The Virtual Production Diary

We have a major upgrade coming soon (in the offseason) & I wonder how long it will be before we outgrow this little shack? For now, it will do. 

Behind the scenes, there are so many elements that go into producing a live show – sound, lights, technology, talent, & content. AND then there’s all the pre & post (but that’s for another day).

Objectives

The idea behind the Big Dog Studio is to be able to sit someone in the chair quickly & we produce everything else to deliver a live & far more engaging viewer experience than your standard Zoom meeting or webinar.

AND without needing a big production crew (& therefore reducing costs). 

Whether for our weekly project The Naked Punt or any other event.

Back in the studio, this week’s focus has been on reducing computer system & network overloads, chroma key improvements & colour correction. 

• Added new dedicated machine for Zoom feeds via NDI into video mixer. A massive difference as the machine is not overloading & freezing. 
• Added virtual Studio Clock to teleprompt display – to keep everything on track. 
• Converted old laptop to the dedicated live streaming unit. 
• This unit has a reasonably good GPU so has increased quality of stream from 1.5 to 6.0 Mbs. Note: Still running 720p for now. (Fingers crossed this delivers a much better image – you can all the testing in the world but you don’t know until you go live). 
• Switched back to Facebook for livestream channel. Hopefully, system upgrade reduces streaming problems. The Youtube chat engine was a fail with our viewers. 
• Added video vectorscope to assist with colour balance corrections across different studio cameras. A whole lot of new learning around LUTs & colour spaces. 
• Improvements to on-stage cabling (it was like crawling through a spider web ) 
• Audio – Studio audio quality now is pretty bloody good but still some Zoom guest tests to do. 

Other items in progress 

• *Virtual production via Unreal Engine (massive learning curve)
• *Scene automation system (using Voicemeeter Macro Buttons)
• *DMX LED lighting control (early research) 
• *Better Music & SFX control
• *CGI system for overlays (on hold) 
• *New shows (on hold) 

videoproduction, livestream, virtualevents, virtual, virtualproduction