I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, one of the biggest perks for me in this business is learning about so many different organizations and companies. I love getting to know the people that are passionate about their work and hearing about their goals. It happened again just recently. The US Paralympics contracted us to live stream their championships from the Greensboro Aquatic Center. I know very little about swimming and very little about the Paralympic Games, so I was super excited to get started!
Where should we start?
First things first, let’s do a virtual video meet to introduce everybody and get initial questions out of the way. Then, as with any video production or live streaming gig, we scout the location. This allows us to introduce ourselves to whomever is in charge of the venue. Next it’s time to check availability for the crew and line up logistics. This event was over 3 days and had several different technical and logistical details, so we meet again for one final time on-site. After load-in we run a test stream and all was ready to go. This live stream seems to be set up for success!
Each day had a morning session and an evening session. We produced this live stream with 4 cameras and we switched live for the stream. We monitored the stream as well as the camera feeds from the productions space set up in a control room. All crew and the live commentator had coms. By the end of day 1, everyone was in a groove and working beautifully together!
Live Stream vs Video Production
Unlike a pre-planned marketing video, live streaming can’t be undone. What you send out is exactly what people will watch. There is a bit more tension on a live streaming set than other video sets. On this stream, we were also covering athlete interviews. We relied heavily on the run of show provided to us each day by our contact with the Paralympics. This allowed us to prepare ahead of time for the quick conversions from a camera covering the event to covering the athlete interviews. These athletes are absolutely amazing, and it was a privilege to cover this event! In the end this event went very very well. We got the opportunity to live stream for a new client and in a new venue. We learned some things, worked with some new people, and had a great time. This was an incredible way to end our 2021 year, and we are thankful!