Achieving A Vision Through Versatility

Towards the end of 2019 Deuce Facilities supplied a bespoke camera & gallery rig to BBC teach, the brief was to provide a series of 30 minute live streamed pilot programs for their online platform, one of which promoted World Mental Health day. Due to the nature of the format there were obvious restrictions to overcome, one in particular was budget. After a meeting with Producer Jo Wozencroft and Assistant Producer Richard Chadwick we offered a solution to work within their brief. We used 3x remote operated Panasonic UE150 4K PTZ Cameras controlled via our existing PPU Vision Gallery all Live Streamed to their specified platforms. We delivered the brief from conception to Live within 8 weeks, providing all Camera, Lighting, Crew and Live Streaming Tech to oversee this aspect of the show. One camera operator remotely controlled all 3 cameras from the Gallery setting, the cameras fed back to gallery via Grass Valley Fibre links and were controlled via the Panasonic AW-RP150. We delivered the high-quality footage into the live mix and then out via LiveU to the BBC Teach Channel and FaceBook platform, we also recorded a Live Mix & ISO of all cameras with the Pix-270 SSD recorders for the client to take to edit for transmission at a later date. Live Aston and viewer feedback were also integrated into the Live feed to offer real time feedback to the Programme.

All the equipment was rigged and tested before the set up and then transported and rebuilt in 2 different locations, the first being a Studio based infinity cove, the second a first storey bar in Salford. The two jobs (Camera & Lighting) had to be rigged, rehearsed, streamed and de-rigged within a 12-hour window, something Deuce Facilities achieved after careful planning and the knowledge gained from the use of well-trained local industry staff, including two ex-BBC Manchester staff.

John Dardis, Deuce facilities MD explains “We pride ourselves on the personalised service we provide and we believe it’s that which sets us aside from everyone else, shooting in the two locations as we did and with the time and budget we had to work with took strategic planning and a lot of dedicated, highly trained people. We brought together some of the best in the business – Lighting Director, Vision Engineer, Tech manager, Live Streaming Team, Fixed Rig Camera Operator and Sound recordists to make sure we achieved everything we set out to do and most importantly at the end of the day, achieve the client's vision from the first meeting we had. Alongside the amazing BBC staff and the director Sam Pratt, we were able to achieve this. We had a restricted window to get the job done, but our meticulous planning of the day enabled us to overcome unexpected challenges, fix them and deliver when it mattered, so there was no compromise to the client’s vision.

We have absolute faith that our system can provide what any client needs due to it’s versatility and we can now take this forward and adapt for today’s working environment. We can reduce the numbers of people on ‘the floor’ and also modulate the Gallery to a safe working distance, this is now a working solution that we can offer to larger mainstream productions struggling to adapt at this time, it’s good to know that we can facilitate in a reduced capacity until we all return to normal production.”