What IS a Lighting Designer? 3x Emmy Winner Michelle Poley Explains

Ask ten people what a lighting designer does and you'll get ten different answers. Three-time Emmy-winning designer Michelle Poley gives us the real one. Michelle has spent over 40 years designing for broadcast, including two decades as CNN's Washington Director of Lighting, where she managed daily programming, presidential debates, and major special event coverage. She's also a Peabody Award winner with network credits at ABC, BBC, and CBS. Today she runs LightCue, working with clients including CBS News, Fox Sports, and NPR. This interview was lit with the Kino Flo Diva Lux 4 as key, alongside the Chauvet Professional Ovation Rêve E-3 ellipsoidal and Ovation Rêve F-3 fresnel, the same color engines Michelle name-checks in the conversation for their consistency and color accuracy on camera. Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction & Michelle's Career 2:06 What Does a Lighting Designer Actually Do? 4:10 Working the Multi-Camera Broadcast 5:23 How Broadcast Lighting Became More Cinematic 7:45 Lighting as Storytelling & Common Mistakes 10:25 A Recent Lighting Challenge & the LED Shift 13:28 Evaluating Light Sources & What's Next 18:21 Skills That Matter Most Today 21:54 Where to Follow Michelle & LightCue Learn more about Michelle's work at LightCue: https://www.lightcue.com/ Gear featured in this interview: Kino Flo Diva Lux 4: https://kinoflo.com/diva/ Chauvet Professional Ovation Rêve E-3: https://chauvetprofessional.com/produ... Chauvet Professional Ovation Rêve F-3: https://chauvetprofessional.com/produ... #KinoFlo #ChauvetProfessional #DivaLux #OvationReve #BroadcastLighting #LightingDesign #EmmyAward