Using black foil

[vinntec]

Hi everyone - I want to improve the way in which I keep unwanted light off the set, particular box sets where the walls are at multiple angles to each other (so barn dooring has to be on most critical wall, often a window). I was wondering about using Lee 280 black foil on the critical lanterns to make a temporary extra barn door leaf to help with this. Is this what it is for and if so how should I be using it and fixing it to the lantern? Or am I barking up the wrong tree entirely?

Thanks -- Peter

[jonathanhill]

You will need both BlackWrap and BlackTak, and then you can pretty much mask anything.

 

Please note, other products are available.

 

Neither products are cheap, but worth their weight in gold. The BlackTak is essential for sticking the BlackWrap to the lights. Do not be tempted to use Gaffer tape as all you will make is a mess.

[Just Some Bloke]

Just to agree 100% with Jonathan: black wrap and black tak are wonderful products and I can't really see any point in trying anything else! In fact sometimes black tak on its own can do a terrific job, particularly if you've got light escaping from a lantern in places you're not meant to have (e.g. an old Sil 30 or a Coda4 batten)!

[J Pearce]

Or source 4 pars with a slightly ajar backshell.

Also good for controlling spill from RAT stands.

[Oldradiohand]

Black wrap and either bulldog or crocodile clips to attach to the existing barn doors. Don't forget to fully flood the light to get the sharpest cutoff, if that's what you need. Useful to control leakage from any other part of the lamp.

[vinntec]

Thanks for the input so far. It turns out I have a box of Rosco Cinefoil which I think is one type of Black Wrap? If so I just need to get some black tak to hold it in place (which the Rosco website is no help about!). Is there a particular brand to look out for?

 

Update: If I look on the Flints website, then their blackwrap is my Cinefoil so presumably their Black Tak is the one to go for, the branded one being a safer bet presumably?

 

Thanks -- Peter

[jonathanhill]

Rosco Cinefoil is one brand of BlackWrap.

 

Le Mark make BlackTak, and Advance make GaffaFoil (think that is what it is called). Both products are excellent, but I prefer BlackTak as I think it has a longer shelf life.

 

I would not buy generic BlackTak as I would not be sure of the provenance of the glue.

[Don Allen]

If you look at the blocking for the play, in general most actors are kept off the edge of the set, so I position my outer fresnels alongside the edge of the set and rotate the barndoors so the long edges are used to mask the edge of the fresnel, with the fresnel pointing into the set. It is much easier not to have the light heading towards the set to start with.

 

In the case of different angled walls, I focus along the inner edge wall if the actors do not need to be lit on the outer edge wall.

 

If the actors stand next to the wall, I focus the fresnel onto a feature of the wall such as a window, or door or picture frame, so the lit section of wall is not an obvious bright patch.

 

For the fresnels focussed towards the wall,( Mcandless method) I focus the fresnel onto a feature of the wall such as a window, or door or picture frame, so the lit section of wall is not an obvious bright patch.

[vinntec]

If you look at the blocking for the play, in general most actors are kept off the edge of the set, so I position my outer fresnels alongside the edge of the set and rotate the barndoors so the long edges are used to mask the edge of the fresnel, with the fresnel pointing into the set. It is much easier not to have the light heading towards the set to start with.

 

In the case of different angled walls, I focus along the inner edge wall if the actors do not need to be lit on the outer edge wall.

 

If the actors stand next to the wall, I focus the fresnel onto a feature of the wall such as a window, or door or picture frame, so the lit section of wall is not an obvious bright patch.

 

For the fresnels focussed towards the wall,( Mcandless method) I focus the fresnel onto a feature of the wall such as a window, or door or picture frame, so the lit section of wall is not an obvious bright patch.

Hi Don - thanks for your thoughts. Yes that's more or less what I usually do. The snag here is that there is a gigantic window upstage with the background only 1m behind (which is against the back wall), so keeping the spill off this is the priority and for which I need a straight edge on a barndoor. As both side and back walls slope from each other (not at right angles), the barndoor is useless for keeping spill off the side walls. That's why I am looking at using black foil in this case.

 

EDIT: This is a tiny theatre so all the stage area gets used! Incidentally I have also looked at using straight on lighting with pipe ends rather than fans but WYSIWYG predicts these will be little better due to the angled walls as they too need barndoors angled for the window.

[Don Allen]

Just a thought.

 

If the upstage wall has a window in it and the window is considered the primary light source, then the upstage lighting colour from the fresnels can be somewhere between the window light colour and your downstage acting area lighting colour.

 

Because the actors are upstage when lit by these upstage fresnels, it may seem natural to have the actors lit by the window colour and the light from the fresnels on the upstage side walls would seem to be light from the window.

 

The daytime colour from the window would be the dominating colour to work with as the upstage fresnels can be dimmed for the nightime lighting if you are running short of dimmer channels and fresnels for a second colour for nightime. If the window is shut, the upstage area needs to match the interior lighting if you can do it.

[vinntec]

Just a thought.

 

If the upstage wall has a window in it and the window is considered the primary light source, then the upstage lighting colour from the fresnels can be somewhere between the window light colour and your downstage acting area lighting colour.

 

Because the actors are upstage when lit by these upstage fresnels, it may seem natural to have the actors lit by the window colour and the light from the fresnels on the upstage side walls would seem to be light from the window.

 

The daytime colour from the window would be the dominating colour to work with as the upstage fresnels can be dimmed for the nightime lighting if you are running short of dimmer channels and fresnels for a second colour for nightime. If the window is shut, the upstage area needs to match the interior lighting if you can do it.

Hi Don - I have carefully chosen area colours which complement what the window is doing (morning and afternoon). The sunlight is lighter compared to the area lights which will also be slightly dimmed, so it might turn out that a lot of the spill from the end area lights is less of an issue than it seems if the backlight is carefully focused. I will be rigging it in two weeks which is a few weeks before the production itself, so will see how it looks when it is focused as carefully as possible.