Set Design and Construction: ? Backing flat for a window seat

? Backing flat for a window seat

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Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Set Design and Construction
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Topic: ? Backing flat for a window seat

Posted By: Kim L.
Subject: ? Backing flat for a window seat
Date Posted: 12/09/07 at 7:57am

I am bumping in my set today and have a question about my window seat. I have a window seat with open window panes. What should I do for behind the window? If I leave it open, there is a black curtain behind the set so that is what the audience would see. Should I have a backing flat? If so, what color (blue?? yellow??) and do I use some sort of light to accent the backing flat? Or, should I cover the window panes with some sort of transparent film of some sort?

Thanks,
Kim

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Kim

Replies:

Posted By: JoeMc
Date Posted: 12/09/07 at 5:39pm

I would just cover the window panes with scrim material [continious plain netting curtain}, tack it on the upstage side of the window.
Edwardian houses would have heavy drapes on the windows, which were opened each day, unless there was a death in the house.
As the inside of the house was invarably warmer than the outside, there would be condensation on the panes, defusing them for most of the day.
Also the scrim material will elevate the need to have a backing cloth or flats.
Don't have any lighting upstage of the scrim, if you do this bring into view everthing upstage.
This is about the quickest way I think of to mask it?

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[western] Gondawandaland
"Hear the light & see the sound!
TOI TOI CHOOKAS
{may you always play to a full house!}

Posted By: vickifrank
Date Posted: 12/09/07 at 10:11pm

If you use a scrim that diffuses well enough you won't be able to see the black curtain. Basically one dense enough, or one intended for diffusion--my company has two fabrics that work well for this. If you use a net or sharkstooth, you need a backing flat or a simple muslin drop hung behind the window to back it.

Even more sophisticated is to use a scrim that is good for rear projection and project the scene out side the window. While this sounds very hard, remember you can use a gobo to project the shadow of a tree to suggest the outdoors.

You can also use tracing paper on a window--it allows in some light, but blocks the view. This only works well if the window is either small or has panes sized to hide the seams.

A solution that won't work for you but will for someone in the design phase, is a stained glass or leaded style decorative window. It can add something special to a set, while giving you a reason to not see through the window transparently.

Posted By: pdavis69
Date Posted: 12/10/07 at 9:21am

My answer is simple (and luckily we have a painter at our theatre that does this quickly for us) paint an outside scene on the masking flats. We are doing Little Shop right now and she has painted a whole street sceen on the wall outside the shop window. She named the stores in the scene after actors in the show. I have a strip club on the wall called Patrick's Pleasure Palace.

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Patrick L. Davis
Fort Findlay Playhouse