Sharkstooth gauze issues

[GreatBigHippy]

Hey all,

 

Time for a first ever advice question from me.

 

My current production uses a sharkstooth guaze as a backcloth for most of the show which has platforms behind it (close up to it) for a dissolve effect at times.

 

The cloth is white but has been painted since with darker greys.

 

When it was white I could never get it completely opaque (flood batons rigged above it) but it was good enough, I am working with limited space. Now, where the dark patches are it is much more see through.

 

I played with as many angles as I could when rigging but I can't think of anything else that will improve this.

 

Any advice from older hands?

 

Just for reference the gauze is about 5m high and 10m wide and is currently lit from above with 3 coda batons rigged about 1m from the gauze (the closest and furthest away they can go due to other scenery items).

 

Thanks in advance.

[timsabre]

You need to avoid light going through the gauze and just skim light across the surface of it - coda floods are not going to be good for this, you need something with a narrower beam. However, lighting the gauze evenly is then the problem, so it's a tradeoff between the two things.

 

Most dissolves involve a black behind the gauze which is flown out at the last moment. This allows more normal lighting without revealing what's behind.

[paulears]

To make gauzes appear solid - you mustn't use front light - as you've discovered it goes straight through. You need bags and bags of side light, with the minimum of front light you can get away with. Side light doesn't get through as the sharp angle can't go through. Painting a gauze usually reduces the light getting through because it increases the diameter of the threads and decreases the size of each 'hole'.

 

A row of codas in front is 100% the wrong way for it to appear opaque.

[GreatBigHippy]

Grand, thats what I needed to hear.

 

I experimented with side light but found that the cloth was wrinkled and so I had light bleed that way.

 

I guess I'll have to see what I can do with side light.

 

Thanks for that.

[andy_s]

To get rid of the wrinkles, the gauze needs to be stretched. It's not clear from the OP whether the gauze flies in and out during his performance: if not, then it's simple to stretch it in the same way as you would stretch a cyc: stretchers can be bought from places like Halls or made from small bits of wood and sash.

 

If the gauze does need to fly, then it can still be stretched. To do this, two thin steel lines need to be stretched between floor and grid, one at each edge of the gauze, and the edges clipped to the line in a way that allows the clips to travel up and down the wire. As the gauze flies, the clips maintain the stretch on the gauze. This has the drawback of being quite noisy as the clips rub against the wire, this might be disguised by a suitable sound effect; as ever, the pros and cons are weighed up to give the most benefit. It would be possible to build a quieter system using small pulley blocks as runners, but again weigh up cost / effort against result to see if it's worth it.

 

I wouldn't altogether rule out using floods to front-light the gauze, but I would say a) that ideally more than three codas would be used for even coverage of a 10 metre width, and b) they need to be rigged as close as possible to the top of the gauze to skim the front as the others have said; judicious use of blackwrap to clean up downstage spill will be needed.

[GreatBigHippy]

Trying to stretch the guaze now.

 

Having rigged a side bar and put in side light all it does is highlight all the wrinkles although it is a little better.

 

The gauze isn't being flown at all.

 

To clarify I am only seeing slight movement behind the gauze at times. I have tried a combo of additional sidelight skimming it as close as I can get and pulling the platforms back a foot from the gauze so that any light that does get through isn't reflecting straight back out. It is certainly better.

 

I'll just have to work on the balance between the side an top light a bit.

 

The comment about the number of coda batons is correct, one or two more would have been better but you live and learn, it doesn't look too bad, I've just looked at it with the painting and it actually creates a nice effect <_<

 

I'll know better for next time at least. Thanks for the input.

[AndyJones]

Another, and non lighting way to help is to use a blinder behind the gauze. The blinder is then swiped, or flown out of the way just before the reveal. This means the actors can preset them selves, and get them selves settled before the blinder is taken out.

 

HTH

 

AndyJones

[andy_s]

I think if you've got to the stage where you are "only seeing slight movement at times", and you aren't able to rig and fly a black drape behind as suggested by timsabre, then it's time to enlist the aid of the director and set up some "misdirection". by this I mean make something happen on stage in front of the gauze that is more interesting to look at than the "slight movement behind...."

 

I dug out my copy of Francis Reid's "Stage Lighting Handbook". This is what he has to say about gauzes: "The audience who do not have our knowledge of what is behind the gauze, are much more aware of movement than vague shadowy images". The cast need to play their part in achieving this effect too, by keeping movement behind the gauze to an absolute minimum. Most lighting effects require the cooperation of the performers to make them work well .... not all performers are necessarily aware of this collaborative requirement!

[david.elsbury]

The last show I did with a gauze, we found that sidelighting worked the best, actually used a pair of 2k fres in the end,

 

Also we found that while we were concerned with the bleed through we could see during plotting, we found that when we had cast on stage it wasn't anywhere as noticable. You might find the same thing.

[GreatBigHippy]

I am very happy with the effect I have now. There is always action on another part of the stage when moving on and off and I have already given my talk about not moving etc.

I am using a combination of down light and side light. The design of the stage allows me to use some of the coda spill as top light for the section in front of it so that worked out great.

I had done some reading up on gauzes beforehand but as always the reality is always different from the ideal :** laughs out loud **:

Second dress tonight but directors are very happy with the show so must have done something right!