the studio
100% renewable electricity
all power for the studio comes from renewable energy sources and LEDs are used throughout
EPC building rating 'A'
a new building meeting all the latest building regulations for reduced environmental impact
the studio floor
190 m² / 2,045 ft²
a creative space perfectly suited to tabletop and specialist shoots
Designed to make the shooting process and efficient as possible, the studio has chain hoists, lighting bars and a lovely in-house lighting package suitable for starting most shoots.
Black woollen serge drapes on tracks surround the space. The drapes work as light control, partitioning the space into 3 sub-studios as well as deadening the sound when sound recording is required.
It has been designed and specified by crew, for crew: Robert took his background of theatre and event lighting and applied it to details of the new studio, from the cable labelling to the choice of in-house fixtures right down to the work lights, emergency lighting levels and floor power.
Studio technical specifications
Area: 190 m² / 2,045 ft²
Height: 8m / 26 ft
Power: 300 amps, 3 phase
Drapes: black wool serge, chromakey blue & green
Internet: 1Gbps
Lx Control: CRMX, Multiverse, Art-Net & sACN
Environmental Control: Temperature and humidity control, grow lighting, reverse osmosis water supply
the green room area
85 m² / 914 ft²
relax, dine, wardrobe & make-up; a quiet area above the studio is availale to break, or even use as a backdrop
Above the studio floor is a mezzanine for quiet times away from the filming. It is a large area measuring 10m square with desks, sofas and natural light: this area is a multi-functional space for office work, DIT, dining, or extra filming space if required.
There is a complimentary 27″ iMac and 50″ TV for DIT and reviewing rushes connected to a 1Gb upstream to the internet.
Features
Power
300 Amps 3 phase; 3 x 63A SP, 1 x 63A 3P & floor distribution
Loading
Up and over electric loading door for lorry access to studio floor
Wifi & Ethernet
1Gb FTTP & 1Gb ethernet backbone with POE and VPN
Rigging
Chain hoists for a 12m x 9m truss grid at 7m height
Floor
Waterproof resin on concrete base finished in grey gloss (30kN/m2 loading)
EV Charger
22kW fast charger for electric cars (Coming soon)
Art-Net & sACN
Node to 8 DMX Universes from Wifi and ethernet
CRMX & Multiverse
Wireless DMX on both industry standards in-house
Lighting
ETC S4 Series 3, Aputure 1.2K, Nova P600C, P300C, 600D, frames and modifiers
Drapes
6m black wool serge drapes on tab tracks around the whole space, and partition into three ‘stages’
Energy
Electricity is from 100% renewable sources
Working lights
Ultra-bright 5600K LED 80% CRI flicker-free working lights. A++ energy rated
CCTV
Motion sensitive recording inside and out & Ring Doorbell
Security
Gated environment with burglar alarm
Parking
4 spaces available immediately outside with many others free on site
Amenities
Catering available and Co-op & Norsk Cafe a few min walk away
Road travel
Near M40 junction 7
Rail access
Haddenham and Thame Parkway station 44 mins to London
4G
Strong coverage on all networks inside and out
Medical
Nearest hospital Stoke Mandeville in 15 mins and defibrillator at local shop
Scaled floor plan
Plan your shoot layout in AutoCAD using our floor plan
What’s in a colour?
Black
Black woollen serge drapes, floor to ceiling for crisp, high contrast looks
Blue
Ultra blue CSO can be swapped onto the curtain tracks with a 6m drop
Green
Green screen CSO can be swapped onto the curtain tracks for a 6m drop
Just add your idea
Back projection screens paint any colour or image into your frame
We have 10m of ultra-high contrast screens allowing us to create…anything. From a bespoke coloramas using our LED fixtures to a 4K backplate, projected. Create sumptuous sunsets; brilliant blue summery skies, or nocturnal natural scenes. And with our DMX control system, cross fade live between them all, automatically.
Colorama Wall
Need a quick background? Look no further than the 12ft colorama wall. Pre-hung and ready to be rolled down for a background. Colours vary and anything you need we can get hold of for you from the roll selection.
Highlights
Remote Directing
The Teradek system in-house means it’s a breeze to stream internally or externally over secure VPN
DIT Area
48″ TV screen is available by the sofas for rushes playback and facilitating DIT through our iMac
Video podcasting
We have dedicated YouTube setup with camera, autocue, sound and lighting for live broadcasting and recording
Sound recording
The woollen drapes create a pleasing acoustic minimising reverberant energy and there is treatment to reduce noises off, although it is not sound proof
Blistering internet
1 Gbps stream enables rapid up and downloads on Wifi and LAN. There is a VPN and cloud server too
Space (age) lighting
The studio comes with bi-colour space lights controllable over DMX, Art-Net or sACN providing 2.4 kW of ambient lighting
2700 K
3200 K
4300 K
5600 K
8500 K
Flexible usage
Building only
You provide your own crew and equipment
Studio & Assistant
In-house help for your shoot to access our equipment including camera, power, lighting, sound and special effects
Studio & Director of Photography
Founding DoP Robert Hollingworth – the designer of the space – will conduct the shoot
Take a walk on the virtual side
the specialist side
Owing to the heritage of the studio’s founder being in motion control and time lapse it’s no surprise the studio is equipped with some specialist and quirky equipment often found used in high-end natural history and commercial spaces.
Industrial humidifiers, heaters, grow lights, data loggers, motion control systems such as eMotimo and Dragon Frame all have a home here in the studio.
Dragonframe DMC 16
16 Axes of motion control is available through the in-house Dragonframe DMC 16 system
eMotimo
St4’s, SA4’s and bespoke plant growth motion controller units from eMotimo representing over a decade of collaboration between Robert and Brian are all in-house
Environmental control
RO water supply, humidity and temperature control, lighting control make the space ready to adapt to any environment from desert to tropical jungle
Motion control
State of the art motion control available in-house: XYZ Gantries, macro and large turntables, vertical risers, focus motors
Time Ghost
Introducing a brand new, bespoke time lapse motion control computer designed and built by Robert during lockdown.
Each unit is capable of firing two cameras; two external motion controllers; 240v grow lighting (with day automated day length); environmental monitoring of temperature and humidity; external KP1 mains relays and 4 internal relays. Interval and focus ramping allows for dynamic changes live during a timelapse in time and focus position.
Designed natively to trigger external motion controllers such as eMotimo St4, eMotimo TB3, CD100 and Dragonframe. Others possible via spare relays and GPIO.
Full remote access over ethernet / internet is provided for monitoring and changing the timelapse settings live and a playback tab shows the timelapse frame by frame as it is shot for an immediate playback of the shot to the latest frame.
Currently only 4 units exist and they are running long term timelapses for two major BBC natural history landmark series.
Speak to us
Interested in finding out more about the studio and what it has to offer?
Resources
Floor plan
It’s a work of art. Literally. Hand drawn by storyboard artist Chris West.
Virtual Tour
It’s all flow. Drift through the space from your desktop or mobile
AutoCAD Plans
Scaled plans of the studio to load into your favourite CAD software
Call Sheet Summary
To help your Call Sheets here is a one page PDF to drop in
Technical Spec
To help your Call Sheets here is a one page PDF to drop in
Shoot Planning
Handy summary of local hotels, restaurants and catering
