Make Your Stage Come Alive with

Broadway Media’s Digital Scenery Resources

TIPS & TRICKS FOR STAGING WITH PROJECTORS
TIPS & TRICKS
The projection image is not as large as I expected it to be.
What should I do?
Unlike traditional painted backdrops, digital scenery does not need
to fill the entire upstage surface.
Projections remain part of the visual storytelling throughout the entire
show. Having a wide-open stage without scenery is not the best solution.
Integrating the digital scenery and a built-set is the most successful
production-design choice.
1. Reduce upstage screen size with travelers or curtains. Keep the action full
width, and reduce the scenic surface area

2. Add a built-set downstage of the projection surface. This creates depth,

allows for new options for blocking an entrance, and can incorporate
traditional design like groundrows and platforms.
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Example 1: Reduced screen width

Reduced Screen Width

Light spill area

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Example 2: Built-set on DSL and DSR

Flat Wall
with entrance Flat Wall
Upstage Surface with entrance

Light spill area

 IMAGE SIZE
Example 3: Direct from Broadway’s

Anastasia on Broadway. Upstage digital scenery Anastasia on Broadway. Upstage digital scenery
with downstage SL/SR built-set. with downstage window unit for interiors. Keep the
exterior image, and use a generic window
unit for interiors.
IMAGE SIZE
Example 4:

Scenic Integration; platforms, etc.

TIPS & TRICKS
How do I avoid shadows?

All Broadway Media’s projectors are

short-throw, and recommended for
front-projection.

We recommend front projection and

hanging your projector from a light bar in
all instances.

Our inventory of projectors is designed to

reduce shadows to almost zero! Ultra
short throw technology means you can
hang your projector mere feet away from
your surface to produce a large image.
PROJECTOR LOCATION
Example 5: Front Projection Location

Place the projector downstage of

your screen.

0.35 x Desired Width

= Approx. Distance

If you want the image to be 30 ft

wide, place the projector no less
than 10 ft from the surface.

Cut the distance in half (i.e. 5ft)

and keep your blocking and
lighting downstage of this
“triangle of light” for optimal
results to avoid shadows and
light spill.
TIPS & TRICKS
I can’t hang the projector. Do I put it on the ground?

This is a great option.

Place the projector on the

ground, in front of the
screen.

Design a “groundrow”
scenic element downstage
of the project. This will help
stop actors walking in the
output area, and to cover
the projector from the view
of the audience.
PROJECTOR LOCATION
Example 6: Ground Row

Add Ground Row to Hide Floor Projector

TIPS & TRICKS
How to reduce stage lighting and not interfere with design

Disclaimer: The biggest threat to your projections is the stage lights.

First and foremost, sidelight is your friend. The image on the next page shows
overlapping sidelight fields of light. Notice that the units are set back a little into the
wings so that they are fairly wide by the time the light emerges from the wings.
- Ellipsoidals include Source Fours, Lekos, Altman 6x9s, 6x12s, and lots of other
instruments.
- The important thing is that you use instruments that let you use shutter-cuts.
Shutters are built into these instruments.
- The right type of lighting instrument will let you push levers into the sides so
that you can manipulate the shape the field.
Adjust the lighting to shoot the light right along the floor. Use the shutters to
crop the light off of the projection screen or cyclorama, and then off of the floor
itself.
IMAGE BRIGHTNESS & LIGHTING
Example 7: Side Lighting
IMAGE BRIGHTNESS & LIGHTING
Other Lighting Types
The second type of light you want is top-light. Some people call it down-light. It’s
just what it sounds like, it’s light from above. If you can, tip your lights so that they
point a little bit downstage, towards the audience, then when they bounce off of the
floor, they will bounce away from the projections.
The third type of light you want is isolation lighting. This is usually either follow
spots or what we call specials. Ideally, one way or the other, you will be isolating the
important players on stage within any given scene.
Front light is the fourth type of lighting you should lean on. When you build each
lighting cue, start with the other three kinds. Make the cue look as good as you can
using a combination of those three. Then, if the look still needs a little boost on faces,
add in the front light until there is just enough.
IMAGE BRIGHTNESS & LIGHTING
Example 8: Establishing Shot
Used in cinema by directors to establish a
location/setting.

Using this technique in theatre:

1. Keep lighting low at the start of a
scene
2. Allow the audience to the projected
scenery in its full brightness
3. Slowly warm the lights to the stage
as the action starts

By doing this, we are reminding the

audience of the location (in all its glory),
and then adjusting the lighting as
needed to best light the actors on stage.
 “As proven by Dear Evan Hansen, Anastasia and more,
projection design is no longer an onstage bonus, it’s an
integral part of design.”

JUN 03, 2017

https://www.playbill.com/article/how-projection-design-is-changing-the-landscape-of-theatre