Lighting’s contribution to a production is often easy to overlook—as with makeup and special effects, being invisible to the story is actually a compliment. Unless the lighting design is intentionally flashy, the viewer shouldn’t be distracted by the lighting. Most of what we do is designed to make people and sets look good—rather than drawing attention to the lighting itself. In Zen lighting parlance, "the spotlight does not light itself." Besides, your average newscast doesn’t call for much “flash and trash” lighting.
Lighting should always be designed in service to the production. The anchors and the show should look attractive, without the audience ever being aware of how that’s accomplished. Light the news—don’t be the news. One of the worst ways lighting can draw attention to itself is to fail during a show. In an effort to help you avoid unintended black-outs, we’ll cover some strategies to harden your lighting system against disasters.
