Studio space for corporate work

[Erik Pontius]

We recently had the opportunity to expand our space, so we took in consideration some of the problems we had with our old space when designing the new one. We had to work within some limits as we were expanding over the existing space. This is in a large office building so there are structural constraints we had to work within.
We ended up with a space that we’re happy with that contains a soundstage, a control-room/edit bay/machine room, small storage space and 2 dedicated edit bays.
Our work is mostly talking head interviews with corp execs, though the space is large enough for other purposes.
We have a central door that enters into the space in a smaller foyer area. One door leads into the studio soundstage, the other into the control room and edit bays.
The studio “soundstage” is 20’x30′ with black walls, black carpet and sound treatment and lighting grid. We have taps for HD-SDI, component, audio and intercom at a central location along the wall towards the back of the longest side of the studio space. There are two doors into this soundstage space, one at the front, one leads into the foyer, the other into an edit bay.
The control room is approx 10’x20′ has an Avid Adrenaline, SD/HD switcher, two racks of decks, router, fiber loop and other gear. The edit bays lead off from the control room each are probably 10×10. Sliding pocket doors separate the control room from the foyer and edit bays as well as between the edit bays.
The layout allows access to the control room and edit bays without entering the soundstage area. Edit bays can be closed off completely for privacy.

[Shawn Miller]

Thanks Erik – it sounds like you have a pretty decent amount of space. We’re thinking about incorporating a green room and a small conference room in our design. Do you have dedicated space for those functions?

Thanks,

Shawn

[Erik Pontius]

Nope…not a bad idea though.
We hang a large fabric green screen at one end of the studio for greenscreen work. Having a permanent painted greenscreen cove would be nice. In our case we needed a very multi-purpose space, so we opted to have have anything permanent.
We’re in a very large office building, so there are conference rooms available if we needed one. Most of the time when we meet with clients we either meet in one of the bays or at our desks which are in another area of the building.

Erik

[Mark Suszko]

I think by green room he meant a nearby room where talent can chill out, change clothing, and prepare before working on the set. The meeting room would serve the same function but without the privacy.

“Green Room” in that sense is a showbiz term that evolved from the guest waiting room for a talk show that WAS green. Might have been The Tonight Show originally, can’t recall. You could also consider the Green Room as a private temp office for visiting clients where they can get office stuff done while still being around nearby to supervise an edit or taping. Can also be handy for temporary other uses like a duplication tower cranking out a big dub run, or a freelance specialist can come in and use it to score music, make motion graphics, what-have-you..

A studio usually also needs a scene dock, some place to store away any large props or set walls. If all your sets are virtual, then that room isn’t really needed, but makes a good place to store the cameras, tripods, light stands, etc. and the spare back seat for the production van.

A permanent chromakey cove is always handy to have.

“Oh, you wanted to RECORD that?”

[Erik Pontius]

uh..yeah…you’re right. Read that a little fast I guess…what I get for multi-tasking…email, forums, handling a conference call and laying off an edit to a bunch of beta’s.

Since the edit bays can be closed off with pocket doors, one with direct access to the soundstage, they often double as green rooms. We also incorporated a small seating area into one end of the control room for guests/handlers during live sat shoots.

Erik

[Shawn Miller]

Thanks Mark and Erik for your responses. We’re also looking for ways to use each room for multiple purposes (wiring up the conference room for realtime streaming, using the soundstage for focus groups etc.). We hadn’t considered a dedicated area for chromakey work, but I think it’s a good idea.

Thanks again for your responses.

Shawn