The one-paragraph answer
An infinity cove gives you a real, finished background in camera: white, black, or any colour you light it. A green screen gives you no background at all; you add one in post-production. If the final image exists in the real world, shoot the cove. If the final image exists in a computer, shoot green.
What an infinity cove is
A cove is a wall that curves into the floor with no visible join, so the background reads as endless. Ours is two walls, 5.3m × 7.1m, with a return on a third wall. What you see through the lens is the deliverable: clean white for catalogue, gel washes for music videos, full black with the curtain track drawn. There is no keying, no spill, no post cost attached to the background.
What a green screen is
A chroma stage is a promise to the edit. The even green is removed in software and replaced with whatever the brief needs: slides, virtual sets, the moon. Our Green Space is pre-lit specifically for an even key, which is the whole battle; a badly lit green screen costs more to fix than it saved to hire.
How to choose
- Product, fashion, portraits, vehicles: cove. The background is part of the photography.
- Presenter with slides or graphics behind: green screen. The background is part of the edit.
- Music videos: usually cove, lit for colour. Green only if the concept is digital worlds.
- Drama: neither; build a set. See set building.
- Budget rule: the cove costs more per hour and less per finished minute. Green is the reverse: cheaper to hire, with a keying cost on every shot.
Can you have both?
Yes. The White Space rigs with chromakey curtains when a production needs full-body or group keying beyond the Green Space's 3.6m stage. Some shoots run both in one day: catalogue on the cove in the morning, presenter inserts on green after lunch. One building, one invoice.