# Which color for a back curtain?



## JLNorthGA (Apr 15, 2013)

Our main drape is a Cabernet colored Encore IFR. We have a back curtain and side tabs that are black.

The black looks too stark for when we do concerts - so we want to consider a different color to use for the musical acts.

I am inclined to use a lighter weight Cabernet colored Encore. However I thought I would seek different opinions and thoughts as to what might work. The curtain would mainly be used as a background for the various musicians that grace our stage. I probably would still use the black back curtain for dance recitals.


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## kiwitechgirl (Apr 15, 2013)

A cyc and set of cyc lights so that you can have any colour backdrop you want and are not limited to one set of drapes which you have in stock? Having said that, one theatre I worked in had a full set of drapes (minus the house curtain, which was burgundy) in blue, silver and burgundy - they were used reasonably frequently but not nearly as much as our cyc.


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## TheaterEd (Apr 15, 2013)

Maybe I have just been spoiled, but I have always used a cyc when lighting dance. I currently use my cyc during all of my concerts as well. It is a very versatile solution that will allow you to be flexible with what your stage looks like with a very minimal amount of work.


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## MrsFooter (Apr 15, 2013)

I have personally grown fond of the cyc with a black scrim combo. A cyc is certainly versatile, but I've find that it's really easy for a lit cyc to overpower the stage, and an unlit cyc looks like butt. It also makes it somewhat difficult to go to a dark, isolated look, because the cyc bounces _so_ much ambient light. But you throw a black scrim in front of that puppy and all problems solved! You now have the option of color when you want it and black when you don't. So that would be my personal preference for an upstage drop. An upstage black would be my close second choice; I actually opt to use the black for most applications (music, choral concerts, corporates...most of my dance shows, for that matter,) but it's nice to have the option of color with a cyc.

Now, to address what I feel was your original question. I don't have any experience with lighting an upstage drop in any color other than cyc and black, so I'm afraid I'm not a ton of help in that arena. But my question for you is do you intend to light you stage with any color other than white? If the answer is no, white light only, then I wouldn't think it would matter much, go with whatever's pretty. However, if you think there's a chance that anyone at any time during the life of this drop intends to use any color other than white, I would hesitate to get a drop in any color other than white or black. Things get squirrelly when you start putting colored light on colored fabric; without very much effort your lovely Cabernet-colored drop can turn into a vomit-colored drop, and no one wants that. 

One last thought, if you don't like the plain upstage black, play around a little with throwing cyc light on your upstage black. You'd be surprised how much texture and depth a little red cyc light can add to a black drop.


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## JohnD (Apr 15, 2013)

Stephanie, how much space between the black scrim and the cyc and does the cyc have to be lit from behind the black scrim. This sounds very interesting.


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## JLNorthGA (Apr 15, 2013)

MrsFooter said:


> Now, to address what I feel was your original question. I don't have any experience with lighting an upstage drop in any color other than cyc and black, so I'm afraid I'm not a ton
> One last thought, if you don't like the plain upstage black, play around a little with throwing cyc light on your upstage black. You'd be surprised how much texture and depth a little red cyc light can add to a black drop.



I'll have to explore the cost of some cyc lights. I could mount a couple on either of the stage electrics and at least be able to dim them and turn them on/off. I could run cable down to the floor and run them that way. I don't have any DMX cable going to either of the stage electrics - so I couldn't really get into LED cyc lights.


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## MrsFooter (Apr 15, 2013)

JohnD said:


> Stephanie, how much space between the black scrim and the cyc and does the cyc have to be lit from behind the black scrim. This sounds very interesting.



The order of things in our space goes cyc most upstage, then cyc lights, then scrim furthest downstage of the three. The scrim needs to be just downstage of your cyc lights in order to take advantage of its blackness. Our scrim lives about 5' or so downstage of our cyc due to the size of our cyc lights, but we often breast our scrim upstage to gain more upstage space and also to discourage idiots from not realizing that we can see through the scrim and walking behind it.


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## techieman33 (Apr 15, 2013)

Putting some color on the full black helps it a lot.


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## derekleffew (Apr 16, 2013)

MrsFooter said:


> I have personally grown fond of the cyc with a black scrim combo. ...


Another benefit of a black scrim is that, although it does cut some intensity from the cyc, a black scrim actually makes the cyc look better as it catches all the errant spill, reflections, and bounce from a shiny floor of followspot beams. Front projected template s can be interesting with the double image, especially if not dead on.

Distance between cyc and scrim doesn't much matter, as long as there's enough distance for the cyc light s to do their job, scrim can go on the next pipe DS of the cyc light electric. If the scrim is the right height, a border can hang from the same pipe to get double duty (or tail down the scrim pipe). For triple duty, hang legs from the same pipe to mask the hourglassing edges of the scrim.


JLNorthGA said:


> ... The black looks too stark for when we do concerts - so we want to consider a different color to use for the musical acts. ...


Maybe you're just not lighting it "right", if lighting it at all? Consider a black back curtain with fullness: hang some MFL or NSP PARs or even Spotted Fresnels (when in season; they're a protected species) one to two feet DS of the drape and do interesting "slashes" of color, and do the same with PARs or ERSs on floor plates. Add some scrollers or CXIs and the possibilities are endless. Curtain Warmers aren't necessarily solely for the main rag.

Something like this (I prefer the beams angled, though):


Mirage Grand Ballroom, Las Vegas

Here's a cool one, from the thread http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/lighting-electrics/2037-how-do-you-make-curtain-warmers.html :

Could be great for some things, but totally inappropriate for another.
.


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## TheaterEd (Apr 16, 2013)

derekleffew said:


> Spotted Fresnels (when in season; they're a protected species)



Subtle and hilarious. Well played sir.


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## JohnD (Apr 16, 2013)

Would you contemplate using the elusive black ringed spotted Fresnel? To keep this from merely being a silly post, there is a term for the black ceramic coating on the risers of Fresnel and step lenses. That term is either colouvered or co-louvered depending on the source. I discovered this while going through older lighting books looking for Edison plug references, no joy there.


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