NEW YORK — The start of football season marked several changes for the iconic “Inside the NFL” program, which airs on Showtime and The NFL Network. Chief among them was a move to CBS Studio 42 and implementation of a new lighting package by lighting designers Christopher Landy and Abigail Wells of Vibrant Design LLC with equipment supplied by WorldStage.
More details from WorldStage (www.worldstage.com):
The long-running “Inside the NFL” has moved to Tuesday this season and revamped its on-air roster with Greg Gumbel serving as the new host. Its move from studios in New Jersey to CBS Studio 42 prompted new set and lighting design that contributes to a fresh production of a fan favorite.
Vibrant Design was already familiar with Studio 42 when the show moved in. “We do ‘Last Week Tonight with John Oliver’ in that studio,” says Christopher Landy. “We strike that and do ‘Inside the NFL,’ and BET next door, so Vibrant has a great rapport with the CBS staff!”
Landy says “Inside the NFL” is “shot in a great environment. We shoot the in studio portions noon to 3 pm on Tuesdays, then its edited and integrated with roll-ins and airs that same night.”
Due to the nature of turnaround in the studio, both sets are designed with a “substantial amount of scenic lighting incorporated into the set, — miles of LED tape, lightboxes, puck lights — and from a design standpoint I love that. It allows us a great deal of depth,” he says. “It is very consistent, especially with the show loading in and out — two major shows are turned around every week in Studio 42 and there’s not much crossover in terms of gear. We’ve designed ‘Inside the NFL’ to be very plug and play.”
“Abby Wells and John Bell, the show’s lighting director, have done an amazing job!” says Landy, “not only does the set glow, the talent consistently looks fantastic every week. You’d never know the show was loaded in and refocused yesterday”.
Most of the lighting package was acquired from WorldStage, where “Terry Jackson and his team always take great care of us,” Landy says. Beyond the miles of LED tape on “Inside the NFL” are 150 ETC Source 4 lekos, 18 2K soft lights, six 2K fresnels, 40 LED iWhites, six Martin MAC Auras, ten Martin MAC 101s and 24 LED puck lights
LED tape, used within scenic pieces, includes approximately 1,800 feet of dual white LED tape from Super Bright LED in the lightbox walls and approximately 100 feet of RGBA tape from Environmental Lights in the anchor desk and podium platform.
Lighting is controlled from an ETC Ion console, also from WorldStage.
“Once again, we worked well with WorldStage and had another great experience,’” says Landy. “The producers of ‘Inside the NFL’ are thrilled with the new lighting.”
Peter Radovich is the producer of “Inside the NFL.”
