chris f
Veteran
A couple of thoughts from my experience having helped my friends design and convert a 4,000 sqft warehouse into a studio w/ offices that I worked out of for years and having worked in many of the studios in town with clients on set...
How you think you'll use the space (and how you think others would use it if rented) will almost certainly be different than how you (and renters) end up actually using it unless you're building this space for a specific project(s) that you are already producing and know exactly what you need for it. In our studio we built a 20' x 30' white cyc, a smaller dark gray cyc, and a semi-permanent living room set with wood floors. 3 years later and I can say that everyone uses the white cyc or builds their own set in front of the cyc. Everything else that gets done in there could be done with a paper roll (heck even a lot of the white cyc stuff could be done on a 12' paper roll). Not one single request for green screen. Painting a cyc green is the last thing I would ever do. At my current agency we have a really high quality, very thick (almost foam like) green screen that goes onto a frame that is about 12' x 20' or so and gets a perfect key and is fully packed away when not in use.
A 30' x 30' set is small and will get even smaller very quickly as soon as you start setting up lights, modifiers, props, set pieces, etc. I'd highly recommend getting rid of the garage and combining that to get a 30' x 50' set in which you can still park your one vehicle with gear at night. Even if you don't think you need the extra space now, having the extra room will open up a lot more potential studio rentals. I know you're more focused on your own work, but trust me, having other people pay all of your bills for you and then some is VERY nice. Having a large studio with good amenities will also attract more professional clients. There is another studio 3 min down the road that is like 15' x 20' and the people that rent that studio are youtubers and amateur photographers trying to squeak in hourly rate rentals while our studio consistently books $1,000+/day rentals to professional photographers, tv shows, documentaries, ad agencies, production companies, etc. One studio that I shoot at often has a white cyc that is maybe 25' x 30' that's in about a 25' x 50' room and for the extra space they put carpet down which helps a ton with the sound, but is also great cause you don't have to worry about tearing up the floors. When I shoot there I often have the talent right at the carpet line to get as much depth behind them as possible since I rarely do head to toe shots in studios. Sound is nice cause they're on the carpet part. that also gives us the whole white cyc space to use for set design if we're not doing the infinity white look. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever done head to toe shots on white cycs - personally I think it looks weird unless you're spoofing the Mac vs. PC commercials. And at that particular studio for every shoot I've done there, I've almost always had the talent at the edge of the cyc.
Most clients that are on set aren't super active in the shoot. They will most certainly be multitasking all day, so having great high speed internet, places to lounge and desk spaces to work, along with snacks, drinks, and easy access to their own bathroom are huge wins here. Comfort, convenience, and a little wow factor will keep clients coming back. Speaking of convenience having that big roll up door will also be a big win for the crews, just make sure to budget for a 'door inside of the door' because the rolling door will be your biggest and weakest link in keeping outside sound out. We didn't do that at my old studio and we were at the mercy of every UPS, Amazon truck, or the plumbing warehouse a few doors down and the occasional crazy loud motorcycle from the freeway hundreds of feet away. The studios I've been at that have the best sound have a thick giant sliding door inside the roll up door that you can close behind you and it makes the thing soundproof. Also, no matter how posh you try to make a client viewing area outside of the shooting space, almost every client will want to spend at least some time in the actual room to be near the action as well, so don't be bummed if you set their room up like a 5-star resort and instead they sit on a folding chair in the shooting space all day with their laptop instead.
Not sure what type of shoots you'll be doing, but if you have HMU they will easily fan out with all their gear and take up a lot of space in your work room area. They also need to talk freely with the talent so you'll for sure want them doing hair and make up outside of your shooting space so they can work while you're shooting if necessary. It helps them if the lighting in their area is same color temp as the lighting in the studio, so you'll want to make sure there's ample lighting in the space they might work. At my old studio we built a pretty great HMU room and it rarely got used. A lot of times they preferred the lobby cause it had big windows.
Feel free to ignore all of this if it doesn't fit your situation. If I had to do my last studio over again I'd curb my excitement about building my dream space and would have just focused on building the white cyc, making sure all the amenities are really dialed in, invested more in dampening the sound inside and blocking sound from outside and then just used and rented the studio as is for a year at least and then see how I and other people actually use the space before making any more customizations. At the end of the day a lot of productions just want a big, quiet space that they can customize to their specific project with the amenities that make their production easier.
Hope this helps, exciting!
How you think you'll use the space (and how you think others would use it if rented) will almost certainly be different than how you (and renters) end up actually using it unless you're building this space for a specific project(s) that you are already producing and know exactly what you need for it. In our studio we built a 20' x 30' white cyc, a smaller dark gray cyc, and a semi-permanent living room set with wood floors. 3 years later and I can say that everyone uses the white cyc or builds their own set in front of the cyc. Everything else that gets done in there could be done with a paper roll (heck even a lot of the white cyc stuff could be done on a 12' paper roll). Not one single request for green screen. Painting a cyc green is the last thing I would ever do. At my current agency we have a really high quality, very thick (almost foam like) green screen that goes onto a frame that is about 12' x 20' or so and gets a perfect key and is fully packed away when not in use.
A 30' x 30' set is small and will get even smaller very quickly as soon as you start setting up lights, modifiers, props, set pieces, etc. I'd highly recommend getting rid of the garage and combining that to get a 30' x 50' set in which you can still park your one vehicle with gear at night. Even if you don't think you need the extra space now, having the extra room will open up a lot more potential studio rentals. I know you're more focused on your own work, but trust me, having other people pay all of your bills for you and then some is VERY nice. Having a large studio with good amenities will also attract more professional clients. There is another studio 3 min down the road that is like 15' x 20' and the people that rent that studio are youtubers and amateur photographers trying to squeak in hourly rate rentals while our studio consistently books $1,000+/day rentals to professional photographers, tv shows, documentaries, ad agencies, production companies, etc. One studio that I shoot at often has a white cyc that is maybe 25' x 30' that's in about a 25' x 50' room and for the extra space they put carpet down which helps a ton with the sound, but is also great cause you don't have to worry about tearing up the floors. When I shoot there I often have the talent right at the carpet line to get as much depth behind them as possible since I rarely do head to toe shots in studios. Sound is nice cause they're on the carpet part. that also gives us the whole white cyc space to use for set design if we're not doing the infinity white look. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever done head to toe shots on white cycs - personally I think it looks weird unless you're spoofing the Mac vs. PC commercials. And at that particular studio for every shoot I've done there, I've almost always had the talent at the edge of the cyc.
Most clients that are on set aren't super active in the shoot. They will most certainly be multitasking all day, so having great high speed internet, places to lounge and desk spaces to work, along with snacks, drinks, and easy access to their own bathroom are huge wins here. Comfort, convenience, and a little wow factor will keep clients coming back. Speaking of convenience having that big roll up door will also be a big win for the crews, just make sure to budget for a 'door inside of the door' because the rolling door will be your biggest and weakest link in keeping outside sound out. We didn't do that at my old studio and we were at the mercy of every UPS, Amazon truck, or the plumbing warehouse a few doors down and the occasional crazy loud motorcycle from the freeway hundreds of feet away. The studios I've been at that have the best sound have a thick giant sliding door inside the roll up door that you can close behind you and it makes the thing soundproof. Also, no matter how posh you try to make a client viewing area outside of the shooting space, almost every client will want to spend at least some time in the actual room to be near the action as well, so don't be bummed if you set their room up like a 5-star resort and instead they sit on a folding chair in the shooting space all day with their laptop instead.
Not sure what type of shoots you'll be doing, but if you have HMU they will easily fan out with all their gear and take up a lot of space in your work room area. They also need to talk freely with the talent so you'll for sure want them doing hair and make up outside of your shooting space so they can work while you're shooting if necessary. It helps them if the lighting in their area is same color temp as the lighting in the studio, so you'll want to make sure there's ample lighting in the space they might work. At my old studio we built a pretty great HMU room and it rarely got used. A lot of times they preferred the lobby cause it had big windows.
Feel free to ignore all of this if it doesn't fit your situation. If I had to do my last studio over again I'd curb my excitement about building my dream space and would have just focused on building the white cyc, making sure all the amenities are really dialed in, invested more in dampening the sound inside and blocking sound from outside and then just used and rented the studio as is for a year at least and then see how I and other people actually use the space before making any more customizations. At the end of the day a lot of productions just want a big, quiet space that they can customize to their specific project with the amenities that make their production easier.
Hope this helps, exciting!
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