It is a generally acknowledged truism that, as technology advances, functional capacity increases, while at the same time, the packages that house these capacities get ever smaller. This principle is apparent in all areas of the television industry, including outside broadcast (OB).
Consider, for example, the fact that, when television first launched in South Africa in 1976, the SABC’s pioneering OB units – roughly the size of the big HD monsters the corporation currently uses – had the capacity for only four cameras and were not equipped with slow-motion, titling or other extras. All of these were operated in the base studio.
In contrast, today you can book one of the country’s smaller, independent OB operators and get a medium-sized van, caravan or even a neat, lightweight flyaway kit, with the capacity to run anywhere between six and 12 cameras, plus on-air graphics, plus slow-motion replay and so on. As production gets more sophisticated, so it also gets more compact and manageable.
So does this mean that someday soon, a 24-camera unit could operate out of a car boot? Well let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Hyperbole aside, just like professionals in any other sector, OB designers and operators feel the push to increase the capacity of their product and service while decreasing the size of size and weight of their equipment. However, unlike in other sectors, there remains a real, physical limit to this simultaneous expansion and contraction of scale.
Brendan Marsay of EFX Productions says: “The acquisition technology in particular has changed a lot over the years and for a small operator, working in a market that is extremely budget sensitive and in which success requires you to be able to adapt and to squeeze the absolute maximum output from whatever equipment you may have, it is becoming relatively cheaper and easier to produce more than we were able to do in the past.
“There remains, however, a very big distinction between what a small unit can do and what a big truck can do and that revolves predominantly around camera control. There are a lot of little cameras coming out now that have phenomenal picture quality and that are the size of a Handicam. So you have this incredible picture quality in this tiny lightweight camera. But here’s the thing: the operator isn’t getting any smaller – a cameraman is still a cameraman. And this needs to be kept in mind; there is an ergonomic factor.”
One could very easily put a six-camera setup into a vehicle the size of a VW Caddy, Marsay explains. That would include all the necessary switchers and other control equipment, redundant power supplies, cabling. But what do we do then with the eight people required to operate that kit?
There are several systems available that streamline and automate production so as to lessen the number of personnel needed. However, high levels of automation are really only effective on more predictable, repetitive and formulaic workflows. More complicated live productions still require hands-on staff.
Lynton Allsop of SilverCam Broadcast echoes this opinion: “Our van currently has the capacity for six cameras,” he says. “In truth, it can accommodate more – we have the cameras and we have all the necessary kit. But at some point you have to realise that your van is only so big and you only have so many team members and pushing beyond those limits will ultimately have an adverse effect on the quality of the service you can deliver. So although the technology offers the capacity for more, in order to do the bigger jobs to the very highest standard, you also have to increase your physical capacity.”
The increased possibilities offered by new technology therefore only stretch as far as the capacity of OB units and the staff will allow. While it is cheaper and easier to produce content of a relatively decent quality than it ever has been, the possibilities are not limitless. This is particularly true in outside broadcast, a sector that, by its nature, is constrained by logistical considerations. And it should also be born in mind that content generation is a function of human creativity, aided by technology – not the other way around. Just as anybody can only do the right job if equipped with the right tools, so the best tools will only yield the best results when operated by the requisite number and calibre of personnel.
