Lighting diagram for scenes — sketches placement of key, fill, back, and practicals. Saves setup time on set and documents the look for continuity purposes.
You're sitting in front of a new scene, and the gaffer asks you about the lighting mood — instead of explaining for ten minutes, you show them a litpic. This is your lighting diagram, drawn or digital, on which every light fixture has its place. Key light, fill, background light, practicals — everything is entered like on a map. The advantage is obvious: the setup proceeds purposefully, no fumbling around, no misunderstandings between you and the lighting team.
A good litpic is simple, not artistic. You draw a top-down view of the location, place the camera as a reference point, and then sketch with arrows and labels where your lights are positioned — and in which direction they are aimed. Rule of thumb: Don't confuse with details that will be adjusted on set anyway. It's about the fundamental architecture of the light. How is your key light positioned relative to the camera and the talent's position? From which side does the fill light come? Where is a backlight placed to create depth? The litpic answers these core questions at a glance.
In practice, you create the litpic during the location scout or at the latest during the prep meeting with the gaffer. Digital tools like SketchUp or specialized lighting apps speed things up, but a clean pencil sketch in the script supervisor's notebook works just as well. The greatest benefit arises from continuity — if you're shooting the same scene for days or need pickups later: the litpic is your insurance against "Wait, how was the lighting yesterday?" At the same time, the diagram becomes documentation in the production archive, helpful for the colorist and archive.
Important: A litpic doesn't replace live discussion and joint testing on set — it only streamlines them. Some DoPs work without a formal diagram, building light intuitively. But as soon as your setup becomes complex, involves multiple rooms, or your gaffer is new to the team, the ten minutes of planning time pay off massively. You save that time during the setup and avoid misunderstandings that can become expensive later in post-production. The litpic is a tool of professionalism — not of pedantry.