Start with the room, not the fixtures
Most lighting problems that reach us were decided before a single lamp was bought. The first item on the checklist is the room itself: ceiling height, the grid or rigging points you can really use, the colour of the walls and floor, and how much daylight leaks in at the hours you broadcast. A low ceiling limits how far fixtures can sit from the talent and how steeply they can be angled, and that shapes everything after it.
Walk the space with a tape measure and a phone camera before you speak to anyone about equipment. Note where the set sits, where the cameras will stand, and where cables can run without crossing a walkway. Photograph the room at the time of day you normally go live. Those few images save a lot of guesswork later, and they let a designer see the same problems you see.
- Ceiling height and usable hanging points
- Wall and floor colours that will reflect light
- Daylight sources and the hours they matter
- Power available near the set
Know who sits under the light
Lighting is judged on faces. Before settling on a plan, list the people who will appear: regular presenters, rotating guests, and anyone who is only ever seen standing. Skin tones, glasses, bald heads, dark clothing and shiny jackets each behave differently under the same fixture, and a plan that flatters one presenter can wash out the next guest.
A useful habit is to test with the real range of people rather than one stand-in. If your guests vary a great deal, you want a setup with some forgiveness built in, usually softer sources and enough separation between key and fill that small adjustments do not need a full re-rig. Ask whether guests arrive minutes before transmission, because that decides how much fine tuning you can ever afford.
- Presenters and typical guests, listed by name
- Glasses, reflective clothing and skin tone range
- Seated, standing or moving talent
Match the light to the cameras
The cameras decide what the lighting has to deliver. Check the sensitivity of the cameras you run and how they handle contrast, because a plan built for one model can look flat or noisy on another. Agree the colour temperature you will work to and keep every fixture on the set to it, so that a wide shot and a close-up do not shift in tone when the director cuts.
Consider how many angles you shoot from. A single locked-off interview shot is far easier to light than a multi-camera show where the host walks between positions. If cameras see the set from several sides, light has to be even enough that no angle exposes a hot spot or a shadow from a stand. Settle camera positions first, or at least in draft, then plot the light against them.
- Camera models and how they cope with contrast
- One agreed colour temperature across all fixtures
- Every camera angle that will see the set
Questions about fixtures and control
Now the equipment question can be asked sensibly. Decide whether LED panels, soft sources or a mix suit your room, and think about heat, fan noise and power draw as well as output. A noisy fan close to a microphone is a problem for the audio chain, so it is worth raising with whoever handles sound early rather than discovering it in rehearsal.
Ask how the lights will be controlled. Dimming from a desk lets a crew balance a set quickly and repeat the same look each day; manual adjustment on the ladder does not. For a studio that changes sets between programmes, think about whether fixtures can be moved or recalled easily. A plan that only one person understands is fragile, so check that the setup can be documented and handed over.
- Heat, fan noise and power draw per fixture
- Dimming and control from a desk or by hand
- Whether positions can be recorded and recalled
Plan for consistency, not just a good first day
A set that looks right during installation can drift within weeks as bulbs age, fixtures get nudged and new people take over the gallery. Put a consistency routine on the list: a marked floor position for each presenter, labelled fixtures, and a short written lighting plot kept where the crew can reach it. These small habits matter more than any single piece of kit.
Decide who owns the look. When several producers and operators use the same studio, one person should be able to say what the correct setup is and restore it. Agree a quick check before each transmission, such as a camera test on the main positions, so that a drifted fixture is caught in the studio and not by viewers. Ask too how the plan copes if one fixture fails mid-show.
- Floor marks and labelled fixtures
- A written plot kept with the crew
- A named owner of the agreed look
Settle budget, timing and handover
The last group of questions is practical. Work out what can be done in your off-air hours, since rigging while the studio is booked is slow and unsafe. Agree who supplies access, power and a safe working area, and how long you can leave the room unused for testing. A short, well-planned install usually beats a long one squeezed between programmes.
Finally, ask what you will have in hand at the end: the plot, fixture list, settings and a short briefing for the crew who will run it. Price follows scope, so be clear about the number of sets, the size of the room and whether you are buying new fixtures or reworking existing ones. Having these answers written down makes any conversation about cost much more precise.
- Off-air hours available for rigging and testing
- Number of sets and size of the room
- Documents and crew briefing at handover
A lighting plan is easiest to get right when the questions come before the purchases. Work through the room, the people, the cameras, the fixtures, the routine and the handover, and write the answers down. If some are still open, that tells you where to look next. If you would like a second pair of eyes on your list, send us a note through the contact page and we will go through it with you.