Background Styling Made Simple

By Tara McEwen -McEwen Media Consulting

Recently I had one of my clients work with a set designer colleague of mine, Danielle Hunter. Danielle and I worked together at The Marilyn Denis Show and even sat beside each other for the last year I worked there. I picked up a lot of styling tips from her and even used them putting together my own background.

Danielle is working on a studio-worthy background for Hina’s small space. We’re waiting on some furniture, but in the meantime, Danielle put together a temporary look using furniture Hina already had.

It was a simple fix and as soon as I saw the before and temporary after I realized the key to a strong background: establish a frame within the frame.

Here is a look at the background before we brought in a set stylist to make it more TV-friendly. There are a lot of things she’s doing right.

1.    The camera is at eye-level. She’s not looking up or down at the lens, she’s looking directly at it. This creates the feeling of eye contact with anyone looking at the screen and is what we should all strive for.

2.    She’s created depth by shooting into a corner. We’re not all living in spacious studios, so shooting into a corner or with the wall at an angle is a quick way of creating the feel of space behind you

3.    She’s evenly lit. There’s a giant window behind the camera letting in a lot of natural light into the space. At most she would need to add a ring light to ensure her face is well lit with just the right amount of shadow.

It’s not a bad shot. In fact we went to air a handful of times with this composition. It’s fine for a meeting. But Hina is a peak performance coach. She helps clients unlock their true potential.

She’s inspirational and aspirational. And she needs a background to support this.

So, here’s where this background lets her down.

For one, there’s a missed opportunity for artwork behind her. Instead of a lovely abstract to create colour and texture, we have a blank cork board. One with ghosted images of past notes and reminders.

And the accessories seem a little scattered. Yes there’s a pile of books. But what are the titles? Did she write them? Or do they relate to her topic? I see a photo, but of whom? And the glass of water makes it look like we’re catching her in between emails.

Objects are sprinkled all around her, but with no purpose or meaning. The place looks unfinished and temporary. It looks like a lot of our wfh setups for the past year where we weren’t sure if this was permanent or temporary. And if it was temporary, for how long?

Whether we like it or not, people are judging our backgrounds. If you opt for a fake background or blurred effect, they’re judging that too. I always wonder how messy their space is, or what are they trying to hide by keeping their real location hidden.

There’s a real power in giving a purpose and place to everything in your background. It can be the difference between looking like you’re in a makeshift workspace versus a productive, more permanent one.

Here’s what her shot looks like now:

The transformation is pretty impressive and it didn’t take much.

We changed the camera position so she’s sitting flat against the wall. Depth of field is great, but the more space you have behind you, the more you have to fill it and make it look nice. But shooting flat against the wall reduces the footprint needed for accessories.

We painted a wall blue to help establish a colour story. And we added a shelving unit.

Here’s why this works

1.    Rule of Thirds. Photography relies on the rule of thirds for good composition. You mentally divide your shot into three columns going horizontally (top to bottom) and then three columns going vertically (left to right).

In TV, you want the most important part in the centre of the frame. In this case it’s the mouth of the speaker.

With this background, the textured door and two shelving units visually create the rule of thirds going vertically. She’s framed again by the furniture behind, further drawing attention to the centre of the frame and her face.

2.    Everything Has a Place. A shelving unit will be your best friend in establishing a strong, purposeful background.

There are more accessories in the second shot than there are the first. But the grid setup of the shelving units gives a place and purpose to everything. There are interesting shapes, colours and patterns to help warm up the space and give it style.

I like to think of my video call background as the new sitting room. Growing up we had a front living room we were not allowed to enter as kids. There was no TV. This was where mom put the good furniture, her good artwork, and the nice accessories.

This was where she hosted ladies night and sometimes did business there, hosting Tupperware/Pampered Chef/Avon parties.

This more formal sitting room was where grownups gathered to connect (and sometimes order product to help out a friend).

This same formal, purposeful accessorizing can help establish your remote work setting.

You’re not just working from home on any hard surface you can find (aka the way we worked at the beginning of the pandemic). This is your formal office space. It just happens to be in your primary residence. But it’s a space clearly marked for business.

3.    Incorporate Your Brand Story. Anyone with a successful business brand has a colour story. It’s how you create cohesion with your website, your social media and any other marketing material.

If you go to Hina’s website, you’ll see a lot of blues, creams and greys. The same colour scheme can be found in the accessories on the shelves behind her. That’s not a coincidence.

Danielle combed through Hina’s website and social media before she put together the look. She picked a paint colour for the walls. The wood door was already there, so she picked a white cabinet to balance the wood. And she kept the colour story of Hina’s brand in mind as she picked out accessories.

If you’re not self-employed and work for a company, your company has a brand. Which means it has a colour story.

Take a look at your company website and social media to get a sense of the range of colours used in the branding. Then keep this in mind as you select accessories for your background.

You don’t have to go full corporate and make your remote office look like a convention booth. But be mindful of who and what you’re trying to represent.

It doesn’t take much to set up your home video setup to look as studio-quality as possible. With the right accessories and attention to detail, you can create a screen-worthy frame within a frame wherever you choose to connect.

I'd happily use this shot for future media, but I also can't wait to see what Danielle has in store for the final reveal!