Setting Up a Studio Bulletin: Lighting, Autocue and Camera Positions

Before anyone carries a camera into the room, decide what the viewer will see behind the presenter. In mid autumn the light outside changes quickly, so a studio with any daylight should have its windows covered or treated as a controlled source. A bulletin set needs a desk, a backdrop with some depth and enough distance between the two that shadows fall softly rather than sharply against the wall.

I edit the recordings that come out of these rooms, and most of the trouble I fix later began with a set that was arranged for looks rather than for the lens. A glossy desk top throws reflections into the camera. A busy backdrop pulls the eye away from the face. A presenter seated too close to the wall casts a hard outline that no grade will fully hide.

Walk the room with a tape measure and write the distances down. Desk to backdrop, desk to each camera, camera to autocue glass. Those figures let the crew rebuild the same set on the next recording day without guessing.

• Keep at least a metre and a half between the desk and the backdrop
• Cover or flag any window that lets in changing daylight
• Choose a matt desk surface to avoid reflections
• Note every distance so the set can be rebuilt exactly

A simple three-point arrangement still does most of the work in a news studio. The key light sits slightly to one side of the lens and above eye level, the fill light softens the opposite cheek, and a back light separates shoulders from the backdrop. The aim is a face that looks natural on a television screen and on a phone held at arm's length.

Set the key light first and leave the others dark. Look at the monitor, not at the person, because the camera sees contrast differently from the eye. Then bring the fill up until the shadow side keeps some shape. A face lit completely flat looks tired, and a face with too much contrast looks stern.

Check each presenter on their own. Skin tone, glasses and hair all react to light differently, and a setting that suits one person can leave the next with a glare across their lenses. Build a few minutes into the schedule for this adjustment rather than treating it as an afterthought.

• Place the key light above eye level and slightly off axis
• Raise the fill only until the shadow side keeps shape
• Check glasses for glare before the first take
• Judge the image on the monitor, never by eye alone

For a single presenter, one camera straight on is the minimum, but two give the editor something to work with. A wide shot that holds the desk and a closer shot on the face allow cuts that hide a stumble or tighten a long sentence. The second camera should sit at a slightly different angle, not just a different zoom, or the cut will look like a jump.

An interview in the same studio needs a different plan. Place the guest and the presenter at a gentle angle to each other, then put one camera on each face and a third wide if the room allows. Cameras on opposite sides of the conversation line must stay on their own side of it, otherwise both people appear to look the same way.

Mark every position on the floor with tape. Presenters move their chairs without noticing, and a few centimetres of drift changes the framing on every camera at once.

• Use two angles, not two zoom levels, for a single presenter
• Keep cameras on one side of the line between interview speakers
• Mark chair and camera positions with floor tape

The autocue glass should sit directly in front of the main camera lens, with the text size set so the presenter reads without leaning forward. Run the script through once at a steady pace and ask the presenter to flag any phrase that trips the tongue. Rewording a line before recording costs seconds, while stopping mid take costs far more.

Sound is where studios most often disappoint. A lapel microphone should clip to the chest, clear of jewellery and the collar edge, with the cable looped so it cannot tug when the presenter turns. Listen on headphones for hum from lights and air conditioning, and switch off anything that is not needed for the recording.

Record a short test clip and play it back on the monitor before the real take. Look at framing, listen to the voice, read the autocue speed. Two minutes spent here is the cheapest quality control a bulletin ever gets.

• Set autocue speed with the presenter, not for them
• Clip the lapel mic clear of jewellery and loop the cable
• Switch off nonessential equipment that adds hum
• Record and review a test clip every time

What the studio crew does at the end of the session decides how quickly a bulletin can go out. Name every file clearly with the item, the take and the camera, and keep a short log of which takes were good and why. When a presenter delivers a clean read at the second attempt, a single line in the log saves the editor from scrubbing through the first.

Leave a few seconds of silence at the head and tail of each recording, and capture a stretch of the empty room so the editor can match the background sound across cuts. Slate each take verbally if there is no clapper. These habits look fussy until the day a bulletin has to be finished against the clock.

If captions are needed, send the final script with the footage. A caption file built from the script is faster and more accurate than one typed from the recording afterwards, and it keeps the wording identical to what the presenter was given.

• Name files by item, take and camera
• Log the best takes with a short note
• Record a few seconds of room tone
• Send the final script with the footage for captioning

Putting it together, a recording day runs in a steady sequence. Build and measure the set, light the empty chair, then bring in the presenter and adjust. Position the cameras, set the autocue, fit the microphone and record a test. Only then start the real takes, working through the bulletin in running order.

Leave time at the end for a pick-up shot or two. A reaction shot, a wide of the studio or a clean read of a headline can rescue an edit that has a gap, and they take a minute when the set is still lit and the presenter is still in the chair.

Keep the same order each time. A crew that repeats the sequence builds a rhythm, and that rhythm is what lets a studio turn a bulletin around calmly even when the story changes an hour before recording.