projecting onto buildings in london

[eyescream]

hello there! haven't been round here for a while, not since my projector died and my mate's rig got confiscated :-/

Anyway, what i've been doing in the meantime is this: http://www.giveasyouget.net - it lets people fundraise for uk charities free when they shop - and soon you'll be able to raise money whenever you search the internet, too, so people don't even have to spend a penny.

I'm pretty chuffed with the idea, I reckon especially with christmas shopping roudn the corner etc it could make a fair wedge for charity, making up in a small way for the fact we get to play with all sorts of goodies when most of the world can't even afford to eat. I also hope to encourage people to get more involved with campaigning etc on the site, although there's a fair bit more writing to do to make it an effective resource.

Now the main issue is I barely have a penny to spend on marketing. Just been brainstorming with a friend and he suggested chucking something at david blaine, which got me thinking about projecting things around london, much like the NO WAR ON IRAQ text printed on the houses of parliment in february.

First of all, what equipment would I want for this - Im guessing a slide projector would be my best bet - what should i be looking for if I want to project onto a building (probably accross the Thames?)
Can I rent these from anywhere?
If not what would I be looking at spending to get something half decent ?

Finally is there anyone in the London area (or indeed any other big city in the uk) who'd be up for helping out or loaning equipment?

thanks for any suggestions

[murph]

Originally posted by eyescream
hello there! haven't been round here for a while, not since my projector died and my mate's rig got confiscated :-/


Ouch, what happened???

I've been wanting to project some stuff on buildings here in Minneapolis for a long time, just never seem to get around to it.

[paradoxewan]

LMAO projecting onto david blane, you could use the sky feed and do a really cool feedback tunnel, might make the whole thing a bit more interesting.

Or get people to send text messages to him.......or live footage of people eating lots of food, that should piss him off lol

[mondo]

re: no war iraq image on parliment

you need a fuck off big laser projector out of teh back of a transit van (comes with tech support), with power - then you need consent

costs are prohibitive ?5000 + depending on throw/clarity/risk

you could get a smaller 5000+ lumens projector for under ?1000 but you will still need transport and consent to project from the planners etc.

beware we were nicked last time we tried it down pall mall - couldnt get the van in first gear to escape!!!

[evomedia]

true, your looking at a very very bright projector for this and they arent cheap, then you've also got to get power to the thing.

I suggested this as a marketing thing for my last company, as they sell av and have the 20000 lumen plus projectors. But was too conisdered too anarchist for them. Never knew I was such a trouble maker.

If its for charity try and get permissions else police will be down there and not many charities want negative publicity. just bear it in mind as any form of public demonstration can easily be constued as troublemaking especially if your projecting any negative or polictical messages.

[eyescream]

ahh that's a pity, but it was a nice idea to play with at 2am :)

Since I don't work with a specific charity getting into trouble's not such an issue. It wouldn't be particularly political, more like an advert really so I dunno if i'd be labelled a 'troublemaker' - but if i was i guess i'd just have to try and milk it for the publicity :P

back to the drawing board i guess.. anyone with anymore cunning plans please send answers on a postcard.. :)

[alangeering]

Little idea.

Slide projector can't get too powerful without burning film. Laser, wow, never knew the price. What about this:

In the theatre we use efects masks / gobos (made of metal) with lanterns up to 2000 wats. If you can get anything this bright (or brighter - but they do get hot) then you will be able to cut a metal gobo with your logo and use it.

Powering it wil be your problem, unless you have access to the three phase supply or a 2kw + generator.

Granted it's not as good as a laser, never will be, but if you can 'borrow' a lantern off a mate in a theatre, the gobo should cost about ?25 to cut.

Hope this helps

[alangeering]

And if you get a proper manned spotlight (comes with handle tripod) and spotlight then you can do drive-bys. If you do it please take photos. please post them as well.

[eyescream]

aha i hadn't thought about gobos, thankyou! damn good plan.. i can summon batman too! :)

[Lara]

n Thundercats . . . ho! ;)

[alangeering]

nice, I'm gonna go and do this just for fun when I get back to college.

[Dijjital]

I guerrilla projected once in Boston. We found a building that was having its billboard changed out, and at around 1:30am we hit it. I had a 700w inverter, and we put the beamer up out of the sunroof in my car. Worked alright, and we drew a sizeable crowd too. Great fun and the cops didn't even make an appearance! Go figure.:cool:

[necessaryillusions]

Sorry if this is irrelevant to this forum, I'm new to this but I was browsing and this thread struck a chord with me ...apologies if this is nonsense.

Guerilla projecting is definitely a good idea!

I've been thinking about the possibilities after projecting onto the flats accross from me for just to see if I could.

I mean, what a brilliant technique for harmless civil disobediance. If you share my political beliefs and views on uneccessary authority, the loss of true public space, bombardment advertising etc. you could really have some fun with this while doing something meaningful, if you don't mind the risk.

If the contents not offensive and you aint affecting anyone's day why should it be wrong?

Use it to say what you think about serious issues (global politics, how you can't get job, tuition fees) or just take some space back to show your art freely to everyone! It could be a wonderful extension to the role of "VJ"...

[asterix]

why not just get some dichroctic glass slides made up - and make up your own highpowered projector with a halogen bulb? Slides tend to melt pretty quickly at 20,000 lumen outputs anyways - unless ya get one of those expensive 18" slides developed!
Try something like an optikinetics type system with a modded lens... you'd be surprised at what you can get away with!

Or just rent out a big fuck off 5,000 ansi projector :)... drool...

[mondo]

or just fire off your 35mm slide projector / 8mm or 16mm projector on a muslin screen on your window

thats how i got going with guerilla projections

[fALk]

for anyone into hacking public spaces at avit (in whatever fashion) get around to the avit(as) (avit - anarchy section) workshop - we might have somehting for you.

* hack the planet *

[wasphive]

best thing to use for your plan would be an old glodenscan or roboscan scanner with a gobo of your image.
they are cheap to rent and have quite a lot of light power..

[charlielangridge]

Get a big van and an oldskewl supertrouper followspot with a gobo (or six) cos then yu can focus as you go and get bloody bright beams ;) plus if you see somebody you dont like you can focus it to a spot on them and it hurts ;)

[rickmaersk]

mondo

you need a fuck off big laser projector out of teh back of a transit van (comes with tech support), with power - then you need consent

costs are prohibitive ?5000 + depending on throw/clarity/risk

you could get a smaller 5000+ lumens projector for under ?1000 but you will still need transport and consent to project from the planners etc.



I'm with you on the van, the technician, the permissions and probably the price.
But the projector I've used (and I think it came from the same company that did Buckingham Palace for the Jubilee) was just a big slide projector not a laser device.
Giant lamp housing. Big parabolic reflector. Same type of high pressure lamp as a cimema projector. Takes large format transparancies and has a heatshield glass filter and fan to stop everything from melting.
Made by a French company called Pigi.

Cheers
Rick

[Pesh]

Yup, the Pigis seem to get used for a lot of the legal stuff, the more 'shady' projections involving a transit van tend to use Hardware by Xenon projectors.

you can always work out throw distances etc thru Ordinance survey maps etc, if you've got everything set up and ready to go when u open the back doors, your image will be visible for a couple of minutes longer, which is often as long as you get before the police turn up. particually if it's political.