designing a small sized interview room

[must-c-tv]

Hi all,

I'm looking for a few ideas.

My network's bureau here in London has a chance to turn one of the empty accountants offices into a permanent generic 'interview room' - basically a place where we leave a set of lights up, and can quickly sit a guest down and grab some sots in a one or two camera set-up (depending on the need).

It will be the basic interview head shot, with neutral background. (book case, lamp, flowers).

This will be primarily for the cable outlet, not our nightly show.

London is basically a travel bureau here - not a studio - so the lighting will be limited to Chimera's, backlights, flags, breakup pattern for the background etc. all on C-stands. etc.

The lighting isn't the problem. We have a range of toys. Audio is also OK.

What I'm kindly requesting is tricks for designing a multi-purpose interview room.

The room is a complete square, each side 15 feet long with a dark tile floor. Ceciling is about 9 feet high. There is a window on one wall, that takes up quite a bit (3/4 of the wall) and this lets in a good amount of English weather natural light (ie non-tropical). At the moment the walls are white, and we will paint over that.

I will likely ND gel the window, and add a dark curtain.

Based on the collective wisdom of the board, are there any suggestions for:

- good neutral paint colour for the walls (something dark obviously - maybe a blue or burgundy??)

- I will have a bunch of background props handy - banker's lamp, flowers, bookcase etc. to make the background of shots different. Any suggestions for props that work well?

- as the room is small, any ideas for getting shallow DOF behind the guest (beside the obvious open F stop, dark room, camera as far back as possible etc.)

- We haven't decided on chairs, but likely it will be something from Ikea we can raise the height easily.

- any other suggestions to make a small space like this flexible -- to quickly get a variety of different looking interview set-ups?

I know this might seem mundane, but any clever ''Martha Stewart" design tips would be appreciated.

Many thanks !!

[Lensmith]

One thought a veteran taught me years ago.

If you are shooting in a small space, fewer, low wattage lights, are better.

Is the window worth seeing anything out of and how big is it?

You might want to think of just cheating. Buying some large day and night pics which would fill the background and help sell the idea of where the interview is rather than playing with the ever changing light from the window.

The taller the chair for the interview subject, the better.

Is this room to produce pre-recorded interviews only or can it also be used for live?

Set it up so you can easily run the necessary cables in and out of the room for "live" and not have to lay stuff all over the floor every time you need something immediate for satellite. That includes your IFB connections and a phone line or two for producers.

Just my thoughts.

[must-c-tv]

Thanks John.

Nothing worth seeing out the window.

Lights will all be on dimmers - Arri 150's for back light with snoot, and Arri 300's with Chimeras for key/fill.

The picture idea is a nice one, but often they just look 'fake' to me. But maybe for the average viewer it's fine and I'm overly critical.

We will just do pre-record's here (which is rare) - for lives the channel likes the correspondent in front of the newsroom.


Thanks again.

[The Daywood]

Ikea has a ton of vases/pottery that you can make/keep a collection of to put on the shelves...I've found that a picture on a lightbox (like at a theatre) looks much more convincing than one hung on the wall...Yeah it looks fake if the interviewee is boring because the viewer starts paying attention to it, but sometimes talking heads can't be helped....

Can you make a turntable so you could shift from corner to corner and maybe out the windows if you wanted? I've seen a set-up like this used in newsrooms in the states for the cut in or "live from the newsroom" shots...

I will agree with Lensmith on this one....PRE-WIRE...make it as flexible as possible, but make sure you have everything taped together, and dressed as much as possible so you won't have to jack with it...

[cameragod]

If it’s a small room then can you get some Kino’s? That will stop the room from heating up too much. You could paint one wall a Cromerkey color, two blinds with day night backdrops and hang some curtains. The curtains for most backdrops but also help deaden the sound.

[NeverSummer]

If your going to paint don't forget the celing. A white celing in such a small room will mess with your lighting.

[LongTimePhotog]

what about a cheap book case and some books...that always looks good.

[Run&Gun]

This could be the lazy man's way or maybe the smart one's. Guess it depends. If done right, to look convincing enough, you could paint the walls chroma key and not worry with an actual background in there, and just shoot several diffferent background plates to key in later. Obviously you would have to match the lighting of the plates and interview carefully(shouldn't be too hard, keep the lighting scheme's all the same and or keep notes of each), but that way you could virtually control your depth of field by shooting the background plates as out of (or in) focus as you want or need. And let's face it, in a room that's only 15x15, a shallow DOF is gonna be hard, even if you shoot wide open.

Just a thought. Might be practical, might not...

[Lensmith]

You know...after I hit "reply" the first time, I thought the picture thing might be a little trite.

However, if you're a bureau for a specific area, something in the background should indicate where you are...be it a sign, picture, indiginous plants, dancing polar bears...whatever...ahhhh, lose the bear idea.

Anything "blank" or plain, like curtains, would produce interviews that could have been shot anywhere!

I'd think the higher ups would want people to know they've spent the time and money to staff a bureau in a certain area and the background needs to sell the location of that bureau.

Plus...isn't this supposed to be a place for "quick" interviews? How many lights do you want to fool with if you're in a hurry?

Now I'm rambling...:rolleyes:

Time to stop! Good night!

[Widescreen]

Firstly, the painting........

Paint the ceiling black. This will help with light spill. Paint two walls the same so you can use for a two/cam shoot. Paint the others different. Perhaps a chroma key wall, but green will definately reflect. Don't use a gloss, use a flat matt to reduce shine.

Put carpet down or rugs to reduce reverb/echo and shoe shuffle in the room.

Buy some old generic painting from a second hand junk shop. Good for breaking up the wall. An old bookshelf and books are great as well.

As suggested, use low wattage lights and barn doors. Chimira's are good, and you can get for Dedo's as well but if to expensive, then put in low wattage bulbs or dimmers to whatever you have and get some black wrap. It's like tin foil, only black and thicker, but can be shaped/cut to reduce spill. Low lights will also all help to reduce heat in room.

Get 2 non swivel chairs. Better if no arms as talent will then be forced to sit straight and not lean when you least expect it. Get hight adjustable.

Make use of the window. Get blinds to control/eleminate daylight or use as background. Add ND. Use Velcro tabs so can place/remove easily.

Punch a small hole in wall/door so you can close door but run cables out/in if you need to.

Add a speaker phone, handy for those type of interviews where your reporter is in another location and needs a pick up interview.. It's very common where I am so that's why I would do it. Unless you have IFB or other fed in there.

Get a second tripod if possible to leave as a permanent set up and a monitor as well.

Can't think of much else but a big start from all..........

[focusthis]

Can you install a grid to hang these lights? C-stands can take up that little bit of space.

Howsabout a set of curtains on a track. I don't know if there is a chromakey blue or green, but a black, a grey, etc on the type of track around hospital beds seems like it could quickly convert a space.

Is there much airconditioning noise in the room? Can you hear the phone ringing in the next office?

Would hanging a thin monitor (plasma, lcd) be useful for satellite interviews and such?

Explore the space.

I gotta have more cowbell.

[Dedline]

I think there's only so much you can do with that room. I would say don't worry about switching positions as much as you should about varied backgrounds. If you go that way then...

-hang your lights from the ceiling. You're going to want corners behind your talking heads anyway so pick your positions and commit. This will keep the C-stands from cluttering up everything.

-get varied backgrounds. bookcase, plants, curtain, lamps, picture in frame, etc.

-short DOF. I've seen book covers made up that were already in soft focus. blur up a small painting. I've even seen set backgrounds printed from photos taken in soft focus to mimic the DOF look. If you've got a little money to spend, there is some netting that lighting shops use to diffuse light. Get something that will be wide enough to cover the whole area and hang it taut behind your talking head. With the right netting, you won't be able to tell.

-call me crazy but I'd keep the walls white. I can always change their color with a couple of gels and of course white is the easiest canvas to color. You are already avoiding some spill with chimeras (hopefully with egg crate) and can avoid more with blackwrap. If you prefer a solid color wall, I've hung rich fabric and tacked it tight. Visit a fabric store and you can even get textured stuff that looks awesome with a little sidelight. Do NOT leave it up permanently unless you get flame retardant stuff.

Hope this helps, good luck! Send a couple photos of the place after it's done.