Hello All,

I was looking to see if anyone was willing to share some of their tips on performing the asrah levitation. I recently bought one (Bill Smith) that flys and am hoping to routine it into the show by the summer. I know of the books by Dr. Scandia and Bruce Armstrong, but am not looking for how to build a table or a frame. I am more curious as to the lighting techniques, backdrops, and performance tips. By performance tips I want to emphasise that I am not looking to steal a routine ;-) If need be, I will buy the book(s). It's just that after researching the other posts on the forum I saw that only a small portion of the books were about what I'm looking for, and mainly about construction. Thank you very much for any help and advice you may have to offer. I hope you all have a GREAT Thanksgiving!!!!!

Scott

A quick lighting tip is to use a photo light meter to set the rough level of the light. Be careful of the floor color as a polished wood floor will reflect a lot of light up onto the form.

Richard

Awesome! I read one of your earlier posts about the photo light meter, and I never would have thought about the polished wood floor. Thank you!!

I might be getting and Asrah before this summer. Did you have a good experience dealing with Bill Smith?

Bill Smith and Wellington are both great guys to deal with. I think their prices are very similar. You might want to see what would save you shipping being closer to you.

Richard

A mylar curtain has been the best for me back when I performed this illusion.
I like the two inch strips, and I also used blue.
I had it custom made with lots of layers of blue and one layer of black behind.
Kirby uses a Red mylar curtain.
I hope this helps.
Taylor

Sure does! Thanks Taylor. How big did you have it made? I was considering a mylar American Flag due to the theme of my show. Do you think that would still work with the red and white, or should I stick to one color? Thanks again!

Scott

Does anyone know what the size of the backdrop should be? I have been looking at ones that are 20ft high by 40ft wide. Or do they need to travel all the way up to the top of the stage? Thanks again!

Scott

Richard thanks for those tips!
Scott I use a 4x8 meter starfield backdrop, that works nicely. The mylar is probobly the best camoflage, but a bit to "sparky" for me. Plain black can works too. Always good to sit in the audience before the show and expirement with different lighting and see what works best with what you've got.

Thanks Swann! I am pretty ingorant when it comes to backdrops as you can tell from this post..lol. What exactly is a starfield backdrop? In my mind it's a backdrop with stars on it, or is it something more special? Also, is a 12 foot (4 meter) backdrop high enough? I thought I was going to have to get a 20 foot high one or greater. Again, I can't thank all you guys enough for all the tips! This has been a huge help!

Scott

We have used a blacklight with a white cloth against a black backdrop. The blacklight really makes the white pop out without showing what you don't want to see.

Hey Scott,
Depending on the types of theatres you are going to play, you might want to go 24 high on your mylar drop - have them do a webbing at the top, and go with ties about every 12 inches or so, and do the drop in two 25 or 30 foot lengths. It's easier to hang and pack when it's in two pieces. If the stage is smaller, you can just fold back the ends and tie off, so it will be versatile. For lighting, some par cans on the sides can be very effective for the vanish. You definitely want the stage to be as bright as possible for the vanish - and the mylar rain curtain will make everything very invisible.

Scott, my starfield backdrop was made for me, it is a black velvet drop with random holes cut into it and led fairy lights shining through the back. It is basicaly a drop what lots of little lights like stars shining, you see it in a lot of shows (I think you can see it on the last master of illusion show). 4 Metes high as worked for me, but you might want to go higher depending on the venues you work, for higher stages I use draping at the top to close the gap.

Also Fiber Optic curtains are just flat out great for Grand Illusion shows..
But can cost for 10 to 20k for these type of curtains... Depending on the size..
They have a stand of fiber optic plastic with a light shinning thru the end so the star light look on the black curtain can change colors..

To answer your question about the American Flag Mylar... I think that I would just stick with the basics on this Mylar... It will also be easier to resale...
A lot of times we don't want to think about two or three yrs from now we may sell this stuff.. Not many people would want an American Flag Mylar...
But the main reason would be to protect the secret to the iLLuions...
I think that you would get busted with all that white..
When I had my Mylar it was around twenty foot tall and we had two sections like Rich mentioned for easy to handle and set up... THey had a muslin top of around two inches sewn at the top with Groments around every foot with Trick line going thru to tie around the battens...
IT's hard to tell you the Height of the curtain... If you play places where you always have a fly system then it works perfect.. You can just lower it to the right height...

Most people don't have the great fortune of always playing rooms that have a fly system....
I found that my curtain got shorter and shorter as the years went on...
I would get a house gig at a place with 15 foot heigh stage and we would just pull out the sissors and cut it to that height...
Then a few yrs later a one yr gig at a place that only had 10 foot height in stage etc...
I remembered the curtain costing around two thousand dollars... THis way in around 1985 from a company called Dasion or Dazion curtains...
I'll look them up to see if they are still around...
Thank you,
Taylor