Projecting a Company Logo onto a Movie Theatre Screen?

I'm a projection manager for a movie theatre and we are trying to figure out what type of light to use to project a company logo onto one of our larger movie screens. Anyone have any recommendations?

Also, would the size of the image be easily adjustable? We currently have ETC Source 4 PARs with colored gels as part of a lighting pre-show that are floor mounted... For a light that shines a logo, what would be the best place to mount? Thanks!
 
Best position + fixtures

For your projection, I recommend a Source Four Zoom, that way you can easily adjust the size of the projection. It's probably best to mount it from either the ceiling or somewhere else that will give you a nice, flat surface to project on. If it's from the bottom or too much to one side, your image will become distroted and hard to read.
 
Welcome to controlbooth.com!

I am really not a lighting expert by any stretch and I am sure that others will be along to offer their thoughts too. In general it would seem to me that as close to streight on perpendicular to the screen would probably be the best for a logo. Otherwise, you might have to ajust the Gobo of the logo to be distorted so when it hits the screen at an angle it appears correct again. (this is almost certainly necessary b/c it is generally next to imposable to have a streight on shot at the screen... but maybe if that is where your projector is located.... but then maybe that is too far away and would make the logo huge)

I am really not sure but I think that a light that lets you change the .... cant think of the word.... beam angle maybe.... the width of the circle of light .... it will change the size of the logo on the screen, although how much it will change depends on how ajustable the light is.

I am sure some others will be arround with more suggestions and real life advice (of which i have none). once again, welcome to controlbooth.com feel free to look arround and add your thoughts to other threads too!
 
The light you want is an Ellipsoidal fixture. A source-four or similar fixture. Best to seek something in the 750-1000watt range for the best punch with ambient or house lighting on. These instruments have slots which accept GOBO's. A Gobo is a steel cut-out you can have made of your company logo or almost any design. Cost for a custom steel gobo is around $150-200 for the first cut and the original set-up die, and less then half that price for each copy afterwards. You will also need a gobo-holder, and a "donut" for the fixture (takes away some of the hialations on an impage you can get that make an image fuzzy). Additionall in gobo's, you can get glass and color--but they are more costly and more delecate and not suggested for non-professional use as mis-use can cause them to break rather quickly if not pre-heated properly for glass. A steel gobo will last a long time if properly cared for. Many company's can do a custom gobo for you from a simple JPG or quality photocopy image, comapny's such as Apollo and Rosco are common to get gobo's from. Should also note--in ellips fixture, you insert the gobo mirror image backwards...just so you know.

There are different "degree" fixtures in ellipsoidals depending on the distance from your hanging position to your screen. Would need a distance estimate to better give you an idea of which degree fixture to get, and also how BIG you want the image to be. A Zoom fixture as mentioned above is a good choice as well because it is various degrees in lenses for adjusting size and focus.

hope this helps...

-w
 
Instead of a gobo, you might want to look into a Rosco Image Pro, which will let you preject your logo in color, and you can print it off yourself. We used a few for our past productions, and they work like a charm, and look really good.

For those, you need to use a Source 4, because any other light would melt the slide.
 
Hey guys, sorry i havent posted in forveer, been very busy. I'll try to write a post about the last 2 months when i get a chance...but for this post....


I would recomend renting an LCD projector. That way you can adjust the size of the image in any way shape or form, and it will be in color.

A custom gobo will run you a good $100, a custom glass gobo will be closer to $200, then you still have the cost of the fixture.

To rent a good 2200lummen projector for a weekend will cost you about $100 depending on your region/what your doing/your local corperate company.

Where are you located? i might be able to find you a corperate neer you.

Josh
 
the movie theatres where i live use a slide projector yes i know the old non computerized thingy this should work for you and will be supper cheep and it allows you to sell multiple adds for an event and some units have a built in timer so you can do alittle slide show of sponsers logos


JH
 
Thanks for the feedback everyone. We are currently exploring a couple of ideas... We already have a slide projector that we use to project coming attractions and various theatre information, and we were thinking maybe if we have a couple of extra slide projectors in the booth it might give the effect we are looking for and have our logo on each side of our slides. What do you guys think?

The ellipsoidal lights with custom gobos would be another approach. We already have ETC Source 4 PARs with 575w lamps. The throw is about 100' or so; I can get an exact figure if needed. Would I be able to use the lights we already have, insert custom gobos in them, and project from the back wall? These are non-zoom models... how big of an image would I be able to get?
 
There's a lot of ideas, and all of the above will work.

For low(est) budget, a leko will be the best. The image size and focus are manually adjustable, meaning you'll have to get a ladder or something up there. Depending on image size you want, you can get a lens from 5 degrees to 65 degrees. A good lighting shop will be able to advise which lens to buy based on the distance you're going to project.

For higher cost, but more flexibility, get an lcd projector, or look on ebay for a Martin Imagescan, which can be aimed remotely, etc.

If you haven't had the gobo made yet, the place I recommend is http://www.internetapollo.com They have thousands of stock gobos, and can custom make anything, in steel or glass (glass is more and is necessary if you want colors).

((edited at the request of the mods))

Apollo has never steered me wrong, but they aren't the only place to consider. Rosco and some others which slip my mind and which I have never purchased from are out there.
 
Rosco also sells custom and glass gobos. Be warned that if you go glass, it both needs to be facing in the correct direction and you must use a glass gobo holder. Normal pattern holders won't work. Also if your beam is slightly out of adjustment in bench focus, there is a really good chance you will crack the glass pattern. That gets to be expensive. Buy two not just one - just in case.

Think I was the first ever to invent a glass pattern gobo holder for a 1290 follow spot. Worked great to some extent at least. I was amazed that they didn't already have one because a good follow spot is also a very optically pure pattern projector.
 
SuperCow said:
Instead of a gobo, you might want to look into a Rosco Image Pro, which will let you preject your logo in color, and you can print it off yourself. We used a few for our past productions, and they work like a charm, and look really good.

For those, you need to use a Source 4, because any other light would melt the slide.

I will be using/testing an Image Pro tomorrow for some Sound of Music projections. Hope it lives up to the hype.
 
All right... new idea! What would you guys recommend for projecting a logo as I described above but have it in motion (i.e., moving around in a circle)? Thanks!
 
well basically same idea, but use an intelligent light
you have a few options: a dedicated intelligent light, an intelligent source four, or a normal source four with an (optional) intelligent mirror head for motion. All of these will generally need a DMX interface to a controller, or might possibly have a preset program you can use.
 

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