Do I have a good plan or am I just being ridiculous? For my club’s fall show I’m playing with the idea of building a translucent “mega-flat”. Ideally we’ll have a 12’ x 8’ piece. My plan is to use 3 sheets of
coroplast attached to a frame of 1x3. The idea is to backlight it with cutouts of various scenery (houses for the village, twisty trees for the deep dark woods,
etc) as silhouette backdrops so I would prefer to keep the cross bracing to a minimum, if not eliminate it all together. We do have a
grid that I can attach it to, and I’m planning to brace the sides and weigh them down with sandbags.
My concerns at this
point are that the overall structure will be too flimsy due to lack of bracing, and that we’ll have to push it too far
downstage for decent illumination. I’ve tested on a small sheet with an
led flashlight and it works pretty well, but my light guy is working festivals all summer and we won’t get onstage for another few weeks.
Any advice is welcome. Failure points, things I’m not thinking of. All that.
@Catherder My initial thought(s)??
?
My initial thoughts: Beg, borrow, buy or rent a CPE "
Fast-Fold" rear projection
screen, complete with supporting legs and whichever
masking skirts and legs you feel you require. CPE is / are one brand of several brands readily available. If you're not intimately familiar with assembling, erecting, anchoring, disassembling, folding and repacking such screens solicit the aid of one or two friends who ARE very familiar with such screens.
(Otherwise they can become an EXPENSIVE pile of trash in mere seconds if / when handled by the great unwashed and unknowing; no matter how well intentioned) [I purchased my first two 'Fast-Folds in 1973 and both are still serviceable other than one pair of legs which were lost AND NEVER REPLACED by a FORMER close friend.]
Unless you're using the
screen outside on a windy day in
BRIGHT sunlight, you shouldn't have any problems.
Keeping the projection surface smooth and taught will be neither a problem nor a concern.
Compare the cost of rental, delivery, set-up, disassembly and
return AGAINST the cost of materials, construction,
masking and removal of dust and debris.
I suspect renting a
Fast-Fold screen will win hands down.
If you look around, you MAY find a supplier with a BLACK rear
screen in
stock; BLACK screens can be startlingly dramatic when a full color
image appears on a
pitch black
screen; somewhat akin to a full color
image magically materializing on the spiffy
flat panel display on your
desk.
'Fast-Folds' are manufactured in a range of
stock and custom sizes from table top to at least 9' x 27' feet and that was back in the 1970's. With today's aspect ratios I'd suspect similarly large sizes are readily available along with supporting legs and
masking drapes, typically black
masking but some suppliers will have other colors in
stock for weddings, funerals, and various corporate clients.
Models intended for rear
screen applications will have ZERO cross bracing behind to interfere / shadow your images.
Who rents Fast-Folds in your area
? I don't know, I'm up here north of Donald's walls; you're in Portland, Oregon; let's put Control Booth's 'Bat
Call' to work and summon someone more local for you. I'll post this now and EDIT in someone local for you in a few minutes once I've found the right person for you.
EDIT: @Van Would you mind advising
@Catherder from your closer perspective
?
With all best wishes.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard