Renting a cyclorama or cyc studio: what to check

A white wall is not yet a cyclorama. Once you want a person or a product on a clean field with no visible skirting or corner, you need a seamless curve from floor to wall. That curve, and how far it runs, decides whether the frame is clean or whether you spend the edit removing a horizon. Here is what to check before you book a cyc studio.

What is a cyclorama?

A cyclorama (also called a limbo or infinity wall) is a background whose floor-to-wall transition is curved and usually painted as one surface. On camera the horizon disappears. You use that for product work, fashion, a portrait on a clean field, and advertising.

It is not the same as a green screen. A green cyc is meant to be replaced later; a white or grey one is often the final image. The difference is in renting a green screen or cyclorama. Studios with a confirmed cyc are listed together at studios with a cyc or limbo. In UK English you will also see this called cyc studio hire; it is the same thing.

Coved corner or infinity wall?

This is the distinction you notice most on set, and studios do not always use these words. Ask about the shape, not the marketing term.

A coved corner is the curve itself: a rounded transition in one corner, from wall to floor, sometimes also from wall to wall. Behind it there may still be an ordinary straight wall. For a still product or one person in a three-quarter frame that can be enough. Once someone walks, or you want a wide shot without the right angle creeping in, a single cove is too tight.

An infinity wall or full cyc runs further. Sometimes it is one wide wall, sometimes two walls (an L), sometimes three (a U), or all the way around. A few shapes studios themselves publish:

• Fotostudio Den Haag has a white cyc across two walls, floor to ceiling, on a studio floor of 7 by 8 metres.
• PromotionStudios in Den Bosch lists an L-shaped cyc of 15 by 6 metres.
• Westerpark Studio in Amsterdam describes a 360-degree cyc. The working floor inside the cyc is 100 m² according to the studio; the room itself is 250 m² and 6.5 metres high. The cyc is white as standard; chroma-key blue or green is possible on request.

Also ask how tight the curve is (the radius). A tight cove shows up sooner if someone stands close to the wall. And ask whether you may walk on the curve. Often you may not, because the paint wears fastest there.

What size cyclorama do you need?

Do not count only the width of the wall. Count the depth you have left for camera, lights and movement. Your subject is preferably a few metres from the wall, otherwise a shadow falls on the curve and the white looks uneven. Behind that you still need room to step back.

A few published sizes for comparison:

• Studio Big Time in Almere: a white infinity wall of 7.5 by 4.5 metres, cyc surface 33 m², height to the truss 3.29 metres.
• XYZ Studio A in Amsterdam: a white cyc 6 metres wide, 140 m², 5 metres high.
• XYZ Studio B: a cyclorama of 7.5 by 7.5 metres in a 300 m² room, 5 metres high, and paintable.
• Studio Canvas in Amstelveen: an infinity wall of 8 by 4.5 by 6.5 metres (width, height, depth).

For one person standing, full length, a cyc about six metres wide often works, if you have the depth. For a group, a walk, or a large object you need width and an L or U. Ceiling height matters once someone jumps, you use a boom, or a car comes into frame. More on size in what size studio you need.

Whitening or painting afterwards

A painted cyc is a working floor, not a wall to tiptoe around and not a free-for-all either. Shoes, cases, tape and a wet sole leave marks. Many studios ask for shoe covers on a white or green floor. Some cycs may be painted another colour, and then have to go back to white.

Agree this before you book:

• Whether floor and wall are white as standard, and in what state you must leave them.
• Whether you may paint yourself, or only the studio does that.
• How long a fresh coat needs to dry, and whether that drying time sits inside your rental.
• What happens if there is damage, and what a planned colour change costs.

None of the Dutch studios above publishes a rate for routinely whitening a cyc. That does not mean it is free. What is public are damage charges. Mirage3D in The Hague states in its house rules a €200 charge if the green paint is damaged, plus shoe covers on the green screen. XYZ Studio B calls the cyclorama paintable, with no figure attached. Westerpark Studio writes that the white cyc can be made chroma-key blue or green on request, also without a published price.

So ask directly: what does whitening or a colour change cost, who does it, and how far in advance you need to say so. For a green screen day, the practical checklist is in what you need for a green screen shoot.

What else to check

• Whether basic lights come with the rental, and whether they can even out the cyc. A white curve shows every hotspot.
• Whether you may use tape, and which kind.
• Drive-in: a car or large object needs a roller door and rules for tyres and exhaust on the paint.
• How you leave the floor clean, and whether cleaning is extra.

Filter the list for cyclorama and compare the measurements on the studio page. If the shape of the curve is missing, ask for a floor plan or a photo of the corner at eye level.