The Importance of Broadcasting Backgrounds

Professional broadcasting is achieved when a variety of moving pieces comes together. You may have amazing stories to cover but when your broadcast production looks semi professional you lose credibility in the eyes of the viewer. Instead of hearing what your broadcast has to say, your production will be judged by its flaws that detracts instead of flatters, and even the most compelling message delivered with legitimate star power won’t be able to break the cycle of these tell-tale amateur calling cards.

The good news is that broadcasting backgrounds are hardly on the front of viewers’ minds. As long as you’ve cleared the bar for a professional production you’ll be able to shift attention to that all-important message, delivery and everything else that goes into what makes its way into the camera. Simultaneously, a great background can also help complete the story you’re trying to tell by establishing a space where all the action takes place.

But there are a lot of broadcasting backgrounds out there. Some of the most popular and affordable options utilize just one seamless sheet of solid-color paper, which gives that cyc wall effect on a budget. With a simple light behind, you’ll get that desirable “void” of space background that works well for promos and ads, and it also can make a great b-roll shot that you can cut in with the main camera. They come in various colors and can be mounted just about anywhere, even on location, making them ideal for budgetary and space considerations. 

For most broadcasts, however, a sheet of paper just won’t do. Instead, you really only have two options. You can build a real or faux set for the talent to sit in front of, or you can use a cyc wall that’s painted green or blue to replace the background digitally. This virtual option is great for complicated backgrounds that you’d never be able to build without the largest of budgets, but if you want your broadcast to feel like it takes place in the real world, nothing beats a real set.

The problem here is that once you’ve built a set, you no longer have the various broadcasting backgrounds that are needed to produce more than one show or production. For this reason, many production houses settle for the artificiality of a chroma key background that can be swapped out in post. 

But there’s a better way.

With our transition panels, you can have infinite broadcasting backgrounds that can be mixed and matched to create just the right backdrop for the production and shoot at hand. We call them modular backgrounds, but they’re basically straight-framed and free-standing studio backdrops that can be set up and put away in just minutes. The result is a professional look that can be adjusted and swapped out whenever there’s a call for a different location, and it also increases the breadth of footage you can shoot.

Embedded magnets and Velcro connections also make it a snap to add and swap different looks, which means going from brick to stone to wood to acrylic, or anything else you can think of, is easy to do with a handful of our modular studio backdrops. Contact us to learn more and to see how our transition panels can help you design the right studio and location for your broadcast productions.