How to Draw a Lighting Plot for a Small Studio Set

Before I draw a single fixture, I ask where the cameras will stand and what each one will see. A lighting plot is a drawing for the lens first and the room second. Get the camera positions, the lens lengths and the widest shot you expect, and mark them on a plan of the floor at a sensible scale.

From there, note the key moments in the programme. A presenter at a desk who occasionally stands to walk to a screen needs light that follows that path, while a panel that stays seated can be lit from fixed positions. Write these movements next to the plan in plain words so nobody has to guess later.

Finally, record what the set itself is made of. Gloss surfaces, glass tables and pale walls all throw light back, and a plot that ignores them tends to produce hot spots that only show up once the cameras are live.

• Camera positions and lens lengths marked on the plan
• Widest shot noted so rigging stays out of frame
• Presenter movements written beside the drawing

Ceiling height decides more than people expect. A lamp hung too low sits in the wide shot or casts steep shadows under the eyes, while one hung too high loses output and softness by the time it reaches the face. Measure from floor to the lowest obstruction, whether that is a beam, a sprinkler pipe or an air duct.

Check where you can actually fix equipment. A grid or truss is ideal, but many small studios rely on stands, wall brackets or a few rated points. Mark each hanging position on the plan, together with its safe working load if you know it, and confirm the figure with whoever owns the building.

Power is the other limit. Note how many circuits are available and where the sockets sit, then keep a rough total of the load on your drawing so you are not discovering a tripped breaker during the first rehearsal.

• Floor-to-obstruction height at several points
• Rated fixing points and their load limits
• Circuit count and socket positions

I think of a presenter's light as three layers. The key is the main source, set slightly to one side of the lens and above eye line, so the face has shape. The fill is a softer, lower-level source from the other side that stops the shadow side going muddy. The backlight sits behind and above, separating the person from the set.

Draw each layer as a different symbol or colour on the plot, and give every fixture a number that matches your paperwork. When someone says lamp seven needs to come down a little, everyone should know which one it is without looking at the ceiling.

Resist adding more fixtures to solve a problem that is really about position. Moving one key light a hand's width often does more than adding a second, and it keeps the power load and the heat in the room under control.

• Key: main source, off-axis and above eye line
• Fill: softer and lower, from the opposite side
• Backlight: behind and above, to lift the subject off the set

Cameras are unforgiving about mixed colour. A warm tungsten-style lamp beside a cool daylight window will leave skin looking orange on one cheek and blue on the other. Decide on a single colour temperature for the set and make sure every fixture on your plot can deliver it, or can be corrected with a filter.

Windows need a plan of their own. In mid autumn the light through a studio window changes quickly as cloud passes and the sun sits low, so either block the glass, cover it with correction material, or accept that the shot will drift and keep that wall out of frame.

Write the target colour temperature and any filters on the plot itself. A short note beside each fixture saves an argument on the day and makes it easy to repeat the set-up when the show returns next week.

• One agreed colour temperature for the whole set
• Windows blocked or corrected, never ignored

A good plot is one the crew can use with the lights switched off. Keep it to a single page if you can, with a clear legend, a north point or a marked front of house, and the scale stated. Add a short schedule listing each fixture number, its type, its position and its job.

Think about the order of work. Rigging goes up first, then cabling, then focusing, and the plot should make that sequence obvious. If two people can work in different corners at once, label the areas so they do not stand on each other's feet.

Hand over a printed copy as well as a file. Tablets run flat and screens glare under work lights, and a marked-up sheet pinned near the gallery has saved many a rehearsal.

• Legend, scale and front of house marked
• Fixture schedule with number, type, position and purpose
• Printed copy kept at the gallery

The plot is a plan, and the camera is the judge. Once the lights are up, look at the picture on a monitor with someone standing in the presenter's place, and walk them through the movements you noted at the start. Watch for shadows on the wall, glare on the desk and dark pockets under the chin.

Make small changes one at a time and write each one on the plot as you go. Moving a lamp, dimming a fill or adding a flag all belong on the drawing, so the final version matches what is really hanging in the room.

Keep the marked-up plot with the show's other paperwork. When the set is struck and rebuilt a month later, that single sheet turns a morning of guesswork into a quick, confident setup.