VWWill Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 Hi there. I've been approached by a dance school who wants to incorporate an effect into their next show. I've seen this done other places but don't know if such a thing is avaialble for hire anywhere. The effect is a plain cloth flown mid stage. When lit it looks like a plain cloth but it is elasticated and has vertical slits cut into that strech as performers push there hands/feet/bodies through them. Would anybody know where to hire such a thing from? I know one could be made from Joelastic or similar but budgets are tight (as always!) so they were looking to hire instead. Thanks for your help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ynot Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 Can't help with the material supply but would ask if you've thought how to support the mechanism to stretch it...? If the effect is what I'm thinking of, ideally it would need to be secured on all 4 sides so that it can be stretched, clearly. So unless you have a suitable frame and the means to fly it in/out, how do you plan to make it work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImagineerTom Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 In the effects world they're commonly known as "living screens", sadly I don't know anyone who hires them out and as Ynot points out there's actually a lot more structure to them than you'd think as whilst it's only a few newton's of force required to keep each strip tensioned enough to be flat once you multiply that across hundreds of strips it becomes a substantial force. All the one's I've ever used ended up with a chunk of metalwork and bracing which meant the number of places you could actually step through were very limited. Since this is a budget application I honestly think your best bet would be to compromise by using white slash curtains (maybe 2 or 3 layers?) so that you have a surface that's reasonably solid enough to project/light on to, you can reach through at any point and the only rigging/structural hardwear you need is a roll of tape to stick it to a flybar. t Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 Ask the dancing school what budget they have, answer nil -that's how much they want it, answer thousands then make some phone calls. Most dancing schools I've met were on zero to negative budget they really did think that things would be hired for their 4 minute show and not charged on. edit spag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VWWill Posted March 24, 2015 Author Share Posted March 24, 2015 Thanks all for your thoughts.Stretching wouldn't be a problem as a timber edging frame (attached to bar and cloth edges) could be used to hold it all tight. The actual effect they want isn't the hundreds of tiny strips of fabric with as many holes but one full sized cloth with 6 slits in it for people to appear through. They haven't said there is "no" budget but I know money is tight for them but its an anniversary show so something special is required. I'll go back to them with my findings. Thanks again Ladles & Jellyspoons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImagineerTom Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 timber edging frame (attached to bar and cloth edges) could be used to hold it all tight. no it couldn't - well technically it could with hundreds of pounds of timber cross-bracing, some proper design and an experienced joiner. I'll say again the force of any one bit of elastic (or lycra or any other stretchy substance) doesn't seem like that much but across a several metre span operating 24/7 for several days you be surprised at its distructive powers.Add to this the extra force created by performers parting the strips/fabric as they push through and everything suddenly gets quite serious.What you're now describing is a lycra push through screen - all the same caveats apply with the added note that lycra (or any other stretchy fabric) requires a surprising amount of tension to keep it sitting reasonably flat so you're still going to need a good substantial frame and plenty of cross-bracing to keep it all happy. If you're looking to go ahead with this (and assuming from your requirement that the screen has 6 slits in it the piece must be 7m wide and at least 3m high) then you need to be looking at making a frame out ladder truss with at least 2 extra verticals in it (so that the unsupported span isn't over 3m) and you'd need 40m2 of lycra (you end up with almost a double skin to ensure there's no big gaps in the stretched fabric) so whether you're renting or making yourself we are looking at something that has a few thousand pounds worth of raw materials and would take a sizeable vehicle to transport. I'm seeing close to £1000 just in fabric, labour and transportation already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave m Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 And it needs to be fireproof Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VWWill Posted March 25, 2015 Author Share Posted March 25, 2015 Indeed. This is probably looking like its beyond the practicalities of a one night dance show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImagineerTom Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Pitch the white slash-curtain idea to them - it'll do everything they want to do but for about £100. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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