Glossy Floor and Lighting

Mike R

Active Member
I am just curious what everyone's thoughts are regarding the use of Gloss or semigloss flooring and how drastically it effects the lighting situation.

One of my student designers would like to use a marble texture on the floor of our black box, and I just want to make sure it won't cause too many issues with lighting. Our theater is a 30'x30' BlackBox and we are doing this show in the Round.
 
Does it have to be glossy to get the point across? Many years ago I did Cuckoo's Nest where the scenic designer used a similar technique but using flat paint. It still looked like marble (well a flooring purist might say granite or terrazzo), but without any reflection issues. The hard part was covering the thicker areas of paint that occurred when the designer drizzled black lines to resemble cracks.



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It definitely can play into lighting, I worked in a space programming for a designer that had a stage floor that was painted black with a gloss clear coat to finish, he made numerous comments about how the next time they painted it they should go with a semi gloss or matte finishing coat, it did tend to have some interesting and at times unpredictable reflective properties. I think you could probably get away with a marble texture with out a full on gloss as Les said.
 
It doesn't necessarily have to be glossy. I'm just concerned with the realistic look when the furthest audience member is only 7' away from set.
I have been looking at this video, which has a really great look.
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I am working on some test pieces trying to get the technique down right now, so I'll try out some different finishes (flat, semi, and gloss) and look at it under some stage lighting.
 
I lit a Miss Michigan Awards show once after a stage had just been freshly painted a high gloss to get the "Hollywood" stage look. It was a battle every step of the way. I wound up having to use more extreme angles to control the overcast that bounced all over the scrim/cyc, and on just about everything else on stage.

I prefer dull, black, and highly absorbent.
 
With the audience that close and a glossy floor you will probably end up lighting most of the audience no matter how careful you are due to all of the bounce. You might be able to get away with an egg shell or satin finish, anything more than that will have your lighting designer saying words that can't be repeated here.
 

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