Dave W Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 Hi guys, Long time lurker and a very rare poster here, just wondering if I could get the advice of the lighting guru's at the Blue Room. I'm CLX for a production of Thoroughly Modern Millie and the director (due to many reasons, not least the fact that the dock is filled with millions of little desks) has said that she wants to have a lift but with no scenery at all. Basically I have to create the effect of a moving lift with lighting alone, fun times. The sum total of my thoughts at the moment consist of focussing and shuttering a profile vertically down into a square to give the floor area of the lift (the bars are around 15 feet above the stage so a wide profile should do the trick) and then have a scroller somewhere further forward as face light with a custom gel string alternating between clear and blackmark/blackwrap that scrolls vertically to give the effect of moving between floors. Basically I was wondering if any of you had any better ideas than my 5 minute musings. This is the SU theatre so we have old beat up profiles and fresnels that look like they predate electricity itself. A few nice Selecon Accliams, and some prelude profiles/PC's/F's. I can hire in stuff but the budget is tight so the cheaper the better! Thanks in advance for any help Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WiLL Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 Not sure black wrap would work on a scroll as it's very stiff, although if you sub it out for a very dark blue you'd get a similar effect. The scroller would have to be rigged sideways so that it scrolled top to bottom rather than side to side though. My old chroma q's wouldn't stand for that kind of punishment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 Depending how many profiles you can spare for the effect you'd probably get away with 4 of them focussed and shuttered as rectangles at different heights. One at head height, one at chest height, one at knee height and one at foot height. Stick 'em in a chase going in the right direction with a bit of a xfade between them and off you go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
son of lx dad Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 Maybe one of these rigged sideways with a linear breakup disk with whole sections blackwrapped out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingwalker Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 I agree with Will - Black Wrap will be far too stiff and you are just asking for trouble. Multiple profiles fitted vertically on a chase gets my vote. David. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karl Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 Multiple profiles fitted vertically on a chase gets my vote.I saw this done a few years ago and to be honest it wasn't all that impressive - could be the implementation rather than the basic idea though. Do you have to have the moving light effect? I did something similar (for a more modern lift) with a simple square of light. When combined with the actors miming pushing buttons and the sound guy playing lift sounds it worked reasonably well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrummerJonny Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 Multiple profiles fitted vertically on a chase gets my vote. I also used this effect a short while back, and as above the most important part of the effext was the audiences' imagination! though sound effects seemed to add to it a bit... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ynot Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 To be honest, the side-mounted scrollers with som very dark gel in smaller strips on a slow move sound like by far the best suggestion thus far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave W Posted February 17, 2010 Author Share Posted February 17, 2010 Wow, thank's for all the ideas! Everything mentioned is very do-able in our space so it's worth looking into everything! I did a bit more research today and found two colours that I would use if I went the scroller route (LEE299 and 205). The disadvantages are the cost of the scroller, tape and gels as well as the time to make the custom string. The advantages as far as I can see is it gives the most fluid motion. The infinity wheel looks pretty cool because (as long as I can find the right effect wheel!!) it would cost less to do than the scroller and would last for as long as I like (rather than the length of the gel string). The free option to me is the shuttered profiles, and although it's cheap I'm not convinced the effect would look as good as the two mentioned above. I'll let you know what happens with it for the next time someone has to do something similar :) CheersDave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 Low-budget solution - find yourself an aninamtion wheel rotator that'll fit into the colour runners of whatever profile you choose to use, and make yourself something that'll fit onto it with the required pattern - along the lines of the rotating shutter in a movie projector, but bigger and slower! You can make your own with a sheet of aluminium, some basic metalworking tools and a bit of elbow-grease - then you know you'll end up with the effect you want. Stick that on the front of the lantern, with the disc passing the lens vertically, and adjust the speed to your liking. Your profile doesn't say where you are (it should do!), but if you're anywhere near north-east Wales we can rent you the kit nice and cheaply - a DHA animation unit with controller if you can stretch to it, or one of our old 'home-brew' 12v variable speed units if you're on a really tight budget! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougmorgan743 Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 I designed the lighting for TMM a few years ago. I used a overhead special then from foh a fixed deg profile with a kk animation disk and a window gobo I had in stock. (The set came with a folding 3 sided cage flat which was positioned in the lobby of the hotel c/w door at the front). The effect looked like light passing through cage of the lift. But would work without the flatage. I have a power point file skulking around somewhere for the surtitles if you need it? Needed for some of the dialogue and Muqin song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overhyped Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 Very out of focus projector with something like mustard green & black going up / down - easy to smash together in something like powrpoint ?If by "SU" you mean students union, then most SU's would let a fairly competent looking person borrow a projector they have lying around... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HobitLight Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 This is OT, we did TMM a couple of years ago, and actually built a lift between the stage and the mezz. Has anyone else done this before? :** laughs out loud **: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave W Posted February 23, 2010 Author Share Posted February 23, 2010 I have a power point file skulking around somewhere for the surtitles if you need it? Ha! I should have checked this thread today! My DSM has just scuttled home to put it together now... In the end I went for a modified version of the scroller idea using a profile that I can chuck a "cage" gobo into. I haven't got the equipment in yet so I don't know how it will go. I'm in the crappy state right now on having spent money on something but not knowing if it's any good yet! Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HobitLight Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 Actually, I also have all the subtitles on a power point too from when we did it ;) PM me if you'd like a copy! :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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