famezra Contact
About famezra

A Norwich consultancy for television and live production

We have advised on studios, cameras, lighting, sound and workflow since 2012. This page explains how we work, what guides us and who stands behind the advice.

A Norwich consultancy for television and live production

How famezra came about

famezra began in 2012 in Norwich, started by Oliver Hartley after years of fitting out television studios. He saw how often good equipment was undermined by weak planning. The company was set up to give that planning proper attention.

In its early years the work was mostly studio design: layouts, acoustic treatment and cabling for small news sets and larger multi-camera floors. Oliver wrote the plans himself and visited each site to check them against the room as built, not just the drawings.

Requests soon widened. Producers asked how to keep camera pictures matching across a long show, and how to light a set without losing hours in rigging. Those questions brought lighting, camera control and sound into the company's regular work.

Live events added another layer. A broadcast on the night has no second take, so signal flow, crew roles and rehearsal schedules need to be settled in advance. Hannah Whitlock now leads that planning and our production workflow audits.

Today four specialists cover studio design, lighting and cameras, sound and workflow. We also publish practical guides, written by the people who do the work, so that engineers can use what we have learned without hiring us.

We remain a small business on Prince of Wales Road. Clients speak to the person who will write their plan, and that plan is a document your own team can carry on using.

A good plan should still make sense to the engineer who opens it two years after we have gone. If it does not, we have not finished the job.

Oliver Hartley, Founder and Studio Design Lead
Principles

What guides the way we advise

Television and live production leave little room for guesswork. A cable run, a lighting angle or a cue sheet is either right or it costs time on the day. Our principles are not slogans; they shape how we measure, draw, write and check our work for clients.

  1. Precision

    Precision means measuring the actual room and checking drawings against it. Cable lengths, rigging points and acoustic readings are recorded, not estimated. When a figure is uncertain, we say so and note how to confirm it. Our colleagues review each other's plans before they reach you, so small errors are caught early.

  2. Clarity

    Clarity means writing for the reader who will use the document. Producers and engineers need different levels of detail, so we structure reports to serve both. We avoid jargon where a plain word will do, and every recommendation comes with its reason, so your team can judge it.

  3. Reliability

    Reliability means doing what the quotation says, in the order agreed. Plans are built to work on a busy day, with no clever tricks that only one person understands. We keep our promises modest, answer questions promptly and tell you early if something changes the scope.

Our approach

How our way of working took shape

The company did not start with a method; it built one project at a time. Each stage below records a habit that stuck because it made the next job easier. Together they explain why our documents look the way they do and why we ask the questions we ask.

Founded2012

famezra

Today2026

  1. Starting with the room

    Early studio work taught Oliver that drawings alone mislead. Rooms differ from plans, and cabling routes get blocked. We now begin with a site visit or detailed measurements, so every layout, lighting plan and sound recommendation starts from what is actually there.

  2. Listening to the crew

    Operators, engineers and floor managers know where a studio frustrates them. We learned to ask them first, because their answers shape camera positions, monitoring and cable routes. Clients benefit from plans their own crew already recognises and trusts.

  3. Writing everything down

    Live work showed how much is lost when a plan lives in one person's head. We now put signal flow, crew roles and rehearsal schedules in clear documents, so a new crew member can pick them up and follow the show without a long briefing.

  4. Sharing what we learn

    Callum and the rest of the team began writing practical guides from the questions clients asked most often. That habit continues. It keeps our advice open to scrutiny and gives engineers something useful even before they decide to ask us for help.

Founded2012

famezra

Where we stand

Plain facts about the business behind the advice

We would rather describe the company in plain terms than in large claims. famezra was founded in 2012 and is based at 14 Prince of Wales Road in Norwich. Four specialists cover studio design, lighting and cameras, sound and workflow, and Oliver Hartley brings over twenty years of studio design experience.

Service areas
6
Team profiles
4
Based in
Norwich

Send us a message