We have put together our own blacklights, without having to spend a lot of money on professional ones.  Of course some day... ...but for now this works.

1.  48" shop light from Menards or other
     *  spray paint entire outside of fixture with black paint
2.  2, 48" blacklight bulbs

Having your lights up above the stage is the best way to not have shadows, but we used them for years, simply propped up on the floor.

If you can have them up higher, you can make a simple stand to mount them on.  This is what we made, although, we only used wood for now, until we can afford something better:
http://www.puppetproductions.com/blacklightessay/howto.htm

Hope that gives you some ideas! 
Sara

Sara;

We are doing blacklight shows with our lights on the floor.  I looked at your essay, but I don’t understand where the stand is placed.  In the stage?  In front? Behind?  Which way do the lights face?  The audience or the puppets?
We don’t really use many traditional puppets in our shows, but a lot of props and costumes. 
Also, if you have this stand in front of the stage what about it getting in the way of things we toss or “fly”.

Sorry if this is too many questions.  Just trying to understand how to use this.  I want our shows to look as good as possible.

God bless!
Angel in TX

Angel,

I am sure that Sara will be by to answer also but thought I would chime in.   The lights must be in front of the puppets/actors and pointed toward them.  If you think in the terms of traditional theater then the lights would be your proscenium and they would face upstage toward your actors.  If this can't work for you then you can also hand the lights vertically and place them stage right and stage left on your proscenium line and point them toward your actors/puppets. In fact a combination of both or all three locations (top. side and floor) gives you the best coverage if you are actually lighting a full stage with actors although could be overkill if you are working with puppets on a smaller scale.

Shawn,
This make perfect sense to me.  Which is why I can't visualize how she is using the stand she made.  It is so tall.  The only thing I can think of is that it stands on the ground – audience level – and lights upward if the show were being performed on an actual raised stage or platform.  And if that is the case, I can't understand the difference of them just being on the floor, as far as position of lighting goes.  I can see how the stand could keep the cords and things out of the way.  

My first thought after looking at the lighting frame was that is was supposed to be behind the puppet stage curtain, and it seemed as if it would still be in the way and no different than hanging the lights from the actual curtained stage pipe with “s” hooks or some other method.

We perform many times just on a gym floor or on the level of the audience, so we aren't elevated on a stage.  It can be a bit confusing because in my previous post I refered to “stage” and I was thinking of a puppet curtain stage, not an elevated platform stage.

A little confusing.  I need a larger vocab for this stuff!  I had to look up “proscenium”.  Thanks for teaching me something today!

Angel in TX

A little confusing.  I need a larger vocab for this stuff!  I had to look up “proscenium”.  Thanks for teaching me something today!

Angel in TX

What does it mean?

Billy D.

When we do performances in schools on the gym floor we use a variety of lights. It is important to light from above and below to eliminate shadows from the blacklights. I use two four foot lights on the floor 10 -12 feet away from the curtains, three or four 18" lights hung on the front bar of the stage and also on the back bar. Then I put two to four 18" lights out front on tripods as high as I can get them to light from above. The vertical lights are generally evenly spaced across the floor area. They don't interfere with sight lines of the audience if you have them high enough. Usually 7-8 feet high.
Below is a basic idea for the layout of the lights we use. The x's are the tripods, the o's are the blacklights and the _____ are the 4 foot blacklights horizontal on the floor shooting up at a 45 angle. The o's out front are the vertical lights on stands. Hope this helps. You may have to experiment. A lot of the things we do with blacklight we don't use the stage for the puppets. Blacklight allows you to get away from the confines of the stage and do things that you wouldn't be able to do in normal light.

 x---o----x----o--------o----x-----o-----x
                 l                       l
                 l                       l
                 x--o--o--o--o---x



o         __________   o  __________          o

Billy,

Here’s what I found for proscenium from wikipedia-
“A Proscenium theatre is a theatre space whose primary feature is a large frame orarch (called the proscenium arch even though it is frequently not a rounded archway at all), which is located at or near the front of the stage. The use of the term "proscenium arch" is explained by the fact that in Latin, the stage is known as the "proscenium", meaning "in front of the scenery."



Jomama,

We do a lot in front of the curtains also.  Mainly the curtains are the place to go to get the next prop, but we do use them to have different levels of things going on.
Your diagram and explanation helped very much!  Thank you!

Shawn,
This make perfect sense to me.  Which is why I can't visualize how she is using the stand she made.  It is so tall.  The only thing I can think of is that it stands on the ground – audience level – and lights upward if the show were being performed on an actual raised stage or platform.  And if that is the case, I can't understand the difference of them just being on the floor, as far as position of lighting goes.  I can see how the stand could keep the cords and things out of the way.  

This is incorrect. If the light is placed on the floor, then you are lighting from the floor upwards, and can create overly large shadows above the performers' heads. Likewise, you are unable to focus the light in a way that sufficiently covers all areas of the stage (that is, you would easily light their feet, but it's harder to light everything above the hips).

If you place the lights on stands, then you have more flexibility in what areas of the stage are lit and how. You put the lights on the stand, and then aim the beams on a DOWNWARD DIAGONAL direction. (If you have the lights on a stand on the floor where the audience is, and are performing on an elevated stage, then yes, the lights will be pointing upwards. Again, not the best effect) You can adjust them so that the feet are less lit, whilst the puppets and performers are more lit. Etc. Even if you only have the lights on a stand (sometimes known as a 'tree'), there is a great difference in having them placed on the floor. For front lighting, it is best to have them on stands. Even better if you can rig them from a lighting rig from the ceiling, but this usually isn't possible when touring shows. If you have them on stands, then your lighting is easily set up for any kind of venue, whether you are performing on an elevated stage or performing on the floor where the audience is sitting.

This is a basic concept of lighting design, and I highly recommend you visit your local library and borrow some books on lighting design. It isn't as simple as plugging in some lights and turning on the power, it requires a little bit more knowledge. (I studied lighting design, so I know all of this can sound complicated. The best way to understand what I mean is to take a torch at night, lie it on the ground, see what you light up. Then put it on a chair, and see what lights up; then put it on a high bookshelf and see what lights up. Play with the angles of the beam of light, and you'll notice a great difference in ease of lighting objects in the room, between the torch on the ground and the torch on the chair.)

It's also a good idea to actually find an image of these lighting stands, as that will give you more of a sense of how they work.

Well with blacklights you don't normally have the shadow issue that you do with regular lighting but the concepts that Na mentions do still apply. It is just harder to see since there is no shadow.  

Touring is always difficult when it comes to blacklight.  Just the simple fact that you need a blacked out room can be a hassle. It well help if you can get the lights up off the floor. If you can at least position the tube lights vertically on each side of the stage it would make a big difference.

I understand a bit about lighting, and we’ve done shows before with no real problems.  Although we have had to deal with slight shadowing on the back tier of our stage, repositioning our puppets/props easily solved it.  We had to work with what we had... $$$ you know.  But now we are adding some more lighting.

I posted originally trying to figure out the specific stand that Sara had made (the site no longer seems to be there) and understand where she was using it.  In my mind, with the curtained puppet stage we have and the props, costumes and choreography we are using, stands such as that one could possibly be in the way.  We would have to fiddle with it and see where the best positions would be.

Shawn, I like the idea of some lights vertically on the side.  That might be doable for us.

Thanks for all the info.

Angel in TX