Fake cyc / scrim

[arfinator]

Hello,

So I am doing a very low budget show (as usual) and I need some sort of back drop, cyc, thing that I can shoot deep colors onto. Because of the low budget nature of the show, we are using white butcher paper.

I was planning on using stip lights to light this backdrop (shot from the floor, up), but the last time I tried this exact same thing, my gels would constantly melt, smoke, and the color would end up becoming so light that it was just a white back drop.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make these colors very deep and to how to avoid melting gels?

Any other suggestions that might help me?

Thank you very much,

Hess Smith

[avkid]

Put tiny holes in your gels to let the heat escape.
A pounce wheel works well-
http://www.pearlpaint.com/shop~ocID~...oryID~2484.htm

[mbandgeek]

somewhere on this site, I read that a sewing machine without the thread will have the same effect.

[Sean]

Originally Posted by arfinator

I was planning on using stip lights to light this backdrop (shot from the floor, up), but the last time I tried this exact same thing, my gels would constantly melt, smoke, and the color would end up becoming so light that it was just a white back drop.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make these colors very deep and to how to avoid melting gels?
Any other suggestions that might help me?
Thank you very much,
Hess Smith

What kind of fixtures? What brand gel?

I will disagree with what has been recommended above--pouncing the gel only makes little holes. The gel absorbes heat energy. It will do that with or without hole, as it's a factor of the saturation of the color (the colors of light being "blocked" by the gel are turned into heat).

Try getting some Lee High Temp (HT) gel, or try GAM. GAM tends to be a bit better at handling heat.

--Sean

[David Ashton]

I hope you are using fire-proof butchers paper as the whole idea seems extremely dangerous to me.

[arfinator]

Thank you very much for your replies. The fire issue, i dont believe, is that pressing in this situation, as the lights won't actually be that near the cyc--only shot up at it.

[Grog12]

Here's another thought.....Stop using such saturated gels!!!!! Just because you can mix RGB doesn't mean you always have to throw primaries in your cyc lights. Make choices.

[Footer]

If they are R40's strip lights, they will burn out any saturated gel you put near it. I know you don't want to do it, but go with a less saturated color.

[Les]

Back in high school we had these huge signs in the hallways made up of 2 pieces of butcher paper making about a 4x8 sized poster. One afternoon our school almost burned down because some kid decided to set one on fire. By the time it set off the alarms it was a pretty good sized fire almost reaching the ceiling and no one was to be found. I would never use it in a theatre as a cyc. Whether lights are near it or not is irrelevant. Or at the very least as allthingstheatre said, go with the fire resistant kind. Otherwise RENT.

As for the striplights, have you looked in to renting or borrowing roundels? They would be your best solution for this type of thing. Check with older theatres for borrowing. Especially some that may have had a recent equipment upgrade. A lot of the times, they keep the roundels from their old striplights in a box just in case.

[LD4Life]

As everyone has said before, saturated colors are going to burn out quicker than anything in those things. Roundels are your best option. I personally try to use saturated gel as little as possible, as burnout is such a big issue. I actually watched a dark green Lee (can't remember which exactly) melt. It was interesting. I warned the designer against using such a dark gel in a fresnel, but the director wanted that color, so it got used. She turned on the light to focus, and I watched as the gel crumpled and burned through. It was a very interesting sight. Probably was about 45 seconds from start to finish.