Creating 40 Thieves : effects to give the appearance of more actors

[Alistair Vowles]

Hello,

I have to create the effect of 40 thieves for a production with a cast of 4. Its a traveling theater company performing in a different venue every day, so anything that involves rigging is a no go.

so far the set has a lot of fabric and i have been thinking about printing shadows of "Thieves" on them that can be drawn and then put away again.

Does anyone have any advice or any ideas that might give a better effect ?

 

[Van]

This is what I immediately thought of:

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[RonHebbard]

This is what I immediately thought of:

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@Alistair Vowles and @Van Can you imagine if they all looked like The Donald!
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard

 

[JonCarter]

A background of multiple mirrors.

 

[bobgaggle]

Seems like a great time to use projection... is that feasible?

 

[ademhayyu1]

Can't really speak from personal experience but I thought I'd like to mention this.

A while ago, I went to go see this musical (can't remember which one at the moment). The ensemble wasn't that big, maybe 5 or 6 but there was this one number where there wasn't much front light but there was a lot of shin lighting and up lighting from the apron and that caused a lot of shadows around the set. It made it seem that there were 30 people on ensemble and their big dance movements made them look MASSIVE.

I don't know if this is exactly what you're looking for or if this might be possible at all but that scene inspired me to try something similar for our spring musical.

Hope this helps!

 

[Alistair Vowles]

Thankyou for your suggestions guys. @ademhayyu1 this sounds like a great idea , i will have a look into it more and see if it will help the effect.