Camera positions we now plan before the first cable is run

Over the past year the camera side of our studio projects has changed in one practical way: we now settle camera positions, heads and lens choices on paper before any equipment is ordered or wired. Previously a good deal of that was decided in the studio during setup, with the crew standing around a half-built set. It worked, but it cost time and it tended to leave operators learning their shots on the day of the first rehearsal.

The new routine starts with the floor plan and the programme format. A two-presenter news desk, a standing interview and a live panel ask very different things of a camera, and the plan reflects that. We mark where each camera sits, how far it travels, what it can see and what it must never see, such as the edge of the set or another camera.

Callum Reid, who signs this note, works mostly on acoustics, but camera positions affect sound more than people expect, so we review these plans together.

Robotic heads and manned pedestals are not rivals; they suit different jobs. A robotic camera is repeatable. Once a shot is stored, it returns to exactly the same framing every time, which suits a regional news bulletin where one or two people run the whole gallery. It also keeps the studio floor clear, which helps with lighting and sound.

A manned pedestal earns its place where the shot needs judgement: following a guest who leans in, finding a reaction, or moving with a live discussion that no one has scripted. An operator reads the room in a way a stored preset cannot.

Many of our studios use both. Two or three robotic cameras cover the fixed positions, and a single pedestal gives the director something with a human eye behind it. We recommend that mix more often than either extreme, and we explain the cost and staffing consequences before a client commits.

• Robotic: repeatable framing, small crew, clear floor
• Pedestal: judgement, live movement, natural reactions
• Mixed: fixed coverage plus one flexible camera

Camera operation guidance used to be a conversation on the day. We now leave a short written brief for each camera position, covering the usual shot sizes, the limits of the move, where the presenter's eyeline falls and what to do if a guest changes seats. Operators tell us it is the page they actually keep beside the camera.

We also work with operators on the physical side: balance of the head, drag settings, a steady stance on the pedestal and smooth starts and stops on a move. Steady shots come mostly from small habits repeated, not from equipment alone.

For robotic setups, the equivalent is a tidy library of stored shots with plain names, so a newcomer on the desk can find the two-shot or the wide without guessing. A short, clear naming convention saves more rehearsal time than any additional preset ever does.

• Shot sizes and limits written per camera position
• Eyeline and seating notes for presenters and guests
• Plainly named stored shots for robotic cameras

Rehearsal time is valuable and usually short. If it is spent finding out where a camera should stand, there is little left for the thing rehearsal is for, which is timing: cues, cutaways, the move from the desk to the interview chair, the handover between segments.

So we ask the director and producer to walk through the run sheet against the camera plan a few days earlier. Sometimes this leads to a small change, such as moving a camera a metre to avoid a lighting stand, or asking for a different seating angle. These are easy to fix on paper and awkward to fix with a live crew waiting.

It also gives everyone the same picture. The director knows what each camera can deliver, the operators know what is expected of them, and the production manager can see where extra hands or extra rehearsal minutes will be needed.

Camera positions cannot be settled in isolation. A pedestal needs a clear path across the floor, and that path competes with lighting stands, cable runs and sometimes microphone booms. A lens that looks well placed on the plan may catch a reflective surface or throw a shadow across a guest's face.

This is why camera planning in our projects sits alongside the lighting and acoustic work rather than ahead of it. Priya Nair plans light and camera positions together for news sets and interview studios, and I check whether noisy camera heads or pedestal movement will be audible near the microphones.

Small decisions add up. A quiet head, a floor that does not carry wheel noise and a lighting angle that leaves a presenter's eyes visible all come from the same early conversation held around one drawing.

When a client asks us about cameras, we begin by asking about the programme, not the equipment: how many people appear, how much they move, who operates the gallery and how often the studio is used. The answers usually narrow the choice quickly.

From there we recommend a camera count, a mix of robotic and manned positions, and a plain list of what the setup will and will not do. We are open about trade-offs, such as the extra crew a pedestal needs or the limits of a stored preset when a guest behaves unexpectedly.

After installation we support the first broadcasts on site if the client wants it, and we can train the in-house crew on the cameras they will actually be using. Enquiries come through the contact page, and we reply with questions before we reply with a price.