Broadcast Tech Talks

Formula 1's Frank Arthofer on the success of the F1 Virtual GP series and its esports plans

Formula 1 global head, digital media and licensing, Frank Arthofer talks to Broadcast Sport editor Jake Bickerton about the F1 Virtual GP series, which replaced the real grand prix races during lockdown. It involved 11 x F1 drivers and high-profile celebs racing head-to-head on virtual versions of real F1 grand prix circuits. The series received impressive viewing figures, across digital and linear, and proved a notable success for F1 at a time when real racing wasn't possible. Arthofer talks about the popularity of the series and about F1's future plans for esports, including whether F1 might bring in real-time virtual racing to enable fans to join in live races virtually in an esports environment at home.

Ingrid Silver, partner, Reed Smith, on the legal implications of the Covid-19 cancellations for sports broadcasters and federations

Ingrid Silver, partner, Entertainment and Media Industry Group at global law firm Reed Smith, talks to Broadcast Sport editor Jake Bickerton about the 'gradual return' of sports to our screens, following Government guidance that enables different sports and events to resume over the coming months. Silver also discusses the legal side for sports broadcasters and sports federations of the Covid-19 cancellations of sports events during lockdown. The podcast was recorded the day after the Premier League resumed.

BBC Sport's Ron Chakraborty on the 50 hours of Wimbledon archive content the BBC is airing during Wimbledon fortnight

Ron Chakraborty, executive editor, major events at BBC Sport talks to Broadcast Sport editor Jake Bickerton about the BBC's plans for Wimbledon 2020 following the cancellation of the tournament due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Rather than live tennis from Wimbledon, the BBC has lined up a varied mix of archive tennis content during what would have been Wimbledon fortnight. It includes three hours of classic archive Wimbledon games each day, followed by a live show in the evening, hosted by Sue Barker at Wimbledon. This again raids the Wimbledon archives to re-run some of the best moments from the tournament. Barker is joined by tennis stars at the BBC pop-up studio at the club, and from around the world through the now ubiquitous wonders of Zoom. As the fortnight progresses, the BBC will show the Top 10 men's and women's finals of all time. It also plans to host interactive quizzes, polls and tennis challenges on the BBC Sport website to encourage fans to take part.

Melanie Jones, MD, Manchester Studios on the re-opening of TV studios in Manchester City Centre

Melanie Jones, managing director, Manchester Studios, talks to Broadcast Tech editor Jake Bickerton about her role in bringing fully-equipped high-end TV studios back to Manchester City Centre. Manchester Studios is on the site of the former Granada Studios facility (famously home to many classic LE shows as well as Coronation Street), and is utilising many of the spaces used by productions at Granada Studios. The facility is currently undergoing the complete overhaul and renovation of the former Granada Studios to make the spaces fit for the modern age, complete with an entirely new infrastructure, 4K facilities and plush superstar dressing rooms. In this podcast, Jones talks about how Manchester Studios began by offering drama productions four-waller space in the old Granada Studios building, before setting its sights on TV productions. It opened its first fully kitted-out TV studio space (the 13,000 sq ft 4K Studio 1) at the beginning of June, and now plans to have a full TV studio complex up and running by the end of next year.

Adam Heyhurst, head of broadcast at Amplify on his love of live streaming and his role in setting up BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge

Adam Heyhurst is former head of events at the BBC and now heads up the broadcast operations of marketing agency Amplify. While at the BBC he set up the broadcast infrastructure for BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge, which he talks about in detail during this conversation with Broadcast Tech editor Jake Bickerton. His passion for live streaming over pre-recorded content is also covered in this podcast, with Heyhurst presenting numerous compelling reasons why live streaming is the best way forward for many productions. Heyhurst also provides his top tips for creating high quality images while filming subjects at home during lockdown.

Defected Records' James Kirkham on launching the label's massive live streamed Virtual Festivals

Defected Records chief business officer James Kirkham talks to Broadcast Tech editor Jake Bickerton about the dance label's hugely popular weekly Virtual Festivals, which kicked off as soon as the UK went into lockdown. The 12-hour live streamed events, which went out on a plethora of social media platforms every Friday night, brought in an audience of millions of dance music fans each week. Each Virtual Festival brought together DJs from around the world, who each had an hour to spin discs from their home, before the next DJ kicked off their set. The complexity of how each set was filmed ranged from a single iPhone camera stream to a multi-camera setup, including drones. Kirkham explains how it was all put together and what the future for Virtual Festivals might be post-lockdown.

Senior colourist Paul Ensby at Technicolor on the changing role of the grading artist

Senior colourist Paul Ensby began his career in 1990, following his father and grandfather's footsteps into the film lab. He started as a 35mm laboratory feature timer and moved to digital grading in 2001. Since then, Ensby has notched up an impressive credit list, including Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven, Guy Ritchie's The Man From U.N.C.L.E, Asif Kapadia's Oscar winning Amy and Josie Rourke's Mary Queen of Scots. After some years working at a number of other facilities, Ensby has now rejoined Technicolor where be began and spent the majority of his career. He speaks to Broadcast Tech editor Jake Bickerton about his life as a grading artist, and the changing role from the film lab to digital grading and working through the coronavirus lockdown.

Orla Chennaoui, journalist and Eurosport presenter, on how Zoom calls can bring out the best in interviewees

With TV studios on lockdown, Eurosport presenter Orla Chennaoui turned to Zoom to film interviews with a who's who of British athletics for Eurosport's re-runs of the London 2012 Olympics next week (24 May-31 May). Her interviews, with the likes of Mo Farah, Adam Peaty, Chris Hoy, Rebecca Adlington, Greg Rutherford and Bradley Wiggins, were all recorded with the athletes at home, recollecting their memories of the hugely successful Olympic Games. This came with its own challenges, and also a number of key benefits, as discussed in the podcast. The entire production was created remotely – it was filmed and edited remotely, the archive clips were all accessed remotely, and some re-commentating was also done remotely. Impressively, the production values still manage to mirror that of a typical studio-based show. Orla discusses how it all worked in this 11-minute chat with Broadcast Sport editor Jake Bickerton.

Freelance lighting cameraman Graham Howe on making the most of lockdown

Broadcast Sport editor Jake Bickerton talks to freelance lightning cameraman Graham Howe about what he’s doing to keep busy during lockdown. With the Covid-19 pandemic cancelling almost all his future bookings, Graham decided to make the most of his new-found free time to learn new skills that would be useful for his job. So, he’s learned how to live stream content; he’s completed Health and Safety courses he’s been trying the find the time to do for years; he’s learned how to expertly use a DJI Ronin-S gimbal and a motorised slider; and he’s also found the time to put the Sony FX9 camera through its paces. You can hear how he got on with it all here.

Football archive Dugout co-founder Sebastian Gray on content demand during lockdown

Sebastian Gray, co-founder and SVP of football content platform Dugout talks to Broadcast Sport editor Jake Bickerton about what the company does, how it does it, and the growth in demand for previously undiscovered archive football clips.

Dugout is co-owned by 10 world-leading football clubs (including Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City) and offers access to the archives of 100+ football clubs from around the world. It receives 400m views a month of its football content.

VFX giant MPC's CEO Mark Benson on the demand for CG/VFX during lockdown

Mark Benson, CEO of Academy Award winning VFX house/creative studio, MPC, talks to Broadcast Tech editor Jake Bickerton about the changing needs of commercials producers during lockdown.

With Covid-19 severely limiting options for live shoots and with the tone of advertising messages necessarily adjusted to be appropriate for the global circumstances we’re living through, there are many challenges facing content creators.

MPC is seeing a shift to CG/VFX work to replace what might have previously been live components, and Benson talks about how it is collaborating with clients to ensure they get the most out of this approach, and that its honed to suit their needs and budget.

He also talks about the impact of lockdown on MPC, both from a practical and business point of view, and also how its Shanghai office has all but reverted back to business as normal after the lockdown was lifted in China.

Gorilla TV MD Rich Moss and Jigsaw24 sales director Rupert Watson talk remote production tech

Gorilla TV managing director Rich Moss and Jigsaw24 sales director Rupert Watson join Broadcast Tech editor Jake Bickerton for a chat through the tech enabling post-production houses to transition overnight from office-based to cloud-based remote home working.

The companies work together at the cutting edge of post-production, with Gorilla having a long history of innovating in new workflows to continually enhance its service to clients.

This informative, educational discussion explains the practical benefits of products such as Avid Edit on Demand, Deja Edit, and vMix in enabling post houses to ensure business as usual and the same high-end service levels while their staff work from home.

The podcast also looks more broadly at cloud-based working and how remote collaborative working will be further enhanced over the coming months as the industry beds in for an extended lockdown.

Blast Premier esports CEO Robbie Douek - transitioning live tournaments from arenas to homes

Blast Premier esports CEO Robbie Douek talks to Broadcast Sport reporter Max Miller about the appeal of esports – what draws fans to the games, and how esports can capitalise on the cancellation of live conventional sports. Blast Premier runs a year-long series of tournaments that are typically held in huge arenas with thousands of fans watching the gaming live at the venue. With the pandemic putting a halt to this setup, Douek reveals how the Blast Premier events have transitioned to online, with the players based at home. He also presents his ideas on how esports and the Blast Premier series can continue to grow in a post-pandemic world.

BT Sport COO Jamie Hindhaugh on reinventing the TV studio setup during the pandemic

BT Sport chief operating officer Jamie Hindhaugh explains how the broadcaster has created a 'virtual BT Sport studio', taking 400 people out of its physical studios in Stratford and replacing the studios with decentralised production to enable home working.

With the system up and running, BT Sport is able to continue to broadcast presenter-led live shows with each of the presenters and the crew working from their homes.

Hindhaugh talks through the new programming it's creating during lockdown and how it can implement long-term changes based on its reaction to the pandemic.

Snooker legend Ronnie O'Sullivan and Eurosport's Jamie Steward on snooker vodcasts

Ronnie O'Sullivan, snooker superstar and Eurosport pundit joins Eurosport UK senior director of production and broadcast Jamie Steward to discuss the snooker content Eurosport is rolling out to replace the postponed World Snooker Championship. It includes exclusive vodcasts from O'Sullivan and fellow snooker players, re-runs of classic matches and twitter polls to choose an archive match from the World Snooker Championship finals each day.