last minute zoom room prep?
March 28, 2022 6:48 PM Subscribe
I realize we're kind of 2 years behind everyone else, but Mr. Haptic-Avenger is starting to do TV interviews from home every so often, but not often enough that we need a permanent set-up. Apparently using a Zoom background or blur is not OK on TV. Our house is too small to have even a corner with acceptable wi-fi always at the ready, and there is far too much clutter in his office to just sweep it away at a moment's notice. And our lighting is terrible, even with a ring light. Any ideas?
My understanding is that the best rooms on Zoom are pretty simple, while avoiding hostage-situation austerity.
Can clutter in the office be temporarily hidden by large art/posters in cheap frames?
Can you get multiple ring lights? Or find a spot near a window for natural light?
posted by shesbookish at 6:54 PM on March 28, 2022
Can clutter in the office be temporarily hidden by large art/posters in cheap frames?
Can you get multiple ring lights? Or find a spot near a window for natural light?
posted by shesbookish at 6:54 PM on March 28, 2022
A folding screen could be another quick setup for hiding things-behind.
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 7:09 PM on March 28, 2022 [10 favorites]
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 7:09 PM on March 28, 2022 [10 favorites]
Depending on what you mean by last minute you could hire an organizer for a day and get the room straightened up at least the parts that face the camera. Even if you do get a screen you might want to do that anyway.
posted by bleep at 7:11 PM on March 28, 2022
posted by bleep at 7:11 PM on March 28, 2022
I don’t have to do TV interviews, but I do do things like legislative testimony and public presentations with big audiences. My home office is also the art/toy storage room for my kid, so I got a nice-looking, simple shoji screen with a stand to put behind me for work Zooms. It looks professional on video, and no one can tell there’s a chaotic array of marble run parts and paint sticks and legos on the other side.
posted by centrifugal at 7:54 PM on March 28, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by centrifugal at 7:54 PM on March 28, 2022 [3 favorites]
Once it because clear Zoom would be my main work location for the foreseeable future, I moved my desk so that I was facing into the room with the camera facing at the blank wall. It makes for way better privacy in terms of what everyone else sees (especially since my "office" is just the the desk which lives in the non-bedroom part of my 1BR apartment). Would that setup fit in his office?
posted by augustimagination at 8:07 PM on March 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by augustimagination at 8:07 PM on March 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
Curtains, maybe a partition with curtains draped over it.
posted by kschang at 9:27 PM on March 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by kschang at 9:27 PM on March 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
One other possibility is to consider your camera. I use Epoccam to turn my phone into a webcam (sample video to explain) - it lets you use a higher quality camera than would normally come with (say) a laptop - and also to position it more flexibly. I'm not sure how TV people would feel about such an innovation - so worth checking with them.
posted by rongorongo at 10:41 PM on March 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by rongorongo at 10:41 PM on March 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
A lot of coworking spaces have little rooms you can book for this stuff
posted by Jacqueline at 5:22 AM on March 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Jacqueline at 5:22 AM on March 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
a corner with acceptable wi-fi
Do you have a corner with acceptable 'just run a network cable to it'?
posted by pompomtom at 5:32 AM on March 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
Do you have a corner with acceptable 'just run a network cable to it'?
posted by pompomtom at 5:32 AM on March 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
My ideas are based on a current seating arrangement where the door to the office is behind him, and the clutter being picked up is the random things on shelves and racks. Your plan of attack is controlling the visual frame he's appearing in, so it's not just your physical space especially if it's not much you can do to move things around.
So my advice would be a combination of quick ways to set up a facade as well as a/v tools and lighting setups.
1. Get a separate webcam, and if you already do, make sure it's positioned somewhere a little above your eyeline. This helps the software in compensating for light issues (shadows) -- though I'll suggest additional lighting ideas down below -- but the angle means your visible frame won't include the floor behind you.
1a. The con here is that you have to decide which angle for the webcam works best for you: angled upwards will include the ceiling which means most facade-masking ideas that wants to create a wall illusion will already look a little fake. But if you can situate a little further away from the camera to begin with (usually a bit further away than is comfortable if you're using the laptop built-in simply because the screen/monitor will be too far away), a slight downwards angle can be better esp if you're at a desk that will cut off most of the view of the floor.
2. Set up those cheap curtain rods on the top of your shelves and hang fabric/screen/curtains that you can pull over to cover most of your office clutter. The bonus now you look like you have a floor to ceiling windows lol.
3. One ring light isn't enough but not all of them needs to light the face directly. You can have a largish one for the ambient light (somewhere not too close to the camera and maybe behind it. Use a those 3M command hooks to attach them to wall if that means you're already facing a wall, or an S-hook hanging off a random furniture if not), a tiny clip-on selfie light (yes you can use this as a search term) as a fill light that's located on the camera or near enough (or maybe below, on the desk if there is too much shadows from the overhead lights), and one ring light hanging from the back of the chair to light up the background - if the bad lighting is an issue that the room itself is weakly lit. You're trying to give as much help to the light-balancing algorithms so the contrast won't be so harsh which might be why you're finding it as "bad lighting".
4. Ok, this is a bit left-field but especially if you actually have the floor space for it, there are foldable tents that's meant for quick change at the lake or camping etc. The most important part is that they don't have a bottom. If your office chair isn't too big or you can do your interviews on a smaller chair, then it's a matter of just popping up the tent, place it over the seating area, fiddle with the a/v + lighting stuff and you should be done because you just made a fake closet studio lol. It's easier in a sense to light as well because it's a more controlled space.
5. Lighting - stick on LED strips or even LED fairy lights around your temp studio area makes for a great ad-hoc lighting choices too.
posted by cendawanita at 6:03 AM on March 29, 2022
So my advice would be a combination of quick ways to set up a facade as well as a/v tools and lighting setups.
1. Get a separate webcam, and if you already do, make sure it's positioned somewhere a little above your eyeline. This helps the software in compensating for light issues (shadows) -- though I'll suggest additional lighting ideas down below -- but the angle means your visible frame won't include the floor behind you.
1a. The con here is that you have to decide which angle for the webcam works best for you: angled upwards will include the ceiling which means most facade-masking ideas that wants to create a wall illusion will already look a little fake. But if you can situate a little further away from the camera to begin with (usually a bit further away than is comfortable if you're using the laptop built-in simply because the screen/monitor will be too far away), a slight downwards angle can be better esp if you're at a desk that will cut off most of the view of the floor.
2. Set up those cheap curtain rods on the top of your shelves and hang fabric/screen/curtains that you can pull over to cover most of your office clutter. The bonus now you look like you have a floor to ceiling windows lol.
3. One ring light isn't enough but not all of them needs to light the face directly. You can have a largish one for the ambient light (somewhere not too close to the camera and maybe behind it. Use a those 3M command hooks to attach them to wall if that means you're already facing a wall, or an S-hook hanging off a random furniture if not), a tiny clip-on selfie light (yes you can use this as a search term) as a fill light that's located on the camera or near enough (or maybe below, on the desk if there is too much shadows from the overhead lights), and one ring light hanging from the back of the chair to light up the background - if the bad lighting is an issue that the room itself is weakly lit. You're trying to give as much help to the light-balancing algorithms so the contrast won't be so harsh which might be why you're finding it as "bad lighting".
4. Ok, this is a bit left-field but especially if you actually have the floor space for it, there are foldable tents that's meant for quick change at the lake or camping etc. The most important part is that they don't have a bottom. If your office chair isn't too big or you can do your interviews on a smaller chair, then it's a matter of just popping up the tent, place it over the seating area, fiddle with the a/v + lighting stuff and you should be done because you just made a fake closet studio lol. It's easier in a sense to light as well because it's a more controlled space.
5. Lighting - stick on LED strips or even LED fairy lights around your temp studio area makes for a great ad-hoc lighting choices too.
posted by cendawanita at 6:03 AM on March 29, 2022
I wouldn't recommend it for long term, but as a short term solution you can hang up a curtain with thumb tacks.
There are also curtain tracks.
It's certainly ideal to have a hard wired connection to your router. If that's not possible, maybe make sure your phone data plan can be a back up option? Also, consider replacing your router if it's past end of life.
posted by oceano at 8:09 PM on March 30, 2022
There are also curtain tracks.
It's certainly ideal to have a hard wired connection to your router. If that's not possible, maybe make sure your phone data plan can be a back up option? Also, consider replacing your router if it's past end of life.
posted by oceano at 8:09 PM on March 30, 2022
If you have a good data plan (i.e. true unlimited with Mobile hotspot), Speedify will let you COMBINE the bandwidth on your home broadband WITH your mobile data to ensure you get a good pipe to keep the connection quality up. The app does cost something, but if you truly need your connection to work it may be invaluable.
posted by kschang at 2:17 PM on March 31, 2022
posted by kschang at 2:17 PM on March 31, 2022
I personally have a portable green-screen panel on a tripod behind me when I need to Zoom. You can get better ones, but obviously, they cost more $$$. They are just big enough to cover my entire background when the webcam is in front of me. :) And with a greenscreen, the background replacement is a lot better.
posted by kschang at 2:23 PM on March 31, 2022
posted by kschang at 2:23 PM on March 31, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by carmicha at 6:51 PM on March 28, 2022