Short articles on camera technique, lighting, editing and newsroom workflow, written by the people who shoot, light and cut our work. A new piece appears about once a day.
Here you will find our latest articles on shooting breaking stories, lighting interviews, cutting to deadline and tidying up newsroom workflows. Each one is written from day-to-day experience in the studio and on location.
Studio guide
A step-by-step guide to preparing a lit studio session for a presenter, an interview or a short news segment, from the room and the lights to what to send us beforehand.
Tom Gilbert
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Breaking News
A working list of questions to settle before a camera crew heads out to a developing story, from access and kit to file formats and who signs off the footage.
Daniel Okafor
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Edit and Delivery
Most late items are lost in small, avoidable slips between the last shot and the gallery. Here are the six we see most often in fast edits, and plain ways to avoid each one.
Daniel Okafor
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Lighting costs
A plain look at how portrait and interview lighting is priced at verbmelo, which choices raise or lower the quote, and what to tell us so the figure holds.
Tom Gilbert
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Case Story
Tom Gilbert recounts a workflow review for a small regional news team led by Marcus, and the three practical changes that cut the wait between a tip arriving and a story reaching the gallery.
Tom Gilbert
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Studio Advice
Shorter days change how a news set looks on camera. Tom Gilbert explains what to check in the studio now, from window light to cables, before the busiest bulletins of winter.
Tom Gilbert
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Trade Terms
A word that gets used loosely in every newsroom, explained plainly: what turnaround covers on a location shoot, where the minutes go, and how to agree it clearly with a crew.
Helen Marsh
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Delivery
Tom Gilbert compares sending finished files to the gallery with having the gallery collect them from a shared folder, and says which suits a busy bulletin better.
Tom Gilbert
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Behind the scenes
A look at how a lighting set-up is built and checked in the studio each morning, from the first stand placed to the test frame that every guest is matched against.
Priya Shah
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Workflow
The question we hear most about workflow advice is how long a review takes and what it disrupts. Here is how the days run, what we watch for and what you receive at the end.
Tom Gilbert
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Studio News
A plain account of what our lit studio sessions include for presenters, interviews and short news segments, and what we need from your newsroom before the day.
Priya Shah
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Field Kit
A look at the cameras, lenses, audio and power we pack for fast location work, and why each piece earns its place when a developing story gives us little time.
Daniel Okafor
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How-to guide
A practical walk through how a finished news edit is checked, captioned, exported and delivered, so the file that reaches your gallery plays first time and matches the format you asked for.
Tom Gilbert
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Lighting
Seven things worth settling before a contributor sits down in front of the lights, from the room and the window to the skin tones on screen, so the interview matches your other items.
Daniel Okafor
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Workflow
Most delays between tip and transmission come from a handful of habits that are easy to fix once you can see them. Here are the ones we meet most often, and the small changes that remove them.
Helen Marsh
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Studio Costs
A plain look at how studio news packages are priced: the hours, crew, lighting and delivery that shape a quote, and which choices a producer can make to keep it in budget.
Daniel Okafor
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Case Story
Maya, a duty producer, called us before dawn about a rising river. Here is how a compact crew reached the bank, filmed what mattered and sent usable footage to her gallery.
Daniel Okafor
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Seasonal advice
As clocks go back and daylight shortens, newsroom schedules change. Here is how we plan editing, captioning and file delivery for the weeks ahead so items still reach your gallery cleanly.
Daniel Okafor
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Trade Terms
A plain-words guide to the lighting terms a newsroom hears on an interview shoot, what each one does to a contributor's face, and why consistency matters more than drama.
Helen Marsh
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Workflow
Helen Marsh compares an on-site workflow review with a remote desk-based one, sets out what each can and cannot show, and says which she would choose for most television newsrooms.
Helen Marsh
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