Paint For New set
 

hi,

i am putting together a new set for the production of a religious based telecast - (BTW - set planning is not my field.....but i have no choice but to call the shots on this one..)

we are going to experiment with paints and would like some ideas on color and finish of paint.... we are thinking a dark burgundy with at matte finish...

I really have no idea how light will reflect with certian types of paint, do i want a paint that absorbs light or reflects light a bit?
should we chose a lighter color? and is a matte finish a good choice or should we choose a paint with a hint of gloss?
maybe a hint of gloss might give less shadows as it will reflect light? or matte cause more shadows?

any suggestion would be greatly appreciated..

set description below............................................................................................... .................................................................................................... ...

the stage is lit with 2 xMole-Richardson Super Softlite 1K Tungsten Lights

and 4 x Mole-Richardson Super Softlite 500w Tungsten lights with a various 300w or so cans.... (Lights are about 9.5' from the floor..)

The set is about 20'x10' deep with 15' ceiling.............

the set will consist of clear 100% crystal pulpit with crystal cross in the back drop along with 2 42" LCD TV's (black frame) right and left side.... as of now that’s about all we are using...

Joel:

I am not a set designer either but my experience in constructing and building my own sets for projects tells me that you want to use matte finish paint. I am a DP and dealing with reflections and hot spots on a gloss or semi-gloss wall can be a nightmare so why not make it easy.

Beware also that very dark colored walls such as the Burgundy you are considering will possibly photograph as black unless you are carefully lighting it and using higher end cameras that have more contrast range.

The smart thing to do is to buy a piece of foamcore and paint a few sections of it with the color choices you are considering. Then setup your camera and light the foamcore in a manner that you will be lighting your wall and take a look at what you are getting. Certain colors will just not reproduce well on video no matter what you do. Look in the monitor and then decide rather than painting the entire wall, then hoping it looks how you like.

Another way to go, depending on the type of feel you are going for, I would seriously consider painting the wall a matte gray and then coloring the wall with gels. This will give you many choices for different moods and themes. I used a gray muslin for years and I was able to get everything from Army green for a MASH interview to bright purple with palm tree fronds as gobos for a tropical feel. If you just paint it Burgundy, you are stuck with that color for good or at least until you repaint it.

I always consider flexibility as a very helpful and fiscally conservative characteristic, especially when working with low to no church budgets.

Best,

Dan

dan,

thank you so much for your reply....very good suggestions....i will experiment with the matte grey add some gels to the lights....never thought of that, your right flexibility!

i'll post back just to give my results.....

joel

BTW- I Love this forum always sound advice...............

Glad to be of help.

I shot interviews for the entire Warner Bros. Tennessee Williams DVD set with, I think 7-8 titles and I had to shoot dozens of actors, directors, all in the same room and often the same person for 2-3 different titles in the box set so I created a visual style for each film's interviews but the best part was, ALL of the dozens of interviews were shot with the same painted gray muslin, the rest was just light, gels and gobo patterns.

I could actually stage different scenes by just turning differently gelled sets of lights on and off. Makes for a quick scene change. I got the idea from live theater where this sort of thing is very common, you just program the scene changes into your dimmer board. I did the poor man's version of that and it worked quite well.

Dan