Turn a garage into an insert stage?

insanityfw

insanityfw

Ban Me Please!
Hello all.

I am designing a new house and have put myself in a great position to have a tiny studio space for future projects, but I really don't have an idea of how to prepare the space. I'm wondering if anybody has experience with small space studios?

I am putting two garages on the house. One will be used as standard and the other which is an extended two-car garage will be for whatever I need it to be for.

The space is going to be about 24' by 30' with ceilings that can go about 13' high (max.). I can also build a bit of add-on space for a shop area or maybe an editing studio, etc. I don't really think i will using it anytime soon, but it would be nice to build it so that it can be easily modified later.

I'm wondering what kind of things I should think about? Power outlets in the ceilings? Bracing for grids? Maybe cyc the walls? Leave out windows so that I can paint the entire thing for greenscreen?

If anybody has any ideas, please go crazy and list them all.

Thanks for the feedback.

J.
 
The two big issues I faced when shooting in a converted garage were sound and heat (we were shooting in the middle of winter). Those would be the biggest things on my list to try and take care of. Make sure that it's well insulated if it's not going to have a heat and air system. And make sure that it's well insulated if it's going to be close to anything that makes noise (like a street). Most garages also have a concrete floor which causes sound to bounce all over the place, so that's something to consider too.

Of course at that point it makes it sound like you're building a second house. :)
 
Funny you should start this thread. I just moved into a house and I'm also fixing up the garage. First thing--I painted EVERYTHING black. I was going to drywall the whole thing, but as soon as it got painted black, everything ugly just disappeared and automatically looked "cool" and "studioish!"

I also plan to install more Edison outlets and upgrade my main service panel to a 400A panel. If I were you, I would design simple grid and build it out of speedrail. You can then mount stuff to the speedrail using Cartellinis, mafers, or grid clamps. I am also planning to permanently install baby nail-on plates all over the place. Also, I'm painting the outside of the garage rear exterior wall (the wall that faces the backyard) chroma key green.
 
insanityfw said:
Leave out windows so that I can paint the entire thing for greenscreen?
Click to expand...

Greenscreen or no, leave out the windows. Much easier/less expensive to soundproof a wall that doesn't have a hole in it.

:)
 
Thanks everybody for the great feedback. I think I'm on the right track, but I can see how there will be many things to think about over the next couple of months.

-Two garage doors and a side entrance door with no other windows should be doable.
-I work for the builder so I might be able to get insulated for cheap. I might even be able to get the A/C out there without too much expense. We live in AZ so shooting in -Summer is going to be tough, regardless.
-I'm sitting on an 1.5 acres, but there is a road nearby, but it sits up about 12' above the house and there will be vegitation and the other garage in the way, so this may help with sound a bit. I'll keep this in mind when transplanting trees. The other side of the house is a natural wash and then 400 yards of golf course, so no noise here other than pissed off golfers on their approach shots. :)
-I'm going for 400 amps.
-I will add extra sheathing where I can to allow solid mounting of baby plates and such. I figure some type of grid would be good, but I don't have a lot of experience with this yet.

thanks again,

Jason
 
Don't forget other utils too...

How close is the nearest bathroom for makeup? Or do you need to install a sink on a corner somewhere? Water on hand might not be a bad thing.. Phone? Other utilities? Is there a room close by for your talent to relax, or to change clothes?

How about food & drink? Not that key when building a studio, but on a hot shoot your crew will appriciate not having to trapse through the house for cold drinks from the kitchen.

Obviously not building a whole soundstage here, and I don't knwo how mcuh fleixibility you have. But don't forget the other departments too.


And then of course, as mentioned, you can never have too much power or mounting points. - Make 'em strong so that you can hang big stuff from the celing.

Your ceiling can not be too high either. Don't bother putting in anything decorative on the ceiling. - No need for sheetrock there. That 4" of extra height beteeen joists may be critical later.

- Mikko
 
Thanks Mikko. You make it sound so much more professional than I envisioned, but those are good things to keep in mind. The idea is to have a small area to build a couple of inserts sets, so I really do need to think about actor and crew needs.

The garage is connected to a separate wing of the house, which has a large powder room, a game room and home theater and extra office.

Originally, I was going to have this garage only accessible from outside since it's an extra unit, but now I'm going to think more about the access to the other spaces.

Good stuff.

I will try and post some rough model concepts in the next couple of weeks.


thanks again,

Jason
 
Oh hey, if possible put in some large (eg 2"-4") conduits between rooms so that if you ever need to pull cables you can.

Might be handy for example to be able to feed your camera's signal to the home theater for clients or other staff not needed on set who wish to view shooting.

Also, make sure you have good worklights installed too. Nothing worse than setbuilding in the dark.


- Yeah yeah, over kill, but it's the little things :thumbsup:

- Mikko
 
Thanks Mikko. i was already thinking about the conduit issue, but the biggest problem is keeping them functional, but sealed up. I have major scorpion issues and they can get through even the tiniest opening.

maybe I could make them to be capped-off when not in use. I really would like to be able to run footage to the theater projector.

:)
 
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