One of 2012’s biggest new hit TV series, HBO’s The Newsroom, featured digitally printed graphics produced behind-the-scenes using Roland DGA’s technology.
Graphic designer Martin T. Charles created a variety of elements to transport viewers into the show’s newsroom, including props, backdrops and scenery. He used a (64-in.) Roland VersaCamm VS inkjet printer/cutter for much of the work.
“Projects like this require me to work around the clock using reliable equipment,” he says. “This printer offers specialized, durable inks in a variety of colours, including metallic and white inks, for the effects demanded on the set. Plus, it cuts graphics into virtually any shape.”
Charles was brought on-board the series to support production designer Richard Hoover, who envisioned a two-storey tall wall mural accented by a spiral staircase as the centrepiece of the set.
“It was a great concept,” says Charles. “The idea was to create a very large, translucent newsroom set, designed so you saw large, imposing graphics from every room and every angle, yet you were left with a sense of ease.”
Charles used the VersaCamm to print dozens of graphics, many with metallic effects, to cover every glass wall, window and door of the newsroom. Using ‘etched glass’ vinyl, he created a blue backdrop that resulted in one of the show’s main colour palettes.
The main two-storey wall wrap measured 35 m (115 ft) long and 5.5 m (18 ft) high, requiring more than 185.8 m2 (2,000 sf) of printed media. Other graphics included hundreds of decorative elements, including wallpaper, signage and props.
“It was difficult to produce all of the elements needed in the tight time frame provided,” says Charles, who joined the series about six weeks before shooting began, “but in the end, the results were fantastic. The producers were impressed with the images and the overall effect.”
