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The way we watch TV programmes has shifted massively in recent years, from terrestrial and satellite TV, cable TV and DVDs to streaming on the Internet, with Netflix and Amazon at the forefront. But the revolution isn’t just happening in the big-budget world of TV and films, but also for small productions that can output via the likes of YouTube, Vimeo, Periscope and Facebook Live, for example. Or through more professional services rather than social media-based streamers. This is of huge interest to commercial clients who can live broadcast everything from their sports events to religious services. And they need filmmakers who can shoot and stream events to help them do it, as lots of companies add video streaming to their marketing offering. To highlight this big change, Sony has launched Sony Virtual Production, an on-demand cloud production service that provides a complete production toolset for multiplatform content creation and delivery. It debuted at Red Bull’s Alpenbrevet motorcycle race at Sarnen in Switzerland. The event was live-streamed to social media using only Sony Z90, X200 and X3000 camcorders with an FS5 II as backup and a single laptop. Using wireless transmitters on the cameras, the filmmakers beamed the footage to feed a virtual production switcher hosted in the cloud via Amazon Web Services. A remote operator switched between camera angles and could add logos and graphics. It’s like a full outside broadcast live TV unit with just camcorders and a laptop. 6. STREAMING IS NOT JUST FOR TV
“The switched-on filmmaker who can add live- streaming to their offering can really profit”
the same time, choosing the best mast for the output according to signal strength. In terms of the hardware, the easiest solution is to buy a dedicated camera such as Livestream’s £449/$499 Mevo Plus, which streams video to Facebook Live or Livestream’s platform. This is a basic all- in-one camera that doesn’t really need a skilled operator and is often used for small company presentations. For something more professional, several recently launched pro cameras have built-in streaming technology, such as the new £7496/$6950 Sony Z280 4K camcorder and JVC’s HC900 at £12,300/$13,950. Far cheaper options include the JVC HM660 at £3700/$5495. You can use a regular video camera, via SDI outputs or even HDMI, but these need a separate encoder to package the footage for the various streaming platforms. And for real professional productions using multiple cameras, you need a switcher and someone to run it who can cut between the different camera angles. For a truly robust system, you can splurge on dedicated streaming hardware with its own built-in software, or use software like XSplit Broadcaster, OBS Studio or TelestreamWirecast on your computer. To distribute it, Vimeo’s Livestream is the biggest pro option, but others are available such as Twitch or DaCast which can brand your own channel, or for your client. For more information on streaming, check out our sister magazine FEED . www.feedmagazine.tv
The ability to stream events has been around for years, but now fast broadband and 4G mobile connections mean people can tune in and watch without serious buffering and frustrating drop-outs. And that’s driven the explosion in streaming. The biggest player is Livestream that already has more than 10,000 clients. Its biggest markets are in streaming religion, government and educational institutions – all of whom have money to spend. Livestream is just one of the players that will provide the technology to take your video signal and broadcast it on the net. They can also handle the front end which allows your audience to log in and watch the footage either for free or paid for. The switched-on filmmaker who can add live-streaming to their offering can really profit. And although the lighting, audio and camera skills needed are essentially the same as for shooting regular films, there is a lot to learn in other areas. And of course, there’s no ‘fix it in post’ as everything has to be right first time and tested before you go live. It’s like broadcasting live TV so you ideally need to rehearse what’s going to happen as well as trialling all the technology involved. Such as making sure there is lots of Internet bandwidth to get your HD stream out to the world, which often means a wired Internet connection rather than relying on 4G or Wi-Fi. If there is no wired Internet, there are TV-style solutions that use a device loaded with several 4G SIM cards that broadcast to different cellular masts at
ABOVE The live life – master the ins and outs of live- streaming to add another profit stream to your business.
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PRO MOVIEMAKER AUTUMN 2018
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