How to hang your chromakey material

Recently, a customer emailed asking about how to hang his chromakey material. I'm posting the question here because it's not one that we often hear, but I have a feeling it's a common logistical concern.

The question:

I have 12 yards of chroma-key fabric, some chromakey tape to fill in the seams, and a new studio with a huge cinder-block wall and another huge sheetrock wall. My question is: How do I hang up the material? I have three pieces of fabric that I somehow need to join together. Should I just staple it to the sheetrock? That seems like it would produce all kinds of buckles and ripples. Should I "stick-back" tape it to the cinder block? It seems like it would take a small miracle to get it up straight. Do I do that with the tape alone? My intention is to have this up as a permanent backdrop, so I want it to be as seamless and straight and stable as possible.

Our answer:

Well... we use duct tape. :-) But that's mostly because we just shoot test shots and don't have the fabric permanently installed. Not really being a handyman myself, take my opinions for what they're worth.

- If you can find a good seamstress, many folks have the fabric sewn together. If done right, this becomes _almost_ seamless.

- You don't really want to use tape if you can avoid it. It'll be a different color than the fabric, which is a potential small headache. Our Primatte software should be able to handle it without too much trouble, but if you can set it up without the tape, so much the better.

- Stapling should work if done right. Make sure to keep everything taunt. The downside to this is the risk that the fabric will tear. You will probably have to re-staple everything occasionally as the fabric stretches/shrinks over time. You'll probably want to staple along the top and sides. Not sure about
sticky tape.

- A little uneven-ness in the fabric is not that big of a deal. Full on peaks and troughs in the fabric are a problem, but a wrinkle here or there is not.

- For some trade show displays, I have attached c-clamps to the fabric, with a rail running through the c-clamps, and then pulled the fabric taunt along the rail.

- You could possibly build a wood frame, wrap the fabric around the frame like a painting canvas, and staple gun the fabric to the frame. A person who does large paint canvas framing should be able to build that easily.

So those are some thoughts. Personally, I'd first try stapling it to the sheetrock because it is an easy, cheap solution. But I'd also recommend consulting with someone who does interior construction to get his thoughts.