# Projecting onto Black Drapes



## Mathew Greatorex (Oct 20, 2014)

Hello all,

I am a new member to the forum, so hoping that somebody might be able to help out. I work primarily in IT, but am also responsible for the lighting and sound in our new secondary School in England. 

My question is regarding projecting onto black drapes. Our stage has black drapes on the rear wall, and I am looking at trying to project some images for our up coming performance of Oliver.

We have a Christie L2k1000 projector mounted on one of the lighting bars, but I was wondering if anyone had done this before, and if there were any tips on getting a half decent picture. When I have tried it it seems that the black drapes absorb a lot of light projected onto them??

Thanks 

Matt


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## TheaterEd (Oct 20, 2014)

Things that are Truly the color black don't reflect light. I've been able to project some images on a black drape under VERY low lighting conditions, but it didn't look very good. Can you project onto a different surface? Last show I projected onto the back wall of the set and it worked great, otherwise, can you paint the back wall and take the curtains down?


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## Mathew Greatorex (Oct 20, 2014)

The problem that I have got is that the stage only has 1 door to exit with no wings. The door is stage right, so anyone leaving or entering from stage left has to walk around the back of the stage hence why the curtains are in place. The wall behind the curtains is painted a dark blue colour, and the projection come's up lovely on that, but it means that either actors will only be able to leave stage right, or they will be seen walking around the back of the stage?!


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## TheaterEd (Oct 20, 2014)

Can you build a back wall into the set? People walking behind the curtains looks awful anyways.


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## Mathew Greatorex (Oct 20, 2014)

The curtains are about 1.5 meters away from the back wall, so there is a big enough gap for the kids to walk along without disturbing the curtains. 

Our school has just moved into a brand new building, and obviously the architect had no idea with regards to the stage. We have no budget left to start building wall or anything like that unfortunately. That might be a more long term solution though to look at next year. 

We also cannot access the lighting bars in the roof, as there is no money left to buy any access systems. Maybe I am just going to have to admit that its not going to work unless anyone else has any ideas?


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## LavaASU (Oct 20, 2014)

Mathew Greatorex said:


> The curtains are about 1.5 meters away from the back wall, so there is a big enough gap for the kids to walk along without disturbing the curtains.
> 
> Our school has just moved into a brand new building, and obviously the architect had no idea with regards to the stage. We have no budget left to start building wall or anything like that unfortunately. That might be a more long term solution though to look at next year.
> 
> We also cannot access the lighting bars in the roof, as there is no money left to buy any access systems. Maybe I am just going to have to admit that its not going to work unless anyone else has any ideas?



Could you hang something in front of the curtains to project on? Even white plastic or king bed sheets or something? It sounds like this is the just trying to make something happen show not super professional?


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## Mathew Greatorex (Oct 20, 2014)

Thats not a bad idea to be honest. We have a background support system like this: http://www.photosel.co.uk/studio-li...ystem-bs103/?gclid=CLr8sNHJu8ECFSXHtAodcwkAzw and a large white muslin sheet. I do think it wont look very professional though. 

We also have a stand alone rear projection screen which is pretty big, but the projector is front projection?


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## TheaterEd (Oct 20, 2014)

Could you build a frame to look like a window or something that will fit in with the scenic design and mount the muslin sheet or a bed sheet in it? Hang that from where the curtain is hung and that could work.


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## Amiers (Oct 20, 2014)

I would open the curtain and use the blue wall and build a wall that is tall enough so the actors won't be seen with walking the gap. Wether it be a designed wall or a wall with a curtain to match.


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## TheaterEd (Oct 20, 2014)

Mathew Greatorex said:


> The curtains are about 1.5 meters away from the back wall, so there is a big enough gap for the kids to walk along without disturbing the curtains.



Really? I would imagine that the air they will displace if they move with any kind of speed is enough to make the curtain wave. But, perhaps since it is black it isn't that noticeable. I usually have an upstage cyc which is painfully noticeable if anyone moves near it.


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## Drew Schmidt (Oct 20, 2014)

I'm going to say something different.

If you project on black, set yourself up for success. High contrast. 
If you do white line drawings, you'll be fine. I've done this many times. 
If you need images, you're going to be disappointed.

The bigger problem is the waves in the black curtain. If you can pull it taut, and project white lines, you'll probably be fine.


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## ruinexplorer (Oct 20, 2014)

The black curtain is designed to absorb and trap light. To exceed that with projection, you will need a mighty powerful output and bright images. Speaking of images, do you know what you plan on creating? Understanding what you plan on showing is an important process in the display portion of the design. For me, I think of a lot of darker imagery for Oliver. If this is so, you want to have a lighter surface to project on. The blue wall, while trapping less light, will alter the color of your image. This could provide quite a challenge during tech week when getting it to look right.


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