Re-lighting a small studio set for a regional news slot: Tom's story

Where Tom started

Tom manages a small regional news studio, and when he first rang us during the early autumn the problem was plain to see on his monitors. The presenter's face looked flat, the backdrop had a harsh shadow along one side, and the weather segment turned grey whenever the camera moved to the wall screen. He had inherited the lighting from a previous tenant and nobody on his team felt confident changing it.

He did not ask for a new studio. He asked whether the existing room, with its low grid and limited power, could be made to look better without a long shutdown. I visited on a quiet weekday with a notebook and a light meter, and spent most of the morning simply watching how the crew worked between bulletins and where they stood.

That visit shaped everything that followed. Before talking about fittings, I wanted to know who walked where, which camera angles mattered most, and how much time the team could spare for changes.

Reading the room before touching a fixture

The first job was a survey. I measured ceiling height, noted the position of the grid bars, and counted the available circuits. I also checked the colour of the walls and the desk surface, because a glossy desk throws light back up under a presenter's chin and no amount of clever positioning will fully hide that.

Tom's set had two main camera positions and one handheld corner for interviews. Each had different needs, so I sketched the set as three zones rather than one big space. That made the conversation easier, because Tom could point at a zone and say what he wanted it to feel like.

We also discussed the daily rhythm. Bulletins ran at fixed times with short gaps between them, so any rigging work had to happen outside those windows and anything left in place had to be safe for people walking through in a hurry.

• Ceiling height and grid layout measured on site
• Available power circuits counted and labelled
• Set divided into three working zones
• Desk and wall finishes noted for reflections

Drawing the lighting plot

Back at the office I drew a lighting plot: a plan view showing every fixture, its position, its angle and which circuit fed it. For the main desk I chose a classic arrangement with a soft key light from one side, a gentler fill from the other and a backlight to separate the presenter from the wall.

The backdrop got its own treatment. The harsh shadow came from a single hard source mounted too close, so I moved it, softened it and added two low-powered washes to even out the colour. The weather wall received separate fixtures aimed to avoid the screen glare that had been greying the image.

Tom received the plot as a printed sheet and a simple list of equipment. Everything was written in plain terms so that his own technician could read it and ask questions before any work began on site.

Rigging in the gaps between bulletins

We rigged over two evenings after the final bulletin, working with Priya, our lighting designer, who checked every clamp and safety bond. Rigging in a low studio demands patience: each fixture needs a secondary safety line, cables must be dressed away from walkways, and nothing should hang where a tall presenter might brush against it.

Tom's crew helped carry equipment and learned as we went. I encouraged that, since the people who work in a room every day will notice small problems long before a visiting engineer does.

By the end of the second evening every fixture was hung, focused roughly and labelled. We left the room tidy, with a short written note describing what had been installed and how to isolate each circuit if something needed attention.

• Secondary safety lines fitted on every fixture
• Cables dressed clear of walkways
• Each circuit labelled at the dimmer rack

Programming scenes the crew can recall

Rigging is only half the work. Programming turned the new fixtures into something Tom's team could use without thinking. We stored a handful of looks on the control desk: one for the main bulletin, one for the interview corner, one for the weather wall and a plain working light for rehearsals and cleaning.

Each look was named in ordinary words rather than numbers, so a floor manager could recall the right scene with a single button during a busy moment. We rehearsed transitions between them while Andrew, who handles our camera systems, checked the pictures on the monitors and adjusted exposure to match.

Before leaving we ran a full mock bulletin with Tom's presenter in the chair. A few levels were nudged, one fixture was angled slightly lower, and then the stored scenes were saved and backed up on a memory stick kept in the gallery.

What changed, and what Tom learned

The difference on screen was clear but modest, which is how it should be. Faces looked rounder, the backdrop had a gentle even tone and the weather segment held its colour. Nothing about the set looked dramatic, and that was exactly what Tom had wanted: a studio that simply looked cared for.

He later told me that the biggest gain was confidence. His technician now understood the plot, could change a lamp safely and knew which scene to recall for each segment. Small habits, such as checking the safety lines monthly, became part of the routine.

For me the case is a reminder that good lighting begins with listening. The fittings matter, but the survey, the plain drawings and the time spent with the crew decide whether a set keeps looking right long after we have packed up and driven home.

Tom's studio did not need to be rebuilt, only understood. A careful survey, a clear plot, safe rigging and scenes named in everyday words gave his team a set they could trust through the darker months. If your studio or stage feels flat or awkward to light, the sensible first step is a visit to look at the room and talk with the people who use it every day.