Basics of Video Lighting, 2nd Edition

14 Lighting in the studio

For the lighting designer the studio is a completely controllable environment – it starts in darkness. Whilst it may not have the rare beauty of an ambient lighting basis such as, for instance, the sun setting over the sea that location lighting can sometimes achieve, it need not be dull and flat. The opportunity to use ideal luminaires, under subtle control of a dimming system gives the studio lighting team enormous scope to be creative.

The only constraint is the position of the set chosen by the director, and the resulting performer and camera positions. Sometimes even this can be influenced by the lighting team. In a studio with a permanent or saturation rig it makes good sense to build the set where the lights can ...