ACADEMY HOWTOWEBCAST
7. GET SERIOUS ABOUT MULTIPLE CAMERAS you want as the live broadcast. You can preview each camera before you to switch to it individually, though. If you want
One or two cameras are fine, but for a truly professional production, it would be best to run multiple cameras. Of course, many of the units built for this are for TV use and are therefore expensive. The Telestream Wirecast Gear all-in-one system is at the bottomend, and is around six grand, while the Livestream Studio and Livestream Production Switcher or Epiphan Pearl-2 can do 4K livestreaming, switching and recording to an internal hard drive with up to six video sources. Or a 16-input Newtek Tricaster TC1, which is a top-line unit good enough for TV broadcast, but costs over 20 grand. A popular choice is a Blackmagic Atem, and the latest of the range is the affordable £275/$295 AtemMini, which can handle up to four HDMI inputs from cameras, and the brand-new £654/$595 AtemMini Pro, which has even more features. The Mini has a two-channel audio mixer and can go straight into your computer for streaming via a webcam-out socket, so essentially your computer ‘sees’ it as a webcam. The Mini Pro has farmore output options, such as the recording of streaming data to USB flash drives and direct streaming output via Ethernet and HDMI. For larger productions, you could move up to the Atem Television Studio HD for £899/$995, which is an eight-channel SDI and HDMI switcher with ten-channel audio mixing and a small screen on the front. You then connect your computer to the Atemusing an Ethernet cable orWi-Fi, and use the Atem software on your screen as the switching software. ThebiggerAtem units are very sensitive to frame rates and resolutions, so all your input cameras need to be the set to the same. You may have to use a separate format converter device if you use different cameras that can’t be set tomatch. But theMini automaticallyscales video inputs to make things easier. However, the cheaper AtemMini doesn’t have multiple camera viewing outputs, so you can’t have a screen with all the outputs and select the one
multicamera view, you need the bigger and pricier units. This multiview function is now available on the AtemMini Pro if you plug it into an external monitor via HDMI. The AtemMini range also lets you store up to 20 preset images for you to switch to, such as holding pages or titles. For graphics, you can do that in your streaming software such as OBS, but you can also upload them to the AtemMini as PNG files with a transparent background. Other options include the Roland V-1HD, which has four HDMI inputs, a full 12-channel audio mixer and two HDMI outputs, all for £899/$995. Roland has a whole range of similar models at different prices and specs. Of course, managing multiple cameras is not much of an issue if you’re in a nice, warmstudio or indoor locationwith plenty of power sockets and reliable Wi-Fi for steaming. You will need to invest in some lengthy cables and gaffer tape to make sure everything is safe, and then factor in the time to set it all up. You need to ensure all your cameras are set to the same white-balance and manage exposure carefully. And ideally you want some way of talking to your camera operators during the shoot to direct them. Some of the very high-end systems have this talkback feature built in, but most don’t. Planning, communication and fallback options are crucial. Don’t forget: when broadcasting live, there are no second chances. “For a truly professional production, it would be best to run multiple cameras”
6. PICK YOUR STREAMING PLATFORM
Although Facebook Live and YouTube are the most popular
wide-broadcast sites, the biggest player in professional streaming is Livestream, which is owned by Vimeo. Livestream is just one of the companies that you can sign up to that will provide the technology to take your video signal and broadcast it on the net. Livestream can handle massive events with over one million simultaneous viewers, and can stream to computers, tablets and phones at the same time. It can also handle the front end, which allows your audience to log in and watch the footage either for free or paid for. And for a working professional, that could be something to add to your services for clients. For example, sporting events or music performances can be streamed live to a specialist audience for a subscription or one- off fee. Your client can share the revenue with you, or pay you a fee for providing the service. You could charge for livestreaming a wedding, for example, password-protected so only invited guests from around the world could watch. And now many companies want to launch products and services to a worldwide audience, for which they will pay handsomely for professional results. And you can also edit the live footage afterwards into something more slick, so the content can live on and be hosted for all to see. Pick the right streaming platform and there are lots of business opportunities.
ABOVE The Blackmagic Design Atem series is one of the best units for easy streaming and is very affordable
23
SUMMER 2020 PRO MOVIEMAKER
Powered by FlippingBook