Video projection onto the back wall of a village hall stage

[Hilary Watts]

We're not that well provided for with AV suppliers in East Yorks...

 

You could try Morrisons at Market Weighton. From their website they appear to have a limited range but I think they supply other models as well. I've bought and hired from them in the past and find them good to deal with.

[bagel]

Thanks everyone for your comments - much appreciated.

 

 

It sounds like it's certainly going to be possible - which is good. In summary, I think I'm looking for:

- projection directly onto the back wall

- a short throw projector (due to low stage height), mounted about 2.3m downstage.

- projection size of at least 4mx3m, to avoid the edges of the image being seen, as far as possible.

- VGA cable (or VGA over Cat-5) from the stage to the front of the hall

- DMX-controlled dowser, to completely blackout when necessary

- careful use of the stage lights to ensure they stay focused downstage, to avoid washing out the image.

I like the idea of trying or hiring before buying - I'll try one of the local companies suggested to perhaps hire before committing to buying, so we can play around and see what kind of image we can get.

 

[ImagineerTom]

It's really worth stressing the point that others have alluded to - the physical set-up is only one tiny part of the problem and that actually generating the content to project is much harder, more expensive and less-good than you'd imagine it to be. If you're projecting custom animations and loops then you're talking mega-bucks to originate this sort of content (and have it animated to exactly the length you need or programmed in to a media server so that you can dim/change the image cleanly in the show), if you're only going to be projecting essentially static images then you'll find it is much cheaper (by hundreds or even thousands of pounds) to use a slide projector and or some custom gobos to produce exactly the same effect with none of the headaches and expense that utilizing video production introduces.

 

I've worked on a lot of shows that use projected elements or screens and I'm consistently amazed at just how many people, how many thousands of pounds and mountains of equipment it takes to create something that looks simple and easy to the layman's eye.

[Shez]

Bearing in mind that this is a small village hall, I don't expect anyone to be considering spending "mega-bucks" on anything. I've worked on countless student productions who have produced the content themselves and run it from Powerpoint or Screenmonkey on a generic laptop so incurring essentially zero costs. No it won't look like a West End production but in a village hall, nobody expects that. A little bit of time and ingenuity can go a long way though.

[bagel]

In our tiny theatre we do this fairly often using a decent presentation projector (ie. not a specialised extra bright stage one the RoH would have loads of). We normally project onto the cyc from a distance of about 4.5m from our LX1. This gives us a VGA 1024x768 image about 4m x 3m. We run our projector from the lighting desk using a Chamsys MahicHD media server and the douser is a DMX device one of our members made so also controlled by the desk. The projector is either on or off (and you can't just drop power to it to turn it off). The media server is mounted immediately above it and is controlled via ArtNet on a wireless LAN connection.

 

Could you let me know what projector you use? How many lumens is it?

 

 

I've done a fair bit of research now, and have spoken to several different companies, who all suggest I need at least 5000 to 6000 lumens. This seems to put my requirements into the "professional" bracket, the effect being that, firstly I cannot get a projector with a small enough throw ratio with that number of lumens (the smallest is around 0.8:1) meaning I'd have to mount it at 3.2m from the back wall for a 4mx3m image rather than the 2.3m I would like, and secondly the price goes up considerably. I've been quoted around £4500 for a Christie LX 601I combined with a 0.8:1 short throw lens, or £3500 for an Optoma X605 combined with a 0.77:1 lens. And that's excluding brackets, cabling and installation.

 

I was hoping that something like the Optoma W316ST would suffice, which, according to its specifications, would be capable of producing the size of image we want at such a short throw, and at a fraction of the price:

http://www.optoma.co...iness&PC=W316ST

However, according to the professionals I've spoken to, it just wouldn't work out in this environment, as it's aimed more at a classroom environment. (It's 3600 lumens).

 

Thanks

[vinntec]

This is the projector we have. It is a discontinued model but when we bought it I think it cost about £800. There is a big jump in price to get better as you have found. If we use it a lot then we might start to think about investing (current show designer wanted scenes on the cyc all the time from it, which it can't do with lighting changing as explained earlier. Now it is just a starting slideshow to explain the background of the play, and a starfield towards the end - the rest of the time it is blank and mechanically doused).

[vinntec]

I forgot to mention that we have to use the projector in'eco' or low power mode (so less than the rated full brightness) so as to avoidfan noise, as the audience is very close to everything...

 

 

[bagel]

Thanks for that.

I can't find in the specs how many lumens low power mode would be, but the 4500 max gives me a rough indication anyway. From your pictures, it certainly looks acceptable, and used with a fairly high level of ambient light.

I guess the only way to find out what's really acceptable in our space would be to borrow one to try out - but that's easier said than done.

[Joe Fernand]

'I guess the only way to find out what's really acceptable in our space would be to borrow one to try out - but that's easier said than done' - most Manufacturers and some Dealers will have Demo units they can loan you to try out.

You may want to purchase a 'Universal' mount/bracket ahead of any loan/demo to allow you to get the unit on to your rig.

Joe