The brief
A Channel 4 drama, directed by Tim Pope, needed a cottage interior that could be lit and shot with full control: no weather, no neighbours, no waiting for the sun to move. A real cottage gives you none of that. A studio build gives you all of it, if the studio has the floor, the height and a construction team.
What was built
The interior went up on the White Space cove: walls, doorway, window, dressing and set decoration, built on site by our own construction team rather than trucked in. Building on the stage itself means the set is standing before the crew arrives and there is no load-in day lost to assembly.
- Five days to build and decorate
- A six-person crew across build, dressing and shoot support
- Lit from the 8-bar grid, 4.5m above the floor, so nothing stood on the set floor that the camera would see
- Blackout drawn round the build, so the barn outside the walls disappeared
Why a barn worked
The height is the thing. A cottage interior wants low ceilings in shot and a lot of air above them for lights, flags and a jib. 4.5m of clear height above a 5.3m by 7.1m floor gives a set designer room for a two-room build and a gaffer room to light through the top. And because the doors are 2.4m wide at ground level, flats and furniture come straight in from the van.
What we would tell the next production
- Book the build days as well as the shoot days. Five days of construction is normal for something with dressed walls and a practical window.
- Send the art department drawings early; our carpenters can pre-build flats in the workshop twenty metres from the stage.
- Decide the colour of the cove behind any window or door before the build, because a repaint needs a day to cure.
Custom set builds are quoted per production; the signature-element price starts from £600+VAT for a small build and the White Space stage from £295+VAT a half day. Send us the drawings and we will quote the build and the days together.
Related guides
- The White Space: hire the cove
- What is an infinity cove? One measured
- Lighting a cove to white, and to black
- What fits on a 5.3 by 7.1 metre cove
- Cove versus green screen, and versus a backdrop
Ready when you are
Availability and a firm quote, usually same day. No pressure, no hard sell.
Questions we get asked
Can you build a set on the cove?
Yes. Our construction team builds on the stage itself, with a workshop twenty metres away for pre-building flats. The cottage interior for Channel 4 took five days to build and dress.
How long does a set build take?
A dressed interior with walls, a doorway and a practical window took five days with a six-person crew. Smaller builds take a day or two.
What does a set build cost?
Quoted per production. Small builds start from £600+VAT as a signature element; the stage itself is from £295+VAT a half day.
granary.digital · 01243 884993 · studio@granary.digital · The Old Grainstore, Adsdean, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 9DN · All prices exclude VAT