In short: A presenter's studio day usually runs from about 9.00 to late afternoon. You arrive, change, get a microphone fitted and warm up while the crew check sound, light and camera. Recording often starts an hour or more after you walk in. Expect several takes of everything, a lunch break, set changes in the afternoon and a wrap around 4.30.
A presenter's studio day is mostly waiting, broken up by short bursts of concentrated work. Nobody tells first-timers that, so the first hour feels slow and the first take arrives suddenly. Below is how a typical full day runs, with times. Your call sheet will have its own times, but the order of events rarely changes, and knowing what each hour is for takes away most of the nerves.
| Time | What is happening | What you are doing |
|---|---|---|
| Night before | Crew are prepping kit | Rehearsing out loud, packing |
| 9.00 | Lights and camera are being set | Arriving, coffee, settling in |
| 9.15 | Briefing | Agreeing the running order |
| 9.30 | Wardrobe and sound | Changing, make-up, mic fitted |
| 9.50 | Final lighting tweaks | Warming up voice and body |
| 10.00 | Line-up and rehearsal | Standing on your mark, reading through |
| 10.30 | First takes | Recording |
| 11.30 | Playback | Watching one take back |
| 12.30 | Lunch | Eating, resting your voice |
| 13.30 | Afternoon set-ups | Second outfit, harder pieces, cutaways |
| 15.30 | Pick-ups and room tone | Re-recording odd lines, staying still |
| 16.30 | Wrap | Mic off, paperwork, next steps |
The night before
Rehearse out loud, standing up, at the speed you will actually speak. Reading a script silently in your head tells you almost nothing about how long it takes or where you will trip. Run it twice and time it.
Pack your clothes on hangers so they arrive uncreased, and bring a second option for each outfit. Some fabrics and patterns look fine in a mirror and shimmer on a camera sensor, and you only find out when you see a monitor. What to wear on camera covers which colours and patterns cause trouble. Everything else worth packing is in the presenter's grab bag.
Check your call time and how you are getting there. Call time means ready to start, with your coat off. Aim to park or get out of the taxi fifteen minutes before it. Then go to bed at a sensible hour and go easy on the wine, because tiredness shows on camera faster than nerves do.
9.00: arriving
Get there early. Being first through the door gives you time to settle, find the toilets and see the room before anyone needs you. The crew will usually have been in for an hour or two already, rigging lights and building the shot, so the studio will be busy when you walk in.
Someone will meet you: a producer, a runner or the studio manager. You will be shown where to leave your bag, where to hang your clothes and where to get a coffee. If your day is at our barn near Chichester, what happens when you arrive for a shoot at the barn walks you from the car park to the dressing room.
Learn the names of the people behind the camera. They control your light, your sound and, later, which takes get used. Crews remember who said good morning.
9.15: the briefing
The producer or director will go through the running order: which pieces you are recording, in what order, and roughly how long each should be. This is the moment to ask your questions, because once the cameras are rolling everything moves faster. Worth asking:
- Which piece are we doing first? Ideally an easy one, so you warm into the day.
- Will I be reading from autocue, working from notes or speaking off the cuff?
- Where do I look: straight into the lens, or at an interviewer beside it?
- Where will this be used? A vertical clip for social media is framed tighter, which changes how much you can move.
- Can I see the shot on the monitor before we start?
Write the running order in your notes.
9.30: wardrobe, make-up and the microphone
The crew may ask you to stand in front of the camera in your first outfit while they look at it on a monitor. If something strobes, flares or disappears into the background, you change. This is why the second option matters.
If there is a make-up artist, they will do you now. If there is not, arrive with your usual make-up done and use the powder from your bag. Men too: a forehead that looks fine in a mirror can shine under studio lighting.
Then comes the microphone. On most presenter shoots it is a small clip-on mic, called a lavalier or lav, with a thin cable running under your top to a transmitter pack about the size of a deck of cards. The pack clips onto a waistband or a belt, so a dress with no waist needs a word with the sound recordist in advance. They will usually offer to run the cable themselves or let you do it. Either is normal; say which you prefer.
Three habits to start the moment the mic goes on:
- Switch your phone off and leave it in the dressing room. A phone on silent can still put a buzz into some radio mics, and it will not be in your pocket to tempt you.
- Assume the mic is live from now on. Before you go to the toilet, ask the recordist to mute you or take the pack off.
- Stop touching the mic. Every fiddle with your collar is a thump in someone's headphones.
9.50: warming up
Ten to twenty minutes before you are first needed, find a quiet corner and warm up. Actors do it before every performance because it calms nerves and gets the voice working before it matters. A few minutes of humming, rolling your shoulders, loosening your jaw and a couple of tongue twisters will do far more than another read of the script. A ten-minute voice and body warm-up gives you a routine to follow.
Sip room-temperature water. Ice-cold and fizzy drinks tighten the throat and bring up burps at the worst moment. If your heart is racing, try a slow breath: in for a count of three, hold for four, out for five, a few times over.
10.00: line-up and rehearsal
You will be asked onto your mark, usually a small cross of tape on the floor. Stand on it and get used to finding it, because lighting and focus are set to that exact spot.
The sound recordist will ask you to say something, often what you had for breakfast. Speak at the volume you will use for real. The most common mistake at a sound check is mumbling politely, which leads to levels set too high and a loud take that distorts.
People will look at you closely and move lamps around your head. That is normal. The lighting is being shaped to your face and height, and it often takes a few minutes of small adjustments.
If you are on autocue, the operator will run a paragraph so you can find a comfortable distance and pace. The operator follows you, so speak at your natural speed and let them keep up. Reading autocue so it doesn't look like reading has the techniques.
Then comes a rehearsal. Often the first pass is really a run-through for the crew: they are checking focus, timings and any moves. Give it full energy anyway, and ask whether they are recording it.
If your studio day is a live stream or a webinar, the technical checks start earlier still. Everything should be connected and tested at least an hour before you go live, and you need to be in the chair for that check, not arriving at the last minute.
10.30: the first takes
The floor goes quiet. You will hear a short sequence of calls, something like "standby", "turn over", "speed" or "rolling", then "action". The exact words vary by crew. After "action", take a breath, wait a beat, then start. At the end, keep looking into the lens for two seconds until you hear "cut". Those clean moments either side are what the editor needs to make the piece start and finish properly.
You will do each piece several times. That is how studio work runs and says nothing bad about you. Plenty of retakes have nothing to do with the presenter: the focus slipped, a light flickered, someone knocked a stand, or the director wants a version with a different emphasis. "One more for safety" is a standard request.
If you stumble, do not apologise and do not stop dead mid-word. Pause, take a breath and go back to the start of the sentence. The pause gives the editor a clean place to cut, and nobody watching the finished film will know.
Lift your energy a little. Camera takes some of it away, so being slightly more than your everyday self comes across as natural on screen. Think about ten per cent more, not a performance.
11.30: playback
Ask to see one take back on the monitor fairly early. Watch it with a single question in mind, such as "am I too fast?" or "where are my eyes going?" Trying to judge everything at once just makes you self-conscious.
Almost everyone dislikes the first playback of themselves. Watch it anyway, because it is the quickest way to fix a habit you cannot feel from the inside. Do not ask for playback after every take, though. It slows the day down, and the director is already watching every take for you.
12.30: lunch
Take a proper break and eat something, but keep it light enough that you are not sleepy at two o'clock. Protect your outfit: change back into your own clothes, or at least cover up. Ask for the mic pack to come off, or for it to be muted.
Rest your voice a little rather than talking all the way through lunch. Before you go back on, do five minutes of the morning warm-up again. Energy drops after lunch and it shows on camera.
13.30: the afternoon set-ups
Afternoons usually bring a change of set-up, such as a new background or a seated piece after a morning of standing ones. Each change means the crew re-light and re-frame, and that can take half an hour or more. Use the time to change outfit and look over the next piece.
Directors often schedule harder material after lunch, once you have warmed into the day.
You may also be asked for cutaways: walking into shot, sitting down, looking at a laptop, listening and nodding while someone else talks. They feel odd to do. They are what lets the editor cut a long piece down without jumps, so do them properly.
15.30: pick-ups and room tone
Before the end, the director will check their list for anything missing. These pick-ups are usually single lines: a sentence that was fluffed in an otherwise good take, or a fresh version of an opening line.
The sound recordist may ask everyone in the studio to stand completely still for thirty seconds while they record the silence of the room. It is called room tone, and the editor uses it to fill gaps. Stay still and stay quiet until they say so.
16.30: the wrap
When the director is happy, someone calls a wrap. Let the sound recordist take the mic off and hand the pack back. Walking out to the car with a transmitter still clipped to your belt happens more often than you would think.
Before you leave, ask what happens next: when you will see a first edit, who approves it, and where it will be published. If you are filming for an organisation that is not your own, you may be asked to sign a release covering how the footage can be used. Read it before you sign. Collect all your clothes, and thank the crew.
The day after
Your voice may be tired, so go easy on it. Then write down what you would do differently next time, while you still remember. Presenting on camera is a craft that improves with practice, and the second studio day is easier than the first, because you already know the rhythm of the hours.
Related guides
The picture at the top of this page is an illustration, not a photograph of a client or a real job.
Questions we get asked
How long does a studio video shoot take?
A full studio day for a presenter usually runs from about 9.00 to late afternoon with a lunch break, and a half day is around four hours. Only part of that is recording. The first hour goes on wardrobe, make-up, mic-up and technical checks, and every change of set or lighting takes the crew time to reset.
What should I bring to a video shoot as a presenter?
Bring two or three outfits on hangers in plain mid-tone colours without fine stripes or small checks, shoes you can stand in all day, your script or notes, room-temperature water and any medication you need. A small kit of translucent powder, lip balm and a comb covers most touch-ups if there is no make-up artist.
Do I need to do my own make-up for a studio shoot?
Ask when the shoot is booked, because some productions have a make-up artist and many smaller ones do not. If there is no artist, arrive with your everyday make-up done and bring translucent powder. Studio lighting shows shine on foreheads and noses quickly, so you will want to blot between takes.
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