Colored Light Stage Demo

Theatre productions often rely on visual cues and effects to create a certain mood or appearance of the subjects and actors. A key aspect to these visual effects is how the stage lighting is cast upon a subject or what color that light is. Designing a proper lighting rig for a production requires multiple different lights of varying colors. These colored lights are mixed on the object they're projected onto.

This small-scale stage is meant to demonstrate how the color of light can be used to change the appearance of different colored objects. This project will result in the stage above being built out of foam board and will use an RGB LED light strip to light (and subsequently change the appearance of) the "actors" on this model stage.

• LED Strip Light Strip: https://www.amazon.com/TASMOR-16-4FT-USB-TV-Light...
• USB Battery Pack: https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Ultra-Compact-High-S...
• Toothpicks: Your kitchen drawer or Target
• Black foamboard, 1/2" thick, 20" x 30": Hobby Lobby
• 1.3" and 0.8" Foam Balls: Hobby Lobby
• Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow Acrylic Paints: Hobby Lobby
• Small Paint Brushes: Hobby Lobby
• Low Temperature Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks: Hobby Lobby
• X-Acto Craft Knife: https://www.amazon.com/X-Acto-XZ3601-X-ACTO-Knife...

The first step will be to trace the parts you'll be cutting out of the foam board that will be used to build the stage (as shown above). You'll need to cut the following pannels:

• 1 back panel (dimensions are 9in x 12in). Label this panel with a B
• 2 side panels (dimensions are 9in x 5.5in). Label these panels each with an S
• a top and bottom panel (both of which have dimensions of 12in x 6in). Label one of these panels with a T and the other as B

Tip for tracing: Make that while tracing the initial panels, leave enough room to be able to cut a front panel in future steps (this is partially where the LEDs will be mounted and has dimensions of 12 in x 2.5 in). It may be easier to get square corners by using the corner of a book.

Using an X-Acto knife, cut the drawn panels drawn on the foam board in step 1. To yield a clean, straight cut, it is recommended that a metal ruler is used as a straight edge. Place cardboard, plywood, or another thick material below the section you are cutting to avoid marking up your work area with cuts. It may take more than one pass along a cut to cut all the way through the material.

Safety Precautions:
X-Acto blades are very sharp. Use extreme caution when handling the knife, and never put it down without replacing the plastic protective blade cover. Any time that you are handling the knife, it is recommended that you wear leather gloves to provide a layer of protection between your hands and the knife. When cutting, keep all fingers firmly planted. One hand should be holding the panel and straight edge firmly, far away from the line to be cut. The other hand should be holding the knife similar to how a pencil is held. By keeping your fingers planted on a surface, you are more aware of where they are.

In this step, use the hot glue gun to apply hot glue to each of the side panels on one of the 9in long and 0.5in wide sides. Then apply pressure against the far-right and far-left sides of the back panels until the glue solidifies. Repeat the same process for the bottom panel. The above CAD model is an accurate representation of what the model should look like up to this step (the red panels are the side panels, the green panel is the back panel, and the blue panel is the bottom).

Unlike the side, back, and bottom panels, the top panel will be attached using toothpicks. This will make it easy to remove to allow attachment of the LED strip in the upcoming steps. Insert toothpicks along the edge of where the top will be attached (as shown in the image above). Then place the top of the theater on this upper edge so that it's sides align with the left, right and back panels. An example of this fully assembled is shown in the CAD drawing above.

Using the remaining foam board, draw and cut out one last panel with dimensions of 12 in x 2.5 in. This will act as the front panel. Use the hot glue gun to attach the front cover. Apply hot glue only to the side coverings and NOT the top panel as the top panel still needs to be able to be removed for the LED mounting in the next step. The CAD model above shows what the model should look like at this step (The orange panel is meant to represent the front cover).

Remove the top covering of the stage and mount the LED strip to the inner wall of the miniature theater. Cut a slit on the top of the back panel in the far left corner to properly feed out the wire that connects to the battery for the LED strip. This cutout only needs to be 0.5 inches tall and 0.25 inches wide. The LED strip should have an adhesive on the back of itself. Peel that initial covering to expose the adhesive and begin to wrap the LEDs around the inner wall until there are 6 layers of LEDs on the inner wall of the stage (as shown in the image above). Start from the top edge of the back wall, and begin spiraling them downwards. Once there are 6 layers, cut any excess off the LED strip (if applicable) and reapply the top cover as done in step 4. There are indicators on the LED strip showing the appropriate place to cut the strip.

Installation Tip: When handling the LED light strip, do not bend it repetitively in the same spot. The wire within the strip is resilient, but repetitive stress to a confined area of the strip will cause the wire to become brittle and risk breaking.

Every good stage needs actors! In order to make the actors, you'll need 4 toothpicks, 4 of the .8" styrofoam balls, and 4 of the 1.3" styrofoam balls. To make each actor, start by taking a toothpick and piercing all the way through one of the 1.3" balls leaving enough toothpick on both sides (one side will be used to attach the head and the other will be to stick the actor to the stage). Then pierce a .8" ball with the toothpick on top of the 1.3" ball creating a "snowman-Esque figure". This will be one of your 4 actors.

You'll need to paint each actor a different color in order to demonstrate how colored light affects different colored actors. Use the paint set and the paintbrushes to paint each actor a different color (1 will be green, 1 will be red, 1 will be blue, and 1 will be yellow). Your finished "cast" should look like the picture above. You can place your actors in any order or position you like (actors can be placed by having the bottom of each toothpick pierce the bottom of the stage) or even use some of the extra foam you may have to create a platform for them as shown above!

Attach the battery pack to your LED strip wire on the back of the stage. This will provide power to your LED strip. The remote included with the LED light strip can be used to change the color of the light. In this demonstration, we will focus on the solid red, green, and blue light colors. Observe the appearance of each actor in different colored light. An example video of the stage is shown below.

In this video, you'll observe that the figure that is painted the same color as the projected light appears the brightest. A simple explanation to this is that the colors we see in the world are created by the makeup of the colored object. For example, green paint absorbs the light spectrum wavelengths that are not green. The green light waves are reflected back from the surface into our eyes. Play around with different color combinations to see the effect!

I've attached the CAD files below in case you'd like to take a look at the stage assembly.

Tip: Stage works best in a room with no natural light. Try turning the lights off and closing the windows in the room you're testing your stage in.