Best paint/surface for backdrop

[Scibby]

My school stage currently has a white wall at the back, which we light with 6 iColour fixtures to give us the effect of a lit cyc.

My question is about what paint might give us the best effect? It is currently a matt finish, but I'm wondering if painting it with a high gloss white would look better? The iColours aren't overly bright when we have our front LED stage wash lights on, so I'm wondering if gloss paint would improve this or would it look awful?

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

I think gloss will look splotchy, and reveal every imperfection in the wall. Look for super bright very flat whites.

 

[JohnD]

+1 on the super bright white. Very often the go to white in public spaces is navajo white which is really a very light brown. The logic being that it doesn't show dirt as much as other shades of white, my opinion is that it already looks dirty. Go to your paint store and get some swatch cards of various whites and tape them up. Some stores also have larger swatches.

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

I googled Australia paint and nothing looked familiar but there are vivid and ultra whites. Perhaps a ceiling white - which are always flat and usually very white without toning. Get a sample or quart and look at it under your lights. No experience but it would be interesting to test http://screenpaintsupply.com/ultra-hd-4k-resolution-white-screen-paint/

 

[kicknargel]

Contrary opinion: with underpowered lighting, I'd do the wall in a light-to-medium cool grey. IMO, unless very well saturated with colored light, white will reflect all kinds of spilled light and be too dominant. I think unlit white always looks terrible, but unlit grey is OK, and it will still pick up color from your cyc lights.

Definitely flat / matte finish. Try this thought experiment: what if it were so glossy it were a mirror? It wouldn't show any lighting at all.

 

[Scibby]

Thanks for those tips! I like the idea of the screen paint, will see if I can get something similar here.

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

I agree with kicknargel in concept but I believe the specific issuse here is brightness from the cyc lights. The problem may however be the front light and bounce. Its hard to know from afar.

 

[Van]

An "Oyster" or "Seashell" flat/matte finish paint make a great Cyc surface.

 

[JonCarter]

For cyc, we used to use 10 gal white:1 gal blue:1 qt black. Made a decent sly color when lit w/pale blue and would take other colors nicely for effects.

 

[JonCarter]

And of course, dead flat!

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

But Jon, I'm guessing that was with mostly incandescent cyc lights. Do you think LED would affect that mix? LED seems to deliver much more blue, and not so strong on in the yellow to red range like incandescent is. I'm thinking of changing from Rosenthal blue, which I'd guess your mix is close to, to white.

 

[JonCarter]

But Jon, I'm guessing that was with mostly incandescent cyc lights. Do you think LED would affect that mix? LED seems to deliver much more blue, and not so strong on in the yellow to red range like incandescent is. I'm thinking of changing from Rosenthal blue, which I'd guess your mix is close to, to white.

Bill, Yes, incandescent. (Us old farts aren't used to thinking "LED".) Which brings up an interesting question: Is there such a thing as a uniform spectrum LED source for, say, a leko? (Or the equivalent ellipsoidal.)