Design Designing backdrop with multi-colour gobos

[DanielWijaya]

Hi friends and seniors in lighting design, my name is Daniel, I would be really glad if I can get to know some of you and probably share our ideas or help each other out.

I am currently working on a musical project as a lighting designer in a university in Singapore. As the budget and manpower of this project is very limited, the backdrop available is only a 16 m x 10 m white cyc.

I want to design the backdrop like the picture in this link Sunrise Behind the Mountains, free wallpaper, hd background desktop, Sunrise Behind the Mountains

The sky is to be simulated using floodlights positioned on the top and the bottom of the cyc. The sun is to be simulated by a moving light positioned at the bottom center of the cyc.

Now, the problem is the mountain. I know that the best effect would be achieved by building a physical mountain backdrop but since we lack manpower and budget, I thought of using multi-coloured gobos shot from the FOH. However, I am afraid that the colour of the mountain gobo and the floodlight for the sunrise will mix and cause unwanted colour.

Do you have any idea on how I can achieve the desired visual image purely using lighting?

 

[JChenault]

In the image, the mountain is revealed as a silhouette only. It reads as dark. I see three ways to get the effect.

Paint the silhouette of the mountain on the drop with dark paint.
Build some kind of opaque silhouette and place it in front of the drop.
Light the drop completely from the back ( assuming no seams in the drop) and build your mountain out of something like cardboard to give you the silhouette.

All that. The best result would probably be achieved with paint and a good scenic artist.

 

[zmb]

While I'm not familiar with the design of you theater, FOH gobos will likely be blocked by the proscenium and if not actors then have an amazing ability to interfere with lighting sometimes.

If you're looking for clouds, why not try rear projecting those on to the cyc?

 

[DanielWijaya]

In the image, the mountain is revealed as a silhouette only. It reads as dark. I see three ways to get the effect.


Paint the silhouette of the mountain on the drop with dark paint.
Build some kind of opaque silhouette and place it in front of the drop.
Light the drop completely from the back ( assuming no seams in the drop) and build your mountain out of something like cardboard to give you the silhouette.


All that. The best result would probably be achieved with paint and a good scenic artist.

Thanks John for the reply, I appreciate your ideas.
- For the first solution, I can't paint the drop because it is rented
- Does opague silhouette mean that it won't reflect lights? What is it made of?
- This is an awesome idea, however, there is not enough space upstage of the cyc cloth. What if I put ground striplights downstage of the cyc cloth and the mountain cardboard downstage of the striplights? Can it achieve the silhouette effect?

 

[DanielWijaya]

While I'm not familiar with the design of you theater, FOH gobos will likely be blocked by the proscenium and if not actors then have an amazing ability to interfere with lighting sometimes.

If you're looking for clouds, why not try rear projecting those on to the cyc?

Hi, thanks for the idea, however, there isn't enough space behind the cyc for rear projection.

 

[David Ashton]

you could get a large sheet of polythene, you can join sheets together with sellotape, then paint your mountain on it, hang it behind the cyc and backlight it.Black polythene could be used for your mountain if you want total blackness.

 

[JChenault]

Thanks John for the reply, I appreciate your ideas.
- For the first solution, I can't paint the drop because it is rented
- Does opague silhouette mean that it won't reflect lights? What is it made of?
- This is an awesome idea, however, there is not enough space upstage of the cyc cloth. What if I put ground striplights downstage of the cyc cloth and the mountain cardboard downstage of the striplights? Can it achieve the silhouette effect?

If you can keep light off of your downstage mountain, ( and paint as appropriate ) that might be a good solution.

 

[masterelectrician2112]

I would suggest a glass gobo. Since your other solutions involve building something in front or behind the cyc, this option might be about as expensive as taking the man hours and physical resources to build something physical to be the mountain. A glass gobo would give you a realistic image that isn't that hard to accomplish.