December 05, 2008
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 November 1999
Special Effects: AngelsBy Lee Eric Shackleford(Excerpted from Stage Effects & Props for Easter & Christmas)Whether you are following Matthew's Nativity narrative or Luke's, you're going to need to show Mary, Joseph, and the infant Jesus. Easy so far; but then come the "messengers and the celestial host." They present challenges for even the most professional and well-equipped theatrical setting. What Should Your Angels Look Like? The Bible tells us relatively little about the first angels in the New Testament; only that it is Gabriel who brings the good news to Mary, and it's an unnamed angel in a dream who visits Joseph. We are not told if they fly, if they glow, if they have wings or halos, or if they look like cherubs, Greek gods, or ghosts. We are simply told that they visited Mary and Joseph, spoke to them, and "departed." So this offers a wide degree of latitude. While the tradition of angels as winged beings floating in the sky is a powerful one, there is in fact nothing in Scripture to require that Mary and Joseph's angels flew. So if your script calls for either one or both of these heavenly messengers, you may simply have them enter the stage as any other character would. Apparel like Lightning If you are of the opinion that angels must at least have radiant appearances, make sure that your lighting design allows for them to be brilliantly illuminated with a tight enough beam to keep everyone else onstage in relative darkness. This is also a case where working closely with your scenic artists and costumers will also serve you well; you may try dressing Mary and Joseph in dark, matte natural tones (rust, deep green, etc.) and making sure that props and scenery nearby are also muted and dark in color. Then introduce the angel, dressed in purest white with focused lighting aimed right at his or her torso. The costume will virtually fluoresce in contrast to everything else. For an even more striking effect, you may want to invest in a miraculous-seeming material made by the 3M Corporation, trademarked as ScotchLite. Basically a variation on the super-reflective paint used on many road signs, ScotchLite is available in various forms, such as plastic sheeting, adhesive tape, and fabric. The substance reflects almost 100% of any light that strikes it; much more than almost anything found in nature. Dressing angels in this fabric will indeed cause them to appear "like lightning." Incidentally, if your production calls for you to show the Transfiguration onstage, you may want to consider somehow using ScotchLite in the costumes for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. One Option: Keeping Your Angels on the Ground Can you do justice to the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke without dealing with flying angels? Maybe so. Even in that passage of Scripture that deals with the shepherds abiding in the fields, Luke does not expressly state that the angels and the "heavenly host" appear in the sky; only that they appear. So the very practical tradition of using the church's choir as the "heavenly host" may serve you well. In hundreds of Christmas pageants all over the world, Luke 2 is enacted with the robed choir entering the stage and standing on risers to sing "Joy to the World." And this is a stylistic choice as much as anything: in your Nativity drama this may be all that is needed to remind the audience of the celestial singers that so amazed those shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night. Another Option: Putting Your Angels in the Air But according to Luke, these angels do "disappear into heaven," presumably rising into the sky if they weren't there already. And centuries of religious art (and decades of Christmas cards) have taught us that the angels appear in the sky singing and praising God, so this is something your audience may expect. Let's assume that you are going to attempt to show this in your Christmas pageant. One simple method is to put the angels on scaffolding or tall platforms that have been draped in a cloth that matches the background. This is a solution that works on almost any budget, and if properly lit can be quite effective. The main trick is in keeping the structures well-balanced enough to be safe. The completed assembly must still provide easy enough access from the upstage [back] side that your performers can get up to the perch; in the dark! Many passion plays use variations on this effect for their angels, leaving the structure onstage throughout so the actor playing Jesus can use it for the Ascension. The visual impact of beginning and ending the presentation with the same effect can be very powerful; we know that Jesus is going up into heaven because He is up where the angels were. Using Scrim for a Dramatic Revelation A more complex variation of this involves the use of scenic scrim, a wonderful fabric that appears opaque when lit from the front but translucent when lit from behind. Most scenes in the drama would be lit from the downstage side of the scrim, rendering the area upstage of the scrim invisible. For scenes involving the angels, the vast majority of lighting would come from upstage of the scrim, revealing the angels on their perches. Another advantage of this method is that the scrim diffuses the light that reflects back to the audience, so very little of the unlit areas upstage would be visible. If you're able to make use of this effect, you may find it has all sorts of advantages. The Transfiguration, for example, could be presented in the same way as the angels and the Ascension. It could also be used for instant scene changes; for example, if you want to show Jesus on trial before the Sanhedrin at the same time that Peter denies Him, the courtyard could be represented by the downstage area and the meeting room of the Sanhedrin council could be shown upstage. With a single lighting cue, the scene could shift from one to the other. Much simpler than moving furniture on and off the stage. |
December 04, 2008
Sweetwater, the fourth-largest music instrument and pro audio retailer in the world, according to Music Trades magazine, and Fort Wayne radio station Majic 95.1 WAJI, have combined forces to issue Volume Three of Majic Miracle Music, a compilation CD of new recordings by national musicians, which will be sold locally with all proceeds to benefit Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.
December 04, 2008
Since its launch at PLASA08, DiGiCo's new entry-level console, the SD8, has surpassed all expectations over 350 sold and they have been rolling off the production line since September.
December 04, 2008
Today, there are more than 40-million searches for churches on Google every month in the United States - or more than 100 searches per church per month.
December 04, 2008
W-DMX by Wireless Solutions is a critical component in the beautification of New Mexico’s key Interstate interchange, the "Big-I", where Interstates 25 and 40 intersect.
December 04, 2008
When the newly renovated Hanna Theatre in Cleveland's PlayhouseSquare reopened in October 2008, the set pieces for the opening production of Shakespeare's Macbeth moved smoothly and with precision—thanks to the 48 new PowerLift Automated Hoists provided by J. R. Clancy, Inc., and installed by Beck Studios.
December 03, 2008
At a time when churches are increasingly looking for ways to conserve financial costs and run their organizations more efficiently,ServiceUTM Corporation and NetworkThermostat have announced the first-ever real-time integration between online event management software and HVAC controls.
December 03, 2008
The comprehensive line of Telemetrics servo-based Pan/Tilt units has been expanded to include a new model that provides added efficiency and reliability to the production environment.
December 03, 2008
Newer Technology, Inc., the leading developer of PC, Macintosh, iPod, and iPhone performance upgrades and accessories, today announced NewerTech Voyager, the world's first "Quad Interface" SATA I/II Hard Drive Docking Station with support for four interfaces: FireWire 800/400, USB 2.0, and eSATA.
December 03, 2008
Front Porch Digital and Omneon, Inc., today announced that they have collaborated to deliver a tightly integrated system that combines the two companies' flagship products for active storage and content management.
December 03, 2008
Shure Incorporated today announced a rebate program of up to $1,000 for the trade-in of Shure 700 MHz frequency band (698-806 MHz) wireless systems and other related components purchased before February 1, 2007, and for any other manufacturers' qualifying 700 MHz frequency band wireless systems and their related components.
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