Giant Jukebox

[TOG]

Feel free to point and laugh.

I need to build a collapsible jukebox seven feet tall and five feet wide. It will be roughly based on a late-50s Wurlitzer.

The painful part:
The front is actually a painted scrim with a velcro fly split down the middle so that the actor can emerge in a cloud of smoke and cheesy flashing lights. Got that? Now the fun part: He has to strike a pose while backlit while still inside the jukebox. So I'm looking at a white split curtain close enough to the front so that he is visible through the scrim material. There will be a small space (1' deep) between the white curtain and front scrim so that the fog can be restrained until reveal. The actor is standing in a tent of heavy black material attached to the back of the jukebox to prevent light leakage from the intense backlight. Fan, microphone/stand, and small vocal monitor will also be in this tent.

I'll have to experiment with different lighting instruments to see which one works best for such a short throw.

My biggest worries are heat from the light fixture and the painted scrim not allowing enough backlit actor to show through to be effective. I suppose I could forget the white curtain but it gives sharp definition to the silhouette that I don't think I could get with the scrim.

I'd hate to build the blasted thing only to find it is useless.

Suggestions? Thoughts? Apprehensions?
I mean, realistic ones- I've already considered moving away and changing my name.

The pointing and laughing can start now...

 

[BrianWolfe]

I think you can make it work. Try an LED fixture or lamp for the light to minimize the heat.

 

[sk8rsdad]

Just throwing out some ideas...

For some reason when I read your post I got this picture in my brain of an inflatable jukebox lit from inside the tubes.

Perhaps constructing your jukebox like a shadow box with a cut-out or painting of the posed actor on the back of some translucent material like tyvek would give a similar effect, and a few more options for lighting. The actor would mimic the cut-out when revealed.

 

[jonliles]

Does the front have to be velcro? Could it be a magnet catch & weight at the bottom so it can snap back on it's own with the help of gravity? It would make the reveal quicker.

Lights, hmm, you know, for as long as it is going to be on, why not several PAR38's? LED's could work, but is there enough Lumens to cut through the scrim (w/o being prohoibitively expensive)can you make the box a bit deeper via a tunnel?

It is all about illusion right? the apparent dimensions do not mean they have to be true dimensions. Think of ways to make the inside bigger - like extending the back side with blacks.

Happy engineering...

 

[TOG]

"...Try an LED fixture or lamp for the light to minimize the heat..."
I had considered a PAR64LED so that I could use multiple colors.

"...why not several PAR38's..."
With several light sources come several overlapping shadows- I need a sharp shadow that is discernible from the back row. I'm afraid multiple light sources would make it too"fuzzy"

"...with a cut-out or painting of the posed actor..."
The actor has to move around so a cut-out wouldn't work- he'd have to come out of the front of the jukebox immediately after the backlit bit is done and there wouldn't be time (or room) to pull the cut-out.

"...the apparent dimensions do not mean they have to be true dimensions..."
I realized that as I started sketching it. The plan is a black layer from front to back approximately 6' long- like a long arched tunnel with a closed back end. The "jukebox" would be an overlay that slides over the DS end of the black tunnel and would be held in place with velcro strips. I like the idea of the magnets instead of a velcro fly (now I'll have that stupid song going through my head all night) and the weights so that it will snap back.

Thanks for all your help- I'm really good at concert production, lights, pyro, stage design, and band wrangling- this is the first time I've had to come up with something like this!

 

[kicknargel]

I'd hate to build the blasted thing only to find it is useless.

I'd for sure start by mocking up the fabric and light parts and trying the effect before building any of the scenic elements.

 

[TOG]

A guy in my area who makes portable garages out of tubular aluminum fabricated a tunnel frame* for me- and I hung a white curtain near the DS end, about a foot from the end. Backlight is a quartz work light with hand-fabricated barn doors located at the US end and makes a shadow with a sharp edge and no sense of a light source because of the nature of the lamp. It's a little toasty but will only be on for three minutes per performance. There will be a fan set behind the light so that when the white curtain and front curtain are opened the smoke will "burst" out in a puff. Still haven't tried it with a painted scrim, though. That's the big test. If it doesn't work at least I'll have a dandy bicycle shelter...


*Ever have to assemble a screen tent? You open up one end of a bag and dump out a pile of tubes, corners, weird angles, etc? That's what this is like.

 

[masterelectrician2112]

What show is this? I saw the word 'jukebox' and immediately thought All Shook Up, which I happen to be follow spotting for right now. That sounds like a complicated build though!