Shadow theater

[JRTurpin]

Again this is for GCSE drama. is there any good light to use for shadow work or are any lights good for it.

[musht]

http://mail.altmanltg.com/publicsynergy/do...D-A898AB52E159}

[paulears]

Nice one!

 

The key to success is that you need a light source with the smallest possible filament size - that's it. If you use things with lenses and reflectors, then the source size is too big, unless you move it a long way away - making the shadows soft. The small halogen lamps use din things like on video cameras (dedos and similar) are pretty good.

[fedupbutstillworking]

I agree with the other answerers, but would add that you really need to co-ordinate well with the set and costume designers.

 

A touch of UV can work wonders.

 

All the best.

[paulears]

Confused? Set and costume for shadow work, and UV? what would be fluorescing?

[nimblesquirrel]

For shadow puppet work, you really need as close to a point source of light as you can get. I use a 100W 12V Halogen lamp in a can painted with high temp black paint. Very simple. Halogen projector lamps work too, as long as they don't have a reflector. For something bigger, you can modify a fresnel or pc for shadow work by removing the lens and reflector. A 2KW Fresnel is the biggest unit I have seen modified in such a manner.

Also, for shadow work, your screen is very important. There is no point wasting time and money on an expensive projector lamp if you're rear projecting through a thick cotton sheet. Thin and light are both desirable traits there. :)

[andy_s]

For shadow puppet work, you really need as close to a point source of light as you can get. I use a 100W 12V Halogen lamp in a can painted with high temp black paint. Very simple. Halogen projector lamps work too, as long as they don't have a reflector. For something bigger, you can modify a fresnel or pc for shadow work by removing the lens and reflector. A 2KW Fresnel is the biggest unit I have seen modified in such a manner.

Also, for shadow work, your screen is very important. There is no point wasting time and money on an expensive projector lamp if you're rear projecting through a thick cotton sheet. Thin and light are both desirable traits there. :)

very similar version - we adapted a teflon-coated saucepan (a fiver from woolies when it still existed) which had the advantage of providing a built in handle, , which meant the lightsource, being hand-held, could be manipulated just as much as the puppet. 12V 75W halogen lamp running off a 12V transformer. Can't claim this as an original idea - nicked it from a show I saw (see below). Well, saw the hand-held source being used in the other show, then worked out how to do it...

 

also used the fresnel with no lens trick to great effect before, but this was on the floor in the wings, used to make a giant shadow appear on the cyc, so slightly different idea. I've not used this method for rear-projection shadowplay source.

 

best (ie most theatrical) I've seen, but not done myself, was live flame as a light source behind the screen. can't remember the name of the show or the company, but I saw it on tour at Oxford Playhouse a few years ago (maybe 6 or 7 years?) if anyone else recalls it? the show was about the death of the rainforest "the something something of Sita" I think....

 

Amazingly atmospheric, though not what you'd describe as a nice steady constant lightsource.

[michael6388]

I have used a patt23 with the lens tube removed.

This seemed to work.

Michael