Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board: Building Theater Marquee

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Ragtime10
Walk-On
Walk-On

Joined: 12/10/09
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 0

Topic: Building Theater Marquee
Posted: 12/10/09 at 8:36pm

So for our local highschool production of ragtime, we thought that we might try turning our lobby into an upscale marquee type theater lobby. The main effect in this whole plan would be the exterior marquee, anyone have any suggestions on construction, or lighting tips, etc? Something along the lines of this but on a much smaller scale and more classic looking:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Chicago_Theatre_blend.jpg

I was thinking about using christmas lights as the marquee outline. Again ANY help is appreciated!

Thanks!

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Spectrum
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Joined: 4/16/04
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 176

Posted: 12/11/09 at 6:34am

Christmas lights COULD work if you used three or four strings (circuits) of them to achieve the chaser effect. HOWEVER, the cheapie version of Christmas lights you might find in the "dollar stores" probably won't do it because the distance between bulbs is less than two inches and it would be very difficult to cram three or four circuits (bulbs) into that space. You can purchase the commercial version of Christmas lights and they have five or six inches between bulbs. They're also a little brighter and heavier duty so you can use more strings of lights in one circuit. It's a lot of work drilling all the equally spaced holes and poking bulbs through to create the chaser lines, but the effect is authentic and impressive. It will give you the marquee look you are after.

As for controlling those three or four circuits, i.e. sequencing them to get the "chaser" look, there are a number of controllers available, including the system I am about to manufacture. SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION ALERT! It can be configured for three step or four step sequencing, three bulbs on and one off (the traditional chaser look), one bulb on and three off, back and forth sequencing, "randomized" sparkle, and variable speed unity flashing. It's designed to use one controller and as many drivers as you want, so you can have everything sequence together, but control the brightness of different sections. We now have actual circuit boards, built and tested, and we've used them in our HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL sign and a USO sign we created for a tribute performance for American military veterans, but I'm not quite at the packaging and distributing stage. If you want to contact me via "private messenger" (or through my business at Info@TheatricalReality.com), I'll be happy to send you some movie-ettes of what the effects look like. Good luck with whatever you do for your production.

Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional.

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David McCall
Celebrity

Joined: 1/28/09
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 299

Posted: 12/11/09 at 1:41pm

Spectrum's box sounds like a nice tool to have on hand for these kinds of effects. If you have plenty channels accessible from your lighting console, you could grab 3 or 4 of them and program a chase effect. Spectrum's box would be a lot easier.

Some rental houses have chase lights for rent that might be able to work into your design.

If you want to forgo the chase, a cheaper solution would be to drill the holes ~1" in diameter and put diffusion (frosted plastic) behind the holes. Then just put lights inside. If you take this approach, you have to consider the heat build-up inside of the box. Fluorescent lights will generate less heat, but they won't dim very nicely. LEDs would work as a replacement to the Spectrum's solution, but may not be bright enough to use as interior lighting. For fluorescent lights and especially the tungsten option you will need plenty of ventilation. Then you have to think about the light that leaks out of the ventilation holes. Light traps will need to be built into the box. You do need to be overly concerned about the heat of light bulbs being close to the wood of a box. Try a couple experiments to see what works.

David M

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Set Design and Construction
Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board :Producing Theater :Set Design and Construction

Author	Message
Ragtime10 Walk-On Joined: 12/10/09 Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Topic: Building Theater Marquee Posted: 12/10/09 at 8:36pm
	So for our local highschool production of ragtime, we thought that we might try turning our lobby into an upscale marquee type theater lobby. The main effect in this whole plan would be the exterior marquee, anyone have any suggestions on construction, or lighting tips, etc? Something along the lines of this but on a much smaller scale and more classic looking: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Chicago_Theatre_blend.jpg I was thinking about using christmas lights as the marquee outline. Again ANY help is appreciated! Thanks!

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Spectrum Celebrity Joined: 4/16/04 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 176	Posted: 12/11/09 at 6:34am
	Christmas lights COULD work if you used three or four strings (circuits) of them to achieve the chaser effect. HOWEVER, the cheapie version of Christmas lights you might find in the "dollar stores" probably won't do it because the distance between bulbs is less than two inches and it would be very difficult to cram three or four circuits (bulbs) into that space. You can purchase the commercial version of Christmas lights and they have five or six inches between bulbs. They're also a little brighter and heavier duty so you can use more strings of lights in one circuit. It's a lot of work drilling all the equally spaced holes and poking bulbs through to create the chaser lines, but the effect is authentic and impressive. It will give you the marquee look you are after. As for controlling those three or four circuits, i.e. sequencing them to get the "chaser" look, there are a number of controllers available, including the system I am about to manufacture. SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION ALERT! It can be configured for three step or four step sequencing, three bulbs on and one off (the traditional chaser look), one bulb on and three off, back and forth sequencing, "randomized" sparkle, and variable speed unity flashing. It's designed to use one controller and as many drivers as you want, so you can have everything sequence together, but control the brightness of different sections. We now have actual circuit boards, built and tested, and we've used them in our HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL sign and a USO sign we created for a tribute performance for American military veterans, but I'm not quite at the packaging and distributing stage. If you want to contact me via "private messenger" (or through my business at Info@TheatricalReality.com), I'll be happy to send you some movie-ettes of what the effects look like. Good luck with whatever you do for your production.
	Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional.
	IP Logged

David McCall Celebrity Joined: 1/28/09 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 299	Posted: 12/11/09 at 1:41pm
	Spectrum's box sounds like a nice tool to have on hand for these kinds of effects. If you have plenty channels accessible from your lighting console, you could grab 3 or 4 of them and program a chase effect. Spectrum's box would be a lot easier. Some rental houses have chase lights for rent that might be able to work into your design. If you want to forgo the chase, a cheaper solution would be to drill the holes ~1" in diameter and put diffusion (frosted plastic) behind the holes. Then just put lights inside. If you take this approach, you have to consider the heat build-up inside of the box. Fluorescent lights will generate less heat, but they won't dim very nicely. LEDs would work as a replacement to the Spectrum's solution, but may not be bright enough to use as interior lighting. For fluorescent lights and especially the tungsten option you will need plenty of ventilation. Then you have to think about the light that leaks out of the ventilation holes. Light traps will need to be built into the box. You do need to be overly concerned about the heat of light bulbs being close to the wood of a box. Try a couple experiments to see what works.
	David M
	IP Logged

Topic: Building Theater Marquee( Topic Closed)