Broadway Special Effect. How did they do that?

[Paratus]

Saw Mathilda on Broadway a while ago and again with a traveling company a few months ago.

Spoilers:

There's a part in the play where Mathilda uses her mind to move chalk to leave a message and scare the crap out of her evil murdering principle

Three or four different pieces of chalk move across the chalkboard while the whole board moves towards the audience. Each piece drops at the end of the sentence and make noise when they hit the chalk tray.

With the whole board moving it makes wires kind of difficult. I though it might be a projection but it looks real and like I said the chalk makes noise and bounces when it drops.

Here's a cam of the scene someone dumped on YouTube.
http://youtu.be/LipiQprm2Po

(The kids are really good and so is the song)

 

[gorcorps]

Looks like a simple projection to me. You can see the tray the chalk would fall into and there's nothing there after the chalk falls.

Not sure why you're hung up on the sound. If you've been to a movie theater you'd know syncing sound to a projector is quite common

 

[disappoint]

The writing could be a projection while the chalk is suspended using fishing line from above. The chalk wouldn't really be writing it would just appear to.

 

[Paratus]

Looks like a simple projection to me. You can see the tray the chalk would fall into and there's nothing there after the chalk falls.

Not sure why you're hung up on the sound. If you've been to a movie theater you'd know syncing sound to a projector is quite common

Seeing it in person it was really well done. I expected to easily be able to spot how they were doing it.

Guess I was just impressed at how good live special effects have gotten.

I was leaning towards projection and synced audio but wanted ATOTs expert opinion.

 

[poofyhairguy]

The writing could be a projection while the chalk is suspended using fishing line from above. The chalk wouldn't really be writing it would just appear to.

This

 

[Paratus]

The writing could be a projection while the chalk is suspended using fishing line from above. The chalk wouldn't really be writing it would just appear to.

I originally thought wires too but I had close seats and didn't see any.

 

[master_shake_]

 

[Paratus]

Nah. Mathilda the little girl is like a pint sized X-Men.

 

[gorcorps]

Seeing it in person it was really well done. I expected to easily be able to spot how they were doing it.

Guess I was just impressed at how good live special effects have gotten.

I was leaning towards projection and synced audio but wanted ATOTs expert opinion.

Oh I agree. Not just live shows like this, but seeing how they use projection images these days is really impressive (concerts, sports events, etc). I think that's what needs to be taken away from this... it may be a projected image, but we're talking about it like that's the easy way out. It's not, somebody spent a hell of a time making that video, and then other set up the equipment/lighting properly so that it looks real. To be able to do that through video alone is damn impressive, even if it's not as involved as a mechanical solution.

edit: I mean look at how cool this is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5494E3Tlcko

 

[disappoint]

Oh I agree. Not just live shows like this, but seeing how they use projection images these days is really impressive (concerts, sports events, etc). I think that's what needs to be taken away from this... it may be a projected image, but we're talking about it like that's the easy way out. It's not, somebody spent a hell of a time making that video, and then other set up the equipment/lighting properly so that it looks real. To be able to do that through video alone is damn impressive, even if it's not as involved as a mechanical solution.

edit: I mean look at how cool this is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5494E3Tlcko

All that hoopla for a non-existent being. Imagine if they would put all that energy to good use like stoning people they dislike the way God the bible scribes intended.

 

[Kaido]

Yeah, looks like projection mapping with a rear projection screen. You can do some pretty fun stuff with that tech these days:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4JYpF5DpFo

 

[Kaido]

edit: I mean look at how cool this is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5494E3Tlcko

What I think will be really interesting will be how VR is used in a few years. HTC's upcoming Vive headset has a front-facing camera for 3D mapping your surroundings, so you can walk around in the room. Imagine once they get the headsets down to super thin & lightweight (i.e. non-obtrusive) & you can just wear them around the house all day...you can live in a crappy apartment, put on your VR headset, boom, you're living in a mansion complete with an IMAX theater & tons of fun games like indoor bowling

 

[deadlyapp]

Could always be powerful magnets on the back of the chalk board and magnetic chalk

 

[momeNt]

Why are you looking to destroy the magic of broadway by seeing how its done?

With stupidity comes wonderment, and that's a good thing, enjoy it.

 

[gorcorps]

Could always be powerful magnets on the back of the chalk board and magnetic chalk

The chalk leaves the board after every letter, and for even longer after every word

so... nope