32 ROUND TABLE Remote Studios
SHUTTLEWORTH:WHATARE THEREMOTEPRODUCTIONCHALLENGESWESHOULDBEAWAREOF? WHATKINDOF ENGINEERINGSUPPORTWILL THISREQUIRE FROMOURPRODUCTIONTEAMS?
GIDEON FERBER: Audio delays and feedback are one issue – when the talent is not in the same facility as the studio and the machine room, there will be a need to add audio delay to match to the graphics delay. Not a big problem, but something to keep in mind. Also it would be good for the talent to see a feedback of themselves in the virtual studio to better understand the limitations on movement. As we are most likely talking about a home office, there probably won’t be a lot of room to move, but still, it is nice to see what the final output looks like. LIAM HAYTER: The biggest challenge is always connectivity between your presenters and the production centre. Ideally you want a high-bandwidth,
uncontended line. There is nothing worse than throttle data affecting the quality of your incoming feeds. It’s the single most important thing when it comes to remote production. IAN HUDSON: Broadcast equipment is very complex. If problems arise, they can be difficult to identify. For your set- up, it would help if the manufacturers can access their equipment remotely to perform diagnostics. The system you install should have the facility to provide backup streams that you can easily switch to, supported by bonded cellular, for instance. Using ten items from ten different manufacturers means you need to first identify which piece of equipment is causing the problem, then
get the support from that manufacturer. We’ve all be in the situation where the software vendor blames the hardware, the hardware vendor wants to know what else it’s plugged into and suggests it could well be that that’s causing the problem. For live broadcast, you also need the lowest latency possible. Packet loss is a fact of life when streaming, but there are technologies to minimise loss. Systems like Secure Reliable Transport (SRT) from Haivision or Zixi’s Video Solutions Stack do an exceptional job, even with very poor internet connections. Finally, your production team, working from home, must be able to control, interrogate and manage the system from a simple interface, ideally a web-based user interface accessible via a standard browser.
SHUTTLEWORTH: HOWCANRICHLIVEGRAPHICSCONTENTHELP OUR INTERACTIVITYANDENGAGEMENTWITHAUDIENCES? A VIRTUAL SET IS ACTUALLY EASIER ON THE TALENT, BECAUSE A GREEN-SCREEN BACKDROP REQUIRES LESS STAGING
LIAM HAYTER: Social media integration is always good to have where possible for audience engagement. However, some form of moderation is key. Adding graphics to any production will help with communication, especially those who may be hard of hearing, but also keep variety and expand on conversation points to keep the audience focused. Of course, as with a lot of of creative tools – less can be more; and always be aware that you need just enough, not too much information, in a single graphic. If it can’t be read naturally in the time it’s on- screen, then you’ll overload your audience! DANIEL MALONEY: There are many different models of audience engagement.
You can opt to dedicate a portion of the screen to post social media posts or offer polling questions with real-time graphics of the responses. It does depend on the toolset offered with your production software, but these are definitely interesting ways to enhance a production.
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