Studio Layout Ideas
 

Does anyone know of a site that shows a bunch of studio/stage sets? Foxnews, ABC, local cable stations, etc. I'm trying to put some ideas together for one I'm building. I don't mean people's editing/computer setups, but the actual STAGE/SET, like this:

http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/b.../ny1studio.jpg
http://www.celebratenj.org/images/News12studio2.JPG
http://images.tvnz.co.nz/tvnz_images...tudio_news.jpg
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/.../TV-studio.jpg
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/11/bu...=1&oref=slogin

I suppose I'm shooting for the stars, but more specifically I need ideas tailored for a kid's program.

While not exactly what I am looking for, thought this was an interesting behind-the-scene video. http://generalspecialist.com/2008/01...what-would.asp (a warning, though, it's around 30 mins. in length).

Either no one cares about this, or there isn't a one-stop-shop place like I'm looking for.

I found this cool site that has a lot of audio recording studio layouts. Good for acoustic ideas. http://www.johnlsayers.com/

Not real world studios, but 3D animations here:

http://www.turbosquid.com/Search/Ind...y=tv+news+room

Lloyd, I think you need to be real in your expectations.
To start with, what have you budgeted for your set?

Thanks, but the only thing I'm really asking for is for pictures of studios, stages, sets. Nothing about budget, building, costs, etc. I've got that part figured out. I just need some idea-starters. It's no different when you're building a $500k house and you look through a magazines of $15M houses for ideas in color selections, bathrooms fixtures, granite, kitchen layouts, travertine flooring, media rooms, etc.

But to answer you question, no I don't have a CNN or ABC budget. HA! It's significantly less, but so is the studio set I'm designing too.

I'd just like to see what's out there and mix and match from there.

But Lloyd, the problem isn't just one of ideas - it's one of physical space and whether that physical space is suitable for the purpose you wish to put it to.

In your other post, you have pictures of a space that has the following major problems...

A LOW CEILING. This makes lighting VERY difficult since it's hard to place lighting overhead and behind talent for the kind of rim lights that help separate people from the background.

MANY WINDOWS - look carefully at your primary "kids on the set" photo. The little girl is glowing with 5600k light from the window on the opposite wall. The child on the other side is in relative darkness. The "reader" is somewhere in between. The whole scene is backlit by the windows behind the sofa.

The FIRST thing I'd do if forced to shoot in this space would be to black out ALL the windows totally. And that means TOTALLY. No gaps or cracks - so it's not just hanging window shades, it's top to bottom side to side duvytyne or black foam core of something equally light opaque.

And that's just starting on lighting. What about power availability... I suspect this room has only household power available - probably one or perhaps 2 15-20 amp circuits - hardly adequate for video production on an on-going basis.

You see this room is designed for FAMILY LIVING. It's not at all designed for video production.

Can production be done here? Sure. But to get really good results, you'll need a LOT of knowledge, experience and gear to turn something designed to do one thing - and prepare it to do something entirely different reasonably well.

Those are a few of probably a hundred things that would have to be considered to convert an urban loft living room into a place where an on-going video series could be comfortably shot.

Keep studying and learning. But realize you're in for a big job.

Good luck.

Thanks Bill. I will take all those into consideration.

I am using fluorescents and Coollights, so I don't think I'm going to have as big a problem with blowing circuits as tungsten studios would have.

This is my first go around at something like this and I'm totally baffled by ALL there is to know! YIKES! I bought 5-6 books on the essentials of a good video recording (lighting, audio, postproduction and other misc. things), but I still need to get through them all. As an outsider I thought you just went to Best Buy and bought a camera and flipped on the lights and you were basically in business! HAHA! Okay, well, maybe not THAT bad, but I am beginning to realize that this is an art!

Thanks for all your feedback!

I don't work there any more, so I don't have any images, but I used to work for a small regional news station in the UK.

The whole whole station was setup in an office building (it was an experiment by the broadcaster to see if they could save on costs), and was pretty fraught with problems.

The floor space was about 15 x 15 foot and was far too small because it put the news-readers very close to the back-wall (they were sitting behind a gently s-curved news desk with a glass inlay top). Cameras were operated remotely.

The backdrop initially was a window through to the control gallery, but the network wanted something different, so we came up with a system of coloured perspex squares with lights behind them.

We only had about 10 ft of ceiling space which made the lighting rig incredibly difficult - although we were using tungsten so all hot lamps.

If you're setting up your own studio the key elements to deal with (in no particular order) are separating background and foreground (you need to make sure that your presenters are not casting shadows across the background, and that you can control the light levels between the two); noise control; and speed and ease of setup (particularly if you have to strike the setup between use).

Good luck!

I'm inclined to agree w/Bill.
 

Adapting physical space built for one purpose to an entirely different purpose can be difficult, and present problems that arise only after attempting to use the space for the new purpose.

While I can't offer a site or photos to help you, I can commiserate somewhat. I have a similar vision of using a large room which I've commandeered from our home for my office and studio. (At this point, I haven't yet decided if that vision is a dream or a nightmare). I have a long way to go to achieve that, but realized some time ago that I'd have to do much of what Bill suggests, e.g blacking out windows, taking steps to reduce noise intrusion, etc.

One mandate I've given myself is that any and all furniture I use in that room MUST be on wheels in order to easily change its' configuration. That will require adapting all furniture to rest on some sort of wheels or casters and building custom-made temp/movable walls. That alone adds to the cost, delays completion, and introduces other potential problems, i.e. storage when pieces of the set are not needed or wanted. While I've got all my existing furniture on wheels, I haven't completed even the design of pieces of the set yet.

This will be a long-term project, and I wish you luck. I certainly feel as if I need it, but, like you, I THINK I'm determined to try it. Even if my "vision" turns out to be near-sighted, I suspect I'll learn quite a bit in trying to fulfill it. The best lessons learned come from the mistakes we make ourselves.

I'm not sure about sets for kids' programs, but NewscastStudio.com has a huge library of news set photos from stations around the country.

I used this site frequently when designing the set for TVCadillac.com, a local news webcast I produce.