Manufactured Love: Location Bible

v0.1, 2026-09-04. Built from locations-research.md (sourced, with real reference photos) after the first style frames rendered a barracks bedroom and a showroom control room. Every location plate prompt in pipeline/style.ts is derived from this file.

Rules

  1. Real places, not renders. Every location is a redressed real building with production seams: extra walls, taped cables, camera-hide stubs, a scaffold edge, sponsor-free clutter.
  2. Prompt as a stills photographer would describe a photo, not as an architect would describe a building. Lens, light, noise, and mess before materials.
  3. Two looks (see show.md): Look A is the show's villa by day and night; Look B is the crew side and any villa footage quoted as evidence.
  4. Bedroom rule: one long room, a row of double beds, upholstered headboards, coordinated but individually colored throws, drawer units between beds, unmade sheets, chargers and personal things on the nightstands. Never single cots, never bare mattresses, never overhead fluorescent.
  5. Gallery rule: rows of plain tables with mismatched individual monitors and laptops, taped cable runs on the floor, a whiteboard with magnet headshots, water bottles, headsets on hooks, flat practical light. Never a symmetrical wall of identical screens, never a clean floor, never one giant video wall as the only surface.

The Sunburn villa (Isla Cendra)

Fictional composite of the Love Island UK Mallorca villa, the Love Island USA Fiji build, and the Too Hot to Handle Turks and Caicos estates. A real two-storey white villa on a cliff, redressed: colored plexiglass panels bolted to the facade, neon script signs, extra stub walls for camera hides, a semicircular sectional at the fire pit, a pool that runs under the deck.

Floorplan (words)

Ground floor, seaward half: pool terrace with daybeds, the fire pit with its semicircle sofa at the pool's far end, the outdoor gym bar on the side terrace. Landward half: open kitchen with the magic pantry door in its cabinetry, covered dining terrace, indoor lounge, and The Shade (the confessional room) off the lounge. The Hideaway is a small pink pavilion at the garden edge on its own path. Upper floor: the communal bedroom runs the width of the building, six double beds in a row, with its own terrace; the glam room and shared bathroom off the landing. Crew compound 80 to 120 m behind the rear wall, hedge-screened: gallery portacabins, edit portacabins, wardrobe truck, catering tent, car park.

                UPPER FLOOR
  [ Communal bedroom: 6 double beds in a row | terrace ]  [ Glam room ] [ Bathroom ]
                          | stairs
                GROUND FLOOR
  [ Hideaway pavilion ]   [ Lounge ]--[ The Shade ]
                          [ Kitchen + magic pantry ]--[ Dining terrace ]
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ POOL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  (fire pit + semicircle sofa at far end)
                          | 80-120 m, hedge-screened path
                CREW COMPOUND (off camera)
  [ Gallery cabins ] [ Edit cabins ] [ Wardrobe truck ] [ Catering tent ] [ Car park ]

Location plates

Each entry: what it is; prompt-ready description; what models get wrong; the trailer shots that live here; real references (from locations-research.md, for human comparison only, never fed to the model).

L1. Villa exterior and pool terrace, day (Look A)

White render two-storey villa on a Mediterranean cliff, coral and aqua plexiglass panels layered on the facade, a neon script sign on the terrace wall, turquoise pool with daybeds along one side, a semicircle of white outdoor seating at the far end, palms in planters, a stub wall with a sliding window at the pool corner (a camera hide), a scaffold-pipe seam where a temporary wall meets the building. Hard midday sun, sky blue and sand gold, slight lens flare, imperfect handheld framing. Wrong: brochure symmetry, infinity pool with no deck, no colored panels, no production seams. Shots: cold-open pull-back (this frame on a monitor), Priya on a daybed, Kaya with the tray, Marcus crossing the terrace, Skye at the gate. References: Dezeen 2025-07-11 villa exterior; Architectural Digest 2025-08-24 night pool.

L2. Villa terrace, night (Look A)

Same terrace after dark: string lights strung over the pool, the fire pit lit with a real orange flame, the white semicircle sofa around it, deep teal shadow beyond the light, the neon sign glowing coral, wet tiles reflecting the lights, a softbox on a stand and a C-stand just inside frame at the edge, a taped "T" mark on the tiles. Wrong: one spotlit subject against black; even studio light; no crew gear. Shots: The Burn ceremony, Tilly with cue cards, Theo at the fire, Rafe with the phone, Bianca dancing.

L3. Communal bedroom, day

One long upstairs room with six double beds in a row along the wall, each with a tall upholstered headboard in a different pastel, coordinated throws and cushions per bed, a small drawer unit with a lamp and phone charger between beds, unmade sheets and a bikini top on one pillow, a slogan printed on the wall mirror, large windows with sheer curtains and daylight, a rug down the middle, a black dome camera housing in the ceiling corner. Wrong: single cots, identical bedding, bare walls, fluorescent light, hospital or hostel look. Shots: morning wake-up, a producer in the doorway, night-vision evidence inserts. References: HELLO! 2020-01-09 Cape Town bedroom; E! News 2024-08-16 Fiji bedroom.

L4. Communal bedroom, night vision (Look B evidence)

The same room at 3 a.m. through an infrared camera: monochrome green-grey, heavy grain, the six double beds with lumps of sleeping bodies under blown-out white sheets, the upholstered headboards reading as grey rectangles, a glowing white phone charger LED, a doorway on the far wall with the silhouette of a standing person, a timecode burn-in in the corner. Wrong: cots, an empty room, color, clean grain-free image. Shots: the doorway silhouette beat; evidence inserts.

L5. Kitchen and dining terrace

Domestic open kitchen on the ground floor: household fridge covered in magnets and a printed sign, mint and coral cabinetry, a "Good Vibes Only" style neon over the counter, mismatched bar stools, fruit bowls and cereal boxes and a stack of coral show phones charging, a flush cupboard door in the cabinetry that is the magic pantry. Morning light through the terrace opening. Wrong: restaurant island with pendant lights, stainless steel, styled emptiness. Shots: Priya laughing at the island, Theo making coffees, Tommy frying eggs, the pantry hand-through. References: Architectural Digest 2025-08-24 kitchen neon; HELLO! 2020-01-09 outdoor kitchen.

L6. The Shade (confessional)

A small nook built into the house: one rattan chair or a wicker daybed facing a single lens, a saturated coral-and-aqua tropical patterned backdrop, bright soft frontal light from a fixed panel, a small speaker grille in the wall for the producer's voice, no crew, no boom, a tannoy horn visible through the doorway. Wrong: broadcast interview studio, visible crew, moody side light. Shots: Jules breaking while Marcus's voice asks the question; every contestant soundbite the show-within-the-show would use. References: The Tab 2022-07-18 Beach Hut; The Sun 2025-06 wicker daybed set.

L7. The Hideaway

A small standalone pink pavilion at the garden edge with a neon "No Invite Needed" style sign over the door (no legible text in the render), inside a single bed with a neon line over it, pink carpet and curtains, fuchsia flowers, cocktail glasses, sized for two. Wrong: hotel suite, spacious, tasteful. Shots: one implied beat at most (a door closing, the neon coming on).

L8. The gallery, night (Look B)

A real control room inside an ordinary building: rows of plain folding tables with a mix of desktop monitors of different sizes and ages, open laptops, a couple of larger screens on the far wall showing a grid of villa feeds, cable runs taped flat across a carpet-tile floor, headsets hung on chair backs, water bottles, energy drink cans, a corner screen with a color-coded schedule grid, a whiteboard with magnet headshots and marker arrows and pink sticky notes, flat fluorescent ceiling light mixed with monitor glow, one desk lamp, a wall clock, a printed sign taped to a door. Wrong: symmetrical wall of identical curved monitors, moody blue key light, clean floor, command-center architecture. Shots: cold-open reveal, Marcus at the mic, Dana at the back, every crew chair interview (Look B). References: Vulture 2024-10-24 and 2024-10-02 (Michael Friberg); NEP 2021-11-02 control room wall; The Switch 2022-02-14 (control room inside a Hilo hotel).

L9. Monitor wall detail

Close on the far-wall screens in the gallery: a grid of small live feeds of the same villa (pool terrace, bedroom, kitchen, fire pit, corridor) from fixed high angles, each with a small camera ID and timecode burn-in, some tiles frozen, one tile enlarged, reflections of a person's silhouette on the glass. Wrong: a video wall of unrelated images; houses; symmetry. Shots: Theo's face falling on the wall; the "reset, again" moment.

L10. Edit suite in a portacabin

A cramped one-desk edit room inside a white portacabin: two mismatched monitors and a laptop showing a video timeline, a keyboard with colored keycaps, over-ear headphones on the desk, extension cords on the floor, a takeaway coffee, a printed stringout taped to the wall, a small window with a blind half down, an air-conditioning unit humming. Wrong: sleek studio, glass walls, big room. Shots: Sam's splice demo, Sam in the doorway. References: Palma Pictures 2026-05-07 basecamp; Televisual 2021-06-30 record rig.

L11. Portacabin corridor and basecamp exterior

A row of white portacabins on gravel with a corridor of identical doors and paper signs (ILLEGIBLE), cable ramps, a wardrobe truck with its rear door open, a catering marquee with folding tables and chafing dishes and a handwritten allergen sign, crew in black tees with radios, a hedge line beyond which the villa roof shows. Wrong: branded craft-service trucks, chefs in whites, a tidy campus. Shots: Dana in a doorway, Kaya on a flight case, Gwen at a folding table, Brooke to the SUV.

L12. Whiteboard

Straight-on photo of a whiteboard in the gallery: a grid of twelve polaroid-style headshots held by round magnets (faces soft, not readable as anyone), blue and red marker arrows between them, three neon pink sticky notes on three photos, illegible handwriting in the margins, a marker on the tray, a Sharpie smell you can almost see. Wrong: legible names, clean graphic-design layout. Shots: Marcus crossing out CAST and writing EDITED (2D insert), Brooke's sticky note.

L13. Lockdown hotel corridor, 2 a.m.

A plain three-star hotel corridor: patterned carpet, numbered doors, low ceiling with small downlights, a fire-extinguisher cabinet, one door ajar with warm lamplight spilling out, a chaperone's chair with a jacket on it at the end, handheld frame with slight motion blur. Wrong: boutique hotel, luxury, wide corridor. Shots: Priya's 2 a.m. lie; Maddie's bus departure from the lobby. References: The Tab 2018-07-23 hotel exterior and interior.

L14. Glam room and wardrobe truck

The villa glam room: two hair-and-makeup stations with bulb mirrors, drawers open, styling tools on extension cords, product everywhere, clothes draped over a chair. The crew wardrobe truck: rails of saturated swimwear and cover-ups, plastic bins, a steamer, daylight through the rear door. Wrong: retail rack display, uniform hangers. Shots: b-roll only. References: HELLO! 2020-01-09 dressing room; PopSugar 2025-06-24 glam room.

L15. Bulu office (Brooke's plate)

A glass-walled Los Angeles streaming-company office: a ring light on a desk, a laptop, a green-accented wall (jade, not mint), a plant, a window with a hazy skyline, a paper coffee cup. Shots: Brooke's Zoom tile, Brooke's action frames.

Photographic base for every location prompt

"Photograph taken by a stills photographer on a working reality-TV set, Sony A7 IV, 24mm lens, ISO 1600, available light only, slight sensor noise, imperfect handheld framing, no retouching, lived-in with production clutter, real location, not a render, not an architectural visualization, no text, no logos."

Not verified

No published floorplan exists for any real villa; the layout is a composite. Catering-tent look is from a generic rental photo. Magic-pantry article body could not be fetched.