Running video behind a pianted gauze.

[Just Some Bloke]

Has anyone ever tried or seen the idea of running video (on a monitor or rear projection) behind a painted gauze?

 

I'm thinking of trying a Jacob Marley scene with the door painted on gauze and the face appearing in the door, saying its lines.

 

Do we think this will work or should I go back to the drawing board?

[Robin D]

Never tried it with a video. Did a similar scene with a live actor all in black. Bring the light up on just the face and it works well. I guess a video would work if you can get the black bits black enough, else you would see the hard square edges of the screen. You also need to drop the lighting on the front of the gauze but keep the rest of the door lit for the most effective transformation.

 

If you need to go video, best try it before committing.

[kerry davies]

Did it with an old TV back in the day. They filmed a talking head at 90 degrees, put the telly on it's side under a gauze, had an actor kick a switch to cue a video tape and the ghostly image appeared.

 

Tip of the day; make sure you edit it with just one good take. On the final night the actor/director got nervous as a cat and, not trusting the technical director, tried to set it up himself. He managed to get Take 3 cued up in error. You know, the one where the actress forgot her lines and went "OH F***!" quite loudly. Seemed to make Comedy of Errors go down a storm.

[IRW]

Has anyone ever tried or seen the idea of running video (on a monitor or rear projection) behind a painted gauze?

 

I'm thinking of trying a Jacob Marley scene with the door painted on gauze and the face appearing in the door, saying its lines.

 

Do we think this will work or should I go back to the drawing board?

 

For the Exorcist tour we had a black gauze in front of a BP screen, which formed the rear wall of the bedroom, and worked pretty well. Note that it was framed all around by hard set pieces though, to keep both the screen and the gauze taught.

 

One thing to bear in mind is the sightlines...In one venue, I was opping from pretty high up in the auditorium, and I thought the projector was on the blink, as the imagery looked a lot darker than it had been in previous venues...turned out it was due to the steep angle I was looking at the stage from (therefore the 'gaps' in the gauze were smaller), as when I went down to the lower levels, it was fine! Kind of the opposite of the principal that applies when lighting a transformation gauze!

Edited November 3, 2020 by IRW

[Just Some Bloke]

One thing to bear in mind is the sightlines...In one venue, I was opping from pretty high up in the auditorium, and I thought the projector was on the blink, as the imagery looked a lot darker than it had been in previous venues...turned out it was due to the steep angle I was looking at the stage from (therefore the 'gaps' in the gauze were smaller), as when I went down to the lower levels, it was fine! Kind of the opposite of the principal that applies when lighting a transformation gauze!

Luckily we're doing this during Covid so we are only allowed 6 patrons at a time and all from the same family. This should mean we can put them wherever we want them!

(It's a 20 minute piece that will be performed half a dozen times per day).

 

Thanks for the help.

[kitlane]

 

One thing to bear in mind is the sightlines...In one venue, I was opping from pretty high up in the auditorium, and I thought the projector was on the blink, as the imagery looked a lot darker than it had been in previous venues...turned out it was due to the steep angle I was looking at the stage from (therefore the 'gaps' in the gauze were smaller), as when I went down to the lower levels, it was fine! Kind of the opposite of the principal that applies when lighting a transformation gauze!

 

This was probably also because of the optimum viewing angle of the screen material. Different types of screen are optimised for viewing at different angles. There is usually a compromise between wide viewing angles and screen gain/transmission/brightness.