Video projection onto black gauze

[SamDram]

Hello everybody!

I have been approached by one of the dance teachers at the school I work at, asking if it's possible for me to recreate a scene from Motionhouse's "Perfect" dance show.

for the video.

I've never projected onto gauze before, only have a black gauze and I'm not too keen on the idea of forking out for a white one just for one dance http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/dry.gif. Do we think black will work?

Many thanks

http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif

[gyro_gearloose]

Interesting.... from the video it looks as though the performers are upstage of a black gauze. They've used side lighting to prevent light bleeding all over the gauze and ruining the projection. The projected image doesn't seem to be bleeding through the gauze onto the back wall of the stage. That would suggest that they are using a projector close to the screen with a very very short throw. The projector would need to be above the top edge of the screen and any light bleeding through the gauze would be lost in the spill from the side-lighting.

 

You might be able to make it work with a black gauze, but a white one would be better as you'll be losing a lot of light through the gauze. Either way you'll need quite a bright projector. You'll also need a short-throw projector positioned so that the spill through the gauze doesn't become distracting to the audience.

 

This quote from Youtube is interesting:

This is a longer version of Motionhouse's 2005/06 production Perfect, which will also feature as one of the National GCSE Dance Curriculum set pieces from 2009. Enjoy!

How have schools been managing to recreate the part of the show where the performers are sitting on swings? Or ave they not been doing that part?

[kitlane]

Just get the brightest projector you can afford. Projecting on black gauze is fine but obviously you need a brighter image to begin with. Also, the upstage masking should be black to reduce any spill from the projector shooting through the gauze. Try to shoot straight on to the gauze as the the viewing angle will be fairly narrow.

[SamDram]

Thanks for your responses ;) we already have a load of projectors, being a school, so I'm going to take some time experimenting with a variety to see which will give the most suitable throw and brightness!

[the kid]

You may find normal classroom ones are not going to hit the mark unless you have got a brand new one. The ones that exist to hang over smart boards (the big ol built in jobbies) might work but good luck on taking that out.

[kitlane]

What are the dimensions of the gauze you wish to project on to?

[groggy]

When projecting onto dark surface we usually up the contrast of the clip as much as possible, In Final cut pro I think there is an effect called 'acid' or something like that which is useful for this. Also if you have two of the same projector you could split the signal from your source and line up your two projectors perfectly to give you double the intensity.

[J Pearce]

Most cheap projectors have manual zoom lenses with uncalibrated end stops which makes lining up for double stacking more than slightly tricky even if you go to one end of the zoom range.

[Islander1]

I have several dance shows using a Rosco black scrim. We have both a cyc and Harkness projection screen. The Harkness works best. The scrim was hung directly in front of the screen. No projection and it is a black background. Projector on and the video bounces through it. Awesome effect and easy to do.