Whether it’s reducing space or budget, more studios are being asked to find creative ways to offer higher production values using less. This was the challenge that Los Angeles-based Fullscreen Studios faced when designing its new production facility.
The company – a large, global network that supports hundreds of content creators and brands – needed to support a variety of sets at its studio for Kingdom Geeks, a pop-culture talk show with action figures, a dreamy slumber party set, and a podcast stage.
“We transformed a 14,000sq/ft warehouse in Playa Vista into a fully-supported 4K production facility containing two studios, thirteen stages and working sets that service our SVOD platform, Fullscreen.com,” described Richard A. Pizante, Fullscreen’s executive-in-charge-of-production.
With the ability to set the tone and mood in a studio, lighting was one of the most critical challenges during the design and build-out of the new production facility. To achieve this, Fullscreen installed a full complement of Litepanels LED lighting, including a range of LED Fresnels and LED panels for the talent, with LED color changing lights for the sets.
“We had some very specific weight, power and heat restrictions to consider and Litepanels proved to be the best option due to their design, cost effectiveness, and energy efficiency,” said Pizante.
By adding the Astra RJ45 communications module, lights were daisy-chained via DMX512 protocol enabling brightness and temperature control from a dimmer board. As a result, Fullscreen was able to create thirteen distinct sets with less space and less power output.
“Litepanels is a very rare company in that they have both a really good soft light panel and an entire Fresnel package that would work in conjunction,” stated lighting designer Dan Reed. “I’m at 5,000 Watts for 100 lights, which is outstanding; that’s four sound stages with less wattage than typical studios use to light a green screen for their weather segment.”
