Set Design and Construction: Seamless Photo Backdrop

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Seamless Photo Backdrop

Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Set Design and Construction
Forum Discription: Post your questions or suggestions about designing or building a set here.
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1990
Printed Date: 11/23/24 at 3:31pm
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Topic: Seamless Photo Backdrop

Posted By: logan Muszynski
Subject: Seamless Photo Backdrop
Date Posted: 8/27/06 at 11:56am

Hello everyone!

I've just found this forum and been reading the posts all morning now.
You guys/girls are awesome and I'm so interested!

I'm a photographer by trade but I'm in a little predicament.

I need to set up a white seamless backdrop (the kind that drops from the
wall to the floor all the way to camera).

I need about 20ft wide by 45 ft long. That way I can raise it 18 ft at the
back wall, allow 6ft for the curve, and bring it forward 20 ft.

This large of a seamless is not usually done. In an instance like this a cyc
or cove is just rented at a studio or built to spec. I'm trying to save
though. Background photo paper only comes 140" wide max. I've figured
out how to tape two papers together to make it work. I want the material
to be repaintable though. If paper gets dirty it needs to be replaced.

I've been looking into Muslin or Canvas for this. I've found the material at
www.Rosebrand.com or www.ChicagoCanvas.com but now I thinking
about how I'm actually going to do this!

I know muslin will shrink more than canvas. They will both shrink though.

I'm thinking about laying the whole piece flat over plastic. First wetting
the whole piece down to remove the folds. Then liquid starching it. Then
Painting it. On the ground with Rollers with Behr Ultra Pure white Flat.

But I started thinking that during the whold process the material would
start to pucker as it dries. If it dries puckered it will hang puckered. That
will be disasterous! So then I started to think That I could attach strips of
1x3's to the edges with staples then screw rope into the wood and pull it
apart with sandbags [(20) 25lb bags might do]. That way the tension
would kill the puckering... i guess...

I wish I could frame the whole thing... But I can't. It needs to hang like
paper so that when it hits the ground I get a nice curve.

My question then is... If I paint it with a temp frame and then remove the
frame will the whole thing (muslin or canvas) pucker anyways?

I'd appreciate any critique to this post. Am I totally off?! Where am I
wrong? It would really suck to buy all that fabric and paint to find out the
whole project is a waste of time..!

Replies:

Posted By: logan Muszynski
Date Posted: 8/27/06 at 9:40pm

Anyone know if muslim or canvas will ripple once removed from a frame?

Posted By: Joan54
Date Posted: 8/28/06 at 8:44am

I have never painted anything quite as large as what you are talking about. I have painted light canvas that was 18 long and ten feet tall. I laid it on plywood on the floor of a barn and rolled it out with latex primer. It rippled and puckered a lot when it was first done but I left it all night and the next day it was perfectly flat. It seemed to shrink evenly. I don't think you need to wet the piece first to remove the wrinkles....the primer took care of that. I have hung this and rolled it and walked on it and generally beaten it up and as soon as it hangs for a day or more any wrinkles seem to fall out. I store it stapled to the barn wall so it doesn't form fold marks from being rolled and stored on its side. The trick seemed to be to get it all wet at the same time with the primer...I wouldn't take a lunch break in the middle. I have never tried this with muslin.....I always stretch that over a frame...but you could experiment with a smaller piece. Also if you put a lot of primer on it may glue itself to the plywood so don't go overboard with the roller. If you use something stiff like canvas and then paint it with a stiff latex paint it is not going to "flow" like a fine fabric down the wall and across the floor. It will be more likely to form into stiff folds. You can probably make a good curve though. I would but some muslin....a few yards will do...and put it on a floor ( not on paper) and roll it out.....what happens to a small piece is probably a pretty good indication of what happens to a big piece. Good luck.

-------------
"behind a thin wall of logic panic is waiting to stampede"

Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 8/28/06 at 9:25am

Just to add to what Joan has posted.
With Calico [muslin] if you buy the bleached fabric, you will find it won?t shrink anywhere as much as the unbleached raw calico will.
The old way was to apply wallpaper size & then paint it with whitener, but any cheap plastic [latex or emulsion] will do just as well & can be painted on with a mop these days.
If you are going to hang it as a drop or cyc, I?d gusset the head with webbing & fit eyelets to take ties on to a batten. Fit a tail batten pocket & use steel pipe to weight it down & to pull evenly when laid out.
To reduce folds or wrinkles just spray the back of it lightly & allow it to dry, while hanging.

-------------
Joe
Western Gondawandaland
turn right @ Perth.
Hear the light & see the sound.
Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"}
May you always play
to a full house}

Posted By: Aimee
Date Posted: 8/28/06 at 9:50am

I'm with Joan on this one too. I've not painted anything that big. BUT, I have tried something like this on a smaller scale with muslin...use the canvas! It is usally heavier and stiffer. You'll get a better lay with it and be happier overall with the look. I've had some pretty bad expereinces with muslin. While I like it for flats, you still have to be careful how you prepare it and know exactly what has been done to it before it gets to you. Personally, I'd use the canvas.

Best of luck!

-------------
Aimee

Posted By: Shatcher
Date Posted: 8/28/06 at 10:04am

also make sure you use a non flame retardent fabric!!!

Posted By: logan Muszynski
Date Posted: 8/28/06 at 1:20pm

Thanks so much for all your comments!

I'm still in the air....

Canvas: Easier to Paint. More grain/tooth may make the shadows
textured.

Muslin: Harder to Paint. Less tooth, the shadows will be very smooth.

Paper: Non Paintable. Will have seams. Shadows ultra smooth.

How does anyone feel about stapling 1x3's to the muslin edges, then
pulling on the frames with sandbags to create tension while painting,
then releasing them when dry?

Posted By: logan Muszynski
Date Posted: 8/28/06 at 1:29pm

So I'm gonna test Canvas and Muslin on 12x20 or so... see what happens.

I could use some smaller backdrops for portrait anyhow.

If they don't work I'll just drag them through some fields for character.

Posted By: logan Muszynski
Date Posted: 8/28/06 at 1:35pm

Joan54, Gaafa, Aimee, Shatcher if you're ever in LA email me and I'll buy
ya a beer on Sunset ... that's like the price of a twelvepack in cowtown.

Posted By: GoldCanyonLady
Date Posted: 8/28/06 at 7:06pm

Logan, my ex and I owned our own portrait studio and what we did for our high key portraits is we put a cove at the bottom edge of the wall where it met the ceiling with plaster and painted the wall and floor with good washable semi gloss paint. For our other portraits we simply used pull down back drops (we only had two--one old masters type with muted colors and another a little lighter).

It was easy to clean and always looked great.

Barb

-------------
Barb Hofmeister,
MountainBrook Village Players, Gold Canyon, Arizona.

Posted By: logan Muszynski
Date Posted: 8/29/06 at 7:09am

Thanks for the reply Gold. Unfortunately the shooting space is in an
underground warehouse... not mine... back wall is full of conduit too.

Posted By: bmiller025
Date Posted: 9/02/06 at 12:19am

I would strongly suggest stretching muslin across 1x4s that have been attached to the floor, stapling the muslin to the "frame", sizing the muslin with starch, and then painting it with good scenic paint - 100% acrylic, rather than casein-based house paint. The muslin will tighten due to shrinkage, but once it is dry, you can remove it from the frame and it will be fine. Using the acrylic scene paint, the muslin won't behave much differently than if it was not painted. That is how backdrops are done in the real world. You might need to seam the edges to hide the spots where the staples were, but it works quite well. Muslin certainly comes in widths sufficient for your needs.

You didn't say anything about what you planned to paint on the fabric. I am assuming it will be a random pattern, rather than a detailed image. Keep the paint pretty wet - if you use Rosco Super-saturated paint, you can dilute it way down (more than 10:1) and get watercolor-like effects. Great stuff. The stuff isn't expensive, but it goes really far, and works much better.

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http://www.brianmiller.biz/BrianDesign.htm