| Magazine > 2008 > July - August > The Perfect Setting |
The Perfect Setting:
by Perry Jenkins
In my job the only thing I can be absolutely sure of is change. One day I’m shooting a photo for a magazine article, the next day I’m creating Visual Effects Elements, and then a promo, and then a commercial, and then… well you get the idea. Maybe you can relate. If you’re like me you work at a frantic pace. It may be very rare that you can actually go out to find a location as simple as a home office for a shot. Maybe you don’t have a very large budget. People like you and me have to get creative. In this article I’ll show you how to build a custom (office) space that can be set up fast and torn down in a jiffy. If you get creative it might not cost you a dime.
CREATING YOUR OWN SPACE
If you’ve ever had to shoot in a home office or at a place of business, you know it can be challenging. It usually comes with time limits, orders to not move this or that and the occasional, “Hey, that’s breakable so don’t touch it!” It can be difficult to light in a tight space, and the cramped conditions can really stifle your vision. What I love about constructing my own sets is that I have complete control. I control the lights, placement of objects (like a desk and bookshelves) and I can work at my own pace. I’ve built sets for both still photography and video. This article will focus on a photo shoot I did for an article on the Juicer in the May 08 issue of Digital Juice Magazine.
When creating your own sets, look for things you might already have laying around.The items pictured below were used in shooting a photo for last month’s Digital Juice Magazine article on the Juicer.They were all found within the four walls of our production studio/offices.
With creative lighting and camera positioning, these loose pieces and parts are transformed into a believable production studio. (The image on the monitor was digitally enhanced in Photoshop to enlarge and emphasize the Juicer logo.)
THE VISION
The goal of this shot was to show the Juicer interface on a computer in an editing environment. To sell the space as a real edit bay we needed to place items in the shot that editors would identify with; a deck, a sound mixer, some hard drives and a bookshelf lined with tapes and Digital Juice product. Other items like a lamp and a picture on the wall lent credibility to the space.
LOOK FOR WHAT YOU HAVE
The best items to use are items you already own. I stripped a bookshelf and grabbed a floor lamp and desk lamp. For this particular shot it was only a matter of walking around the building and borrowing things. Keep a mental inventory of things you have that may work for different scenarios and put them to use in your productions. It’s nice to not have to spend any money for a shot if you don’t have to.
IN THE WORLD OF ILLUSIONS
One of the things I love about this trade is that we’re selling illusions all the time. What we build within the borders of the frame is what’s important. As long as the viewer believes what they see, who cares how you went about creating it. It’s movie magic and, gosh darn it, I love it.
The wall of the studio isn’t a wall at all. Perry created the illusion of a room by painting a single piece of 8'x4' foam wall board with some leftover paint.Total cost: $15.
Breaking this home office set down, when we had the shot we needed, was just as easy as setting it up.Plus, pieces such as the wall and desktop can be rearranged and reused in other custom sets in the future.
There are two great illusions in the photo you see. The first is the office itself. With its warm-colored wall and a cool framed photo, it has an artsy style. In actuality, the wall is a $15 piece of 8’x4’ foam that is used as insulation during home construction. It’s fairly durable, it’s light and it has a paper backing on it that’s ripe for painting. The paint I used was left over from an office in our building, so I saved some bucks there as well. Since I was shooting vertically, one 4’x8’ piece worked well, but I could easily strap a couple together for a wider wall. (Hint: use the bookcase to hide the seam if you butt two together). We had our wall totally done in about a half an hour.
The second illusion is that this computer is on an elaborate desk. While it is sitting on a desktop, the base is simply a couple of sawhorses. I love this method and use it all the time. I save as many desk surfaces as I possibly can. When someone is throwing away an old desk, I’ll swipe the top. It’s really all you need. You can place it where you want it, and when you’re done you can store it much easier than a full-blown desk.
PUT IT TOGETHER
Now that you have all your pieces— assemble, light and voila! You’ve got a space that’s controllable, easy to break down and no one’s the wiser. So get creative and have fun. Make your next set the perfect setting for your shoot.
Perry Jenkins is an Emmy Award winning producer and cinematographer and is Digital Juice’s Creative Director.
