Image in a frame when front lit, transparent when backlit?

[Painterspoon]

Hello you brilliant hive mind...

I have just attained the rights for my high school to perform Cabaret for next spring (I know it's a ways off, but it's never too early to start designing).

I would like to make use of the picture frame marquee sign somehow so that it can be used for projection from the front - for sections like Herr Schultz's fruit store, a Nazi flag, etc. I would like it to remain transparent so that action can take place behind it. I also thought that I might be able to use it for the final death camp scene, to project the image of gases coming down, but also lit from behind so that you can still see the MC.

Is this the job for shark's tooth, or is there some other fabric option that will work? I already have a big chameleon scrim that I'm not prepared to cut up.

Thanks for your advice.

 

[RonHebbard]

Hello you brilliant hive mind...

I have just attained the rights for my high school to perform Cabaret for next spring (I know it's a ways off, but it's never too early to start designing).

I would like to make use of the picture frame marquee sign somehow so that it can be used for projection from the front - for sections like Herr Schultz's fruit store, a Nazi flag, etc. I would like it to remain transparent so that action can take place behind it. I also thought that I might be able to use it for the final death camp scene, to project the image of gases coming down, but also lit from behind so that you can still see the MC.

Is this the job for shark's tooth, or is there some other fabric option that will work? I already have a big chameleon scrim that I'm not prepared to cut up.

Thanks for your advice.

Sharkstooth works for me, cross-lit obliquely from the front so as to minimize front light going through and illuminating what you're concealing in behind and then lit carefully behind, when desired, avoiding any undesirable spill on the fabric from behind.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.

 

[lwinters630]

I'm thinking it's like Peppers ghost where the ghost (marquee) is a projector screen or video screen. When off and scene behind window lights up, it will show through.

Front projection on scrim may bleed through.

Or pre record the scene and make the window a LCD wall.

 

[ruinexplorer]

If you can find room to rear project, you could use a clear pane with window treatment (like this) which is often used in retail displays. If this isn't opaque enough for your projected images, I would suggest that you have your screen built into the flat that can be manipulated over the window (maybe by a stagehand behind).

 

[jhochb]

Good Morning

I know there's a name for this phenomenon.

Can someone enlighten me?