MULTI-CAMERA REMOTE PRODUCTION
At-home multi-camera production, also referred to as REMI, is a way to cut costs by having a smaller crew travel to the production venue: raw video feeds are brought synchronously into the master control room, where switching, graphics and final contribution are done.
In today's challenging times, remote production is becoming more and more common, often a necessity. In this featured case study, VBN Sports was able to cut costs dramatically by using Video Transport for multi-camera remote production.
VBN Sports case study
VBN Sports is a video production company in Chilliwack, Canada. In addition to a variety of local, college and community sports broadcasts and bi-weekly city council meetings, on an average year VBN would produce around 50 hockey games, 40 football games, the Vancouver Jazz Festival and a TEDx event.
Challenge
A typical job includes taking the production trailer to the event early Friday, where multiple wires would be set up: cameras, audio, communication, Internet – taking many hours and several people to do that. Once the production is complete, everything needs to be dismantled and brought back home. With this process in place:
- – A lot of people are busy traveling to an event and not being able to do anything else.
– A lot of hardware equipment is also locked on site, regardless of the fact that it is not deployed there 24/7.
– Travel accommodation and food expenses should be taken care of.
Solution
With Video Transport, VBN Sports was able to send 4 people to the production venue instead of 9. Raw video feeds were transported to the master control room, and everything – switching, graphics and commentary – was done from there. The five people, who didn't travel, were only busy during the time of the event itself, and were available for other jobs in the meantime.
- We just had to bring the cameras and some short wires and plug into the Internet and away we'd go – so it's a significant difference. Everything remains set up in the studio. You don't have to break it down, take it all the way there and then bring it all the way back. You don't have to bring twice as many people, rent twice as many hotel rooms and feed everyone because they didn't have to travel. So there's a large reduction in cost.
Results
VBN sports compared the cost of sending a crew of 9 people with sending only 4 people plus a Video Transport license. With Video Transport the company has achieved:
- 48% cost savings (based on two nights stay and five meals).
- Freeing up resources (crew and equipment) for other jobs.
- We've saved a lot of money and managed to produce more events than we could before. We couldn't have done some of these events in the past because we couldn't get enough people to go to them – they were just not available.