Starting with a meter, not a mood board
Every lighting plan we write begins with measurement. Before we discuss atmosphere or style, we walk the studio or venue with a handheld incident meter and a colour meter, and we note what the room already gives us. Ceiling height, grid capacity, the colour of the walls and the amount of daylight that leaks through a door all change what a lamp will do once it is rigged.
We record readings at the positions where presenters, guests and performers will actually stand, at face height, not at floor level. A reading taken at the wrong height can mislead a whole plan. Those numbers go into a simple table that sits beside the drawing, so the producer and the camera team can see why a particular level was chosen.
This is slow, plain work, and it is also the part that saves the most time later. A plan built on measured levels survives a change of camera far better than one built on a good-looking sketch.
- Incident meter at face height for each position
- Colour meter readings for existing lamps and daylight
- Notes on grid load, power and rigging points
Choosing fixtures for the camera, not for the catalogue
Fixture choice follows the cameras and the set. We ask which sensors are in use, how much light they need at the chosen aperture, and how close the shots will be. A talk set shot tight on faces asks for soft, controllable key light. A wide entertainment floor with moving guests asks for even coverage and a clear separation of background from talent.
We rely on LED soft panels and profile spots as the working core of most plans, because they are predictable and run cool. Tungsten units still appear where a client already owns them and the set suits their colour. We never recommend a purchase simply because a fixture is newer; the question is always whether it holds colour steady from the first rehearsal to the last take.
Where budgets are tight, we point out which units carry the picture and which are only nice to have, so money goes where the camera will notice it.
Drawing the plan so a crew can rig from it
The plan itself is a scaled plot in two views: a top-down layout and a side elevation. Each fixture carries a number, a type, a position on the grid, a beam angle and its intended target. The same numbers appear in a patch sheet that lists dimmer or DMX addresses, so the person at the desk and the person on the ladder read from one source.
We keep symbols plain and a legend on every sheet. A rigger who has never met us should be able to follow it without a phone call. We also mark which fixtures can be moved during a live changeover and which must stay fixed, because that distinction decides how long a turnaround takes.
Revisions are numbered and dated on the sheet itself, so nobody works from an older version by mistake on the day.
If a venue cannot take the load we have drawn, the plan says so and offers a lighter alternative rather than hiding the problem.
- Top-down plot and side elevation at scale
- Numbered fixtures with beam angle and target
- Patch sheet matching the plot exactly
Checking colour and exposure on the monitors
Light that looks right in the room can look wrong on a monitor, so we test on the pictures the audience will see. A waveform monitor and a vectorscope show us whether skin tones sit in a sensible band and whether highlights on a shiny set piece are about to clip. A reference monitor in a dim corner keeps our eyes honest.
Priya Nair often works alongside us here, matching the cameras to each other so that one lighting state does not give three different looks. We would rather fix a mismatch with light and a small camera adjustment than with heavy correction later in the chain.
We shoot a short test with a stand-in, change one thing at a time and write down what we changed. That log is dull to read and extremely useful when someone asks, a week later, why the left side of the set looks warmer.
Fitting the lighting to the schedule
A plan has to suit the day as well as the picture. We sit down with the producer and list the stages: rigging, focusing, programming, rehearsal and show. Then we mark which lighting jobs can run in parallel with set building and which must wait until the floor is clear.
For live events we build in a short focus window after the set is finished, because even careful plans drift when scenery is moved by a few centimetres. Recalled lighting states are saved in the desk and tested at least once at full speed, so a cue that fails does so on rehearsal and not on air.
Where time is short, we propose a simpler look that can be rigged in half the hours instead of promising a complex one that will be rushed. A clean, finished simple plan nearly always beats a rushed ambitious one.
- Rigging, focus, programming, rehearsal and show as separate stages
- Focus window after scenery is placed
- Saved states tested at full speed
What we hand over at the end
The finished package is short and practical: the plot and elevation, the patch sheet, the measurement table, a note on fixture choices and a list of items to confirm on site. We write it in plain language, because the people reading it include producers as well as electricians.
We do not leave a plan that only we can interpret. If your own lighting crew wants to change a fixture, the documents show what depends on it and what does not. Oliver Hartley reviews every package before it leaves us, and we are available to answer questions from the crew during the rig if the client has asked for that in the written quotation.
Our aim is that the next show in the same studio starts from a known, documented position instead of from memory.
Good screen lighting rests on ordinary tools used carefully: a meter, a clear drawing, honest monitoring and a schedule that matches the crew. None of it is glamorous, and all of it shows in the picture. If you would like to see how this works for your studio or event, the contact page is the place to begin.