Arts & Entertainment

Dependable solutions for theatrical designers and technicians, dancers and photographers

Explore the lighting, scenic paint and flooring products artisans depend on while working on-stage, inside dance studios, or on photo shoots.

The dimming curve is perfect, the color is perfect. Miro Cube does everything a footlight needs to do. Jane Cox – Lighting Designer

The Challenge

For a production of The Tempest, lighting designer James K. Davis needed to create a world that complemented the “geode design” of the set while evoking the magic that is at the heart of the play.

Davis explored how Rosco Prismatic Gobos looked on the model of the set. He discovered that they delivered the colors and textures he was seeking and that the effect was enhanced when the Prismatic effect was reflected off of Mylar. From there, Davis began integrated ColorWaves and other Rosco Effects Glass Gobos into his design.

Rosco Solution

Rosco Effects Glass, including Image Glass, Colorizers, Prismatics and ColorWaves, offers designers the ability to add three-dimensional texture and, in most cases, blended color-effects into any lighting design.

Results

The set included a canvas cyc that Davis filled with reflected lighting effects to tell this show’s powerful story. One effect represented Prospero and Ariel’s power by reflecting a spinning Rosco Magenta Ripple ColorWave off of a sheet of Mylar. The reflected effect streaked across the cyc to create an enchanting effect for the scene. Another effect conveyed the “ominous presence of Caliban’s vindictive nature” by reflecting a Warm Contrast Prismatic off the Mylar onto the cyc as Caliban received his first drink of the nectar of the gods.

The Challenge

In New Georges’ Obie Award-winning production of A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes, two characters needed to be instantly transported from a gymnasium to a dock on the edge of a lake – using a lighting effect. 

The challenge of this technique was illuminating the floor without spilling any of the water effect onto the actors. Lighting designer Barbara Samuels and scenic designer Sara Walsh transformed their gym floor into a deep body of water using a unique mix of Rosco UV products.

Rosco Solution

The X24 Effects Projector’s large-scale, rippling light output produces the most organic water effect available. Rich in UV-output, the X24 can project a black light water effect when used with Permacolor #3660 UV Pass Filter.

X-24 X-Effects >

Results

First Walsh painted a watery texture on the floor with Rosco’s Invisible Blue Fluorescent Paint. Samuels illuminated the fluorescent pigments with Rosco’s Miro Cube UV LED fixture, and then used an X24 Effects Projector with a UV Pass Filter installed to add subtle movement to “the water” on the floor.

This combination of Rosco products made the floor glow with a watery effect without affecting the actors’ lighting on the dock. Using this technique, the gym floor magically transformed into a flowing body of water in a matter of seconds.

The Challenge

Helen McCarthy is a Boston-based scenic artist that designed and fabricated an installation called Arcus Clade Triumphum (A.C.T.) for the Burning Man Art Festival, which takes place yearly in the Black Rock Desert.

The squishy foam sculpture needed to be strong enough to survive being shipped across the country and back, a week and a half of desert sun, rain & 70mph wind storms, and 66,000 “hands-on” festival attendees. McCarthy strengthened and protected her A.C.T. columns with a combination of Rosco FlexCoat and cheesecloth.

Rosco Solution

Rosco FlexCoat is a water-based coating designed to protect flexible foam materials such as polyurethane foam, Styrofoam and ethafoam. FlexCoat’s unique composition allows it to flex and bend with the foam without cracking or peeling.

FlexCoat >

Results

After the foam was carved, it was sprayed with a mixture of Rosco FlexCoat and latex paint to seal up the pores of the foam. While the mixture was wet, pieces of cheesecloth were applied and stippled with a thicker FlexCoat/paint mixture to hide the seams. Afterwards, more FlexCoat was applied to add spattery texture and hide the cheesecloth a bit more.

Once installed, Arcus Clade Triumphum looked like it had been in the desert for thousands of years – until you touched it and found out the “stone” columns were actually squishy foam.

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