Trickbox TV is proud to announce that it has provided a range of outside broadcast services to Eden Sessions. Based at the famous Eden Project site in Cornwall, Eden Sessions is one of the most spectacular outdoor live music events, featuring a series of one-day concerts from world-class artists during June and July 2017, annually.
Trickbox TV, a leading supplier of equipment and services for studio and location multi-camera productions for broadcast, video production, webcasting and live events, has announced that it has provided a range of outside broadcast services to Eden Sessions. Based at the famous Eden Project site in Cornwall, Eden Sessions is one of the most spectacular outdoor live music events, featuring a series of one-day concerts from world-class artists during June and July 2017, annually.
Eden Sessions contracted Trickbox TV to provide a multi camera set-up, including live vision mixing with talkback, tally lights and a 32-foot track, which runs across the front of the stage. The Trickbox kit was installed onsite and remained at the location for the four-week duration of live shows from renowned artists including Bastille, Madness and Van Morrison. The concerts will be shown at a later date on BBC iPlayer.
“We have a lot of experience providing outside broadcast facilities at music venues and festivals across the UK,” says Liam Laminman, Trickbox TV Managing Director. “The pressure is on at these events, organisers have to plan meticulously and they want to know that they are getting the best OB service and ultimately the highest quality material. That is what they get with us.”
Trickbox TV has made a significant investment in 4K production equipment in response to increased demand for large 4K multi-camera production services.
Trickbox TV now has 10 of the 4K MultiDyne camera fiber systems that enable cameras such as Canon C300s or Sony F55 to become ‘system cameras’. The new fibre systems – which are the first to be purchased in the UK – allow Trickbox TV to offer 4K multi-camera production for any kind of production including events spread over wide areas. As well as being part of Trickbox TV’s production service offering, the camera systems are available for dry hire. Trickbox TV also purchased Argosy fibre cable to work with the 4K camera systems.
In addition Trickbox TV has invested in a 4K vision mixer, 4K signal processing equipment, a 4K video router, several file-based recorders and additional multi-camera equipment in order to build a unique, customised 4K PPU (portable production unit), as well as upgrading its existing HD/SD PPUs. The equipment was purchased via CVP.
Liam Laminman, Managing Director, Trickbox TV, said, “As 4K production becomes more prevalent and demand increases, it made sense for us to invest in an end-to-end 4K workflow that will take us from capture to delivery across a variety of projects, whether we are doing a multi-camera shoot at our studio, or large music festivals.”
Trickbox TV, the broadcast services provider, has provided an HD multi-camera flyaway facility for Flockstars, Liberty Bell’s new primetime knockout competition for ITV that sees a group of eight stars learning to herd sheep (and geese) and take part in sheepdog trials. The 8x30min show is scheduled for TX from Thursday 30th July.
Trickbox TV, the broadcast services provider, has provided an HD multi-camera flyaway facility for Flockstars, Liberty Bell’s new primetime knockout competition for ITV that sees a group of eight stars learning to herd sheep (and geese) and take part in sheepdog trials. The 8x30min show is scheduled for TX from Thursday 30th July.
The competition was filmed over a nine day period at an equestrian centre in East Sussex. Trickbox TV worked with Liberty Bell for two months prior to the shoot to meticulously plan the production workflow, and supplied and installed seven Sony HDC-1500 camera channels, a six-channel EVS server and a flyaway control room, with 10 operational positions. Trickbox TV also supplied on-site technical support staff throughout the production.
Verity Jackson, Line Producer on Flockstars, said, “The Trickbox TV team worked incredibly hard in pre-production and during the set-up to ensure that the production would run without any issues, and it all worked fantastically well in an unusual and complicated location. We greatly appreciated their attention to detail and calmness throughout, it gave us great confidence that the technical side was taken care of.”
Liam Laminman, Managing Director, Trickbox TV, said, “They say never work with animals, but this shoot was a pleasure to work on from start to finish. The core brief was that the production team was producing a studio show that just happened to be an outside broadcast, so we paid specific attention to providing all the features and functions that you’d expect in a studio – everything from the control room lighting, to air-con, to OLED monitors throughout. We’re pleased to have had the opportunity to work with Liberty Bell on such a fun show.”
In the most recent post in this series, we heard from multi-camera Director Ollie Bartlett. In this post, we talk to multi-camera music Director, Phil Jennings.
Phil Jennings
www.philjenningsdirector.co.uk/
What are some of your biggest multi-camera directing achievements?
Working with internationally renowned artists including Kasabian, The Cure, Elton John, Crowded House, Chris Rea, Paul Weller, Noel Gallagher, Suede, Primal Scream, Elbow, Ed Sheeran and Stereophonics in iconic buildings and venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, The Roundhouse, Hackney Empire and the O2 Arena, Koko’s and BBC Maida Vale Studios. Also, working on BBC National History Unit productions such as Springwatch where I filmed puffins, beavers, foxes, kestrels and other birdlife, and Planet Earth Live following black bears in the wilds of Minnesota, USA – not only extremely rewarding but amazing fun too.
What makes a good multi-camera Director?
Passion, creativity, positivity, enthusiasm, patience, diplomacy and good people skills, efficiency, meticulous planning, remaining calm under pressure, respect for the crew. These are all crucial to ensuring that a production runs smoothly and as well as all the above, I love to create an enjoyable working environment where everyone involved can experience a fun and pleasant experience.
What’s the worst thing that’s happened while you’ve been directing a live multi-camera production?
We weren’t actually live but during my first terrestrial TV music production, a fire broke out on set during a performance. I was busy directing the show and all I could hear (in a Basil Fawlty type voice) was “fire…..fire….fire”!
The drummer in the band had placed the cover to one of his drums on a floor lamp which created a lot of smoke but fortunately it was quickly extinguished, and apart from a horrid smell of burnt plastic for the rest of the day, no major damage occurred.
Have you got any advice for anyone looking to become a multi-camera Director?
Self belief. Confidence, rather than arrogance, is important. You need to inspire that confidence in the people around you and respect others’ skills and allow them to flourish.
Most importantly, enjoy what you do – you are in a very privileged position – work hard, be enthusiastic and passionate and this will rub off on others.
In the most recent post in this series, we heard from multi-camera Director Scott Imren. In this post, we talk to studio multi-camera Director, Ollie Bartlett.
Ollie bartlett
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What makes a good multi-camera Director?
There is a lot going on during a studio day and you are the centre point of contact – liaising between all departments and running the show. Therefore composure is vital. And trying to think a few steps ahead – you should be prepared for what could happen and be able to adapt quickly. Of course, good preparation (I love planning) before your shoot day will help you out and give you confidence. Be clear and confident in your communication, build a good team around you, and trust them. A creative eye and a thorough knowledge of the tools at your disposal will help get your ideas on screen.
What’s the worst thing that’s happened while you’ve been directing a live multi-camera production?
I’ve had cameras, mic’s and screens go down while live. But so far, they’ve all had contingencies in place meaning the viewer would be none the wiser – hopefully that won’t have jinxed my next show! It’s about how you react. I like to think that I always have a plan up my sleeve if something goes wrong – if the autocue dies, is there another camera that the presenter can turn to that has autocue on?
Have you got any advice for anyone looking to become a multi-camera Director?
Get as much experience of being in a gallery as possible. I started out as screens vision mixer on shows like The BRITS and the Big Brother Live show – being in those galleries meant I saw a lot of multi-camera TV being made. I learned so much. Shadow as much as you can – do you have any contacts at studio shows? See if you can sit in the gallery and watch. Then take in as much information as you can. Learn as much as you can about the technology you can use as a director. And watch shows and think why the director has done what they have done and what you might have done differently.
In the next post in this series, we talk to multi-camera director, Phil Jennings.
In the most recent post in this series, we heard from multi-camera Director Del Brown. In this post, we hear from Scott Imren to get his advice on being a multi-camera Director.
SCOTT IMREN
What are some of your biggest multi-camera directing achievements?
Certainly the most spectacular event I get to direct is the Goodwood Revival, motorsport’s historic weekend at the famous Sussex track. Take a grid of priceless original racing cars driven by the likes of Sterling Moss and Jackie Stewart, surrounded by mechanics and thousands of spectators all dressed in pre-1966 costume, add a smattering of celebrities and royalty, then have a squadron of Spitfires fly over, and you feel like you’re on the set of a major Hollywood blockbuster with a limitless budget!
We cover all this for the big screens around the event (edited down later for broadcast on ITV) with 12 cameras around the track, one RF camera in the pit lane and the occasional helicopter. Replays, highlights and (very welcome) ad breaks come from EVS, and it’s all produced from an OB truck.
At the other end of the scale, but equally challenging, is a series of chat shows I’ve directed for the BBC called Rendezvous with Zeinab Badawi. Shot on location in Marrakech and Tanzania, sourcing reliable OB kit, sets and locations that are approved by the security services of the Heads of State that were to appear on the show proved to be quite an adventure! We had to bring in a truck and lighting from Nairobi for the Tanzanian shows as the local TV industry was not set up for hire. The Marrakech production was all controlled by a PPU (portable production unit) sent in from the UK.
What makes a good multi-camera Director?
There are two main factors to directing a good show. Firstly, the Director needs to have an acute attention to detail. They are ultimately responsible for everything that appears or is heard in the programme. A camera operator may have framed up a beautiful cutaway of a sports spectator, but if he’s wearing an Adidas hat and the sponsor of the event is Nike then the Executive Producer won’t appreciate the ‘art’ you may think you’ve created.
The other skill I believe is equally important is the ability to create the right environment for the production. Making TV, especially live TV, can be a very stressful undertaking, so a confident Director will set the right atmosphere. I have worked with panicky Directors in the past and their fear spreads throughout the crew and to the presenters which ultimately has a big effect on screen. Confident and calm presenters will come across much better and a crew that trusts the Director will produce their best results. A good multi-camera Director is only as good as their crew so finding and keeping the best operators in the industry on your side is essential.
What’s the worst thing that’s happened while you’ve been directing a live multi-camera production?
During the ad break on the ITV News Channel the presenter’s autocue pedal stopped working. An engineer promptly rushed in to fix it. With just 30 seconds to go before air I insisted that he leave the set and we would control the autocue from the gallery. However, he stayed a little longer, convinced that he’d almost finished fixing it, with me continuing to shout at him to get off the set. At the point I hit the button to fire the opening titles sequence he hit the floor and lay down behind the presenter’s desk. However, the timeline sequence that was now unstoppably underway included a wide shot of the studio that left the viewers wondering why there was a dead, or perhaps sleeping, body in the studio!
Have you got any advice for anyone looking to become a multi-camera Director?
A good multi-camera Director should understand as much about each of the technical roles of making a show as possible so that they can get the best out of each operator and know how to keep a show looking clean on air when technology is doing its best to thwart you. So, start in a multi-skilled studio environment and learn about vision-mixing, sound, lighting, cameras, VT, graphics, floor managing and prompt. You may not become an expert at each of these but some knowledge of what they entail will go a long way when directing.
As budgets in the industry continue to shrink, the occasions where there is one person for each of the jobs above are increasingly rare. So, being multi-skilled will help you get the directing roles, especially if you can also set up a vision mixer and cut your own cameras.
In the next post in this series, we talk to multi-camera director, Ollie Bartlett.
In the most recent post in this series, we heard from Peter Demetris. This time, we catch up with multi-camera Director/Vision Mixer, Del Brown.
DEL BROWN
What are some of your biggest multi-camera directing achievements?
I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some great people. Directing the likes of Joan Rivers, Joan Collins, David Hasselhoff and live music bands including Soul II Soul and Bastille. One of my first jobs when I became freelance over 10 years ago was to be the launch director for ‘Express Shopping Channel’. Six months later I was asked to launch another start up channel called ‘Jackpot TV’. This was intense, hard work, but very exciting, working with an entirely new crew and creating a new format from scratch. Other big achievements include creating my own short course teaching ‘Live Directing and Vision Mixing’, which led to me becoming a university sessional lecturer. Working on the London 2012 Olympics was another great moment.
What makes a good multi-camera director?
Remaining calm under pressure, having a relaxed, confident, in-control personality. The multi-camera director is the captain of the ship and if things start going wrong during a live show, the worst thing you can do is let the crew realise you’re inwardly panicking. A warm, friendly personality and a good sense of humour also go a long way. This can help relax a tense presenter and engage a tired crew.
Having a background in technical operations enables the director to have a good overall understanding of his or her crew and their roles. Being able to confidently speak their language and understand their limitations, results in a crew that feel relaxed in your company.
Being presenter-aware, reading their body language and anticipating their needs whilst they are in front of the camera, also helps make a good director. Presenters aren’t able to tell you what is wrong or tell you what they need when the red light is on, so a director that is keeping a close eye on them the whole time will quickly gain the respect and trust of the talent.
Being concise and tight with time is another key skill. A director that can bring everything together in as few takes as possible, avoiding tiring out both talent and crew.
What’s the worse thing that’s happened whilst you’ve been directing a live multi-camera production?
I’ve been fairly lucky in my career so far and not had anything go terribly wrong. In my early days of directing, I’ve had situations when cameras have died on-air during a live show. Microphones have failed half way through a live interview. VT machines haven’t run, or we’ve accidentally played out the wrong VT. As you get more experienced, you learn how to cope, avoid or best cover these tricky unpredictable technical problems.
But one event that does remain with me was when I was directing a live show and the presenter was talking to a viewer during a live phone in. The subject matter wasn’t particularly sensitive, but something the caller said obviously touched a nerve with our host who suddenly became overcome and burst into tears live on-air. My first instinct was to take the presenter out of vision and quickly go to a break. The pro that she was, during the break she touched up her make up and went on with the show.
Do you have any advice for anyone looking to become a multi-camera director?
Drawing on my own experience, I would advise anyone who wants to get into multi-camera directing to learn their craft in the technical roles first. Make sure you’ve actually operated a studio camera, mixed live studio sound, experienced live racking as a vision controller and have a basic knowledge of lighting. Get some experience of editing, putting pictures together, working out shots, see what transitions work and what don’t. These are all good skills to draw on when sat in a gallery looking at five studio cameras, deciding the best way to shoot an interview or live band.
A good broad mix of experience will give you the confidence when thrown in the deep end and asked to direct a subject or genre you’re not overly familiar with. I remember the first time I was asked to vision mix live sports, it was new to me and I wasn’t sure how well I’d cope. But within minutes, I quickly realised the subject matter wasn’t important, it was all about delivering a professional clean show.
A thin line separates arrogance and confidence and the multi-camera director will get the best out of their talent and crew if he or she walks on the right side of it.
In the next post in this series, we talk to multi-camera director, Scott Imren.
In part 1 of this series, we met music multi-camera Director, James Russell. In this post, we talk to multi-camera studio Director, Peter Demetris.
PETER DEMETRIS
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What are some of your biggest multi-camera directing achievements?
I’ve been a multi-camera director for many years (I started at just 22 years young) and have been fortunate to work on many wonderful productions. Recently I directed the Nickelodeon Skills Awards for two years running. Not so long ago I was a studio director on ITV’s Daybreak, and before that GMTV, and back in 2003 I directed the Sharon Osbourne Show for ITV daytime. In 2010, I directed Embarrassing Bodies Live, which won a BAFTA Craft Award. I was one of 4 key members of the production team.
Many of the biggest productions I directed were back in my former home of Australia where I was lucky to direct Australia’s most popular music show, Saturday Morning Live, and a nightly, high rating talk show, Tonight Live with Steve Vizard. However, my biggest achievement probably remains the Australian Music Awards, hosted by Pamela Anderson. It was a 14 camera live production with over 13 music performances and a similar number of awards. We had a remote studio in London for overseas winners (Kylie Minogue, Peter Andre, East 17 etc.) and it holds the rare accolade of commandeering just about every moving light in the country at the time!
What makes a good multi-camera director?
To be a good multi-camera director you should posses a thorough understanding of every aspect of studio production. That means being across lighting, staging, sound, cameras, graphics, vision mixing, wardrobe, make up, special effects and floor management. To be a great multi-camera director you need to have excellent leadership skills, be very organised, have good time management and most importantly get to know your crew, because without the team on your side you are going nowhere.
What’s the worse thing that’s happened whilst you’ve been directing a live multi-camera production?
The worst thing that happened to me while I was directing a live multi-camera production was back in 2003 on RI:SE, a breakfast programme for Channel 4. I had decided to stop using a big video wall as a back drop to the news, and instead turned the camera to face the glazed wall of the studio gallery with the monitor stack visible behind the presenter perched on the edge of a desk. I like to stand whilst directing and was acutely aware that I could be seen behind newsreader Zora Suleman so during the news made an effort to stand to one side and kept my movements to a minimum so as not to draw attention. One morning, during the Iraq war, we were planning to go live to a Sky correspondent who I was assured was ready and waiting for the item. At 8am, after a very busy opening sequence, I looked up and suddenly noticed that the reporter was smoking a cigarette and didn’t even have his ear piece in – just as the presenter was linking to him! Cue much waving of arms, pointing and quite a bit of shouting in the gallery to bring the programme back on track, as Zora apologised and calmly went on to the next item. The following morning the Telegraph published a review of RI:SE where they noticed the ‘dancing, pointing man’ behind the newsreader and declared it one of the better parts of the show. I was of course mortified, but the Executive Producer Henrietta Conrad loved it and said, “carry on doing what you do and don’t worry about being in the back of shot!”
Do you have any advice for anyone looking to become a multi-camera director?
Don’t be in a hurry. You have a lot to lose if you jump in at the deep end without gaining the necessary experience in all departments of studio work, and a lot more to gain by waiting until the time is right.
In the next post in this series, we talk to multi-camera director, Del Brown.
Directing for multi-camera is a different discipline to directing traditional single camera productions. Television multi-camera directors not only have to handle directing multiple camera operators, floor managers, presenters, sound operators, VT and graphics operators, but they also have to direct a vision mixer, and in some cases, they might even have to vision mix themselves! It’s one of the toughest roles in the industry and we take our hat off to any multi-camera directors out there!
We caught up with some of the industries hottest multi-camera directors to get their take (excuse the pun) on being a multi-camera director. In this post, we talk to multi-camera music director, James Russell.
JAMES RUSSELL
https://www.jamesrusselldirector.com/
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What are some of your biggest multi-camera directing achievements?
I have been really lucky in my career to work on both big scale events and smaller more intimate gigs; I’ve been equally proud of the large outdoor spectaculars as I am of the smaller, carefully crafted shoots that I also cover. In that respect it is really difficult to pick which I feel are my best or biggest achievements, but I have to say Kasabian Summer Solstice from last summer is definitely a highlight… An incredible band and 70,000 fans totally getting lost in the moment was amazing to capture. The fact it was a BluRay release but also a cinema event with a Leicester Square premiere was a buzz for us all too! In the same light however, the Dubai World Cup Opening Ceremony a few years ago was an honour to direct also… I need to mention Morrissey shot in Hollywood High School, just because I’m a fan and the opportunity to film such an icon doesn’t come along often!
What makes a good multi-camera Director?
I think there are many factors that makes a good multi camera director… Tenacity, a sense of calm under pressure and the ability to think on your feet, especially in a live environment, are paramount. You need to be able to lead and take charge of the task at hand but team work is so so important. Having people around you who you trust is essential and we all work together to achieve the end result. Understanding who will be watching and knowing who the consumer will be is a good skill to have. You always want to put your own stamp of creativity on any project but filming a rock n roll band for a DVD as opposed to an intimate classical studio performance for TV will have different audiences and therefore the style of directing will reflect this, and you need to be aware that you are not just making this for yourself but for the audience and fans.
What’s the worst thing that’s happened while you’ve been directing a live multi-camera production?
In a live environment or even in a pre record many things can go wrong, many of which are out of your control. I’ve been very lucky as of yet (fingers crossed!!) but one instance that springs to mind was during this big outdoor event when one of my lead camera close-ups went down. When something like that happens – first and foremost, don’t panic. The operators and team I work with are fantastic and we covered the shot with another camera whilst not killing the ‘moment of live’. The camera was back up and running within minutes and I don’t think anyone noticed, so we got away with it fortunately! But that is a brilliant example of teamwork and trust amongst the team….
Have you got any advice for anyone looking to become a multi-camera Director?
I think my advice to anyone wanting to multi camera direct is to learn your trade and every aspect of it. Understanding as best you can what each member of the team does really helps… It’s easy, for example, to ask for different camera shots but in reality it takes time to repo positions and equipment so be realistic in your requests. All the crew will bend over backwards to try and deliver what is required but you have to be realistic with what you ask for in a live environment, especially if you haven’t had decent rehearsal time. Therefore have trust in your crew, they will carry you and implement your vision as best as possible. Be prepared for any eventuality because live is live – anything can and often does happen, so adapt to the moment and don’t get stuck in one train of thought.
In the next post in this series, we talk to multi-camera director, Peter Demetris.
Trickbox TV planned, installed and supported multicamera flyaway facilities for ITV’s Good Morning Britain show that was broadcast live from Edinburgh for the day of the Scottish Referendum results.
As well as the historic nature of the event, it was also the first time that Good Morning Britain had produced an entire four-hour show outside of the London studio, so it was extremely important to get things right.
The Trickbox TV team provided full ‘studio’ facilities on the roof of a city centre hotel, with three Sony HDC-1500R camera channels – including one on a jib to save space – and radio mics, presenter in-ear monitoring and talkback, as well as engineering support. The flyaway unit was built in a hotel room on the floor below, connected to ITN’s uplink facilities and a return feed for the final output. The feed was sent back to the Good Morning Britain studio where VTs and GFX were added. The team was also on standby for an additional four hour broadcast in the event of a Yes vote.
Alice Gairdner, Senior Production Manager, Good Morning Britain, said, “Trickbox TV adapted well to the fluid brief and answered my many questions prior to the event. On the day, everything went according to plan. They worked very hard and couldn’t have done more for us – I would definitely book Trickbox TV again.”
Liam Laminman, Managing Director, Trickbox TV, said, “We were delighted to work with the Good Morning Britain team on this project. It was rather an early start but the adrenalin of providing critical facilities on such an exciting day, and being at the heart of the action, made it a definite highlight of our year so far.”