Live performance theaters have to achieve acts of wizardry before the audience’s very eyes. How do production companies achieve these special effects without the help of the computer-generated images moviegoers have come to expect? The answer is expertly applied scrim fabrics, a unique material that has been a mainstay of playhouses for years.
What Is Scrim?
While scrim is a common sight in stage design, it’s not limited to theater use. You’ll find various forms of this material in sailcloth manufacturing, carpentry, and plaster reinforcement. However, this type of scrim is more coarsely woven and, therefore, inappropriate for stage use. Theatrical scrim is lighter to ensure it doesn’t warp when hung.
What makes scrim different from other fabrics used as backdrops and curtains? Standard fabrics have a relatively close weave, making them difficult to see through. Scrim purposefully has a looser weave, allowing light to pass through at the right angle.
There are a few types of fabrics used as theatrical scrim:
- Gauze
- Cheesecloth
- Sharkstooth
Of these, sharktooth is the most durable, making it a top choice for live performances, as production houses can save money by reusing materials across shows.
How Can You Use Scrim?
Since scrim fabrics are relatively affordable, they frequently appear in playhouses, outdoor events, and even art exhibits. In theaters, they’re often hung across the entire stage. If light shines on a painted scrim from an oblique angle, the scrim appears as a backdrop to the audience, hiding what is behind, as long as nothing is lit behind the scrim. However, when the light is slowly redirected to shine more directly through the scrim, the painted aspects of the scrim disappear and it becomes transparent, providing a dramatic reveal of the scenery elements beyond the scrim.
While impressive, this “great reveal” trick is only one potential use. Productions also utilize scrim for projection screens and other onstage effects.
Projection Screen
Projection screens are ideal for projecting movies and images, but they’re not always available or practical. For example, you likely can’t find a projection screen large enough to accommodate an evening movie showing at the local park. Similarly, installing a projection screen may not be worth the cost and hassle for a small theater.
Fortunately, scrim fabrics make excellent surfaces for projection. Shark Tooth scrim is even durable enough to withstand outdoor use, and many options are water-resistant, making them a good choice if there’s a chance of rain.
Special Effects
Pulling off special effects takes a great deal of creativity during a live performance. With a 5.4% decrease in U.S. theater attendance since 2017, small productions are looking for ways to pull out all the stops and fill seats. This is where scrims shine.
In addition to the “great reveal,” production companies can use scrims to create a variety of special effects:
- Illusion of distance
- Crisp silhouettes
- Shadow screens
You can also use this material to achieve “secret entrances” by shielding actors from the audience’s view, allowing them to suddenly “appear” onstage at the right time.
Where Can You Buy Theatrical Scrim?
Scrim fabrics are the perfect material to allow light to pass through, creating specific effects you might need for your production. Create practical special effects with the use of scrim fabrics that will surely wow your audience. Rose Brand theatrical fabrics sells numerous varieties of scrim materials that vary in color width and amount of light that can pass through.
