SQUARE EYES The cube set-up for one of Mr Beast’s 1-100 videos and the behind-the-scenes team (below)
our camera operator pushes record. They’re much more involved in the process, can give feedback straight away, then I can alter things while still on the farm,” he continues. “It also makes post-production much faster; they can start editing from day one.” More practically, camera-to-cloud technology affords Conrad extra time. If the weather is bad, he can’t delay production. “I have to shoot what and when I can,” he says. “‘The sun always shines on TV’ is our motto.” Art of illusion Whether it’s a potter or policeman, reality TV allows audiences to live in someone else’s shoes. To build an escapist fantasy that is also believably real, “the goal is to get as many people as possible off the set, because they’re just a distraction from the story the viewers want to see”, suggests Paul Richards, chief revenue officer at PTZ Optics. “The magic of reality TV is that the viewer assumes everything they’re watching is happening organically, just as it would for those participants on a normal day,” he continues. But for camera operators and other crew members, ‘we know that’s not entirely true’. As with Mr Beast’s 1-100 videos and Chopper Cops , remotely controlled POV and PTZ cameras “can help remove that extra crew presence”, says Richards, “allowing for a much more natural interaction between members of the cast.” Meanwhile, shows like The Great Pottery Throw Down and Bauer sucht Frau – which stick to a tight schedule – benefit from tools like timecodes and camera to cloud that expedite post-production. Whatever your cup of reality TV tea, there is so much more to it than first meets the eye. Thanks to top-of-the- line production technology, unscripted shows are only continuing to get bigger and better.
high viewership on JOYN, making it successful as both a live broadcast and VOD. ATV’s marketing and creation team manage Bauer sucht Frau ’s advertising campaigns. Besides the opening sequence, they also create promo videos with each farmer, not just to advertise the series, but also to scout out ordinary Austrians who might like to participate. To do this well, the team need high-end production values with rapid turnaround times. Filmed annually in mid-April, Bauer sucht Frau sees 15 farmers seeking love over a ten-day schedule. “After ten days, you have tons of material,” explains Härtlein. “The time between when we’re shooting and when the campaign starts is pretty tight, so we don’t have much time for post. To start this process right away, we decided to use camera to cloud,” he says of the 2024 season. “Atomos was a game changer. We had both the Ninja Ultra and Shogun on the tour. They were connected to the internet via a mobile router with 5G, enabling the camera-to-cloud workflow,” he continues. “We then used Adobe’s Frame.io software,
but camera proxies came from the Atomos device directly into the ProSiebenSat.1 Puls 4 HQ in Vienna.” Bauer sucht Frau is shot largely in remote locations around the Alps. On prior seasons, Conrad sent dailies via physical hard drives. “It took a lot of time, and the editors in the station didn’t know what to expect, so couldn’t give feedback,” he describes. “Now, they get files immediately when
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