Rustic Back Projection

[Zachary O'Neill]

I’m looking for a bit of advice. I’m working on a small scale touring production in which the director wishes to use back projection. The projection surface will be the whole back drop to the stage, and will cover the whole width of the playing surface. I have a da-lite fast fold screen and have used this in the past for shows, however I’d quite like it to feel like part of the set and more integrated. The design of the show is generally quite rustic so was wondering about using a linen cloth or muslin type of material that will look a bit more worn. I know this won’t give the best optical quality but I’m not that concerned about this, I’m just wondering if anyone has any recommendations on materials or have used anything like this in the past.

[adam2]

I have used a king size sheet as a back projection screen, it worked fine. There is presumably some loss of image brightness if compared to a purpose made back projection screen, but for a non critical application it works fine. Use the sheet on your bed afterwards.

If a king size sheet is not big enough, several suppliers offer similar material in almost unlimited lengths.

[Stuart91]

A friend of mine managed to get some surprisingly effective results using clear shower curtains from Ikea. He fixed them together using clear parcel tape, and hung from a centenary wire to cover the entire width of a fairly large church building. 

I'd earlier assured him that it was never going to work and had to eat my words. 

The other thing I've seen is spandex stretched out to fill a space. Hung from a bar above and tensioned using stage weights at ground level. This was done for a dance event, so nobody was really caring about how the edges looked. It might be that you could conceal the edges with other parts of the set. 

[kitlane]

Cotton sheeting is fine. Showers curtains can be fine. I've used large sheets of tracing paper taped together to make a screen an actor could burst through. I've used very thin white foam packing material.

Compared to a proper screen material you will probably lose brightness, you will no control over viewing angle which will probably be narrow, and you will probably have a very strong hotspot where the lens is.

Wander round Dunelm or any fabric shop with a strong torch and have a play.

 

[timsabre]

I have done various things with sheets and shower curtains, it does work with some loss of brightness but the main problem is (as Kit just posted) a very bright hotspot where you can see the projector lens through the sheet. It is worth experimenting to locate / angle the projector carefully so that the audience cannot see the projector lens (e.g. if the audience is below the stage level, project upwards from the floor; if the audience is on raked seating then project from high up). If you can do this then there is no hotspot.

[ImagineerTom]

If this is a touring show then remember each venues tech manager my well want to see some fire safety paperwork for your “screen” which an old sheet or a show curtain won’t have. 
 

isn’t a better solution to use a good quality screen and render some “decay” and dirt into the video itself?

[kerry davies]

Can you actually back project in the venues into which you are touring? No point getting hung up on sheets or shower curtains (my favourite) if you don't have the depth for either.

[Zachary O'Neill]

When I say touring that probably sounds a lot grander than it is, we’re small scale, in and out of church halls, schools and the like, we’re also taking this to the fringe so it’ll be adapted for that venue, but we generally arrive at a venue around early afternoon, set up all our own staging lighting and sound and run the show and are out the same night, so generally speaking we have a lot of control over the space we can allocate to the projector 

[Jivemaster]

Back projection has as disadvantages the lost space onstage which in "village hall" scenarios simply may not exist. Any attempt to put the projector in line with the screen axis will mean that it's a visible hot spot for the audience to see.

Most village halls simply don't know all the dimensions you will need to fit the system.

[J Pearce]

We should be careful with the term back projection. Amongst non-experts it has become a term for “projection at the back” rather than a specific technical term regarding rear projection with the projector upstage of the surface.

I’ve done plenty of projection on to ‘rustic’ surfaces. If you’re realistic about brightness (as you won’t get the screen gain of a proper surface), and don’t expect photo quality content you can do some rather lovely things.

I’d usually prefer a scenic finished surface rather than trying to recreate a scenic finish onto a perfect surface with projection. The former tends to blend better and look more integrated.

[adam2]

On 5/2/2024 at 9:44 PM, ImagineerTom said:

If this is a touring show then remember each venues tech manager my well want to see some fire safety paperwork for your “screen” which an old sheet or a show curtain won’t have. 
 

isn’t a better solution to use a good quality screen and render some “decay” and dirt into the video itself?

Flame retardant bed sheets are available, primarily for use in old folks homes and other places in which the users may lack the mental or physical capacity to take basic precautions against fire.