Gelbach Designs Inc.

The image you see here is part of the TV studio design for the Sacred Heart University. One third of the set is existing in their studio; the walls you see here are being added. The fact that this image was taken in our shop shows that even in the dingiest circumstances, this set is going to shine. The materials used for this TV studio design are silver powder coated steel, laminates, and translucent vinyls applied to clear PETG substrate. What you see in the image is actually the stage left and right walls joined together. Upon install in the studio, they will be on either side of a curved wood grain wall the same size.

Recently we produced a large amount of banner prints for the Bank of America shareholders meeting here in Charlotte, NC. Clean, smooth gradients, well laid out text, and simple lighting made these informational exhibits really shine through for the shareholders. The banners were set up in grounps representing one topic in sections of the Ritz hotel, uptown Charlotte.

We have recently finished a new broadcast set backdrop for the US Air Force. This complete broadcast studio set design mixes multiple talent locations, height changes, varying levels of translucency, colors, and various substrates to create a truly versatile set. One of the advantages of this style of set design is that most of it’s components are free-standing. This allows the client or designer to reconfigure the set as much as needed for a new look, or to deal with unforeseen problems during installation. Another way to use the set for different purposes or looks is with light colors, gobos, or projections. Most of the set is translucent, allowing users to make huge differences just with which light with what color is pointed what way.

Another advantage to this style of set is it’s packing and shipping qualities. This entire set fit in a 16′ Penske rental box truck. One of the frames you see in the images is only an inch thick, even though visually, on set, it is 40″ wide by 10′ tall. Laying a 40′ wide wall made of these frames would stack up only about 12″ off of the floor. Alternately, if you stood them up in the corner of a storeroom, they would only come 1′ off of the wall.

OH SNAP! Our fraction of our set is in a few seconds of this video:
(0:06 – 0:15).

Check out the other images of this set in preparation and action. 10 points to the reader that can guess, in the image with 4 people sitting at a desk, which one is: 1- Ken Gelbach, 2- The Client, 3- John Wilfong, 4- The photobomber.

Recently we have completed and shipped off a television studio design for the Telecommunications Industry Association. This set design was for a small area, but will provide a fun and engaging backdrop for up to 4 people at the same time. The majority of the set is covered with translucent materials, allowing our client to completely change the look of it using colored lighting, gels, gobos, or projections.

For an added bit of fun, during the dismantle of this set, we photographed the whole process. This very clearly illustrates how quickly our sets can be built, dismantled, and if necessary shipped or stored. The last image in the sequence below will take longer to load, as it is an animated GIF that will show the whole process.

A high-def version of the action can be seen on youtube.

Our sister site, TV Set Designs dot Com, focuses only on the TV set design work we do (you may have figured that out by the URL). So far, we have gotten a great response about it, and it continues to be useful to us as well. It differs from this site in two main ways: One, it doesn’t have all that other stuff we do on it. Two, it has ballpark pricing for each piece that a broadcast company would use in it’s sets and backdrops.

What’s awesome about that? Set proposals prices can easily be ballparked for clients or employers without the usual back and forth of emails and requests. Within a few clicks, companies can find out what type of solution can fit their budget. For us, it’s great because we don’t have to bid out a job every time someone calls. We can just direct them to that site, and they can find what they need. At that point we bid it out and customize as needed for branding, studio size, and intended effect.

The reason I mention all this, is that I’ve just finished a few very nice renderings for that site’s products, and have decided to add them to the ‘renderings’ section on this site. Most likely, I will also be cleaning up the renderings section here a bit, as some of them are starting to look a bit dated.

Here are some of the new renderings: