LED/Laser Costume Effects?!?

[LDDI]

The theatre I am the TD of is putting on a production..set in future..can't say much because of stupid liscence/copyrights...
Anyway.
In one scene, a character falls onto the floor (covered in haze at this point) and "dies" there needs to be tight rays of light coming from the body... They need to change from blue to green to purple, and have a slow circular waving (almost waterlike) movement...

I am completely stumped on how to effectively create this effect, so any advice would be great...

The lights also need to dim and have color fades on cue...

i know it sounds like a lot, but that's why in asking on here

 

[wolfman005]

You might be able to use something like thisAmerican DJ Homepage
Might have to make some sort of focusing system if the zoom is to big.

 

[cbrandt]

Is it possible to block that actors scene in a very specific place, and have lights in the rig to focus down on where they are, giving the effect, or does it need to move around with the actor in some fashion? I'd try to use lights in my rig to focus down on them. You'll get more intensity and have more control. You'll be giving up a lot of things by having it be something that can fit in a costume.

That being said, RC4 makes a really nice wireless dimmer. The biggest problem there is power, as batteries get very heavy, very quickly...

 

[LDDI]

THe scene will take place in a very specific place. An important update I forgot to put in here is that we are renting a portable 8" portable stage to raise our stage height. The gives me the ability to put the effect light in the floor of the stage. The effect radiates up from the actor in a V pattern. Do you know of any fixtures that would create this effect plus a "wobble" effect? I've playe around with many fixtures and can't seem to find anything.

 

[cbrandt]

well, if you've got the possibility of some sort of mover, you could accomplish it with a wide beam angle, alittle bit of gobo shake, or maybe some slow glass in the beam.

You could accomplish something similar, perhaps, with an ERS of some sort, but to get all of the effects you're looking for, you'd need a lot of add ons. A seachanger or a color scroller for the color change, and a gobo rotator for the beamed effect of the V. If you use slow glass in the rotator, you can get a pretty nice wobble/waver in your beam. You could also take a look at several smaller fixtures with tight beams. Birdies, or something similar, and gel them in your colors, and just fade between them.

It sounds to me like you are nicely set up to do this as part of the set/lighting rig, and not as a costume. I always prefer to take these things out of the hands of an actor, and to avoid wireless.

 

[LDDI]

I tried using a mover for thi effect an it gives off a decent effect! Now I just need to order a different glass gobo, and this should work! I agree about the actor situation...
Thanks do much!

 

[cbrandt]

If you can get around the license/copyright issues, we'd love to see a picture of how it turns out.

 

[LDDI]

Once the production has been shown to the public, posting pictures is legal. It's obviously a few months away yet, but I'll try to get a picture posted!

 

[cadcoke5]

I agree that having the lighting effect in the floor is probably the best and easiest option. I imagine, to look like it is coming from the body, the lights emitting from just upstage of the actor is the way to do it.

In the past, I did a little research into LED's for focused beams. You can get them with as little as 3 degree beams, though 5 degrees is a lot easier to find. But, they do emit some side-wash. You might put some shrink wrap around each LED to function as a snoot. The color changing ones aren't as bright as you would want them for something like this, so you would have to have different sets of LEDs for the color change.

Of course, for something novel, it takes experimentation to figure out the best way. You might try a combination of the clothing-implanted LEDs and an effect light in the floor, just US of the actor.

Joe Dunfee