Militia Broadcast, a Johannesburg-based broadcast and production services company recently put their outside broadcast unit through its paces to impressive effect on Mumford and Sons’ six-show tour of South Africa in February 2016.
The OB van features a six-camera HD plug-and-play fibre solution for any HD multi-cam recording, broadcast and livestream.
Prominent among the unit’s equipment are cameras and either items supplied by Blackmagic Design. This made the Mumford and Sons tour a success story both for Militia and for Blackmagic. The show, directed by Steve Price, featured a live-to-screen fibre optic workflow incorporating Blackmagic’s studio cameras, ATEM 1 M/E Production Studio 4K and HyperDeck Studio Pro.
For the band’s first ever tour of South Africa, promoter Hilltop Live approached Militia Broadcast, with nearly 150 live shows under their belt, to supply the IMAG projection, PPU, camera packages and crew during the band’s Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria gigs.
Armed with the tour’s technical rider, the Militia Broadcast team, led by managing director Eban Olivier, specced out the tour’s production requirements. “We spoke with Steve Price, the live show director, via Skype and ran through our workflow using a wall-to-wall Blackmagic solution, which reassured him that it would deliver on all his expectations, including tally, programme return for monitoring in-camera and remote shading to address any shifts in colour when using pyrotechnics,” explains Olivier.
Coverage of the shows consisted of five ground positions, including two Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K with 400mm and 600mm long lenses, two 24-105mm pit cameras on dollies as well as an interchangeable, shoulder mounted stage camera for capturing any down-the-line shots and pick-ups. A Micro Studio 4K was also used to capture a reverse shot of the piano, alongside two Pocket Cinema Cameras on the drum kits.
Militia Broadcast ran optical fibre feeds back into the eight-channel ATEM Studio Converter and then split each ISO signal to its own HyperDeck Studio Pro for recording while also routing them to the ATEM switcher, where Price produced the live feed for the two big screens, flanking either side of the stage. A pair of 17 inch SmartView 4Ks were used for monitoring, whilst shading ran through the ATEM’s Software Control on a laptop. S1 Sennheiser Aviator Headsets were used for programme audio and show calling.
“The all-in-one modular approach of Blackmagic’s studio cameras means they are pure utopia for a traveling tour such as this. You simply drop down one fibre cable per channel and that gives you camera control, tally and talkback as well as shading,” explains Olivier. “The cameras themselves are robust, take up a fraction of the storage space and can effectively become any shot you want, at any given time.”
Militia Broadcast was confident from the outset that a Blackmagic multicam workflow would meet the rigors and demands of a six-date tour in South Africa. “Eban’s confidence and enthusiasm helped to allay any initial concerns I had coming into this leg of the tour,” explains Price. “He went out of his way to ensure that I had everything I needed to do my job well, and unimpeded.”
“Having never worked with Blackmagic’s ATEM switchers before, I found it simple and intuitive to operate, while the camera crew supplied by Eban were all first rate,” concludes Price. “Regardless of the camera system you use, it will only ever be as good as the crew you have operating them, and these guys were good.”
Militia’s services range from corporate livestreaming events, live to IMAG screens at music concerts, church events, product launches, live press releases, live multi-cam DVD productions and television production for multi camera studio shoots – indoors or outdoors.
“With 15 years’ experience in live broadcast event coverage, we know how important it is to get it right the first time with no technical hassle,” concludes Olivier.
