Virtual set designed and built for MUTV's Thursday Focus chat show.

The MUTV greenscreen studio, based in the Carrington training complex.

MUTV: Virtual Sets for the World's Most Followed Club

In 2013, MUTV - the dedicated channel of Manchester United Football Club - commissioned Lightwell to design a suite of virtual sets for their greenscreen studio at the Carrington Training Complex. The decision followed a period in which MUTV had explored off-the-shelf and pre-built virtual set solutions. For a club of Manchester United's global stature and reputation, those solutions fell short. The visual quality and fidelity simply weren't good enough. What was needed was a custom-designed, professionally delivered solution that reflected the standing of one of the world's most followed football clubs - and elevated their broadcast output accordingly.

The Brief

The brief was to create designs built around the Newtek Tricaster platform that would do exactly that: three distinct visual worlds for three different shows, each tailored to its editorial purpose, each designed and built to the highest possible standard.

Thursday Focus

The most characterful of the three was Thursday Focus - a relaxed chat show format that called for something warm, personal, and unmistakably United. The concept was a domestic front room belonging to the ultimate Manchester United supporter. The walls were lined with portraits of legendary players, the shelves dressed with detailed models of the club's many trophies - some slightly worn, as if they had been proudly on display for years. Every detail was chosen for authenticity and emotional resonance. It was a set designed to feel like it belonged to someone, not something. The other two shows - a press conference review format and a programme celebrating classic Premier League matches - each received their own equally considered design, tailored to their specific audience and editorial register.

The studio's location at Carrington - Manchester United's training complex - gave the whole project an appropriate sense of being embedded within the fabric of the club itself.

The Result

Three virtual sets, one Tricaster platform, one modest greenscreen studio - and three completely different broadcast environments, each built to a standard of visual quality that matched the ambition and reputation of the client. It is a project that demonstrates something Lightwell holds true across every platform and every budget: that professional, custom design produces results that off-the-shelf solutions never can.

Client

MUTV

Design

Lightwell

Platform

Viz Tricaster (formerly Newtek Tricaster)

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