The brief
Bein Sports needed a London interview location that could deliver broadcast-quality talking-head footage in a single shoot day, without the lead time and union overheads of a network studio. The brief called for a recognisable, on-brand environment with controllable light, low ambient noise for clean dialogue capture, and enough floor area to set up multiple camera angles without re-lighting between subjects. As an international sports broadcaster, the team also needed reliable connectivity to push selects to producers off-site, and a location that read as editorial and contemporary on camera rather than corporate.
Why The Designer's Penthouse
Four reasons the venue suited a broadcast interview day.
- **Quiet fifth-floor setting.** The penthouse sits on the fifth floor of a converted factory in Old Street, well above street-level traffic noise. The concrete floor structure damps resonance from the rest of the building, which is what makes clean sync-sound recording possible without additional acoustic treatment.
- **Daylight on demand, blackout on demand.** South-facing arched windows give a neutral colour temperature for daylight setups, and full blackout blinds let the team switch to controlled continuous lighting for the second half of the day without moving locations.
- **Goods-lift load-in.** A private entrance and direct goods-lift access let the broadcast crew bring camera flightcases, lighting, and grip up to the fifth floor in a single trip, with no shared lobby, no public foot traffic in shot, and no stair carry.
- **Industrial backdrop without set-build.** Exposed brick, steel beams, and arched windows read on camera as a credible editorial environment for sports interviews. The architecture provided the look; no set dressing or art direction was required.
How the space was used
The interview area was set against the brick wall on the south side of the loft, using the arched windows as a soft fill source for the morning subjects. A second backdrop option was prepared against the concrete column run further into the room, giving the producer two visually distinct looks within a few metres of the main camera position.
Lighting was built in two passes. For daylight subjects, blackout blinds stayed half-drawn to control hot spots, with a continuous LED key positioned camera-left and a softbox for fill. For afternoon interviews, the blinds went fully closed and the team moved to a fully controlled continuous setup, keeping the same camera position so colour grading remained consistent across the day.
Audio was captured through a Sony XLR system with wireless lavaliers on each subject and a shotgun mic as a backup channel. The fifth-floor position and the building's concrete structure kept ambient noise low enough to record clean dialogue without acoustic blankets.
Talent flow ran through the kitchen and dining area, which functioned as a green room separate from the shooting floor. Subjects were briefed and miked in the kitchen, walked through to set, and returned to the green room between takes. The 35 m² rooftop terrace was available as a holding and break area between subjects, with skyline views that doubled as an optional B-roll location.
Equipment used
Items drawn from the on-site catalogue likely to feature on a one-day broadcast interview build:
- Video Light Kit with Bowens Mount and Projection Attachment, plus a Softbox Kit, for controlled key and fill on the seated subject
- RGB LED Panel Kit for a low-level rim light against the brick backdrop
- Wireless Microphones and Sony XLR Audio Kit for primary dialogue capture, with wireless lavaliers and a shotgun mic as backup
- Main Camera Setup with Teleprompter for the A-camera position
- Second Camera Setup on Tripod for the wider B-camera angle
- Light Stands and Tall C-Stand Support Set with sandbags for grip
- 1 Gbps dedicated broadband for off-site producer review and footage transfer
Result / takeaway
The space delivered a broadcast-ready interview environment that the team was able to build, light, shoot, and strike inside a single hire day. The combination of daylight control, low ambient noise, goods-lift access, and an editorial-grade backdrop removed the variables that usually slow a one-day broadcast shoot. The penthouse functioned as a pop-up interview studio for the day, then reset cleanly for the next booking.