Making Fireflies
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Lights and Sound
Forum Discription: Technical discussion
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2642
Printed Date: 5/11/25 at 4:41am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 8.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Making Fireflies
Posted By: SavTD
Subject: Making Fireflies
Date Posted: 9/05/07 at 12:07pm
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Any suggestions for creating fireflies onstage? We're doing a production of Batboy, and would like some happy fireflies during the Pan scene...
Any insight would be much appreciated!
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Replies:
Posted By: Laff
Date Posted: 9/05/07 at 9:56pm
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I'm going to try and help, but it might not be of much help at all haha. If it's dark take long plastic sticks and paint them black and you almost need like a little light at the end so when they wave them around it makes the effect of a firefly. Sorry if that sounded stupid just trying to help. ------------- break a leg! |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 9/05/07 at 11:09pm
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It's not stupid Laff, you might have something there? It has possiblities, If a black scrim is used & the crew wave them about upstage , with only wash lighting on the front of the scrim - could work well. I used something similar for Man of la mancha, during Quixotes 'knights Vigil' scene, before the song 'Knight of the woeful countenace'. I had night sky stars, which was a series of xmas bud lights, set in a constalation of the Northen sky. One of the stars was a maglight on a stick, with the top cap & lens removed. At the appropiate time as his vigil ends, the techie moved the stick light across the sky, as a shooting star - worked great! Maybe the fireflies could be glow in the dark bubbles? ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: Kathy S
Date Posted: 9/06/07 at 12:35am
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Or, to expand on Laff's theme, what would happen if you painted the tips of the sticks with a day-glo paint and combined it with a black light? |
Posted By: SavTD
Date Posted: 9/06/07 at 8:42am
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Unfortunately, I'm not sure how well we would be able to get away with the sticks... We're working in a small black box theatre in almost a 3/4 thrust sort of situation. The distance from the front row to the back wall of the stage is 16 feet.
But you never know until you try, eh?
Glow in the dark bubbles? Do they make such a thing?
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Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 9/06/07 at 11:18am
Yes apparently for halloween parties! I don't know much about it, because halloween is really a non event & an also ran, not that popular here. ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: pdavis69
Date Posted: 9/07/07 at 4:21pm
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Just a quick suggestion, how about laser pointers? ------------- Patrick L. Davis Fort Findlay Playhouse |
Posted By: Linda S
Date Posted: 9/07/07 at 5:04pm
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I like the idea of laser pointers. You would have much more control. The glo-bubbles seemed like they would be hard to control as far as size and numbers. I looked on one the websites for the bubbles and they are really interesting, but I couldn't see them as fireflies. Linda |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 9/07/07 at 9:20pm
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Why not fibre optics? ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: eveharrington
Date Posted: 9/08/07 at 5:02am
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maybe you could get twinkling christmas lights with a black cord and string it up puppet-style to make them "fly"
on the other hand, if they need to catch some of them, then you can get very small glowsticks made to go in tongue and navel jewelry at a body piercing or tattoo parlor and the actors can just discreetly snap them and pop them in the jar ------------- "If nothing else, there's applause... like waves of love pouring over the footlights." |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 9/09/07 at 10:27am
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I just had an idea, laying at meditation in the bath. While contemplating my big left toe & gazing into gloomy introspection! How about using a mirror ball & blacking out individual mirror squares. Leaving a random paten of clear mirrors. Using a fixed focused Profile lamp or Birdie, focused onto the mirror ball off stage. It could be rotated, or moved manually shining onto the set as required. There is also the ability of using colour gel & turning on/off as reqired to suit. ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: Kathy S
Date Posted: 9/09/07 at 1:20pm
| Joe! That is pretty brilliant! I might have to do a show with fireflies just to use it! You come up with some pretty amazing solutions in the bath...is there something in that Australian water? |
Posted By: slicksister
Date Posted: 9/10/07 at 12:23am
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I agree! How cool is that! ------------- The Main Thing is to Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 9/11/07 at 4:19am
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KathyS The only 'X'factor in the water is 'Mr Matey' the kids bubble bath stuff  Slickster It's not that bad, I keep adding hot water, after an hour or so.  Thank you both for your comments. I only hope it works?  ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: vickifrank
Date Posted: 9/22/07 at 9:16am
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Consider buying small flashlights, attach small flexible tubing to the end and paint the tubing black, now the light only comes out the end of the tube (away from the flashlight and the hand waving it). The stage hands wave the flashlights behind a scrim.
Make sure that you can't see light along the tube, so if paint doesn't mask it, consider electrical tape..
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