VisCom students excited to learn how to utilize new cyclorama wall

雅典, 俄亥俄州——在寒假期间, the School of Visual Communication worked hard to complete their new cyclorama wall so it would be ready for students to use during spring semester.

VisCom的环形墙, 常缩写为" cyc wall ", 是由两面墙组成的吗, approximately 12 feet tall and 12 feet wide, joined at a 90-degree angle with a natural curve added to the bottom junction and center corner. The curves add an illusion of space and widens the usable area for the background of a photography shoot.

“The cyc wall is an important part of commercial photography because it allows students to set things up on the wall so it looks like they are floating in the middle of nowhere, 它创建了一个无缝的背景,Tim Goheen说, director of the School of Visual Communication. “Because the cyc wall is painted all white, it allows a photographer to mask the white out easily and replace it with different colors or backgrounds in Photoshop.”

The new cyc wall is designed for use by faculty and students, 研究生和本科生, 在学校视觉传达. Undergraduate students that are seniors and graduate students who are taking courses that focus on commercial photography or advanced photographic illustration have primary access to the cyc wall. 然而, Associate Professor Gary Kirksey says that other projects could come up which would allow students access to shoot in the studio.

“We could bring a large item in for a still life class and photograph it on the cyc wall,柯克西说. “Our seamless paper is only 9 feet wide, 所以如果你有一个大的东西, it’s really easy to go over the edges of that seamless paper and for your images to not be as effective. 而, 用循环墙, we can bring a motorcycle in on the freight elevator, 很容易把它贴在自行车墙上, 或者其他物体, 比如梳妆台, 或者拍一张时尚照.”

新闻摄影专业大四学生, 迈克尔Pronzato, has already jumped at the chance to get in the studio and learn how to use the cyc wall. 上学期他选了VICO 3227, 时尚和肖像课程, and is now working on an independent study with Associate Professor Larry Hamel-Lambert. Pronzato’s prior course experience and project with Hamel-Lambert have him working on the cyc wall shooting the skateboarders of 雅典.

When asked what he thought of the cyc wall, Pronzato replied, “It’s really cool. It’s definitely a lot of space that they [the skateboarders] can use. But the cyc wall is bigger than the seamless paper, 我真的很喜欢, 这样你就能拍到超广角的镜头. I might do another project after this one, just to use the cyc wall again. 我想尝试一下灯光, I want to learn how to use lights more with different set-ups in this space.”

在搬到新的Steven L. Schoonover通讯中心, the School of Visual Communication had a cyc wall in Seigfred Hall that was utilized for several decades. Once the decision was made to move the school into Schoonover Center it made sense to have a new cyc wall built in a studio space here to replace the old cyc wall.

“The most difficult thing about a cyc wall, is that it comes towards the ground and then it has a natural curve with no seams, and that is the hardest thing to build,戈恩说. “我找到了托德·迪恩, 在哥伦布的Affordable Cyc Walls, online and he told me that he donates a cyc wall to one school every year because it is good advertising for his company, 一种口口相传的东西, and he wanted to do it before the end of the fiscal year. 结果很好, and Todd donated the cyc wall to the newbb电子平台 School of Visual Communication, we had a contractor build the actual walls and then he came in and built the curvature of the cyc wall over winter break.”

The cyc wall itself is massively impressive when you walk into the studio and it dominates the room. The curve of the wall itself is a unique design by Dean’s company that makes it both strong, 但灵活的. 根据他的网站, the cyc wall curve is created from “solid high density polystyrene structure and covered in a polymer cement.” To strengthen the connection of Dean’s donation even more, 他是newbb电子平台的校友, HTC ' 86电影教程. 墙壁设计得很巧妙, 哈默尔-兰伯特的输入, the contractor designed the back of the walls to have storage compartments, so camera and studio equipment could be placed out of sight behind the cyc wall.

“The ability to learn how to light a cyc wall, the ability to make photographs that are a little bit better for their portfolio, I think that’s the primary benefit of the new cyc wall for our students,柯克西说. “I think it’s good for us as a recruiting standpoint, because very few schools have anything like this, so when you give a tour of our facility and you show that wall off to people, 令人印象深刻. We’re getting more competition from other state schools, and here’s something that they don’t have.”

The VisCom cyc wall is located in Schoonover Center, Room 445D, on the fourth floor. 欲了解更多信息，请发送电子邮件至Gary Kirksey kirksey@俄亥俄州.edu 或致电740.593.4893.

See more photos of the VisCom cyc wall.