Mr Screen
From ThorxWiki
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What is Mr Screen?
The circular light fixture from Pink Floyd shows, used both for lighting directly, and also as a screen onto which can be projected short animations and clips to accompany various songs.
By the P.U.L.S.E tour it consists of 36 intelligent lights around the rim, and it was moveable from vertical (circular screen behind stage) to horizontal (halo over Gilmour).
It is perhaps 10m diameter?
| “ | A large circular projection panel dubbed "Mr Screen" first made an appearance during performances of Dark Side of the Moon in 1974 and became a staple thereafter. Specially recorded films and animations were projected onto it, and for 1977 "In the Flesh" and 1980-1981 "The Wall Live" tours, coloured spotlights were fixed around the rim, an effect which reached its zenith with the dancing patterns of multi-coloured lights in the A Momentary Lapse of Reason and Division Bell tours. In the latter, the screen could be retracted behind the stage when not required, and was tilted with its peripheral lights focused onto the stage into a single spotlight during the final guitar solo in "Comfortably Numb".
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So, could we make one for a home theatre?
- 36 mini-intelli-lights, USB controlled?
- We'd want no more than about 400watts of lighting I think... ? so let's call that 360watts and make it 10watts per light. This should be controllable through USB right (assuming external power however)
- With a diameter of 3metres for a home theatre, that is a perimeter of 9.4metres - which gives us 26cm per light.
- for super snazzyness, bluetooth enabled lights that could generate a dynamically moving spotlight on a bluetooth target (would this triangulation be possible?)
Lighting effects possible
- all beams point out - looking into a cone
- all beams point to a point behind you - looking out of a cone
- cone beams, weaved (beams alternate a clockwise/anticlockwise rotation)
- all beams point to central point - in various colours
- all beams point around perimeter to generate a halo
- 'mood' or even night lighting by only using a fraction of the lights.
- with 36 lights, we can allocate some lights to some of these tasks, and others to others. eg, every third light points to center with a colour, whilst the remaining 24 make a 'looking into cone' weave
- remember, 36 factors down into 2,2,3,3, so we can have groups of 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 12 or 18 :)
The lights
We need lights with controls for: heading, azimuth, focus, colour and intensity.
Usage
Since in a home it's unlikely to be used for actual GIGS very often (though not impossible), then what is the point?
- Stargate position
- Feature wall:So many feature walls are just uninteresting and static expanses of a colour, or simple design. This is dynamic.
- Halo position
- Light fixture:On the ceiling, it can act like regular room lighting, providing mood/night lighting options as required. It'd be a form of very wide chandelier.
Links
- See here some of the visual effects it can do (as well as referring to concert footage, of course)
- Some info about 1995 tour lighting rig from the company that supplied them
