In Focus: can UK studios maintain the pace?

Screen Daily

The UK’s studio infrastructure faces unprecedented demand from Hollywood tentpoles and high-end television.

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Pending the outcome of a feasibility study due next spring, a major new UK studio complex — second only in size to Pinewood — could open by 2020. The proposed 17-acre brownfield site in Dagenham, east London, was previously used as a location for Marvel’s Avengers: Age Of Ultron and Doctor Strange as well as BBC crime series New Blood. Barking and Dagenham local borough councils, the Mayor of London’s office and Film London are optimistic that a business case can be made for a public and private-financed, purpose-built production facility spanning up to 300,000 sq ft.

“Demand on the UK’s facilities and infrastructure is constant and increasing, as it has been since the modification of the TV tax credit [to match film’s 25% rebate on expenditure],” says Film London chief executive Adrian Wootton. “We have done extremely well to respond by building new space and liberating [warehouse] space in Bristol, Wales, Yorkshire and Scotland, but we are getting repeat requests from productions wanting to be within the M25. Property in London is at a premium and this site is one of the last big development opportunities for media in the capital.”

Valuable studio space has been lost with the 2014 closure of Teddington Studios, the redevelopment on a smaller footprint of BBC Television Centre (reopening next summer) and the demolition at the end of this year of Fountain Studios in Wembley — all for property development. Hammersmith’s Riverside Studios is also closed for refurbishment until 2018. While it largely catered for TV, the pressure on space has squeezed work elsewhere. Elstree, for example, has taken on a large volume of long-running BBC work including popular reality show Strictly Come Dancing.

“The shortage of stages in the southeast is forcing lower-budget indie features into warehouse buildings that are little more than sheds,” says Andrew Boswell, commercial director of Twickenham Studios. At the same time, high-end TV drama is soaking up capacity on existing soundstages. E!’s The Royals just wrapped season three at 3 Mills Studios; Sony Pictures’ The Halcyon is based at West London Film Studios; ITV’s Victoria is booked into Church Fenton Yorkshire Studios; Bristol’s The Bottle Yard hosts Poldark, having housed Starz’s The White Princess earlier this year; The Collection, Amazon’s period drama about a Paris fashion house, was one of the first shows to land at Pinewood Wales (Pinewood also invested in the show); and Netflix’s The Crown is being shot at Elstree.

“The Crown is shot as a feature, has similar budgets and uses the 15,000 sq ft George Lucas Stage, backlot and other smaller stages,” says Roger Morris, Elstree managing director. “We couldn’t fit in Paddington 2 [Elstree was home to Heyday Films’ 2013 original; the sequel has relocated to Pinewood and Leavesden], and we also couldn’t fit in two other big Hollywood films recently.”

London in demand 

While studios such as Elstree are enjoying the boom, Morris admits there is still a shortage of suitable stages in the M25 London area, “where most clients want to work and where the majority of crew, cast and skills are”.

“Capacity is under pressure and the biggest growth has come from high-end TV drama, which especially benefits the UK’s nations and regions,” says Iain Smith, British Film Commission chair and producer of Mad Max: Fury Road. “Movies need a higher maintenance level [than TV]. They tend to need more specialist crew as well as hotels and other amenities for talent, hence the urge to create a new London studio.”

“We know platforms like Netflix and Amazon would love to place an even more significant percentage of their production in the UK and we know US studios want to shoot more here too,” adds Wootton, who says Film London is being “very proactive and aggressive” about marketing UK infrastructure.

Boswell reports that with “Pinewood and Leavesden being full, combined with the pound to dollar exchange rate, we’re fielding enquiries from large-budget US films when we normally accommodate high-end indies and TV. People are desperate for space.”

Films that may have shot in the UK this year but for lack of space include 20th Century Fox’s Alien: Covenant and Disney’s Thor: Ragnarok. Both rerouted to Australia. Soundstages are absorbed as soon as they come on stream. In Scotland, capacity is more than doubling at Wardpark Studios to accommodate further series of Sony’s Outlander. A similar dynamic is happening in Belfast, where Game Of Thrones has been ensconced since 2010. HBO’s series occupies the 64,000 sq ft Paint Hall and two newer 21,000 sq ft sound stages, as well as the Linen Mill to the south of the city.

Demand has been accentuated by a fall in the pound, making the UK a “bargain bonanza” for US productions, according to Smith. “We had multiple studio feature enquiries for next year following the pound’s drop but we’re too busy to accommodate them,” reports Tom Avison, who runs east London’s 3 Mills Studios, over which there hangs a question mark. Operator London Legacy Development Corporation is mulling over plans to reallocate the 80,000 sq ft site as storage for museums that are due to open up in the Olympic Park. The nearby Dagenham proposal could be a pre-emptive move by Film London to offset such a loss. “The film industry has historically been based in west London yet the natural evolution of London is to the east,” says Avison. “We welcome a new studio since it will entice more crew to base near here.”

Even if all goes to plan, Dagenham will not be up and running for four years. Fortunately, it is not the only development in the works across the UK. Pinewood’s new owner Venus Grafton, which purchased the iconic studio over the summer for $423m (£323m), is pressing ahead with the second phase of a $245m (£200m) expansion. After opening five soundstages totalling 170,000 sq ft this summer, the next stage of development will double its capacity. “We have a masterplan for Shepperton that will optimise the 80-year-old land and facility,” adds Pinewood director of strategy Andrew Smith. “The biggest challenge the UK faces is ensuring that skills — such as set decoration — maintain pace with demand.”

Counter-intuitively, the requirement for physical space is rising as more budget and screen time is invested in VFX for tentpole titles. “We’re seeing the ratio of stage-to-workshop space increasing dramatically,” reports Smith. “Sets are getting bigger and require more build space.”

A 100-foot waterfall was a central feature of the jungle set at Leavesden for Warner Bros’ The Legend Of Tarzan. Seeking to capitalise on the Game Of Thrones halo, Northern Ireland Screen is beginning to market the new 66,000 sq ft North Foreshore Studios developed by the Belfast Harbour Commission for $24.5m (£20m). High-speed internet pipe Project Kelvin provides access to the US east coast for studios wanting to screen dailies. “The UK reached a tipping point a few years ago where there just wasn’t enough bespoke stage space to keep pace with the rise in TV drama,” says Andrew Reid, head of production, Northern Ireland Screen. “The Harbour Commission has had the foresight and confidence to address that demand.”

Scotland booms

Scotland attracted a record $56m (£45.8m) shooting spend in 2014 [the latest year for which figures are available]. Outlander alone contributed to growth of around 40% in the annual production spend in the country. “The need for more dedicated studio space is pressing,” says Smith. “The Scottish government and Creative Scotland have been very cautious despite attempts by many of us to persuade them of the opportunity they’re in danger of missing. Ten years ago, Scotland had the biggest amount of media activity outside the southeast. Now it’s lost market share to Cardiff, Bristol, Northern Ireland and Manchester/Leeds at the time of greatest opportunity.”

Planning permission for a $171m (£140m) Pentland Studios development outside Edinburgh is still with the Scottish government. Approval for the 86-acre site could mean construction of five stages totalling 130,000 sq ft, plus an exterior water tank and a film academy, begins early next year.

Hemmed in by residential property and rail tracks, Twickenham Studios is unable to expand beyond its 15,000 sq ft, three-stage capacity. However, Twickenham’s management is investing in picture post to match the site’s established audio facilities (Alien: Covenant will be sound-mixed there) and investigating opportunities of managing external studios either in the UK or abroad under the Twickenham brand. “We do need more stages and we’re in advanced discussion with an option in the UK,” reveals Boswell.

He does not exclude Liverpool, where developer Capital & Centric is spending $36.7m (£30m) on a 110,000 sq ft complex. The first phase of the project, including the soundstage, is likely to begin early 2017 according to Liverpool Film Office, which also says Capital & Centric will invite bids to run it.

Booked in the UK

Warner Bros Studios Leavesden: Ready Player One (dir. Steven Spielberg);  Justice League (dir. Zak Snyder); Paddington 2 (dir. Paul King);  Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2

Pinewood: Star Wars: Episode IX; Paddington 2

Longcross Film Studios: Kingsman: The Golden Circle (dir. Matthew Vaughn)

3 Mills Studios: Possum (dir. Matthew Holness); Untitled Wes Anderson Project

Twickenham: Victoria and Abdul (dir. Stephen Frears); Untitled AA Milne Project (dir. Simon Curtis); Finding Your Feet (dir. Richard Longcraine).

Smart Cities put the KSA on the map

AV Magazine

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In industrial, educational, resorts, financial or residential, new opportunities are beginning to materialise for the entire AV industry in the KSA, says Adrian Pennington.

The Middle East boasts innovation, resources and a favourable trade location with fast-growing and high-yield markets. The AV market specifically is on track to grow at one of the world’s fastest rates, increasing by 76 per cent from $1.57 billion in 2012 to $2.76 billion this year, according to InfoComm.

“The growing digital native generation is driving Middle Eastern organisations to raise the bar on AV, resulting in an increase in investment of the highest quality technology – from HD displays to projectors, digital signage, lighting, sound systems, media recording, streaming and webcasting technology, virtual check-in kiosks and security systems,” reports Eleuterio Fernandes, MEA sales director, Exterity.

Stability

Despite political turmoil in many areas, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has remained quite stable and investors view it as an attractive place to do business, largely due to economic diversification, market liberalisation and a growing private sector.

“Construction and oil and gas remain the centre of investment and have contributed to the strong growth that has consistently been taking place in the education, hospitality, healthcare, transport and military sectors,” says Fernandes.

Through its visualisation and 3D capabilities along with projection, the oil and gas sector is one that Christie is well known in, supplying its products for a range of environments from meeting rooms, training rooms and auditoriums to visualisation and exploration centres.

The country’s Eastern Province hosts the energy, oil and gas developments that are the large drivers of AV, while the western region reaps the benefits of seasonal upticks in AV activity, particularly during the months leading up to ‘Hajj’, the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca (Makkah). The Saudi government mandates particular technical decorum requirements for all commercial businesses such as malls, hotels and airports.

“Deputy Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman has recently announced a vision for the future – known as Vision 2030 – where Saudi is looking at ways to reduce its reliance on oil. There are many facets to the vision including the improvement of social health and well-being, determined and long term economic reform and prosperity and its ability to draw upon its culture, heritage and importance to the global and Islamic community as the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques,” says Joe Graziano, Christie’s regional sales manager. Saudi intends to increase its Umrah visitors alone from eight million to 30 million by 2030. “This will need hotels, infrastructure, a more effective and efficient transport system, healthcare facilities, places to eat and visit,” he adds.

“Retail space is expanding and retailers (local and international brands) are entering the market and competing hard to grab market share and increase customer experience so the opportunities are there,” reports Fawzi Mushtaha, country manager – KSA and Bahrain, NEC.

“The Saudi government is keen to attract companies to operate in the Kingdom,” states Clear-Com’s regional sales manager, Samer Mouwanes. Clear-Com works through Saudi distributor HavPro for the live market and systems integrators such as First Gulf Company, Saudi Media Systems and Al Faysaliyah. “There are opportunities for growth and large steps forward have been made,” adds Mouwanes. “However, there is still a lot more to be done in order for companies to make further investments in the region, especially as neighbouring Abu Dhabi and Dubai are advanced in infrastructure and much more open to western culture.”

Unsurprisingly, the Kingdom is very conservative. Music cannot be played in public areas, such as restaurants and shopping malls. However, many high end residences have installed their own private entertainment facilities with extensive state-of-the-art AV equipment, according to Mouwanes.

Economic pressures

Recent economic pressures have “definitely impacted the market” according to Sennheiser’s Mig Cardamone, sales and marketing director, Middle East. Spending has been curtailed especially in AV and entertainment: “Sales discussions have to be focused around the tangible benefits and the long term positive impact of the implementation.”

“Saudi always used to account for 30 per cent of sales in the Middle East but when the oil prices dropped heavily, the market came under pressure and sales went down,” confirms Crestron’s regional director, Vincent Philippo. “Recently we see signs the market is picking up again.”

AV education

Naturally, AV expertise varies significantly from country to country within the Middle East: “Education in the region is improving all the time and Saudi has some of the largest and most modern learning facilities anywhere in the world – awash with projection, flat panel displays, processing, collaboration tools, LED displays and every other AV component you can imagine,” maintains Christie’s Graziano.

“In Saudi, we emphasise education, both for partners as well as customers,” says Cardamone. Sennheiser conducts regular training days and ‘Sound Academy’ sessions. “This is to raise awareness about the kinds of solutions that are available in the market and the various benefits they can offer addressing challenges that might sometimes be overlooked. We also ensure that we cater to both end users and consultants as well as channel players, rental companies and installers.”

The biggest local vertical Crestron sells to is education. Indeed 90 per cent of Saudi universities boast Crestron in the classrooms. Education has been earmarked as a focal point in the country’s last budget, according to Sennheiser, with a number of institutions using advanced AV solutions to create a more dynamic and modern learning environment.

The Kingdom’s 94,000 mosques use the latest digital audio systems for the reproduction and broadcast of daily prayers. A notable Sennheiser project is at the Masjid al-Haram where the firm undertook a complete upgrade of the Mecca Mokabariah facility’s microphones to the latest digital models.

According to Hassan Alajmi, managing director, Labiib Solutions the most challenging issue is human resources and education in the industry. “AV is not taught in schools and the public doesn’t have a great understanding on the quality of different AV systems,” he says. “While we sell and install some of the best products and AV services in the world, the public is yet to understand the true difference between a poor and high quality installation.”

He elaborates: “One of the most important things to ensure in any project in Saudi Arabia is to understand who your client is and what their needs and exceptions are,” says Alajmi. “In Saudi Arabia, the young people make up a large majority of the population, but the money is with the elders so there can be a conflict of interests between the ‘money payer’ and the younger generation. It is important to find the right balance between the different clientele and understand whose needs you are meeting. In addition, Saudi Arabia is a very social country so many companies rely on word of mouth and good feedback to source new work and projects. It is therefore vital to provide outstanding customer service to all clients.”

Similar to the rest of the Middle East region, cultural sensibilities are important, notes Marco Fornier, regional sales manager, Barco. “The real key is to be close to the customer all the time, especially after sale.”

Barco has been present in Saudi for over 30 years basing an office in Riyadh since 2015. “Our go-to-market approach has been to establish long term relationships with trusted and reputable local partners to provide proactive support,” says Fornier.

The KSA’s sheer size presents a logistical challenge for sales and support, pre and post sales services.  ”Cultures vary from one area to another and it is important to manage knowledge transfer and to educate the clients and channels. It is challenging given the scale and the deployable resource,” advises Mushtaha.

The Kingdom is investing billions of dollars to build four new ‘Economic Cities,’ referred to as Smart Cities. The move is an attempt to diversify by moving GDP away from hydrocarbons (oil accounts for 94 per cent of the country’s export revenue).

Smart cities

Smart Cities are expected to support this trend, as well as create a knowledge economy – one that will provide KSA’s younger population with the skills required for professional and senior-level jobs. The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) expects the strategy to contribute US$150 billion to GDP and create more than one million jobs by 2020.

Of the four projects Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) is one of the most ambitious construction projects in the world. It is hoped the $100 billion (€89 billion) city will be a magnet for global business and tourism to rival Dubai, home to two million people and one of the world’s biggest deep water ports intended to compete with China for manufacturing and India for logistics. It is not expected to be complete until 2035.

Opportunities for AV business at KAEC and others may, however, be being hoovered up by “low budget Chinese brands” in Philippo’s words.

Mobile communications firm Nokia and local mobile network operator Zain KSA are joining forces to help transform Jeddah into a Smart City. They will apply advanced networking technologies in the Internet of Things (IoT) and the cloud to connect and manage a wide array of devices, vehicles, homes and applications. Use of these technologies is intended to improve municipal services, enhance the business climate in Jeddah and create a better quality of life for the city’s nearly three million residents.

The plan includes the rollout of 5G, the fifth generation mobile network which promises speeds up to 1,000 times faster than current 4G networks and with negligible latency.

Tourism

Saudi Arabia has a distinctive tourism landscape and Makkah is at the core of this for both local and international travellers. Hajj visit numbers are expected to exceed five million by 2025. Infrastructure under development, such as the expansion of Jeddah’s airport which is expected to increase capacity to 80 million passengers by 2035, will further boost pilgrim numbers. KAEC is also being developed as a major religious tourist destination – targeting the 10 million Saudis that go abroad each year to enjoy world destinations.

“There are plans to make the Kingdom a tourist destination in the next decade which will bring more diverse business for the AV industry,” says Mouwanes, citing theme park installation opportunities.

Exterity says it has been particularly busy in and around Jeddah – a major settling ground for tourists and visitors during Hajj – with the developments of over 30 hospitals and 40 luxury hotels.

Case study: Fair mapping

Held recently in the Saudi Arabian coastal city of Jeddah, the International Book Fair attracted 440+ international publishers from 25 countries. Running throughout the show was a spectacular projection mapping installation measuring 165m wide by 11.5m tall – the work of BrightStar Events a local event engineering and management company and requiring three Christie Roadie HD+35K and eight Roadster HD20K units positioned at 15m intervals opposite a pavilion structure.

The projected content was inspired by the history of Arabian calligraphy. The complete show ran for an hour with a 3D mapping segment that ran for almost six minutes.

Case study: University solves reverb

The Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University enrolls 35,000 students in a campus that spans across Saudi Arabia’s capital city. Most of the university’s multiple lecture halls and auditoriums on both the men’s and women’s campuses struggled with intelligibility and reverberation issues, so a massive retrofit of the school’s sound reinforcement systems was called for. Spain-based engineering and architectural firm TYPSA recommended systems based around Renkus-Heinz ICONYX digitally steerable line array loudspeaker systems. Local Riyadh contractor/integrator Baud Telecom Company was the installing contractor.

Going into orbit: Digital Sputnik

British Cinematographer

In 2006, young Estonian director Kadri Kõusaar was starting to film her first feature and turned to the Kallas brothers, then running Tallinn-based kit supplier Duograaf, to source a technical solution. 

https://britishcinematographer.co.uk/digital-sputnik/

“We wanted to shoot at least 2K digital raw,” recalls Kaur Kallas. “My brother, Kaspar, remembered he'd seen a strange camera head in a faraway corner at NAB called Silicon Imaging SI2K. We decided to take a plunge and order one. What we got was a working prototype without a recorder and a non-functioning lens mount. This started our journey of building custom solutions for the film industry.”

If they could connect two SI2K camera heads to a recorder the Kallas' realised they'd have a small and mobile 3D camera system. By 2010 they had designed one weighing only 7kg without battery, while the competition weighed in at 35kg or more. It caught the eye of director Werner Herzog and DP Peter Zeitlinger who selected it to film his acclaimed 2010 3D documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams. 

It was around this time that the brothers began taking LED technology seriously. 

“We felt that the market would be ready in a few years to replace HMI and tungsten with LED lights and the technology was becoming available,” says Kaur Kallas. From 2010 the majority of our effort went into perfecting a LED lighting solution for replacing HMI.” 

Their solution was a system designed to be modular, lightweight, and energy efficient while maintaining high colour precision and flicker-free dimming. The individual modules are grouped to light fixtures and controlled by either iPad or DMX, allowing users to change a number of parameters like colour temperature. 

“Digital cameras see the world differently than our eyes,” he explains. “All CMOS chip-based cameras see RGB Primaries but they do not see the full spectrum. Based on that we selected RGB LEDs that emit light at the sweet spot of CMOS sensor RGB Primaries. We then create white light by mixing together RGB at high output which in turn gives the CMOS chips more chromatic information than traditional lights. Aesthetically, this means that the camera is seeing more colour depth and the images coming out of the camera are more saturated.”

Products range from the DS 1 powered by V-mount batteries for run and gun style to the DS 6 Frames, presented as a replacement for Dino lights or 2-4KW HMIs. It also manufacturers accessories including the DS Beam which turns six DS3 systems into a multiple fixture beam that can be attached to a truss.

“Our philosophy is to have the light module as a building block and use it in different configurations,” he says.

After the launch of its first product, DS3+, in 2013, it took about a year to get it into the hands of the right people; “those who could see the potential of light grading and how it can improve their workflow and the final image,” says Kallas.

Per D. Fasmer joined the team as head of sales in the U.S, concentrating his efforts on demoing and testing for leading DOPs. All this paid off in 2015 when the firm were selected to be the main lighting source for Independence Day Resurgence (Markus Förderer BVK) quickly followed by Star Wars: Rogue One (Greig Fraser ACS ASC), Queen of the Desert (again for Herzog and Zeitlinger) and Ghost in the Shell (Jess Hall BSC),

“It is definitely not easy to get access to high level professionals,” he says. “It helped that Peter Zeitlinger was teaching at cinematography in Munich and Markus Fröderer was his student a while ago. Additionally, Greig Fraser also knows Markus well and through these recommendations we got invited to the camera test on Independence Day Resurgence.”

Other major productions using DS kit include The Neon Demon (DOP: Natasha Braier); Jason Bourne (Barry Akroyd BSC), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (Harry Braham BSC), Kong: Skull Island (Larry Fong ASC), Fast 8 (Stephen F. Windon ACS, ASC), Alien Covenant (Dariusz Wolski ASC) and Bright (Roman Vasyanov ACS).

“We are fast becoming a 'go-to' light source on many high budget productions. The light grading capabilities of our fixtures have played a major role in getting our fixtures on these jobs. Being able to grade the light to achieve the look you want instead of grading the image is not only a huge timesaver on set but also allows the cinematographer to achieve the desired ambience already on the set, thereby dramatically reducing post production requirements.”

He claims that if a production is shot entirely with LED lights it could result in power savings up to 85 per cent. 

“When using RGBW LEDs we have the possibility to create white balance light from 1500K up to 10000K plus we can mix in any primary or secondary colour,” he says. “Digitally controlled RGBW LED based lighting platform will make lighting into an exact science. Mobility and modularity will make it possible to shift the focus back to content creation instead of infrastructure management.”

The firm's manufacturing base is in Tallinn, Estonia which employs 22 people. LEDs are manufactured by Cree in the US. It mans showrooms in Stockholm and Amsterdam with the recently opened office in Sherman Oaks, LA. Rental partners include MBS Lighting at Pinewood in UK, Atlanta and Los Angeles; Cinelease, Xytech in New Zealand, The Netherlands' Het Licht, Norway Dasglys and Miracle Worker in Poland.

“All our fixtures are manufactured in EU according to our specs,” he says. “We do the final assembly, calibration and testing in-house to make certain that all the fixtures that we send out are up to our high quality standards. 

The lightweight and modular build of the equipment has found novel applications. A partnership with Intuitive Aerial and Swedish DP Simon Sjörén in 2014 filmed skiiers at nighttime shot by a Red Epic mounted on one drone, lit with DS LEDs on a second drone. The DS Heli System demonstrated a technique that might be used in a multitude of night exterior situations where a heavy toplight is needed for wider angled framings. 

While Digital Sputnik's focus has been on high profile features, "since they have the highest demand on technology" it is starting to look more at lower budget features and television drama already scoring success with True Detective and Hawaii Five-0 using its systems.

“Our focus is also enhancing the user experience and we are currently developing a new iOS-based management software which would allow for smaller productions to have the same level of central management which has been possible up to now only with a dedicated DMX controller board.”

Drones come of age

Broadcast

If all the buzz that attended drones last year seems to have shifted onto VR, that’s symptomatic of how quickly unmanned aerial filming has become commonplace. It’s also significant that innovation in the sector is incremental rather than dramatic.

http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk//launch.aspx?eid=17461427-ce70-49d9-a9f8-84e617bf8d0a

For most film, TV and commercials filming requiring high quality but heavier camera/lens packages like Red Dragon, Sony F55, Canon C300 MKII, Phantom Flex4K or Alexa Mini, basic drone tech remains a trade-off between weight, power and flexibility.

The Aerigon rig from Sweden’s Intuitive Aerial remains one of the most popular with updates to the Mark II model including new image stabilisation technology for full size pro cinema cameras with lightweight zoom lenses such as the Angenieux Optimo 15-40 and Canon 15.5-47.

Competitors include the Shotover Camera Systems’ U1, launched in April, and Freefly Systems’ Alta 8. The former features a gimbal which can be detached from the rig and used as a standalone gyro-stabilised platform for mounting on cranes and almost anything that moves.

Freefly’s octocopter, released in May, has upped the payload over the Alta 6 from 13kg to 18kg (6.2kg of which is taken up by the weight of the craft, giving a 11.9 working payload). A camera can be switched between a conventional underslung configuration to a mount where the camera sits above the rotors for up tilted shots.

U.S. start-up xFold’s Cinema rig can be configured with 8 or 12 motors and propellers and has a payload capacity of 20kg. What’s unique about this rig, at the heavy payload end of the market, is a design that can fold down to a third of its full size for ease of transport.

All these models include redundant flight control and battery systems which are important safety features.

Despite this, some aerial filming companies prefer to build their own UAVs in order to fulfil client demands to fly over congested areas with more complex flight patterns while earning a Operating Safety Case from the CAA.

Flying Pictures says its bespoke 12 motors and 12 propeller UAV with dual (master and reserve) controllers is unique in the redundancy it offers (it has an OSC for just 10m separation in congested areas).

Camera manufacturers are answering the call to reduce the size and weight of their cameras - Red’s Weapon is built from carbon fibre, for example - but the glass used in lenses remains the heaviest onboard item.

The more that the power to weight ratio can be reduced (while retaining redundancy), the greater the range of lenses from anamorphic to short zooms can be offered. Battery technology is one factor holding this back. Flight batteries can be 2kg each and cinema-ready craft need to operate with a minimum of two. Even then, 8 minutes remains a typical flight time (20-30 minutes is common on sub 7kg craft carrying a GoPro).

The standard Lithium Polymer batteries could give way to Lithium-ion batteries designed by Tesla which would offer more energy for longer flight duration but these are currently unproven and expensive.

There’s no point carrying high quality optics if the footage is shaky. When a craft with a heavy payload flies at full tilt, buffering by wind is a major issue. UAV filming outfits tend to prefer image stabilisers made by Shotover (the K1 is 6-axis gyro-stabilized gimbal); Freefly (its Movi brand includes the 3-axis M10) or work with the Aerigon’s integrated gimbal.

An alternative is the Ecofly version of the H-7 from Gremsey which features a 32 bit ARM microprocessor for super fast response and accurate calibration.

Operators want more powerful image stabilisation platforms that enable them to fly heavier packages, reliably and a gimbal that can copy with the shift in payload balance when longer zooms are used mid-air. There are rumours of new technology due next year which could shake-up this field.

Downlink options include the Teredek Bolt Pro 2000, the Cobham Solo7 Nano which weighs just 51 grams, and the 60 gram Connex Mini made by Amimon. The latter is claimed by its manufacturer to provide deliver zero latency HD wireless links and it comes with all antennas, cables and connectors required for air and ground unit setup.

Based on this tech, Amimon has also addressed the rising interest in broadcasting drone races. Currently, these events are post produced since the first person view feeds from drone-mounted cameras need to be realtime for the pilots to fly them, and are therefore analogue and SD and not broadcast quality.

ProSight, launched in the summer by Amimon, is described as the “first digital HD vision solution specifically designed for first-person view drones” and is being tested with U.S drone racing producer FPV Live.

While heavier payload rigs can cost upwards of £15,000 there are less expensive UAVs designed for lighter weight payloads and usually less demanding broadcast applications.

These include models made by market leader DJI. Its flagship, Phantom 4, includes an obstacle avoidance system and a 4K camera which can shoot 120fps slo-motion video. The Chinese vendor’s Inspire1 also comes with its own 4K camera and the Matrice M600 hexacopter claims a 6 kg payload capacity and a 36-minute flight time. The company has incorporated its own HD live streaming system called Lightbridge into many of its models.

In the last few weeks it has debuted the Mavic Pro a consumer drone that can be collapsed to roughly the size of a water bottle for transportation and sports the same sensor as the Phantom 4, shooting 4K video at 30 fps and 1080p HD at 96 fps. It comes with optional goggles designed to offer up first-person views shot from the quadcopter - something that could contravene CAA rules which state that drones must be controlled in line of sight. It costs £800 and is in direct competition with GoPro’s new Karma.

GoPro Heros have been the camera of choice for many drone users at the budget end and Karma (costing £1000 including Hero5 Black camera) also comes with GoPro Plus cloud storage service and Quik editing app, which is an attempt to simplify drone video production.

Reports suggest a rising demand in flying these type of drones as props within film and TV storylines.

Aside from technology advances perhaps the biggest shift in UAV useage may come from tightened regulations. While basic national safety rules apply (the CAA permits drones weighing 20kg to be operated with a licence within 150m of a congested area), rules differ across the EU and the European Aviation Safety Agency believes a number of key safeguards are not being addressed coherently. It proposes to standardise rules across the EU, though whether the UK will find itself exempt post-Brexit remains to be seen.

Sky VR: ‘A smash-up between gaming, internet and broadcast’

Sports Video Group

José Mourinho’s fêted encounter with Chelsea fans, his first since leaving the club as manager last December, was captured in intimate glory in virtual reality. For Sunday’s match with Manchester United at Stamford Bridge, Sky fielded multiple VR rigs. The filming followed a test run during the Chelsea versus Leicester City game on October 15 and will feature in a VR documentary being made by Sky VR in association with the Premier League and destined for the Sky VR app around Christmas.

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Sky VR is also hoping to continue its up close and personal relationship with British heavyweight Anthony Joshua at his upcoming world title fight with Wladimir Klitschko (recently delayed until 2017 due to a Klitschko injury).

The boxer’s last bout with Charles Martin was also filmed by Sky VR. “Of all the sport’s we’ve shot, the footage of him is my favourite,” says Richard Nockles, creative director at Sky VR. “We’d like to create a really intimate piece about him. We’re crossing our fingers that the request [to film] will be approved.”

During April’s clash with Martin, Joshua delivered the punch which floored the American in the corner where Sky’s VR team happened to be. It’s the kind of luck needed in sports coverage, but was only possible because of a lightweight Steadicam used by Nockles’ team.

“We used gyro-stabilised carbon fibre poles to float a camera next to Anthony Joshua,” says Nockles. “We were able to walk with him into the ring which, from a viewer’s perspective, is nothing short of magical.”

Similar systems were used at Chelsea. “We’re trying to capture what it’s like to go to a Premier League game and transport viewers into the heart of it. When done well VR can blow people away.”

Evolution of a VR vision

Nockles has been working in the medium for six years, setting up Surround Vision, a full serviceVR/360 production company in 2013 based in Shoreditch and seconded since February to Sky to help the broadcaster shape the output from its in-house 10-person production unit, Sky VR Studio. It’s a period of experimentation which has seen Sky VR trial VOD and live streams at events including soccer, cycling and boxing.

“Before Sky, I’d always been on the sidelines of major events, even working for major brands in the ad industry, but now we have access to some of the biggest sports events in the world,” he says. “We have the luxury of taking that access to find ways of creating something truly dynamic, going over the barriers and the taking audience right into the heart of sport.”

With Sky VR he has made two F1 VR experiences produced with Formula One Management and Williams Martini Racing. Each a couple minutes long, they ran on Facebook, taking viewers into the pit lane, team garages and out onto the track. Each generated 2.5 million views apiece.

Most of Nockles’ work is focused on short form VOD, but he is also working with Sky’s tests of live VR streaming.

“When shooting live the majority of camera positions will be cabled because of the need to return feeds from the camera back out to the cloud,” he says. “We’ve still yet to really see a robust wireless live solution for live 360.”

Sporting differences

While certain sports, like boxing, lend themselves to the greater intimacy which VR promises, Nockles acknowledges that this is trickier covering sports with a large field of play.

“The intimacy is lost but your motivation for viewing is different,” he says. “Most football fans go to watch a game of chess happening in front of them. When I go see Manchester City I love watching the movement across the entire pitch on and off the ball. A lot of the time you can’t see that the way soccer is conventionally covered but with VR you can.”

Sky is experimenting with a live solution where viewers are able to play with content by “pushing in” to a feed and switching from 360 to traditional feeds. “This becomes more of a playful experience,” says Nockles. “It’s all about testing to see how audiences like to engage.”

That’s important because the more engaged the viewer is the more likely they will want to spend longer in the experience. Just now videos of 2-5 minutes are optimal, though this is also a function of uncomfortable headgear.

“The weight of the first generation headsets is a problem,” he suggests. “Sony PS4 VR is a better design since it places the weight of the goggles on the head rather than the face.

“I bet if we look back even a year from now we’ll be laughing at the size of headsets. VR will develop like the mobile phone industry – we’ll quickly get smaller headgear with sharper, crisper screens.”

Gear specifics

Although Sky is an investor in VR camera developer Jaunt, Nockles says he is agnostic about kit, and is able to use “whatever is going to do the best job”. His personal preference is for smaller cameras which have less impact on the scene itself.

“If I can stash a camera so that no-one can see it means I can get into the heart of the action. Ideally the industry will develop cameras that are as small and as unobtrusive as the microphones placed in front of speakers at a press conference. That’s how close we need to be.”

Sky VR uses the Adobe Creative Cloud for editing and GoPro’s Kolor for stitching, although Nockles is also open to using tools from The Foundry and others. He prefers to work in mono rather than stereo largely because 3D doubles the workflow and production costs.

“Part of my role is to analyse the costs involved in a job, asking whether it’s worth doubling the effort to get a wow factor and engagement. There are some excellent examples of 3D and there’s a lot of effort being invested in both styles. There is no right or wrong way – it depends on the creative direction of each project.”

For VOD content Nockles is combining conventional static and moving camera shots typically filmed using ceiling- or floor-mounted positions with floating Steadicam shots for more dynamic movement. The team has used zip lines to propel a VR camera alongside action and put 360-cams on drones, notably covering the build up to this year’s Tour de France.

Live presents added difficulties, notably in avoiding motion sickness for viewers watching fast action. Putting VR cams on F1 cars as they corner at 150mph is one such red flag.

“I would absolutely love to see drone racing (a sport which Sky plans to broadcast) in VR but we have to work out how to make that safe for the viewer,” says Nockles. “We are trying to push the boundaries of content production at the same time as creating safe VR. Perhaps we can run a series of ziplines alongside the drones?”

Graphics are another huge asset in VR “for transitions and overlays, for social media interaction and as a way to hide the crew,” he says. “There will be a huge smash-up between gaming and the worlds of internet and broadcast. Augmented reality will be a part of this experience.”

Nanocosmos' H5Live Player Offers Reduced Latency in Live Streaming

Streaming Media 

Berlin-based Nanocosmos has taken its core codec technology and developed a suite of tools for end-to-end live streaming and claims 0.5- to 2-second latency for cross-platform playback including on HTML5 browsers.

It recently debuted the patent-pending H5Live Player, which modifies the transport stream to enable playback by HTML5 browsers as well as iOS, Android, Windows, and MacOS platforms.

This was the result of feedback from its introduction in 2015 of WebRTC.live, an HTML/JavaScript client enabling plugin-free streaming directly through the browser (Google Chrome, Firefox, and Opera, with Microsoft Edge planned).

"After launching WebRTC.live we found customers increasingly asking us how they could create live end-to-end streaming services including a server environment," explains co-founder and CEO Oliver Lietz. "That's when we decided to create our own backends for live streaming. We can offer to take care of any worries a customer has about installing server products, configuring different streaming encoders. Scaling is another challenge for companies which are rapidly growing their online audience. They need to manage multiple ingest and output streams and yet still be able to perform instant live streaming with as low latency as possible.

"We felt existing solutions—DASH or HLS—were not really suitable because of the native latency of 10 seconds or more in an end-to-end live stream," he adds. "So we decided to create our own player software for mobile devices based on RTMP.

"H5Live runs on any platform and is a great replacement for existing Flash players based on RTMP," says Lietz. "It is a client/server solution based on the HTML5 Client and the H5Live Server. It works similarly to MPEG DASH but keeps end-to-end latency below 1-2 seconds."

Users can connect to any RTMP live stream from their existing live streaming workflow, or create a complete end-to-end live streaming solution from a camera or screen with nanoStream software services.

nanoStream is the firm's live encoding and playback cross platform technology. Cross-platform SDKs and apps enable different integrations of CDN and server for live video delivery.

The firm's new bintu.live stream management platform enables users and developers to create, tag, and group streams.

"Businesses can either use ready apps or create their own branded apps with our help, and use the bintu.live streaming service for secure streaming and stream tagging," says Lietz. "For enterprise-level security, we offer both cloud-based and on-premise streaming servers."

A real estate company in Australia is already using the suite to power a live streamed property auctioning business where latency of a second is critical to ensure bids are legally binding as the hammer falls. First responder fire and police services in the U.S. and in India are using the software for live streaming multiple views from mobile devices from incident sites.

Users also have the ability to add drone video feeds by sending live video direct (from DJI or Parrot BeBop drones, for example, as well as GoPros) out to the cloud or share through social media.

At IBC in Amsterdam in September it demonstrated connecting and playing a VR live stream from Orah's 360° camera, with its mobile RTMP player for iOS and Android, and the H5Live HTML5 player.

Its nanoStream technology powers Stringwire, the live video streaming platform from NBCUniversal News Group and Comcast, which supports Periscope-style citizen journalism.

TalkPoint, a provider of cloud-based webcasting software and part of the PGi group, also uses nanoStream codecs for its web video conferencing applications.

German broadcaster RTL is another customer, using Nanocosmos codecs for classic content preparation scenarios.

Such heavyweight customer endorsement shouldn't be surprising for a company that has nearly 20 years experience. It started in 1998 as a software engineering company focused initially on MPEG1/2 codecs with a strong R&D background in cooperation with esteemed scientific researcher Fraunhofer/HHI. It later developed into high-level encoding and streaming APIs, for desktop and browser applications.

Privately funded, the company has 15 permanent staff and operates a licensing model for its software.

"Our aim is to create and deliver live end-to-end low latency and cross-platform streaming services which can be run as white label," says Lietz. "Increasingly we will do that on the cloud to enable services to be accessed worldwide. We would also like to grow our partnerships with CDNs and other key vendors. Long-term partnerships with close customer relation, support, and consulting services are a decisive part of our offering."

I Am Hardwell

 Total Production International

The heart-pumping BigCityBeats Virtual World Club Dome with the finale to the DJ’s two year world tour at Germany’s Hockenheimring featured an ambitious Ultra HD multi-camera production live streamed to Hardwell’s global fan base in an adrenalin fuelled event led by VPS Media and NOMOBO.

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‘Imma kick lips, tonight / We're gon' shove our ass, tonight / I hope I remember, tonight’. And what a night - or 48 hours - it was for superstar DJ Hardwell and 25000 fans at the Hockenheimring in deepest Rhine country.

It was the DJ, record producer and remixer’s finale to two years on the road with the I AM Hardwell World Tour which has seen him play to sold-out shows in Jakarta, Singapore, Bangalore, Mexico City, Cape Town, Tel Aviv, Guatemala City, Manchester, Sao Paulo and Sydney.

On the 27th August 2016 the Hockenheimring, more famous as the biennial home to the German F1 Grand Prix, was bathed in the light of electronic dance music with the BigCityBeats Virtual World Club Dome - and the heat of an extremely warm summer’s day. Temperature’s reached a peak of 35°C and didn’t relent throughout the weekend.

German video production agency VPS Media has worked closely with BigCityBeats since 2001 and is tasked with AV production at most of their events, including live production and aftermovie / trailer productions.

For the BigCityBeats Virtual World Club Dome and the tour finale of “I Am Hardwell – United We Are”, BigCityBeats wanted something extra special. This meant not only giving the spectators an unforgettable evening but sharing the experience with DJ Hardwell’s global fanbase. With no compromise on production values VPS Media translated BigCityBeats’ call into a multi-camera high resolution capture combining a live switched 4K/UHD recording for on-demand and aftermovie purposes, together with a HD encode streamed live to YouTube.

“This show is a definitely the first time ever an EDM dance event has been captured this way,” says Constantijn van Duren, Executive Producer and Managing Partner for NOMOBO, a Netherlands live event music producer specialising in EDM. NOMOBO itself was commissioned directly by Alda Events to produce the broadcast side of things - 4K live capture and live broadcast on YouTube.

The combination of NOMOBO’s flyaway production kit (including many Blackmagic Design components), used with ARRI Amira cameras for a live multicam production has never been employed before. 

Explains VPS Media producer Björn Aßmus, “In early 2016, BigCityBeats approached us with the request to provide technical equipment and crew for video production at the BigCityBeats Virtual World Club Dome. NOMOBO were charged with responsibility for the live production and were bringing their own infrastructure, glass fibre connections, live studio and FOH equipment. They asked us to provide most of the cameras and camera crew for the live production, a video mixing panel, as well as some of the streaming equipment for the playout to social media. VPS managing director, Andreas Schech, was in charge of the planning phase.”

The thrust of the brief was to produce the live multicam coverage in 4K/UHD of the complete show, to be broadcast on Youtube and Facebook (in 2K), while also playing out parts of the show to SWR (German public TV network). SWR were on site with a satellite news gathering unit ready to beam pictures across Germany. In addition, artist interviews and aftermovie material was to be shot in and around the event with a small documentary camera crew.

Having supplied and produced the AV for BigCityBeats’ EDM shows and festivals over many years, Aßmus says the chief difference with this show is the open-air setting. “The major events we have covered in the past were almost always indoor events in stadiums, so this time, all equipment has to be rain-proof, and protected from intense sunlight.”

Did we say it was hot? You never want rain of course, but the heat presented its own challenge. “Given the extreme temperatures, it was an interesting challenge for both personnel and equipment,” says Aßmus. “The extreme atmospheric conditions combined with an event taking place on tarmac in bright sunlight, are a challenge not only for the camera crew, but also in terms of preserving the equipment. We have to be especially mindful of managing the schedule so that our crew can capture footage all day while also resting enough. Preserving the equipment was crucial for the reliable and failsafe production, especially for this live coverage.”

A black fabric cover was jury-rigged for the main FOH camera and camera-op while sun-absorbent black umbrella’s shielded other kit and crew. “When they weren’t shooting the camera-ops placed their camera under the stage and crane in shade at a central location.”

NOMOBO’s production team travelled from its HQ in Amsterdam and VPS Media travelled from their offices near Frankfurt. Everyone arrived on the Thursday prior to Saturday’s show and performed an extensive test that combined cameras, lenses and fly-away production kit. Friday was a full setup day.

As you might expect of a F1 race circuit (used just a month earlier for the German Grand Prix), the area behind the paddock and pit lane at Hockenheimring provides plenty of space that is usually used by the racing teams, which resulted in short distances between FOH, stage, live mixing workstation and production office. The organisation made this very convenient. Placing the production offices and mixing workstations in the pits was especially advantageous, because mixing and production staff were very close to the stage, while still avoiding the high temperatures outside, which also helped in protecting the equipment. 

Aßmus explains how they managed preparations and rehearsal. “NOMOBO developed the camera layout and approached us with their production request. We went through revisions together, made recommendations regarding certain components and finalized the tech plan together with them, and briefed our camera crew accordingly. On location, our director of photography, Alexander Weber got in touch with NOMOBO’s live broadcast director (Christian Laurman) and they conducted a briefing with our camera crew. During the final hours of the day, we defined our workflows for footage logistics, data management, and communication between our cameramen and NOMOBO’s staff.

At EDM shows it is crucial to focus on the interaction between the DJ and the crowd. The BigCityBeats Virtual World Club Dome with the I Am Hardwell concert was no exception. “What you experience with EDM is a dramatic curve in the music that motivates the crowd to be active and to react to the cues given by the DJ by musical means or by shout-outs,” explains Aßmus. “Capturing the essential moments in this interaction and creating a narrative, like a dialogue of some sort, through careful selection of images, is the key to transporting the atmosphere to the viewer.

“It’s also important at this show to make sure to transport this glorious summer atmosphere, with people enjoying the light and with such an enjoyable feeling of an outside event in perfect weather.”

Doors opened at 14:00 and the team were straight into action covering the stream of fans into the stage area and various video interviews with Hardwell and support acts DANNIC, Funkerman and Kill The Buzz. After each set backstage videos were conducted with each artist. The evening built to a crescendo at 20:30 when Hardwell lit up the stage and played for three hours of electrifying energy.

The camera plan included seven ARRI Amira cameras each operating at 4K (UHD) resolution supplied by VBS. “We’ve got pan shots from our crane and wide-angle views of the stage to convey a sense of scope to show and the size of the event, and we’ve placed mobile cameras at the barriers and on stage to give a sense of presence and to show the emotions of the crowd in what we hope is an intimate way,” says Aßmus.

To support this, VPS employed Zeiss and Canon Zoom lenses with a narrow depth of field, and used slow-motion recording at 200 fps for the aftermovie and trailers.

Using the ARRI Amira camera sets, VPS delivered feeds from the camera positions through glass fibre connections to the central mixing suite, which was operated by NOMOBO. Live streaming technology was provided by NOMOBO sending out the master broadcast feed to its Master Control Room in Amsterdam. From there high-quality encoded streams were distributed to Hardwell's YouTube and social media channels as well as media partners in the U.S. and Asia. 

VPS media used a separate Teradek Cube streaming encoder to stream to BigCityBeats YouTube channel, configured and operated by a MacBook Pro, which could also be used as a backup encoding device.

NOMOBO has built a unique fly-away production kit that is able to live capture any event in the world, using high-end digital cinema camera such as Sony F55, ARRI Amira and Panasonic Varicam. This fly-away production kit provides full camera control (iris, colour temperature, ND, ISO levels) as well as tally indicators, talkback, audio and camera power all over hybrid SMPTE fibre cabling.

“Working with NOMOBO made this production a breeze, as their unique production kit made it very convenient for our camera operators,” adds VPS Media’s Schech. “Their sophisticated infrastructure and experienced crew, together with our expertise in high-quality camerawork is a combination that is hard to match.”

At Hockenheimring, NOMOBO deployed the ARRIs in combination with cine-servo lenses from Fujinon and Canon. The camera package also contained a motorised Sam Dolly track (provided by Eurogrip NL) and a two-man operated Jimmy Jib of 24- feet length.

More specifically on the cameras, the crew arranged one handheld Amira on stage and another mounted on the Sam Dolly. A third was located front of stage barrier also handheld. Between the first and second barriers to the left hand side of the stage, the team placed the 24ft crane carrying another Amira. A camera-operator wielded a fourth ARRI nearby, the fifth was FOH on a pedestal. The final camera was carried around the festival to capture behind-the-scenes footage and artist interviews.