does not have to move you could get a circle dotted gobo in a very narrow spot (thinking Pacific). You could get a gobo rotator in there as well.

 

I will edit this in but what about just having a hard down spot. I assume its a jail/cell look that is being wanted.

 

I saw Lords and Ladies this year and for the stone circle they had 8 pin spots and a load of smoke/haze. ( magical stone circle no one can enter in)

[tokm]

Im doing an schools version of We Will Rock You

Lucky you :unsure:, must be one of the 1st schools to be doing it.

 

250's are your best bet, both the 550 and the 500s don't really have a suitable gobo (talking about the stock gobo's). The 500's 'cone' gobo might do, but it doesn't have a zoom, only an iris so could be a problem getting the beam wide enough depending on the height of your lx bars.

 

Do you have any idea at all on a budget?

 

Tom

[gareth]

No, moving lights are not your best bet for this effect. (The old "moving lights as a solution to every problem" phenomenon seems to be rearing its ugly head again :unsure:.)

 

Unless you can get your moving light VERY high (and you say you're in a school theatre, so I doubt that you'll be able to) and project a very tight beam of only a few degrees (low-end moving lights like a Mac250 dont even get close to that), you'll see a lot of 'divergence' to the circle of little light beams which won't look nearly as nice as the photo.

 

I think you're probably on the right lines when you mentioned a ring of pinspots. Par 36 ACL lamps might also be worth thinking about - the eight of them that you'd need in series on a 240v circuit would work pretty well in a circle to produce the sort of look that you're after, I think. Of course, you won't get the rotation that you'd ideally like to have, but you've already said that you're on a tight budget, and part of the skill of successful lighting design is the process of cutting your suit to fit the cloth - in other words, make the best of what you do have rather than relying on something that you probably can't have.

[J Pearce]

How about looking at ways of recreating the affect of the effect.

i.e. Find something that gives the same idea that you can do, instead of bodging a copy of that effect.

 

How about a bars gobo or something similar? Have a think and be creative.

As for recreating the laser effect, I think Gareth's idea of ACLs would do nicely, or perhaps some very narrow beam birdies.

 

Another issue is that with college/school performers will they hit the spot exactly every night, or will they be standing half out/half in the cage?

[back_ache]

I'd go with the pinspot idea espically as you can put them on a dimmer for simple control.

 

you could do it with an of the shelf disco effect but it wouldn't be as nice as a pinspots, as bright or controlable , they call them moonflowers.

 

if you are determined to emulate a laser why not use laser emulator software, a data projector and a mirror to angle them down? still would be as bright as pinspots though.

[LDODD]

Why not use Lasers?

 

Get some 10-20mW Laser Doides from fleabay, set-up a basic circular rig.

 

Mount it on a heavy duty mirror-ball rotator and away you go.

 

These would probably do....

[the kid]

But looking at those they are push switches. So unless the OP can rig a controler on to x number then does not seem feasable.

[CPlater1]

you could use a helicopter. 4, 6 or 8 arms with a par36 on the end of each. You can use coloured filters, or clear. IIRC they rotate. If you look on www.terralec.com under the disco lighting section in effects lighting.

[marky]

I think it's important to think about these things creatively. If you are doing 'We Will Rock You', try not to be distracted by how they did it in the West End. While it looked great, there are always other ways of doing it.

 

Performer's are sometimes advised not to watch a particular version of a show they are doing, so that they simply do not re-create someone else's performance, but to give their own interpretation. The same goes for any craft.

 

Relish the freedom to be creative on a budget, gobo's, colour, smoke etc. Think position, mood, motivation and effect and I'm sure you will come up with something fantastic!

[AndrewR]

Make a plywood disk with a lip to conceal a number of laser pointers (assuming they are going to be bright enough.) You can then wire them up to a transformer, in turn hooked up to a non-dim. It should all be do-able in a very low-profile way. :unsure:

 

If you tell the actor to stand on the disk they should be able to manage that. :o

 

As to movers, its going to be simpler than trying to safely construct something to hold a ring of small lamps, and they may be ready to hand. And cutting your cloth may well involve not using anything special at all, but using a mover thats already going to be in the rig, that may well be an acceptable compromise (in terms of look) B-)

 

Of cource if you have some ACL's or pinspots handy..... or no existing plans for movers and no money for them. :D