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SEEING IN THE DARK: WORKING WITH LIGHT SENSITIVE PAINT

Painting with UV paint is not like painting with scenic paints. You must think of it as painting with light instead of paint.

• Notes
  • Paint used by Professionals is usually Rosco Clear Color Paints.
  • Paint can be watered down an still is quite effective.
  • The use of light sensitive paint is very helpful when one needs to separate areas such as night and day.
  • Textural differences between UV paint and scenic paint can give away the “surprise” UV paint creates.
    • Solution: Hide texture upon texture to create an illusion
• When you apply UV paint you should do it with incandescent lights and fluorescent lights off, UV lights on. This is obvious when you are painting with clear paint.
• The more paint you layer the more intense or “punch” it will have.
• UV backdrops and scenery can be used in conjunction with normal light fixtures as long as the normal fixtures are not lighting the UV elements and washing out the UV light. Scenery must be accommodated for the light which is being thrown onstage.
• Types of UV Paint
  • Wildfire invisible
  • Rosco Clear Color
    • Both are moderately intense when lit with UV light
• Wildfire Visible
  • Very intense and appears to glow well
• Rosco worked better for professionals when diluted
• Other types of paint that are not specifically UV paint do work. According to the pro’s at the seminar the paint needs to have the right amount of Nanameters in order to glow.
• It is possible to make your own UV paint but in the long run it is not cost effective.
• Actors can wear UV makeup
• Types of UV Light Fixtures
  • Wildfire Lights were considered as a good light source by the panel but one panel member claimed he was able to cover a large stage with one Altman fixture.
  • Light Effect Types
    • Completely invisible: Going from a blank canvas under normal light to a Huge mural under UV light on the same canvas
    • Dual Image: Normal paint with invisible fluorescent paint over the top. On a canvas under normal light you can have a picture of a sand colored dessert and under UV light the dessert transforms into a Mountainous blue mural deep in Antartica ß—- SWEET
    • Single Image: A single picture enhanced by UV light
    • 3D: Audience members wear 3D glasses, warm colors are enhanced and pop out and cool colors recede.

Things I Learned:
> You need more than Vectorworks and WYSIWYG, get out and look around! Find out how light behaves for yourself!
>>Types of Lighting Design< If you thing a show is going to be a flop ask for maximum cash up front and minimal royalties. If you think a show will be a hit ask for minimal cash up front and maximum royalties.
Musical
Opera
Dance
-Architectural
>One of the main focuses of this type of lighting is energy efficient lights. Incandescent lights use too much power and are not worth using in the long run. >Your biggest worry is that you will get sued. An example of this is that you do not have enough light on an area that you designed and someone trips on a staircase because you do not have the area lit with the amount of light your design said it would have.
Indoor
Outdoor
-Exhibit
Zoo
Aquarium
-Television
>Challenging due to the vast number of close-up shots.
Soap Opera
Game Shows
-Theme/ Specialty Parks
>Making attractions stand out and even more ominous.
-Music/ Entertainment
Rock Shows
Comedians
Concerts
-Restaurants/ Areas of Commerce
-Movies

On renderings:
Throughout the conference I have been able to see various professional and student work. What really struck me was the great degree to which the renderings varied – and what made some better than others.
It is no question that craftsmanship plays a big role in the success of a rendering, however there are other things that help in making it better than the rest.
1. Have some sort of background or texture that reflects the environment the characters find themselves in. This can be as formal or abstract as desired – but the style should try to reflect the style or medium chosen for the renderings.
2. Color in the rendering – utlizise fabric swatches so the shop can clearly tell what fabrics are to be used where (or what paint).
3. If possible look at the headshots of the actors for the renderings – so you can sketch their faces on the characters.
4. It is useful to have small sketches of how the costumes are made and how they are layered on the person if the costume is complicated. For paint renderings it could also be helpful to have a step-by-step rendering if you are the scenic artist as well. If not you could try to make detailed renderings of intricate locations on the set – etc
5. Experiment with media. Not all shows call for the same media.
6. Put your name on it – character name, show title etc. Labels are important
7. A border is also helpful.

Well USITT has finally come to an end. I spent the morning packing and going to view many of the young designer’s who had work on display. The Stage Expo Floor was closed because the conference was closing. . Then myself and a few other students from UB decided to attend a session about projections. The session covered basic ideas of projection and how they can be used with live dancers. the first part of the session seemed to be a review in VI terminology. Cathy would have been proud. Well at least she could be proud of the UB students because we knew exactly what was going on. It was strange because the session didn’t really cover the technology to be used to create the projections, but it mostly covered the look and result that is achieved through the projections.

Sadly the session was not everything that we had believed it would be. It was geared to students and professionals who had never done projections before. UB, while we may not be the leaders in the use of projections, have created and used them successfully before.

Following the session my fellow USITT goers and myself went to the airport and flew home. This entire trip has been an eye opening experience and helped me to see just how large and important every part of our industry is. I am hoping to return to USITT next year and learn even more about our highly technical world.

So Long, Farewell!

I’m sorry the following two blogs are up so late, I did not have internet access last night, I apologize.

Today (addendum: April 3rd) was our last day in Kansas City (rather last few hours after waking up).

I only did one thing today, I took one last trip to the Young Designer’s Forum. I went through the beautiful exhibits one more time. This time I really took my time looking through every single exhibit as slowly and as carefully as possible, being that there were a fourth of the people in the tiny room than there were last time.

The work was truly beautiful; from the mask work, to the scene artists, to the costume designers, to the scene designers. There is truly a huge amount of young competition out there for me, and I have a lot to live up to.

After this we began our long journey home, and here I am now. Sitting happily in my bed blogging.

So peace ya’ll update this tomorrow.