PUTTING THE RULES...
KNOWLEDGE RESOURCES INFORMING TELEVISION LIGHTING DESIGN

This study focuses on investigating an area of design that has not received the necessary interest from researchers; the field of television lighting design. In fact, there is limited academic research into the discipline of television lighting design, the majority of what is available of literature are personal opinions and experiences. This study investigates lighting designers’ knowledge resources during their design processes and the possibility of putting some guidelines for them to follow. A questionnaire survey was circulated to a number of 117 professional lighting designers, lighting directors, cameramen, photographers, and directors of photography. The critical evaluation of existing television lighting techniques revealed that there is no clear theoretical principles or framework for lighting designers to depend on during their design processes. This suggested a lack of agreement on procedures or methodologies for lighting designers; many lighting designers do not know the true effects of their lighting designs or how to employ these designs in conveying the programme ideas to the viewers. The study showed also that lighting designers’ main knowledge resource is likely to be their past experience and that few lighting designers depend on the results of research in planning designs. It was concluded that the discipline of television lighting design needs many studies to establish a database of findings, theories, and paradigms just as any other scientific discipline. Lighting designers should use the results and recommendations of research in their work, hence the efficiency of their designs could be improved.