Church Christmas Cracker

[Joe White]

I think this is the right topic to post this in.

 

What were trying to do is to have a small 1/2m x 2/3m background off what looks like graffiti illuminated with some birdies,

but with Some form of gauze in front of it so that at a particular part off the scene a cross appears on the gauze. The hall will be in darkness aside from this cross which is to appear from the back off the manger, we have a suitable logo projector for this and intend on using haze to help it look as though its appearing from the manger.

What I'm wondering is what type of gauze do I require were thinking black as the cross is a white light.

Black Light do Sharks tooth gauze but having no experience with the stuff I don't know if it will do.

 

Being the church we want to spend as little as poss :unsure: .

 

Thanks Joe

[Ynot]

Not really clear exactly what you're trying to achieve here.....

 

Could you maybe clarify - add sketches if poss...

[andy_s]

I think black sharkstooth gauze is what you want - to light the grafitti panel you need to shine lights at the panel from behind the gauze, with ideally no light hitting the gauze itself.

to make the cross appear on the gauze, you could use a cross-shaped gobo in a profile spot shining onto the gauze from in front (ie audience side) of it. alternatively, use the beam-shaping shutters in two profile spots, one to create the vertical, one for the horizontal. As you can angle the shutters, this would help counteract any parallax effect caused by the angle the lights are coming from. Better if there is no light from behind the gauze at this moment, better still if you are able to draw a black curtain across behind the gauze (but as close as possible to it, or you may get a double image). I wouldn't have thought Haze was crucial to this effect, but I daresay will add a certain something.

 

The main thing really is to ensure that no light apart from that forming the cross image hits the gauze from either direction.

 

it's not entirely clear whether you require the grafitti to be lit at the same time as the cross - I assumed not, as I read your post to mean the only light on would be the cross - but if that's wrong, and the cross needs to appear in front of the grafitti, the effect could still work, but it's likely that it would be a bit less punchy.

[Joe White]

Thanks very much Andy, What I'm also wondering is how far away does the gauze have to be away from the graffiti background to work efficiently? Thanks Joe

[TomM]

Thanks very much Andy, What I'm also wondering is how far away does the gauze have to be away from the graffiti background to work efficiently? Thanks Joe

 

Firstly, the gauze needs to be sufficently far away that however you end up lighting the graffiti no light falls upon the gauze.

 

After that, it depends, if you are continuing to light the graffiti, and want the cross to appear to be on the graffiti, put the gauze as close as you can.

 

If you want the cross to appear to be floating distant from the graffiti, then the gauze can be further away.

 

T

[c.cam108]

Sorry to resurrect this thread but I'm working on this drama too.

 

After watching a show in the area which had a similar effect but with a projector, I chatted to one of the techs about it. He said that they used steel plate, from B&Q or wherever. I don't know how to describe it too well, but basically it is like chicken wire, but welded, with diamond-shaped holes. The image quality isn't the best but it should work for a basic shape of light. Any other thoughts on this?

 

Colin C