Gobos & Fog - Quick Question...

[drawstuf99]

For a talent show that I've designed at my school which has very limited time and budget I am having a few floor mounted fixtures in the back for the bands.

I got at least two Source Four Elips. fixtures with breakup gobos in them, and I got fog onstage so the lights shine through and you can see the beams. As of right now, it's hard to see the pattern in the fog - I'd like to have the many small rays of light shooting through the fog like you see in concerts..etc. Anybody have any tips in what to do? You can see them a little, but it's tricky to do. Any advice would be good.

Thanks
Andrew

[nez]

well it might be the color that you are useing or maybe the fog is to thick or that useing the gobos spreads the light out to much

[Inaki2]

If they're floor lights hining up you need to play with the angles a bit, the more you tilt them towards the audience, the more visible they'll be. What wattage lamp do you have in them?

[zac850]

Also make sure that the focus of the beam is as sharp as you can make it. Kinda an obvious thing, but one that could be easy to forget.

[Inaki2]

Ah, but here's a bit of a discrepancy: you wanna focus the gobo on the smoke, not a projected surface. The focus of the gobo at the ceiling may not result in defined beams. You'll have to go back and forth till you find the right setting for it.

[soundman1024]

Also a haze does better for beams than a fog does. Putting a fan near the output of the fogger can do a lot to help thinning out the fog. Play around with positions and check out the results. Sometimes putting it in front of the output with a few feet does the job, sometimes having it 6in to 1ft is good, and sometimes having the fan sitting on the fogger near the output aimed down to break up the fog as it comes out works well. Play around if you have the time.