Shiny Surfaces are… Shiny

All that glitters is not gold. It’s always tempting for a set designer to use shiny, sparkly materials. In all fairness, a small amount of sparkle in a textured surface adds a great deal of visual interest. Large untextured or lightly textured surfaces of highly reflective material can, on the other hand, be a nightmare. Stainless steel or any other metal, brushed or otherwise, does not take light. It reflects light, and perhaps more importantly, it reflects light sources. As far as the camera is concerned, a metal object might as well be a mirror. It will appear utterly dark from one angle while blowing the camera out with a reflected light source from another angle. With jib mounted and hand-held cameras, there is no such thing as a safe angle. This same rule applies to a lesser extent to gold-leafed set elements and glossy laminates. This is not to say that there is no place for any of these materials in set design. With a little common sense, they can be used to good effect if used sparingly, say for example, as trim or accent. Large shiny set pieces, on the other hand, will never be lit properly. Not only is this a nightmare for the lighting crew, who will waste inordinate amounts of time trying to find a way to light the unlightable, but it ultimately is a failure for the set designer when the piece is either drastically underlit by necessity or because of incident angle, or when it is the constant source of unacceptable camera flare.

Glossy Floors are Even Worse

The high-gloss black flooring used in award shows and specials adds that glitzy Hollywood touch to any production. Unfortunately, it also adds a number of headaches for the lighting designer. The same principles that apply to shiny sets apply to high-gloss flooring, but there are a few other additional problems the flooring causes. Firstly, if there are musical or other production numbers, there will likely be a need or desire at some point to pattern the floor with gobos. Unfortunately, not only must you contend with the mirror-like surface not taking light (see above), but even if there are enough dusty footprints to catch a little light, the reflections will almost certainly flare someone’s lens because, to be read on flooring, the light sources must come from upstage. The same applies to floor washes. The biggest problem, however, is with spotlights. The angle of the spotlights in most venues is such that when the talent is spotlighted the stray light bounces off the flooring behind them and into a backing set piece. Some relief can be obtained by crossing up the spots, but the problem is almost never completely avoidable. The result is that the set element the audience sees most (the host position or in-1 wall) spends much of the program being blown out with reflected white light from the spots.

Look for PARTS 4 –7 in the coming days…

If you have further examples, advise, gripes or any comment at all regarding the illustrious marriage of set and lighting design PLEASE address them to RobertC@prosoundweb.com and he will post them in hopes that it will be cathartic and healing for all those involved. Thank you.


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