making a room with 'light' walls

[ahou1]

HI all

 

hive mind - director here exploring some options for a lighting design - and wondering if it is possible to create a room with walls created by light ?

 

I could go for anything from a) really tight straight lines (3 sides) or b) just a series of small downlights arranged in the room shape on the bar

 

Just wondering if anyone has done this sort of thing before - if it works and what would be the best lights to use (birdies for b?)

 

Anyone think this would work, not work...

 

Basically I don't want physical walls to the room but its a cell with no windows so wanted to have a confined space and wondered if that could be done with light

 

welcome any ideas or suggestions!

 

thanks

Alison

[david.elsbury]

You would need a thick haze in the room to enable the beams to be seen. Is that do-able for your project?

[ahou1]

You would need a thick haze in the room to enable the beams to be seen. Is that do-able for your project?

 

David - thanks - some haze should be possible - will check it out - thanks

[Shez]

You can make a pretty solid wall (through haze) with lasers. May or may not be the right "look" for your production of course.

Usual caveats about safety apply.

[kerry davies]

[vinntec]

It depends on what exactly you are trying to achieve. Here is a look I used for a 10 minute play about two prisoners in different cells. There are four downlights (CCT Minuette PCs if I remember correctly) which roughly mark out the confines of the two cells. There is the absolute minimum amount of facelight and sidelight added so their faces are just about visible.

 

Of course this was for a 10 minute play (and the cell lights went on and off a number of times) which might not be comfortable to view for any length of time. But the audience got the idea very quickly.

 

From one of the reviews: "‘The Worst of the Worst’ by Shaadi Rad also leaves us with unanswered questions. In this play, we are confronted by two men in solitary confinement. It appears that they might both be in prison for murder, but how long have they been there and why does their treatment seem more like that meted out to political prisoners than to common criminals? The sound of the lights in the men’s cells being switched on and off is particularly effective and disquieting."

 

 

[GridGirl]

I'd probably use profiles heavily shuttered to create straight narrow lines, and focus them very carefully so they line up as perfectly as possible. And as David said, haze will be vital!

[ahou1]

I'd probably use profiles heavily shuttered to create straight narrow lines, and focus them very carefully so they line up as perfectly as possible. And as David said, haze will be vital!

 

Thanks - this is where I was originally

 

I'm not worried if the 'walls' only come down some of the way (from the top) I will be marking the edges on the floor - or indeed if they are a bit transient -

so we could set up haze at the start and then let it go I suppose

 

 

Wow this is very cool, not quite the right sort of thing - but would be amazing!

[Dave m]

A few profiles to create a strong square on the floor?With a small amount of extra light for the talent?

You could also possibly hang some led tape inside 4 vertical transparent plastic tubes to make the corners of the cell? Suspend the tubes from the power cable

[kerry davies]

This is something straight outta rave so bear with me as it will need trial and error.

We used to have completely blacked out slides which then had very thin lines of open gel scratched across them. In a haze, smoke filled environment they created planes of harsh, white light. These were normally projected horizontally above head height but I see no reason they couldn't be played with vertically. The thing to bear in mind is that light only exists when dark is absent and vice versa. Use shade as creatively as light and you won't go far wrong.

 

Just a tip for the future, be more specific. Is it a play, is it open air, is it promenade or concert, do you need a "cell", how many actors, how long for etc etc. I used cell window gobos and backlighting with a small amount of eye-light for Malvolio's cell on SR while flipping back and forth to SL, an open air scene, so lots can be done.

[Ynot]

I'd probably use profiles heavily shuttered to create straight narrow lines, and focus them very carefully so they line up as perfectly as possible. And as David said, haze will be vital!

This is where I'd go, personally. Even without haze the hard lines of the profiles can be quite striking as a marker for your 'walls'.

 

And though there are no theoretical windows you might (if you have enough kit) like to try something I did a while back and use 4 profiles properly spaced so that you get a larger coverage area but maybe leave a very small gap between them as they hit the floor - creating a type of cross-hair effect. I used it to simulate the bars of a hatch in the deck of a boat - the actor was imprisoned in the hold with the only light coming from above.

But like a gobo can, it gave the light beams a little more depth.

[alistermorton]

Agreed, even without haze the sharp edge can work. When we did rough justice we had the "cell" set in the centre of the acting area which was the courtroom. The courtroom was lit in warm wood panelling in sunlight colours, and the cell in harsh cold blueish white (L201), with the edges of the cell clearly delineated on the floor, both in floor colour and with the profiles's shutters and steeper angles to cause some face/eye shadow. It worked really well, using the contrast between a smallish, cold harsh "box" with a dark border compared to the warm expanse of the courtroom. Edited August 20, 2019 by alistermorton

[musht]

Looks like these are an upcoming trend, someone with better search skills may find an alternate supplier

 

https://www.amazon.com/CINOTON-Window-Garage-Lighting-Washer/dp/B0742BQ37X

[Modge]

Whenever I heard "walls of light" I hear my friend at enlx suggesting Svoboda's.

Regrettably I've never had a call to use them in that way myself, but I've seen others use them as wall of backlight, in which role they're very effective.

 

That said I have seen the tightly shuttered profiles thing done effectively, all be it for dance.

[Jivemaster]

The success of "light spaces" depends entirely on how dark you can get the rest of the space.

 

Did someone a couple of years ago use a cell made of red lasers pointed down from a frame above. As ever beams only show in fog or haze.