tbhatt Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 A friend of mine is designing the costumes for Sweeney Todd, and she needs some of the costumes to shine at one point to make the characters look like memories or ghosts. She's read about the scotchlite beads that 3M makes and is wondering if they can be mixed with paint to paint the costumes so that they look normal under some light but gleam and glow under different light. Please let me know if you have used anything like this before. ps. I'm the lighting designer for the same production so if it requires some specific lighting effect that's fine, I can hook her up... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 I've used scotchlite beads before but not in theatre! They do very specifically reflect light back to the source. -car headlights back to the driver and the like. UV effects may help if the costume is washable it can be washed in a detergent that leaves brighteners behind so the costume will glow a bit under UV light but you will need lots of UV if the visible lighting is bright. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Here or here might help out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbhatt Posted February 20, 2009 Author Share Posted February 20, 2009 The look she is going for is more whispy, spirit or memory like. The problem with the UV paint is that everyone and their mother has seen UV paint before and she doesn't want the crowd taken out of the effect with the old "oh look, there is uv paint" thought. She thought of using Scotchlite after reading that that was how they made the ghost costumes in Disney's Haunted Mansion, and the Kryptonians in Richard Donner's Superman. Where did you get the schotchlite, we can find the fabric and the trim, but not the raw beads. And we also aren't sure how it mixes with paint. If anyone has anyone has any more info I (and she) would really appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w/robe Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 I'm not a huge fan of UV either but if you mix UV and normal light you can get an effect that is more 'gentle glow' and less 'panto underwater scene'.Also try a combination of fabric that UVs* (take a hand held tube when you go shopping), UV paint and washing whites in powder with optical brightners. * I know that is incorrect but you know what I mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lightnix Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 The simplest way to treat the costumes, is just to mix up a double-strength solution of washing powder / liquid, soak them in it and hang them out to dry without rinsing. You may need to have duplicate costumes made for the scene in question and to watch out for people with sensitive skin. UV effects can be subtle - have a look at the Demo Room section of the UVFX for examples. Those guys have been around for years and are probably the masters. Terralec have some UV stage make-up here and there's more UV face paint, body paint, hair gel, etc. on t'interweb than you can shake a stick at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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