On Stage Projections

[police squad]

Does anyone use on stage projections with their band setup

showing either still images or video clips, or both

 

How do you do it please

We're thinking of something like this in U2 Tribe but I have no idea where to start

[BigRedX]

How much synchronisation do you want between the band performance and projections?

[police squad]

19 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

How much synchronisation do you want between the band performance and projections?

to be honest, I have no idea at this stage

we want to improve our visuals for the bigger gigs that we do

 

I suppose their will need to be some synchronisation. The whole gig is played to a click, so potentially could sync to that

[Franticsmurf]

I looked into it for our band, using a projector, a few years ago. The problem at the time was getting the projector far enough away from the screen for the image to be large enough while avoiding shadows from the band and keeping the image bright enough to work in anything other than a blacked out venue. We decided against it in the end (too expensive, needs someone to look after it if sits out in the audience, not practical for most of the venues we were playing). 

 

I haven't kept track of the technology since but you need to consider how you would place the projector (brightness drops off as the inverse square of distance) and whether the projector can compensate for 'keystoning' (if it projects at an angle, keystoning is the distortion introduced - most projectors can compensate to a certain degree). Back projection would be best as the distance to the screen will be less because the projector is not in front of the band - as long as you have enough distance behind the band which is usually not the case. 

[BigRedX]

What is generating your click and what else does it do?

 

Backing track? What application runs that?

 

Have you thought about what visuals you want and how they are going to be produced? Remember that anything you don't produce yourself will be subject to copyright and usage fees.

 

What sorts of venues are you playing? Ones where you have to supply the PA and lights or ones where that is provided by the venue? IME most venues with in-house PA and lighting systems also have a projector installed, all you have to do is find out what connection facilities they have and include yours as part of your technical rider.

 

Projection technology has moved on massively from what Franticsmurf is talking about. We supported a band earlier this month who ran video projections with the projector set up on stage just in front of the screen. Here's a photo of the stage set up:

 

 

The projector is the grey white box in the middle of the stage and was positioned level with the rack on the left and still filled the screen with video. However, if you have a drum kit that might limit your options on smaller stages. 

 

 

[police squad]

27 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

What is generating your click and what else does it do?

 

Backing track? What application runs that?

 

Have you thought about what visuals you want and how they are going to be produced? Remember that anything you don't produce yourself will be subject to copyright and usage fees.

 

What sorts of venues are you playing? Ones where you have to supply the PA and lights or ones where that is provided by the venue? IME most venues with in-house PA and lighting systems also have a projector installed, all you have to do is find out what connection facilities they have and include yours as part of your technical rider.

 

Projection technology has moved on massively from what Franticsmurf is talking about. We supported a band earlier this month who ran video projections with the projector set up on stage just in front of the screen. Here's a photo of the stage set up:

 

 

The projector is the grey white box in the middle of the stage and was positioned level with the rack on the left and still filled the screen with video. However, if you have a drum kit that might limit your options on smaller stages. 

 

 

The click track is on an ipad, some tracks are just a click and have no set length (drummer stops and starts) and some tracks have some keyboard augmentations on them and so are a set track

We only do gigs in venues that supply the PA and light systems, so proper venues but some have smaller stage areas than other

For example we recently played The Horn in St Albans. Fantastic PA and soundman but somewhat cramped on stage. 

Chinnery's in Southend is similar but a bigger stage

 

Thanks for chipping in on this too, it is much appreciated