When Dubai Television (United Arab Emirates) planned to re-brand and re-launch both channels of their network, they hired BDI (Carlsbad, CA) to design a new news facility for them. BDI asked New England SMPTE?s own lighting gypsy John Gates to partner with Barbizon Electric Company (NY, NY) to design & specify the entire lighting system (from grid to control) and provide the lighting design for all the programs originating from their new 32 meter x 48 meter x 7.7 meter facility.

With over twenty years of experience in lighting television, film and special events, John was eminently qualified! He's consulted on the design of over 50 production facilities and his lighting work has appeared on virtually every domestic broadcast and cable network and several foreign networks. He has lit every U.S. President since Nixon and worked in many formats, including HDTV & 3D. And John has taught lighting for film and video at Boston University since 1992

John walked us through the many relevant aspects of this project; from facilities planning issues to the final lighting design using state-of-the-art equipment. Along the way he provided interesting insights into the process and his observations of the cultural differences, professionally and personally. We benefited from his experiences gained over the course of 25 days on-site in Dubai during four trips spread over five months time, from start to finish.

For more information about this meeting, please contact John Gates at liteguy@bu.edu.