The opening of the rebuilt and refurbished Television Centre in west London was one of the most anticipated broadcast installation events of 2017. Five years on from being closed after the site was sold by the BBC, a smaller studios complex is now in operation. The facility is equipped with a 4k IP video infrastructure, while the audio side features Studer mixing consoles and the first installation of the new Riedel DECT-based wireless intercom running on an AES67 network.
Because of the the holiday season, a lot of young people now have new video gear and may be anxious to try out their video production skills. The good news is today’s technology can provide great images at a lower cost than ever. An important, less technical, skill is for the director to bring organizational skill to the shoot.
Nearly 50 years ago — 1969 to be exact — Sony introduced the ECM-50, a tiny peanut-sized electret condenser lavalier microphone that virtually ended the reign of large, cumbersome microphones used in television broadcasting. Since then, the scope, quality and price of lavalier microphones has dramatically expanded. Here’s a look at what’s available now.
As long as there have been cameras, there have been tripods. In it’s basic form, a tripod is camera support. But, as cameras have gotten tinier in size over the past few years, tripods have morphed into new devices that would have not been recognized only a decade ago.
From the earliest days of professional sound, a single microphone was used in broadcast studios and on stage to capture everything — from actors doing drama to music performers. Then, when the close-miking multitrack era arrived, the trend disappeared. Now single-mic sound is back and growing in popularity.
360-degree video is hot. Global 360-degree camera sales are expected to grow at an impressive CAGR of more than 35% through 2020. When will 360-degree news production begin? It’s happening now say some experts.
The new Apple iPhone X is an excellent video camera for news and documentary interviews. But creating a very lightweight package around it can be challenging. I took the challenge and here are the results.
On 25 May 2018, a new EU General Data Protection Regulation comes into force and will apply across all EU member states. Pending the outcome of Brexit this also includes the UK. There are potentially serious implications for drone filmmakers and in an increasingly litigious society it is probably only a matter of time before an operator is taken to court under the new rules. When infringements can be subject to fines of up to EUR 20 million or in the case of in the case of a business, up to 2% or 4% of the total worldwide annual turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is the higher – then it’s worth paying attention to what the rules do and do not permit.
