What's it like to work in a media company? Behind the Scenes, Summer 2026
What's it like to work in a media company? Busy, varied and rarely the same two days running. In episode one of Behind the Scenes at Lamplight Media, junior filmmaker Ceara takes you through our summer from June to September 2026: headshot days at Tannery Studios in Woking, a graduation livestream, a music festival, a school building site, a new immersive experience in London and our own new advert.
Here's what happened, month by month.
Meet the team
The episode is hosted by Ceara, our junior filmmaker, with Tim, our managing director, and Callum, our creative director. We're a video production company based at Tannery Studios in Woking, Surrey, and the aim of the series is simple. In Ceara's words: “Join us as we give you an insight into our summer at the company.”
June: our fourth birthday and new team headshots
June was hectic, with a busy peak at the end of the month before things eased off around the second week of July. On 24 June we celebrated our fourth birthday as a company. We spent the morning updating our team headshots in different spots around Tannery Studios, then moved on to team photos. The rest of the day went on filming a new batch of content for our own marketing, before heading into Woking to celebrate.
July: livestreaming Shiplake College's graduation
July brought set days across the country, but our main focus was pre-production and post-production. On 1 July we travelled to Henley for vision mixing and livestream filming at Shiplake College's graduation. Tim set up the equipment the day before, we wrapped by 2pm and headed straight back to the office to crack on with the edit. We spent the end of July in catch-up meetings with repeat clients and pre-production meetings for August's shoots.
August: the Rick Parfitt Jr Band at Camper Calling
August had a wide variety of shoots. Different teams worked on different set days, which let us balance production and post. Our main shoot was with the Rick Parfitt Jr Band, a repeat client, capturing social content for the band at Camper Calling Festival, including a documentary style social reel.
The Redlands Difference: filming a science lab transformation
One of two projects that ran across the whole summer was The Redlands Difference, a brand film for Redlands Electrical about their transformation of the science labs at Surbiton High School. To capture the before, middle and after, we scheduled our set days around the build.
On day one we also captured social content for Redlands across their work at Surbiton High School, Kingston Grammar School and Kingston Academy. Social content means we can get more experimental with our shot list. Tim rigged a pair of pliers to the camera, so they could be picked up and used in shot for a point of view from the pliers. Another shot that came out really well was a similar POV from a ladder as Redlands staff carried it.
On day two we filmed the final interviews and shots for the main film in the finished labs, with staff from both Redlands and Surbiton High.
Wake the Tiger: three shoots for Absurd City
Our second summer-long project was with Wake the Tiger, producing different assets for Absurd City, a new immersive experience at Westfield Shepherd's Bush, which is now open. Callum was in Bristol for the first shoot, for the puppet theatre cabaret show. The second was in Studio 1 at Tannery Studios, where we filmed drag queens on green screen to produce the entrance video for the experience. The last of the three took place in Absurd City itself. With around 35 extras and 15 crew, we created wacky CCTV footage to play in the experience's CCTV room.
September: live sports and brand films
September was a very busy month, and we were lucky with the different types of production we worked on, from sports camera operating to college brand films. From 4 to 6 September we were camera operators for Loughborough University's live sports broadcast.
Shooting our own ad: Your Story Had No Shortcut
Our main September shoot ran over two days, 17 and 18 September, filming a new advert for Lamplight Agency called Your Story Had No Shortcut.
Day two was in Studio 2 at Tannery Studios, where Jonny had an absolute blast blacking out all the windows. We shot two scenes in the kitchen set, with a quick reset in between for Jonny's floating diffusion rig, then used the brick wall side of the studio to recreate a trade show. After lunch we filmed our final scenes, setting up a mock film shoot with a few cameos from the team. That put Ceara and Callum on the other side of the camera, looking, in Ceara's words, “absolutely thrilled” about it.
What's next?
That was a sneak peek into our summer as a media production company. We've got a couple of new bits of equipment and quite a few exciting shoots lined up, but you'll have to wait for episode two to see what we get up to.
Frequently asked questions
What's it like to work in a media company?
Varied. In one summer our team shot headshots, livestreamed a graduation, filmed at a music festival, documented a school science lab build, produced content for an immersive experience and made our own advert. Most weeks mix shoot days with pre-production planning and post-production in the edit.
What is pre-production?
Everything that happens before a shoot: planning, scheduling, shot lists, locations, crew and kit. We spent much of July in pre-production meetings for August's shoots.
What is post-production?
Everything that happens after a shoot: editing, colour grading, sound and graphics. It's why we often head straight back to the office after we wrap.
What is vision mixing?
Switching live between camera feeds during an event, so people watching a livestream see the right shot at the right moment. We vision mixed Shiplake College's graduation livestream in July.
Where is Lamplight Media based?
Our studio is at Tannery Studios in Woking, Surrey, and we also have an office in London.
Planning a shoot of your own? Book a free call with our team, or see our event video production work.
