Trouble finding backdrop for "Cats"

[timize]

My high school theater company is staging Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Cats" in March and I'm the designated set designer.

The thing is, we are a public high school and money is very hard to come by. We are known to produce very professional productions, but this on may be difficult to grasp because of the amount of financial issues that arise from acquiring the rights to the musical, logo, the music itself, the set, etc. Custom backdrops cost a lot of money, so before you mention anything about custom backdrops, keep in mind that we are on a very tight budget.

That said, it's so difficult to find a decent night sky backdrop with a full moon on it. It couldn't be simpler, but many places I've looked at online like to sell complicated designs rather than a simple one as "Cats" has. Does anyone have any suggestions to look for a good backdrop that resembles the one "Cats" uses?

[Van]

Do you own a cyc and a scrim? What exactly are your budget constraints. Here's my take on it. If you are going to commit to producing a show then you must look at the technical requirements for said show and be prepared to meet them, ( read that, "pay for them") That being said, there are a lot of solutions to producing the effects I'm seeing in that foto.You could very easily produce a starfield with a low cost fiber optic system. You could do the moon with a moonbox placed just upstage of a standard cyc. Put a black scrim just downstage of the cyc, and Viola` you have a cool looking night sky. Again not knowing your inventory, artistic capabilities, or bottomline budgets, it hard to give a definate answer. I assume you've already talked to Rosebrand and or Norcostco to look into renting a stock drop?

[Footer]

What Van said (this seems to be a theme...). If you go the Scrim and cyc route you can also mount a few 50 degs, 6x9s, 36 degs, what have you on booms just DS of the scrim, and if properly focused a good start field will be the result (with the proper gobos of course).

[timize]

Originally Posted by Van

Do you own a cyc and a scrim? What exactly are your budget constraints. Here's my take on it. If you are going to commit to producing a show then you must look at the technical requirements for said show and be prepared to meet them, ( read that, "pay for them") That being said, there are a lot of solutions to producing the effects I'm seeing in that foto.You could very easily produce a starfield with a low cost fiber optic system. You could do the moon with a moonbox placed just upstage of a standard cyc. Put a black scrim just downstage of the cyc, and Viola` you have a cool looking night sky. Again not knowing your inventory, artistic capabilities, or bottomline budgets, it hard to give a definate answer. I assume you've already talked to Rosebrand and or Norcostco to look into renting a stock drop?

We have raised thousands of dollars for the show, it's just that most of the money is going to the rights, costumes, and lumber/set items for the show, and we like to take a more solemn route with the special effects and use as little money as possible. Custom backdrops go from around $2,000-4,000 - that's a bit too much. I'm saying, if we could find a way to use less than $1,000, it would be very nice.

I like the idea of using a scrim and cyc (which we do have). I'll talk to the director and see what he thinks of it. I've only been experimenting with all the technical aspects of theater for about six months, so I don't have much experience with this kind of stuff. But I'm trying to learn.

[sound_nerd]

Any chance you've got some talented paint people at the school? Have you considered painting your own backdrop? Just a thought.

[Schniapereli]

Just printout a nice picture on a transparency, slap it on an overhead projector, and trace it.

[Van]

Originally Posted by timize

We have raised thousands of dollars for the show, it's just that most of the money is going to the rights, costumes, and lumber/set items for the show, and we like to take a more solemn route with the special effects and use as little money as possible. Custom backdrops go from around $2,000-4,000 - that's a bit too much. I'm saying, if we could find a way to use less than $1,000, it would be very nice.

I like the idea of using a scrim and cyc (which we do have). I'll talk to the director and see what he thinks of it. I've only been experimenting with all the technical aspects of theater for about six months, so I don't have much experience with this kind of stuff. But I'm trying to learn.

When you say "custom drop" are you referringto one you make yourself or are you referring to a rented drop ? how long are your runs ? To me a "custom" drop would be one a designer designs for one of my shows and then I need to get a painter in, use up my layout floor, get it juted, grommetted etc. The cost on such a "custom drop" can vary greatly depending on the size of your stage picture. Now rented drops are a different story, and you might just find that renting a "night sky" drop is rather affordable. Do a google search on "scenic Rentals" you'll find a ton of houses willing to rent you a generic night sky.

[BillESC]

You could do a double gobo scene. Use a wide angle leko with this Color Scenic gobo as the background.



And use a 5 or 10 degree leko to overlay this gobo.

[CHScrew]

Here are some links to some backdrop rental compines that have Full moon backdrops.
It's halfway down on the left
On the lower Right
Good night sky but no Moon
This has the full set "Full Stage with Holiday Lights" but it might not include backdrop

[Chris15]

Slight Hijack.

Welcome to timize.