Hi All. I'm designing the set for a production on the 1930s play 'On the Twentieth Century Limited'. Looking for ideas to suggest a passing landscape through two upstage train windows. The director doesn't want to use technology like projection or tv screens as too modern.
Things to know.
- use of Venetian blinds in front of window for day scenes
- there is 1 meter clearance between the cyc and window
- how to light to suggest the train stops at select stations
- has to be self reliant system not operated by a stagehand
I'm also looking for ideas for fake chrome around the edges of doors and strips but will post in set area.
A gobo rotator will get you the motion effect in the windows. just use the upper most part of the beam and it will look like things passing in a linear (as opposed to circular) fashion. Don't put the fixture directly behind the window--get it up so your light has a chance to spread out, you avoid a hot-spot in your window, and the effect will probably be enhanced by the blinds. You can control the rotator from the board to slow it ti a stop when they are pulling into a station. And remember that light movement will draw the eye of the audience, so once you've established that the train is moving, fade it to a level that doesn't distract. As for the chrome, I use silver metallic duct tape (the kind used for HVAC systems). Cheap, cheerful and easy to work with.
Take a look at some of the effects 59 Productions used for Forbidden Zone. Video emphasizes their projections but you can see some of their lighting effects @ ~2:30. Subway isn't quite the same kind of lighting you'll see for the train in On The Twentieth, but you might find something worthwhile in there.
You could make a continuous belt of muslin that you stretch across two drums. Paint the scenery in a continuous loop on the muslin, get a motor to drive one of the drums and you will have a nice rotating loop of scenery passing the window. If you put the whole rig on a small wagon or traveller you can just slide it out of the way when you want to see through to the cyc.
direction wouldn't work right for this but I did a shadow puppet show with travel like this, though it was square to the audience on a screen and we had a sonotube rig with scaled scenery attached and a crank so it rotated like a spit with a light behind it project the shadows onto the screen. wouldn't work here in the same set up but a variation of what Alex mentioned above.
