Edit Suite Decorations - Ideas?

[Stephen M. Crawford]

I have started 'building' my edit studio and I'm in a quandary as to what colour to paint the room for reasons I will explain...

It's currently a light blue, but though I am sure the screens and the broadcast monitor I will be using will not be particularly reflective, I am slightly concerned that it may have some effect on any colour correction and grading I do. Even if it is very very slight I want to avoid this.

My thinking is that if the main colour of the room is blue I might unintentionally over compensate and make the productions too warm, and if it was say red, I might end up doing the opposite. Many years ago in Art College I was told that the reason 'creative types' wear black is that it lets us be more objective with colour. More recently I have recommended also wearing black to other 'digital' artists, and the reason I have cited is that it does not produce a colour cast on-screen (this is my theory anyway) allowing a more precise WYSIWYG environment. This is vital in prepping print and advertising etc., which until recently I have been involved. So my thinking is that black would probably be ideal, but I don't really want to show clients into an all black room - God forbid, they might think I was in league with Satan or something! I think white would go the opposite way and reflect too much light around the room or make me adjust the brightness, contrast or luminance incorrectly. What I am currently considering is a kind of chocolate brown.

Any ideas or comments gratefully accepted - Have you any ideas?

[Dylan Couper]

My editing room is black. I should put some pictures up.

[Glenn Chan]

1- What about grey?

2- a 30" apple cinema display would make a good edit suite decoration :D

3- You could test things out to see if the color of the walls on your room are making a difference. Get some black cardboard or something and place it in two places:

A- Behind the monitor, so your eyes' white balance doesn't get thrown off.

B- To the side so it covers half of the reflections on the monitor. Have the same shade of color over the entire monitor and see if you can perceive a difference in color between the shaded and non-shaded area. You could also try making a rectangle and adjusting the color in Photoshop to see if you can get the areas to match more (and to check if you're seeing things that aren't there).

[Mike Rehmus]

You really want a dark gray or black wall colors or you will get color casting. No way to avoid it.

The suites I've seen by a few of the really big names tend to have the monitor faces poking out through a flat-black mask

[Stephen M. Crawford]

Thanks for the help chaps - I really don't want to use black really but someone else suggested grey so that looks like it might be more feasible.

Glenn, you are right about the Apple 30" cinema displays, and that's why I have one on order! I am also going to be using variable lighting and mostly the room will be very dark whilst I'm working so this will reduce the problems too.

The normal 'pro' edit studio that I use in Soho, (London, UK) has very low lighting at all times. The main edit suite I use makes me feel like like being in twilight. I sit on a comfortable leather sofa about 6-8 feet behind the desk and editors, the main screen(s) are suspended about 4 - 5 feet in front of the desk so both myself (as director of the edit) and the editors can all see them clearly. They are on a black backdrop too. I must say though during long sessions it makes me feel really tired and in the past I've felt myself falling asleep sometimes. Copius amounts of strong coffee are consumed when I'm there... normally I only need 4 -5 hours sleep a night, so I'm not usually inclined to fall asleep on the job!

[Robert J. Wolff]

Have you considered hanging drapes, or possibly curtains, as a test to see which colors work best with your setup?

[Rick Bravo]

The edit suite should be in subdued lighting while in operation, or at least ours is, which would not have any effect whatsoever on your perception of the color on the monitors.

[Jesse Bekas]

All of our edit suites at school have dark grey walls and dim lighting, and that's what I became accustomed to. I'll probably do the same when I get some real studio space of my own.

[Mike Rehmus]

Somewhere I read an article about edit suite color and illumination choices. Cannot remember where right now. I'll try and find it.