Long throw projection in les mis

[GHSStageManager]

Hey all,

My HS is staging Les Miserables, and we are trying to project a powerpoint of the show's locales onto a screen above the stage. There are two options here:

a) Projector at back of house, pointed up at roughly a 30deg angle to hit a screen above the main curtain - throw distance roughly 60'

b) Projector at back of house, angle is nearly 0deg, to hit a screen upstage of the scenery, throw distance roughly 90'

Either way, we are looking for the image to end up being about 3-4' high by 8-10' wide. Ambient lighting should not be a huge concern.

What might we be looking for in a projector? Would most rental shops have something like it or do we need to go to a specialized rental house?

Thanks!

 

[ruinexplorer]

The biggest problem that you will be running into is finding someone who stocks the lens. Long throw lenses are not common with all rental houses.

 

[museav]

There are two options here:

a) Projector at back of house, pointed up at roughly a 30deg angle to hit a screen above the main curtain - throw distance roughly 60'

b) Projector at back of house, angle is nearly 0deg, to hit a screen upstage of the scenery, throw distance roughly 90'

Either way, we are looking for the image to end up being about 3-4' high by 8-10' wide. Ambient lighting should not be a huge concern.

Looks like several potential issues involved including the image size, the throw distance and the vertical relationship of the projector to the screen.

An image 3' to 4' high would be 4' to 5.33' wide with a 4:3 projector and 5.33' to 7.11' wide with a 16:9 projector. To get the 8' to 10' wide image dimensions you want you'd actually have to create a taller image and use only a portion of the vertical image, perhaps having to mask it down to the desired height. Obviously, a widescreen 16:9 or 16:10 type projector would require less additional height to get the desired width, but might also be more difficult to find. In either case, the projector brightness would be spread over the entire projected area and not just the image area you want.

The throw distances noted will likely require an appropriate long throw lens as I don't think any standard lenses support them. That could also impact the vertical relationship between projector and screen as some lenses can limit the lens shift and/or keystone correction possible.

I would guess that finding what projectors are available with the necessary long throw lens to create the desired image width would be the critical factor, then knowing the lens and projector options available you could look at the overall image size and vertical relationship factors for what is available to you.

 

[SHARYNF]

I know this might sound crazy but if you are just using static images, you might find more options if you were to actually use a slide projector. you would have to search around a bit but you would find a lot of options on long throw lens

Sharyn