46 THE LIVE LIFE Children’s Hospital
HAPPINESS IN THE HOSPITAL Star Studio produces and streams live video content to a very important audience – the kids staying at a Minneapolis children's hospital Words By Phil Rhodes
ost kids do not like to be in hospital,” says Ben Diger, with huge understatement. “It’s not a fun experience, and we’re trying
shows to the hospitals, and he started with a show called Electronic Get Well Card .” In late 2006, amid funding changes, the hospital’s family services department decided to reboot the TV service and the current incarnation of Star Studio was born. “There’s a couple of bingo shows, a variety game show called the Kids Clubhouse where the kids call in to play games and win prizes. We have a local artist who comes in to do a show called Totally Drawsome , there’s a karaoke show, there’s a singalong show.” THE MAGIC FACTORY The sharp end of production begins with cameras generously donated by Vaddio. Based locally, the company manufactures remote pan, tilt and zoom cameras, and Star Studio uses them at both its studios. “We started off with a bunch of SD cameras and we reached out to them, and
they donated a bunch of robotic cameras. Our main cam is a Vaddio UHD camera and the rest are RoboSHOT 30s and 15s.” Vision mixing is performed using Livestream’s Studio switcher software on a PC custom-built by Medianet and outfitted with Blackmagic SDI I/O hardware. Ten inputs and four outputs are enough to combine camera and graphics feeds, then output the mixed production to a Blackmagic Videohub router. “Because we have a Livestream account, the support for our switcher comes with that, so it’s a no-brainer,” says Ben. “We send that feed to multiple places – a [Blackmagic] Hyperdeck recorder, a computer that records H.264, and a Teradek Cube. The file goes to our site on Vimeo. Right now we’re manually uploading to Vimeo and posting it to our website. About four months ago Vimeo enabled Livestream
to make it as fun as possible so they can forget they’re sick... and be kids again.” Ben is broadcast engineer at Star Studio, which produces live and prerecorded material for patients at the Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota. With bases at the hospital’s two campuses in the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, the organisation now produces a regular schedule of original programming, all of which is made available both via streaming and on a Vimeo channel. The studio’s online activity is a comparatively recent development. “Back in 1978, a guy named Larry Johnson was a security guard here,” says Ben. “He had a camera and wanted to broadcast some
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