Projecting on a Cyc or Scrim

[Traitor800]

Im doing a little work for a High School that is putting on Tommy and they want to use projections. Now I have no idea what kind of projector they plan on using or anything like that right now Im just concerned with the projection screen material. The only soft goods they have are Blacks with fullness, so obviously those are out, so are planning on Renting or Buying a Cyc. What I want to know is how well does a Bleached White FR Seamless Muslin Cyc work as a projection surface. I know that it will work for Front Projection so Im mostly concerned with Rear Projection and things like how it effects image quality, and image brightness. On a similar note how would a Black or White sharkstooth scrim work for front or rear projection. Thanks.
-Chris

 

[MarshallPope]

We regularly front-project on our white cyc for backgrounds. We have also front-projected onto a black scrim, but it was used in a way that the projected image was transparent and you could see the band (a BLAST-type show) behind it. However, our current show is using a white scrim for a gobo background, which I would think would be somewhat similar to a projection. One thing to remember when using a scrim for a projection surface is that some of the image will pass through. When we used the black scrim, remember noticing a faint version of the projected image on the cyc behind the band.

EDIT: My high school did Defying Gravity by Jane Anderson my senior year, and we rear-projected on a bedsheet hung between two unit set columns. (It was a competitive one-act play, so we had to be able to travel to other schools with the set) So really, you can project on just about anything. The quality may not be quite as good, but depending on the effect needed, it may not matter that much.

 

[coldnorth57]

Hi thejust finished doing Tommy this summer we had 5 projector all on Scrims(2 different ones) one up stage on the band platform and one down stage cover the whole satge
the company that rents out the rights for the some has cd of powerpoint picture for the show
here are a few scences from our show

Tommy's Holiday Camp | Facebook
These are both front projection on the scrims the down stage one is a black shsarkstooth and the upstage one is comlein and it is gray(sp??)
(looks like landscaping cloth)

 

[museav]

There are cyc materials made for rear projection or front and rear projection but those are translucent, anything that appears solid is going to tend to make a poor rear projection material. I don't have any ideas of what your goals actually are but I seriously doubt that muslin would work for rear projection. Muslin may work for front projection but that depends on the materials, projector, other lighting and your expectations.

For rear projection sharkstooth scrim has the disadvantage of having larger voids or open areas when stretched with the result that light is greatly blocked where the material is and passes right through where it isn't, thus it is also usually a poor projection surface.

You really have to consider the application in making projection screen material selections and unless you have unlimited budget, you likely may have to also consider the projector and lens.

I also wanted to point out that this is the third similar thread going on at the same time and there have been several relevant discussion in the past. Perhaps we can all try to combine similar topics and use Search to minimize redundancy.