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DIY Projection Screen Paint

Specially formulated projection screen paint contains a silver metallic base, which allows it to reflect the projected image with optimal contrast and brightness. If you were to paint a projection screen with regular paint, the image would appear dull. However, projection screen paint is costly. Create comparable effect using silver metallic spray paint on top of regular paint.

Things You'll Need

  • Water-based primer
  • Paintbrushes
  • Light gray, satin, water-based paint
  • Silver metallic spray paint
  • Black, matte, water-based paint
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Instructions

    • 1

      Paint the screen area with water-based primer.

    • 2

      Paint over the primer with a light gray, satin, water-based paint. Gray will provide better contrast than white. A satin finish will provide the correct balance of light absorption and light reflection. A matte finish would absorb too much light and a gloss finish would reflect too much light.

    • 3

      Spray paint the screen with a light misting of silver metallic spray paint. Allow the spray paint to dry.

    • 4

      Spray paint the screen one more time with a light misting of silver metallic spray paint to even out the coverage. The screen should not be totally covered in the spray paint---just speckled enough to provide subtle enhanced luminance when an image is projected. Too much will cause the image to be overly reflected.

    • 5

      Paint a 4 inch border around the screen with matte black paint to create a crisp border around projected images.

Film Production

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