Windows in Scenery?

[Chris Speer]

Hey all,

I'm looking for creative and different ways to use windows in scenery. I'm currently working on a set that I have designed a window seat that has 2 - 40" x 65" windows in it. The reason for these windows is the playwright requires the characters to use the window to look out and visualize specific things. The Audience doesn't really need to see what the character does, but I would like to create some sort of visual to at least keep the audience from seeing the black void, or concrete block wall behind the set. I do not have the space for a projector, nor the money or time for a real backdrop for behind the window. What are dome ways I can have the windows visible and still not lead the audience looking directly into a void?

Specifics of the show;

- Window over-looks a parking lot and a downtown area in Charlottesville VA
- Must be able to create police, fireworks and rain through a window effects
- Preferably the windows are visible.
- Rain effects on the Window would be a plus. (I've already know what I'm doing for this effect.)
- One of the windows is borrowed from a historic foundation in Salisbury, NC and must remain in current condition (I can paint the wood of the window, but anything i put on the glass must be able to be removed.)

Thanks for the help. Show goes up in April, but is being built this month.

 

[MarshallPope]

My suggestion would be to put window screen just "outside" of the windows. You can then light it like a scrim, and the neutral gray tends to lust look like glass.

 

[Chris Speer]

My suggestion would be to put window screen just "outside" of the windows. You can then light it like a scrim, and the neutral gray tends to lust look like glass.

Thanks for the advice!
I have to make the set replicate a historic home, which wouldn't have screens, but if I can't find, or figure out anything else I'll probably do this. I've also thought of using vellum or a frost gel to make the window panes seem frosted, but I'm worried it will take away from the effects.

 

[DaveySimps]

Welcome to CB Chris! I have moved this thread to the Scenery Forum so It is posted in the proper place. When you get a moment, stopb back by the New Member Board and introduce yourself to teh group.

~Dave

 

[rochem]

Can you just put a small cyc (a white or light-colored cloth) upstage of the window and have the lighting designer play with that? Fireworks and rain can be done really easily with gobos (ideally focused outside of sightlines so you don't see the shapes on the cyc, just the flashes), and police lights can be done with a rotating beacon hung on a boom to the side of the cyc. You may want to combine that with a little diffusion on the window, depending on how far it is from the audience.

 

[JChenault]

I would question using a window from the historical society. In my experience it is usually easier to build the frame with no glass. It's lighter, you don't get reflection from the glass, and it will not break. Make a frame that looks like what you want, and put some nylon net on the opening to simulate glass.

As rochem said, put up a small drop or a couple of flats US of the window to hide the concrete block wall.

Consider some sheer curtains. The character would have to move them asside to see out, but it would make the other effects a lot easier.