Front Projection for Nutcracker Ballet

[MLogee1]

I am putting on a scaled down production of the Nutcracker this year and am hoping to make it look as professional in the past.

Years past: separate drops for Party Scene, Snow, Act II, professional lighting designer who brought in much of his own equipment in addition to theatre's, countless hours spent on hanging equipment and writing cues

This year: no fly space so I am hoping to use front projection for background (rear is not an option unfortunately), using the existing lighting which includes front light, 4-5 overhead electrics, side trees in 3 wings, bringing LD in for limited time to write cues

The projector is hung from the ceiling about mid-way back in the house.

My main concern is having adequate, artistic lighting (this is NOT your average dance recital) without having shadows cast on the cyc/projected image. I also have several set pieces that need to be pretty far upstage, again without casting shadows.

Am I crazy to even attempt this? Any suggestions for how to make this work are much appreciated! Please keep in mind that I am artistic director with only basic knowledge of lighting principles.

Thanks!

 

[JChenault]

I think it is unlikely you will be happy with the finished look. Making projections look good is usually a lot harder than scenery.

Let's look at some of the challenges.

The first thing to understand is that stage light on the screen is the enemy of any projection. ( By screen I mean whatever you are projecting the image on. By stage light I mean any light on the dancers, etc), and that projectors are pretty dim compared to stage lights.

This means that if you have a reasonably bright stage, and your floor color is not dark, you will wash out the image just from the light bouncing off the floor and hitting the screen. If you have dancers in light colored costumes that are near the projection you will wash out the image just from the light reflecting form the dancer. If you are using front light and have dancers with 8 feet or so of the screen you will wash out the image.

Typically if you are doing front projection, you must either have a lot of space between the acting area and the screen, or use mostly side light. Since this is dance, side light might work reasonably well for you - but you will still have issues with the bounce from the dancers skin, costumes reflecting to the screen and back to the audience.

The second issue is how bright the projector is / and where it is located in relation to the screen / actors. In your mind ( or better yet on a piece of paper) draw a section of the stage. Put in the projector and trace the rays of light from the projector to your screen. Will a six foot dancer be hit by the light? Probably. Will the proscenium arch cut of the light from the screen making it hard to light the top - likely. So you are making a trade off between light on the dancers, and able to light to the top of your screen.

Now some ways you might get around this.

• If stage space is at a premium - consider some kind of decorative border at the bottom - sides of the screen. This does several good things. It makes the area to project on smaller, which makes the image brighter - and it lets you use front light on actors close to the screen.
• Consider using the projector just for the top (and perhaps bottom) of each scene. IE establish the look - then bring up your stage lights. Accept the fact that the projector will wash out when the stage lights come on. You might even embrace this by replacing the projection with cyc lights / gobos after the initial scenery look.
• Don't get too exact with the projections. Instead of trying to do a realistic ballroom - do something more abstract with larger swatches of color.

Bottom line - if you expect to get the look of a drop using a single projector from the front of house - you will be disappointed. If you want to use a projector to do things that drops can't do ( the tree growing scene comes to mind) you might like the output. HOWEVER - it is unlikely that a projector that is already hung in the house will give you the punch you need.

You might want to get some images and go to the venue. Project the images on a drop, and look to see how you like it. Turn on the side lights and have a dancer move in front of the drop. Turn on the front lights and see what that does.

Good luck.

 

[kicknargel]

I agree with everything John said, and would like to add:

In general, thinking of projection as an easy solution is misguided. In addition to all the above problems, you have to consider the source of the video. Most commercial DVD players will put "play" and "pause" on the screen. Some people use powerpoint, although your options for fade times and such are limited. Maybe someone here will have suggestions of a reasonable and affordable way to handle that part. You also have to consider the length of the cable run from the source to the projector--you can only go so long without losing signal strength.

When I used to do Nutcracker in a non-fly house, I did it with travelers. I had the snow drop dead hung (permanent) all the way upstage, then put both the party and sweets drops on the same track. The party drop was rigged to the curtain pull, so it could be opened a vista (in view) to reveal the snow drop. Then at intermission we pulled the sweets drop across by hand. It helps to put chain in the pipe pocket of the drops and to attach boards and stretcher lines to the sides.

Nick Kargel
www.youwantwhatproductions.com