Projecting a rainbow for wizard of oz

[David A]

you can get a good result using an overhead projector, they are efficient and bright and will work on a dimmer for a short time with no problems

[Tomo]

Alternatively, use several parcans with a different colour gel in each, all the way across the rainbow.

A while spent focussing, and there you go.

 

This does use quite a few dimmer channels though!

 

Last time I did The Wiz the LD came up with this one as a light curtain rather than projection - it looked pretty stunning!

[Andrew C]

7 colours?? Come on people, you only need 3 "primaries", and the edges blend to give the rest (ish)

 

You can get gobos of a curvy bit of rainbow, in 3 radii, if you want a "pot-of-gold" rainbow.

[svincent]

Glass gobo + source 4

im pretty sure rainbows will be common and not custom

[J Pearce]

There are gobo kits for rainbows, with several gobos, each meant to be gelled in a set colour.

[Kelite]

Glass gobo + source 4

im pretty sure rainbows will be common and not custom

 

 

Since the dollar is so affordable in the UK presently, you may take your pick from these glass gobos without spending much cash.

 

http://www.internetapollo.com/Products/Search.aspx?t=rainbow

 

We ship weekly to Stage Electrics and White Light, so you won't need to wait long...

[Johnno]

At our school we use an ordinary computer projector (2000 Lumens) fed by MS PowerPoint to project all our backdrops onto the cyc wall. Some get projected when the wall is lit up by the cyc battens. All are quite visible.

[Ken Coker]

This might be too expensive, but......seven or eight Reich & Vogel low voltage beam lights gelled to the appropriate colours in conjunction with a haze machine.

 

Might work with aeros or Par36 pin spots........definitely doesn't work with CP60s.

 

 

Cheers

 

KC

[LXbydesign]

I think all these ideas are very helpfull, but in the end the only single best most effective way I had of projecting a rainbow onto an allready lit cyc (which also had cloud FX going on it as well) was to use a glass rainbow gobo in a source4.

 

Beg, borrow or steal the money to get one. Its worth it.

[rabywebb]

Having been asked to do a very similar thing some years ago in school, I used a throw-away CD, gaffer taped to a barn door flap of a fresnel and then reflecting the light off the CD onto the cyc. It took a bit of playing with and clever masking with tape, but created a very realistic rainbow that was curved and filled the width of the stage.

 

It's a zero cost solution that works welll provided it's not run for too long (CDs/gaffer tape have a habit of melting) and you don't need too great a light output.

[Don Allen]

Three profiles and a set of three rainbow gobos with RGB as stated earlier. DHA Rainbow Gobo. You might be able to make your own set now you know what they look like but it is always worthwhile buying them if you have the budget.

You should not be washing your cyc out with acting area light so most methods suggested should work

[rfears]

Three profiles and a set of three rainbow gobos with RGB as stated earlier. DHA Rainbow Gobo. You might be able to make your own set now you know what they look like but it is always worthwhile buying them if you have the budget.You should not be washing your cyc out with acting area light so most methods suggested should work

Thanks for the thought - I'm leaning towards the glass gobo - acetate suggestions at the moment rather than 3 profiles.But I agree I shouldn't be washing the cyc out with acting but we don't have much choice given the stage cover, the lanterns we have and the various throws involved. I have a tech meeting tonight where I will learn how the rainbow sequence fits into the rest of the production, so I'll know what can be dimmed and how many actors need to be covered and where from (I'm a traditionlist in that effects for me taken second place to actors faces...).Also our run is 3 nights + matinee (TBC) in a village hall so I need to balance perfection with practicality (I guess we all do but our margins are a bit tighter). So for example the matinee, if it happens, has lots of ambient light so all the serious backout effects go out the window _ I wish I could tell the sun to go to snap b/o but it never seems to work...To yourself and all the other contributors to this thread, many thanks. It's my first time on blue room, a regular denisen over the years of RATS, and I'm truly grateful for all your contributions.CheersRick.Allmany thanks for your thoughtful contributions and advice for my problem.I've had the tech meeting and as none of the writer/director/producer have any idea what's happening in that sequence so I'm going to have to improvise during final rehearsals.Someone suggested to me a "light curtain" effect which I could do if there is any prospect of haze on the stage (leftover smoke, deliberate hazing) but if I were going to set that up I'd rather do it in the auditorium (the village hall...) instead of on-stage so the actors can point out while singing their stuff. However, having in the past tried similar hazing, I've realised that the convection effects in the hall can't sustain haze reliably, and the amount of smoke needed to retain a haze effect would blanket the audience for too long.So I guess I'm back to some form of front projection (probably a glass gobo holder with an acetate) from a profile. This probably works as the sky-blue back cyc against which the projection happens is getting darker and redder as the cyclone approaches but I still suspect it will look less than good :-(Thanks for all our suggestions so far, please keep them coming!CheersRick.