Moving to the sides big banners on stage
- Thread starterTitere
- Start date
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I'll start off with some of the basic questions to help you get started. Is this indoor, or outdoor? Is the stage deck level, or do you have obstacles (ramps, steps, holes, etc) that you need to overcome. How heavy are the banners? How close will these be to presenters/actors/people on stage?
I'll start off with some of the basic questions to help you get started. Is this indoor, or outdoor? Is the stage deck level, or do you have obstacles (ramps, steps, holes, etc) that you need to overcome. How heavy are the banners? How close will these be to presenters/actors/people on stage?
Hi! It is indoor. The banners are not heavy, but it depends how I finally mount them up. Ideally the best is that the banners just hanged up, with no frame all around. It is less work. But I dont think we can slide them properly sidewise, without a frame. Not sure about that though. Here I send some sketches. The banners are all 4 meter tall. Two of them are 1m width, and they are not movable. (The thin ones on the front of the set, at each side). (I have also a white fabric the back wall, for image projection, that just stays there).
Then I have 2 modules (banners) 2m widthx4m tall, to be located in the middle of the stage. At the bottom, I have 4 banners 3m width x 4m tall. (placed on two different bars, because of weight, and so I can make different combinations when moving them sidewise)
I must find out if we must make metal / wooden frames for each movable banner, or if we are going to use just a pipe at the top and bottom of each. The banners are being moved sidewise, often during the play. Many scenes, many combinations.
Any advice? Thanks!
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Hi! I have several tracks (bars?) where I can hang the up from, but I am not sure of what mechanical system I must use so I can gently slide them from one side, to the middle, or out of the scene sight. I just posted some sketches and measures on the answer above, if you mind to take a look and give some advice. Thanks!
Yes curtain track is a good solution but that's going to be expensive and you will need some rigging knowledge to install it safely. But based on your posts it sounds like your don't have a lot of money or rigging experience for this, so that may be out of question.
Long ago I did a show with a series of simple backgrounds that were pulled on and off stage. I hung two cables from one side wall of the stage to the other at about 8 feet above the floor. One cable was downstage and the other upstage. Then I hung the backgrounds on with metal rings like a shower curtain. It was all very light weight and the rings slid easily on the cable. The actors could quickly pull the curtains on and off from side to side. It was very easy, didn't require any rigging expertise to do safely, and not expensive.
The rings I used were like this...
Long ago I did a show with a series of simple backgrounds that were pulled on and off stage. I hung two cables from one side wall of the stage to the other at about 8 feet above the floor. One cable was downstage and the other upstage. Then I hung the backgrounds on with metal rings like a shower curtain. It was all very light weight and the rings slid easily on the cable. The actors could quickly pull the curtains on and off from side to side. It was very easy, didn't require any rigging expertise to do safely, and not expensive.
The rings I used were like this...
jtweigandt
Well-Known Member
What Rigger?
I'm so fly....I Neverland.
@Titere, I would consider what @gafftaper has suggested. To add to that: make sure your rings can't open on their own. This may mean securing them with tape or maybe an adhesive.
JonCarter
Well-Known Member
Titere, You say "Banners," which brings to mind pieces of cloth fluttering in the breeze--flags on a windy day. Yet your "web1.JPG" seems to show rigid panels similar to what are usually referred to as "flats," painted framed cloth-faced or plywood-faced pieces. There's quite a difference in weight, and ways of moving, between these. Please describe your "banners" in more detail. This will help us to give you a more appropriate answer to your problem.
Hi! By “banners” I mean big format printing on textile, that could eather hang up from a bar inserted in a “pocket” on the upper end, or could be framed on a metal or wooden frame like a canvas and then hanged up. Here is a photo of such products, just downloaded from the internet:
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even if this example from the photo is just a hanging textile, it looks quite flat, almost as if printed in some solid material.
My images are wider, 4 meter tall 3 meter wide. To frame them would make them very heavy, so I would like just to insert a tube on the top (to hang it up) and one at the bottom to stabilize it.
My images are wider, 4 meter tall 3 meter wide. To frame them would make them very heavy, so I would like just to insert a tube on the top (to hang it up) and one at the bottom to stabilize it.
Thanks for the idea. Did you have small holes on the backdrop, like the picture above show? Does the backdrop looked quite flat (no wrinkles) after pulling it side to side on stage?
I may use a metal pipe inserted in the top of the backdrop, and then hang it up from that pipe, maybe with a ring at each end?
I like the way they hang up this print (i got the image from the net) Just that I need to be able to slide the images to the sides, in and out of scene:
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Thanks for the suggestion.
It looks good, but maybe expensive. I may need a simpler solution I just this, framing of big format print with “tent poles”. My “banners” are as tall (4m) and half of that width. I can print them with narrow pockets on the sides and insert such “tent poles”. What do you think? I still must have a thicker pipe at the top to hang with rings on the bar...
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A rigid pole across the top and bottom could work, although you might want to check for sag, both in the suspension wire (it will sag as it's only "supported" at the ends and you can't apply infinite tension, although if the banners are sufficiently light it might not be much) and in the banner (if unsupported except at the ends).
macsound
Well-Known Member
Not sure if you've contacted a vendor yet, but the material is what makes the difference in weight and wrinkles.
In your first image from the internet, that's a vinyl coated canvas product, typcailly used in the US as banners on a lightpole - something usually 2'x4' mounted on a lightpole downtown, advertising the local theatre's production of The Mountain of Music. This is the type of product usually printed at a local printshop using a large format printer like what's used for color architectural drawings, usually known as a plotter. The material is bright white, fairly shiny, robust for a year or two in sun, wind, and rain.
In your most recent batch of images, the first one shows a guy assembling a pop-up stretchy banner, commonly used at tradeshows. This fabric is incredibly lightweight, think ladies silk underwear, which is why it's often used at tradeshows as the rep can easily carry the whole assembly on a plane. On the same lightweight note, it's not 100% opaque. Lighting head on workes well but doing a gobo graze will probably reveal whats behind it. Not completely like a scrim and depends on how much you stretch it out. Because it stretches, it's completely useless without a frame but works really well in many situations because the fabric is stretched to eliminate wrinkles and the frame is about 99% of the total weight.
What's probably your best option as a conventiona "banner" is natural canvas. Akin to option 1 but the print is done on cotton or cotton poly fabric instead of the vinyl coated fabric. It's not shiny (good for lighting) and the base color of the fabric is usually a more offwhite - unrefined cotton color - not blinding white. Might not be available at your local printshop but available from other regional places that stock different printing substrate.
In your first image from the internet, that's a vinyl coated canvas product, typcailly used in the US as banners on a lightpole - something usually 2'x4' mounted on a lightpole downtown, advertising the local theatre's production of The Mountain of Music. This is the type of product usually printed at a local printshop using a large format printer like what's used for color architectural drawings, usually known as a plotter. The material is bright white, fairly shiny, robust for a year or two in sun, wind, and rain.
In your most recent batch of images, the first one shows a guy assembling a pop-up stretchy banner, commonly used at tradeshows. This fabric is incredibly lightweight, think ladies silk underwear, which is why it's often used at tradeshows as the rep can easily carry the whole assembly on a plane. On the same lightweight note, it's not 100% opaque. Lighting head on workes well but doing a gobo graze will probably reveal whats behind it. Not completely like a scrim and depends on how much you stretch it out. Because it stretches, it's completely useless without a frame but works really well in many situations because the fabric is stretched to eliminate wrinkles and the frame is about 99% of the total weight.
What's probably your best option as a conventiona "banner" is natural canvas. Akin to option 1 but the print is done on cotton or cotton poly fabric instead of the vinyl coated fabric. It's not shiny (good for lighting) and the base color of the fabric is usually a more offwhite - unrefined cotton color - not blinding white. Might not be available at your local printshop but available from other regional places that stock different printing substrate.
Thanks for the tip about the banners (sag movement) and the suspension wire. I may be able to stabilize the main bar on the sides. Will check that out
