Subway Tunnel Light Simulation

[jmac]

Any ideas for a Newbie?? Working on a show to be set in NYC subway car. For portion of show, subway car will be "moving" down the track. Need to somehow simulate car passing by the regularly spaced wall mounted tunnel maintenance lights, which should be very briefly seen (against black backdrop) streaking past the car windows at 40 mph+/-, periodically every so many seconds.

There has to be a better idea than just flashing a light (or strobe?) on/off quickly, but I'm stymied, thinking of how to suggest the motion of the light passing from front to rear windows at subway speed...

This is for low budget community theater, typically with rented conventionals and a Leprecon LP-600 or LP-1500 series memory control board.

Any thoughts appreciated!

[lieperjp]

How many seconds between flashes???

I've only been on the NYC Subway twice... and that was a long time ago.

Have a ninja run behind the windows with a regular light on a stick??? (Ok, too slow...)

Also, would the audience even notice if the light wasn't there?

[Sony]

If I had the money I would mount an LED strip behind the windows and create a chase that moves past the windows really fast. You could do this with regular lights too but you would need a lot of dimmers.

[jmac]

I haven't been on the subway lately either. I'm guessing every 3-5 seconds or so (?). Any NYC subway riders here??

The audience may not notice or care, but the director will; it was his request..

[highschooltech]

You could use something like a Rosco IQ to sweep across the area and then turn off as it reaches the other side.

[derekleffew]

Seems a good application for a gobo rotator. Which gobo(s), I'm not exactly sure, but I suspect you'd want to shutter half of it away. Try playing with this simulator: Gobo Visualizer || Design Tools || CablePick.Com.

[Edrick]

Are you going to have some sort of actual prop subway car where they'll be sitting in front of the window thus having a back drop behind the window? Depending how you have the scene setup I could recommend a few things.

[jmac]

Originally Posted by Sony

If I had the money I would mount an LED strip behind the windows and create a chase that moves past the windows really fast. You could do this with regular lights too but you would need a lot of dimmers.

Sounds like a neat idea. Unfortunately, we don't have big dollars, and have limited number of dimmers due to lack of power. Thanks.

[jmac]

Originally Posted by highschooltech

You could use something like a Rosco IQ to sweep across the area and then turn off as it reaches the other side.

Sounds like a good possibility. I am totally non-experienced with moving lights/mirrors. Do the IQ's move fast? Can I set it up with a basic memory board, or do we need to rent a better board?

[jmac]

Originally Posted by derekleffew

Seems a good application for a gobo rotator. Which gobo(s), I'm not exactly sure, but I suspect you'd want to shutter half of it away. Try playing with this simulator: Gobo Visualizer || Design Tools || CablePick.Com.

Thanks. I also have no experience with gobo's and rotators. I will try the visualizer. Is there also a good primer on how to set them up and use them? Thanks.