Retro studio lighting ideal for ‘industrial’ Top Gear look

Now in its 13th series, Top Gear remains a jewel in the crown for BBC2. Averaging around 7 million viewers per episode, the current show format has remained relatively unchanged since its move to Dunsfold Park in 2002.

The in-house BBC production team led by director Brian Klein have let the show evolve over time. Recent noticeable changes have included a fivefold increase in studio audience numbers, a substantially larger studio space and the development of the set design to include more car exhibits.

Chris Kempton took over the reigns as Lighting Director when the show moved into a larger aircraft hangar at the former RAF base at Dunsfold. “With more space to fill inevitably the lighting equipment list grew” comments the LD. His brief from show producers, and Jeremy Clarkson in particular, was to make the cars look as good as possible but to keep the rest ‘industrial’ looking.

“Jeremy has a lot of influence on how the show looks” says Chris Kempton ”And he did not want it to look too slick, expensive and light entertainment glitzy. But it was important that the cars were shown in the best light. The producers have really gone to town in making the car film reports with glossy high production values and therefore they wanted to make the cars look as good as possible back in the studio.”

To this end, Chris specified daylight corrected Kinoflow to be laid under the cars without their case fittings to provide maximum illumination from underneath the vehicles. Soft lights were also placed at the front of each car as presenters moved around the studio to discuss each one in turn.

Martin Mac 600 and 300 moving lights were used as steerable backlights as they gave more flexibility to work around the busy audience crowd.

Floor pars were used to illuminate the various exhibits dotted around the studio and were also used to highlight interesting ‘industrial’ aspects of the building’s architecture.

The high ceiling in the Hanger and the large floor space necessitated some physically big lighting units to visually fill the space. Working closely with ELP hire manager John Singer, the LD visited ELPs warehouse for inspiration and selected the Aura Soft lamp. Manufactured by Optex, these (now out of production) retro looking units have provided the show with an inspirational distinctive style. Originally a photographic studio light, their use on Top Gear has sparked renewed interest in the hardware and according to John Singer at ELP, a number of new hire enquiries.

Chris Kempton also specified the Maxi Brute lamp. Again, mainly used because of it’s bulky, industrial looking shape and size. Their original 1000w bulbs were replaced with half powered bulbs at 500w to save power but also to create the right ‘mood’ and intensity.

An assortment of Arri Fresnels were used to light the studio audience, many of which were pole operated to assist with speedy adjustment. The spontaneous nature of the show meant that there were often last minute changes for the LD and his crew to respond to.

“It’s really important for me to have a regular, well drilled team on hand” comments Chris Kempton. Bill Peachment is my board operator and ELP Gaffer Chris Rand and Electrician Saul Harris have provided invaluable technical support.

He continues “When the audience is milling around the set there is not much time to explain the producer’s changes and therefore you really benefit from a regular team who know the venue. A lot of the show is shot with a hand held camera so it’s actually quite tricky not to show shadows on the cars and across the set. We all have to be on our toes.”

Chris had all the trussing in the studio installed at a diagonal angle to the hanger walls. “It makes camera angles look more interesting and allowed us to experiment with picking out some of the unusual shaped ducting, vents and architecture which is part of the original hanger building”

All the truss was dead hung from the roof and the only automated ‘rigging’ on the show was the large ‘Stig’ flag which was unfurled occasionally using a quarter tonne Pro-Start motor.

Power is never an issue on site as Dunsfold have their own sub station nearby which provides all the power across the former RAF site. ELP electricians were able to install cable runs into the studio and also for the OB scanners and air conditioning systems.

If the studio audience reaction to this latest series is anything to go by, it would seem that Chris Kempton and his team have helped to deliver yet another successful series for the Beeb. The lighting has definitely promoted the cars as stars, closely followed by Clarkson and co.