Live Streaming and Low Cost Capture Webinar (6 May 2020)
Helen's, really starting, with the questions of you know what, is it that we're talking about here while. I doing why capture, so I'm gonna hand, you over to Helen now my, background is working across broadcast, digital, cultural arts sectors, and I've worked as both the Commissioner a producer. A creator and across radio, TV and online as, Linda. Says I'm currently a freelance, associate, with the space and I've spent the last four years setting, up and managing their, capture strand, which, has organizations. Across the UK, to film, their work learn. New, digital skills, and also to reach help, them to reach online, audiences, you can see some pictures of some of the productions that we've worked on welcome. To this session I'm, going to give you some insights, into the opportunities, that capturing. And streaming your work can offer you in your organization, I'll, be sharing some tips for success some. Case studies and also giving plenty of time for Q&A, to. Kick off and to, avoid any confusion I'm, going, to start off by defining, what I mean, when I say, the word capture. Capture. Does just, mean filming, it's. Just that capture, is used specifically. To refer to the filming or capture, of an, existing, or slightly, modified, work rather. Than for example it, being a scripted, drama film, so. It plies, to work that. In. The first instance, are created, to be performed, live rather, than being created specifically, for camera, so. We could just say film but given its genre in itself that using. The word capture, helps, to differentiate, it from for example strict scripted, drama, so. A live stream obviously. It's as simple it can be as simple as this somebody. Like me is talking to the camera on my computer, and it's streaming out via zoom but. It can be much more complex, you might have a whole cast and crew a multi, camera capture. Using. Multiple cameras, and it. Can be live or it can be pre-recorded. Pre-recorded. It's pretty self-evident it's. Recorded. Prior to the event and it. Might be live or, as live, which, of course just means being recorded in advance and, released. Relatively. Soon afterwards. Only. Slightly modified, it. Could be released at a later date in which case you, know for example often you capture, on multiple cameras you take it into the edit you might. Edit. All the different camera angles together you, might want to put a title, page on and credits, and offer. It on demand, to add to. The audience, at a date that suits you, and both them so. That they can watch it at a time that's convenient, for them one. Of the questions, we've had a lot about today is what are the advantages of.
Live. Versus. On-demand and we will be touching, on that in the Q & A but. First of all let's just take a quick look at why, stream. Or capture your work. Currently. It's the pandemic, that stoping audiences. Attend, live events, but, under normal circumstances. It might be factors, like geography from, the commitments, or disability, and sharing. Your work digitally it's just a great way of reaching. Diverse audiences. Whether that's locally, nationally, or, internationally and. It. Has the bonus of helping to, build the brand of your company, and work so your brand equity, or, reputational. And creative, work so. Whether. Your focus, today is to learn how to gain an edge whilst, creating, content, into the current lockdown or if. You're interested, in learning good. Practice, for when. You'll have access to kit and crew there, are some Universal. Considerations. To make when capturing, and streaming. Your work. Small. Medium, or large budget. Whether you're filming from home or location, size, really, doesn't determine, success, in the digital sphere it's, all about finding an approach that's right for you so, let's, look at some examples, working left of screen round, you. Might have seen Jay Flynn's virtual, Pub Quiz it launched six weeks ago he's, a car salesman from, Lancashire and he. Launched his quiz from the front room of his house on the first night alone there was 300,000, viewers from around the um, and, I think it's really interesting because in week one he pretty much broke, all the rules that I'm going to go through today so it is worth, recognizing, that, context, is all but. I am rude and it. Hasn't affected his, popularity, he goes from strength to strength he's got loads of kind of celebrity. Endorsements. He's running more than two quizzes, a week now but he has I noticed, from his, first. Stream in week one lost, the kind of scarf, ears he inadvertently gave, himself by it because of the position of his camera on the, computer. And. When it comes to. Framing. It. Is important, to think. About the, experience. For, people who are watching at home whilst we're we're, streaming from, our front. Rooms or our offices or ever and and, a really good example of how this has been done well I think is tomorrow, raka who's the artistic, director, of the English, National Ballet and she's, running really popular. Daily dance classes, from her kitchen but. She's really thought about the shop so she's moved the furniture aside, and you've got a big nice wide, shot so if you want to follow her arms and legs they're not falling out the frame you can really see what she's doing and follow along and she. Has the added advantage that, she's got the musical, composer, of the English National, Ballet, Orchestra. To compose, music so, there's things to dance tea without and, of course running into rights issues, and. The third image is kind of ubiquitous. For our times it's the it's the creative, collaboration. This time on zoom Andrew. Lloyd Webber got together with his Phantom of the Opera Orchestra. Really. Early on he was a really early adopter, and it's really interesting to see what he's done every week he's he's kind of going from strength to strength just, really exploring, the kind of digital capacity. He, has so some weeks he'll play the piano and his daughter Isabella, I'll be filming him then, another. Day he might just ask his, fans, to load stuff up on his Facebook page then, performing, so, really, really interesting, dialogue, that he's have established and, I think although we are restricted, in a lot of ways digitally, it's there's still really interesting. Opportunities, to take advantage of, and I think particularly. Zooom I'm fascinated. For example, I saw Lucas. And David Walliams exploring. The, split screen formats, a comedic effect on, the, BBC's big night in and this car don't know if you know but the back end there's all kind of polls and chat rooms I'm, really interested to see one, when, theater companies and arts organisations, start to actually utilize these, more, and more as we get more confident, and more used to our current circumstances and, certainly.
One Of the most ambitious. Projects. Have seen launched, this week on ITV, isolation. Stories, I don't. Know if you saw Sheridan, Smith on Monday night playing, a brilliant, thought was really really great and telling, her a drama story that, she'd shot basically, each, actor. Was sent some, very basic, camera kit their, husbands, and wives and partners were roped in to be the camera operators. And they, filmed themselves and, they sent the footage back to the, editor and it. Was basically, the nation is now watching a. 50-minute. For series. Miniseries. And that. Was shot, without, anyone pretty much going outside or, indeed, ever meeting, in real. Life. Going. To go onto the next one let's. Just think about life, beyond. Lockdown, or pre lockdown, these two images were taken the. First one was taken, on location. And it shows you a pretty, pretty. Standard, setup for. A relatively, low cost on on, location. Camera, cap multi camera capture this particular one was shot at a community center in the Outer Hebrides, national. Theatre Scotland were performing, their, play in the hall while, their capture team set up in the tuck shop and, all. The kick was brought, in and built in situ and you can see from, the window we've. Just kind of taped up some black tape a very DIY solution, to block out the light so that we could actually see the screens we're, wearing lots. Of scarves and coats and gloves because it was so cold there, was no internet connection so we use four cameras, to record and, then we took the footage back to Glasgow, to edit the. Other image is much more typical. Brod be inside of a typical broadcast, truck it's, often, used in more high-cost captures, you might have seen them outside gigs and sporting events with satellite, trucks nearby, and this can be a really good solution depending, on your budget or the scale of the project and, also. In terms of the space available in the venue and the space available outside and whether there's capacity. To build kit inside, all park a large vehicle outside, ultimately. All, the options that I've talked about half the base same basic functionality which. Is to enable you to share your work and, engage with the digital audience and if.
You'd Like some bright examples, of captures. The culture, to your couch series, is on the space website, and all, the resources which I mentioned quite a few during this morning session and they, are will all be sent to you afterwards. But. Let's just think about during, lockdown, if. You're planning, on capturing. Or streaming your work, or. More generally, you want to film but you have no or very low, budget there, are some basic, tips that you can adopt, to make your productions, look more, professional and. What I would say is first, of all ask yourself, where, are you they're, not this up where's your device and then, where, is the light source so, first of all where, are you in in the frame imagine, it is divided. Into three both, ways you've got nine grids if, your, center, frame where's your head give yourself a little bit of headroom and I always think like the two finger, rule is quite useful try. And give yourself enough room above. If, you're, talking. To somebody off frame, to the left for example you might want to say it over here, and. Make sure you. Dot. Direct. Eyeline across this frame rather, than for example setting. Up a shop where somebody's looking here for all the information. In the shop is behind them device. Wise, think. About your eye line if if, it's not naturally, in the frame then, you know use good old a, breadboard. Or a book to try to build. Your laptop, up so that its height we've, seen far too many, shots, like this Yunos, or, or, kind of falling, out of frame I saw, Benedict Cumberbatch on National Theater this, week talking, about Frankenstein. And it was here and, I, might manage it we love you please let us see you full frame also. The other thing to remember is think. Of your room as a set so, people. Often say have something interesting behind. You and it makes me laugh because they, kind of have something really, close to their head like a picture I saw something with pictures the Sydney Opera House I don't really think that's what people mean when they say something, interesting it's about the depth of field you can't, always but. Actually the more depth you have between you and the objects, behind the better. And. Then. In. Terms of where is the light source I'm just, going to show you a quick thing if I turn my computer on now, you. Can see that, the computer, really doesn't like it and I'm in shade to, try, to have. A light source kind, of 45, degrees, and. At. A 45, degree angle in. Terms of if you've really got no money and you're either filming, currently, or maybe, things will get released a little bit and we can go out into the world I have. Bought myself in the past and this is about four or five years ago when I bought this kit a, little, kind of mobile kit, so we've. All got phones I, have. This little clip here which, hopefully, you can see it's, just like this so it helps, me to attach, my phone which is my filming device I have, a tiny. Tiny tripod. Which, can kind of wrap around things. If need be or, if, I'm going out on location I have a slightly bigger version, but, you can see it it basically fits, into a tote, bag so it's very very portable I have. A, little microphone that, I can clip on to a guest if I'm talking to them and I. Also have this, which, is a light, and. If. I'm going out onto location, again I have a little tripod, all. This kit and, four years ago cost, me around. A hundred quid it was just off eBay, my. Latest, purchase. Is, this, which is what new tube stars. Use. And this is called a ring light that, was thirty quid so, again. You can see it's just lifting, my face a little bit and, so. I've given you my top tips for streaming at home I'm just gonna bring in my colleague Magnus, who is really. Hot and passionate on sound and will give you some of his top, tips in that area and then. We'll move on to asks, answer, some questions. Thanks. Yeah I mean I think, what, you're saying is so exactly. Right and it's obviously, the, image is, super-important, there's. No doubt and you should definitely follow all our vices absolutely, brilliant and but, I am pretty, obsessed with sound I just think if you only sorted, out your image and you had a brilliant image and you.
Sound Slightly muffled it's. It's, just all wasted, I mean number one for me is get get as good sound, as you can these days microphones. Are so good on phones. And laptops, cameras. Are great as well so you can get brilliant, sound and. Picture. From those devices. If. You're under and you know in. A good situation so, my head and sitting right in front of her computer, I don't all kind of mic she has now, but, a laptop would pick you up brilliantly, but the moment that you're doing something slightly unusual and. Maybe you're doing a one-man show, one person showing you're like moving around a little bit further away that. Sounds gonna be awful straight away it doesn't take a lot of distance, away from the mic so, you, know really. Focus on that if you can get yourself a wireless, setup somehow, it is expensive, but there's so much kit, available. Now and it's new, things are coming on the market all the time and they're getting cheaper, and cheaper a wireless. Microphone you. You'll. Find so many uses for that and they're, brilliant if you don't have a wireless microphone a lapel mic like Helen was saying so what I'm wearing now if. You're in a noisy environment, again a laptop or a phone mic is going to start to struggle lapel, mic is great to cut through that background noise and. And. Really, lift ya, lift you audio if you've got more than one people talking, then it's a whole other thing but maybe we'll deal, with that more later just. I'm, interested, in why are you well the two of you speaking people, are saying on the chat you know can, you recommend where you go to buy stuff, and, I'm. Wondering, whether you two might have a thought. On that but I was going to invite that all of the audience you, know if you've bought any kit that you thought was fab why not just put it into chat think that'll be really helpful for everybody because it's almost impossible to say this one thing is perfect, I guess. It's. A kid and they're all coming new things coming on the market all the time I think it's a great idea because you, know there's not like one obvious, kind of radio might be you should buy I know what Mike I have, but.
There's Probably some, new chinese-made, you, know radio Mike that's like quarter. The price and works just as well out there. What. Would be yours what would be your advice to somebody who's starting to look for is there a place you'd go to look cool what would Helens, not do what would you do Helen well I think like, this ring like that I bought and I literally. Just Google because I thought who's gonna know what do you cheap stars use and I looked and I kind, of went through all, the reviews, some, were better than others and then I got the one I wanted and I think what Maggie said said. Is really right is that we, could give you advice but honestly the key I've just shown you is probably well, it's already for you I wouldn't go and buy necessarily. This myself, now I mean them are obviously some, brands. Like Sennheiser. Who. We. Know were good I don't. Have rights, in Jobi grips but I'm very very impressed with this and, to. Be honest this little clique that attaches. To my phone was only a fiver anyway, and, whether it's a trademark of DRO B or anyone, else I can't believe that there's going to be much in it in terms, of the, ring light when I bought that it, actually came, with this. Just. As a mobile phone holder so, I think in some ways without wanting to spend too much money it's. Almost like jump, in and just try as. Somebody who usually, works, with the technical, crew I also, think it's about asking, their advice, before. Getting. A camera and getting it, becoming, really complex, you know I know what my expertise. Is and suddenly becoming a camera woman probably. Isn't it but I'm certainly happy to vote to, buy, this kit to help me film on the phone which is pretty much point-and-shoot. Yeah. Just. To add one little thing to that I think and it's, true that getting, doing. Research, and, finding out a little bit about the kit that you're you're looking at so reading, reviews, finding. Out what other people are using if. You if you use a a platform like Amazon, you, don't have to buy it from Amazon. But. It's good because it shows you real reviews, and then you may want to get it from eBay there are things, out there which don't work very well. It. Is a bit of a minefield and. Sometimes, the cheapest things aren't, you know are worth it and you do need spend a little bit more money so research. Research. Research before. You do buy, stuff and definitely recommend it we've got loads of recommendations, on the chat I don't know if you two get to, see it but it's all coming in thick and fast which is great um, just. One, other question before we move back to you Helen which was and what, my other questions we were asked in advance was, if you are filming with you talking, about some of the sort principles and top tips people, filming with just one, iPhone.
What Could make what could you do what would you be also creative, you on making, that really interesting. Well. It's interesting because I have tried this on, and I've tried to be all fancy and do kind of cutaways. And close-ups. And different, styles, of shots you, just explain what cutaway is so. For, example, if I'm. Talking. To camera but there's some activity, behind me I might you, know somebody, walking a horse don't know quite why that images come to my head but I might want to get a shot of that if, the person is talking about it so it relates back the kind of thing you see on standard. TV I have, to say what I realized, is for low-cost. Simple. Social streaming. It didn't work for me because, what. You instantly, do you make it complicated. And you need to shut cover the cop cuts. See you suddenly going from the big shot to a little shot with, external, content. In and you want music, all of a sudden and then of course you enter the world wonderful, world of music clearance so, actually, what I did is I, the. Time, that's been most successful. For me was. When I did it very simply, and I did a piece to camera and, just. Allow people talk, to frame but kind of rehearse them in advance so I do think, for for. Somebody. That's not an experienced, camera person like myself but, but, a director, so I know what a good frame looks like I say, just keep it as simple as possible I don't know whether you agree with that Magnus, because you are a camera man it's, kind of what I was going to say if somebody was wanting to do something really, with. A really, simple set. Of kit I would. I would kind of devil's advocate throw the question back and say don't you know interesting, is probably not the not the first word I would. Use I would recommend, try. Put, everything you can into getting, it technically, as. Good as you can so so take, your time getting the framing, right the lighting right sound. Right if you, can just, do something super simple like somebody just talking into frame but, they can hear you brilliantly it's well lit there's you know nice.
Things In the background that's. What I think that's what people want more than a fancy a fancy, edit or a fancy, stream. Okay. So, just. To after. A madness is spoke lit he's going to do a bit more getting, into the kind of the technical nuts, and bolts of. Live-streaming and there'll be more time for questions afterwards I haven't display, this but in between short. Bits of questions and then at the end of the session when Magnus, has finished his talk. The rest of the time would be for questions, so there's lots of opportunity, so we're not covering everything now I just I wanted to go back to Helen if you'd like to carry. On really Helen with thinking about you know you're gonna introduce some case studies and so on weren't you yeah. So whether you're thinking of capturing your work during or post, lockdown. There, are certain key questions, to ask yourself, editorially. To maximize. Your chance of success, firstly. What's your story who. Are your audience and, where are they already hanging out online and who, are your publishing, and distribution partners. And importantly. Do you have the rights and clearances, that you need to tell the story that you want from the platforms that you've chosen so. In terms of story, why. Would ask you is to ask yourself there is so much content online what is gonna make your story compelling, why. Is it relevant to tell now, for. Example, does. The work celebrate, a key anniversary. Or does it have specific, talent attached what. Is the unique selling, point and, then in terms of audience, if you haven't already I think the. Current climate is really good time to do social media audit. So. Which channels, you have and which channels, actually attract. A significant, engaged audience, and who, are commenting and, sharing and, clicking on your posts, for, example you might have Twitter or Facebook YouTube, tick tock but, unless you have the capacity to update, the social. Channels that you have with relevant, content I would. Suggest it might be better to focus on building traffic on one or two platforms. And really, focusing, on posting. Content. That will grow and engage your audience, so, that bricks, after, all there's no point in capturing, or streaming your work if you don't already have a digital, audience. If. In. Terms of bringing on publication. Partners. Distributors, a top, tip is. When. You're planning your social media strategy, is to be both logical. And lateral. So, one theater that I worked with called. Hundreds of schools and theaters that, they worked, with in the past and asked, them to cross post their capture, fifty. Percent said yes, so. They got new, new. The the audience's, of their partners, their partners got great social, content, so it was win-win another. Contacted. Their local premier Football Club to ask them to post short-form content that. They've made about a football show that they were doing and a, third great, example, was a dance company who'd choreographed, a show that, was set in a war zone and they, got the they persuaded the British Army to livestream, it on their Facebook page so. As well as reaching out to other arts, organizations, don't. Forget that depending on the subject matter your. Content, may well appeal, to non-traditional. Arts. Audiences. And, there, is a resource, on appealing, to non arts. Organizations. That will be sent to you of. Course you must have the rights that you need for the platforms, that you want to distribute on and as Linda said this, is a whole webinar in itself the space are going to be running some. Webinars. Coming, up and they'll also send you some, resources but broadly. Speaking it's. More, straightforward, to clear rights for non-commercial, and commercial, use. So. Story. Audience. Distribution. And partnerships. To, demonstrate, my point let's take a look at the first case, study this. Was a work that. The space supported. By, dance. Consortium. And they're a group of 20 large scale theaters who worked together to, bring top-quality, contemporary. Dance groups from, around the world but. Of course it's, expensive to bring companies. To the UK and tour them and the consortium wants, to look at longer-term. Cost-effective. Options, for virtual, touring and initially. They look to options like the Royal Opera House model, or the National Theater option, but, they realized that this was very expensive, and time-consuming in.
Terms Of clearing the rights that they need, so. Together we worked on a solution. The. Alvin Ailey American Dance, Theater were, coming to the UK for a very for, I think it's 4-1 week they were going to be dance. Dancing. On a table swells so. Dance consortium, persuaded, them to do, a live master, class from the stage that, would stream to some, of their venues across the UK and also on social media, so that people could join in and dance from the comfort of their own homes, it, was a huge success story, wise in, this case the story was a masterclass and also, it had a Q&A, session so dance. Consortium, actually brought in a presenter, to feed the questions, direct, from the online audience to the live dancers, so, that it felt like they were properly engaged it. Was particularly, relevant it. Was there was the 20th anniversary of the consortium. It. Was a first for both parties. And. It, offered, direct access, to a world renowned company, so, helping, it become a really must have must. Attend, live event in. Terms. Of audience, there was two. Priorities. For dance consortium, the, first was they really wanted to engage their existing, audience by. Offering, them a once-in-a-lifetime, event, to, work, with this legendary company but. Longer-term the dance consortium. Have got an, ambition, to build a more diverse younger. Audience, and of course by partnering, somebody, without like Alvin Ailey they. Who. Already have a following in amongst, a more, diverse demographic, they. Instantly. Got, access, to that, audience. So. In terms of partnerships, it couldn't be better it, was the first for both parties, and whilst we've been in lockdown I've seen online that both companies, have been doing masterclasses, and. If you do want to see the masterclass by the way that that's another link that you can, access. So. It was really successful in. Terms of the second case study this. Features, a work called bubble by theater and cut it was released at, the end of March and.
It's Another really great example of how plays can be performed, and created. And shared without the cast and crew ever meeting it. Depicts a social, media conversation, between students. And professor, and what, goes wrong when, some of the comments are misconstrued. Unless fallout and the theater company worked with three UK. Universities. And three European, universities. And the, students. Actors. Performed, all the roles so, they were rehearsed over Skype they, filmed themselves on the smartphones then, they sent the footage to an editor you'll cut it and then streamed, it as live, a 45, minute performance story. Wise the story wise is really relevant freedom. Of speech on campuses, is very part, the seat guys it, was written by an award-winning, playwright Ciaran Hurley and, it really adopted, a creative, and collaborative approach, using things like emojis, and text speak so, it was a really novel way of digital, storytelling. Enabling. It to get traction and attract publicity for that reason, in. Terms of audience, they specifically, targeted, international. Audience, and particularly. Students. Obviously, they already had the six universities, involved and then the the. Company actually has a reputation, for, commissioning. Work but then also releasing. It so that people, can actually perform their, work and they did this in this case so the audiences not, only got a chance to watch the. Material, that was already shot but they were invited, to film and share their versions, of the production. So. Theatres incur in terms of partners had got the six universities. Then they also work with National, Union of Students, and. It's been really successful so, so far over, 55,000. People, have watched the production, and the. Actual, play that they can be performed where the people has been downloaded by people in 21, countries and. So. I would, really advise, to. Keep revisiting these. Those three factors, story, audience, distribution. Partners. Throughout, the three stages of production. And. Of. Course they are pre-production. Production and, post-production and. It they, broadly, correspond, to plan make, review, and share and I, cannot recommend enough. But. The more you do in the pre-production, stage, the better for you so things, like clearing. In principle, rights, finding. A crew and a menu and penciling, as in saying we want to do it please hold this for us. Scheduling. Both your production, and your post production and distribution, the. More you can do in stage one the more chance you have of delivering, to time and budget I have, created a one page capture, checklist, which will be sent to you so that it'll just give you something to rundown and hopefully help you. Not. Not, miss any of the crucial things of. Life. Because live-streaming, and caching it's all about collaboration between, your team and the filming team and the, sooner that you can start to work together the. Better so. My, top tips if you are planning, a multi-camera capture, is ask. The experts, you really, don't need to be an expert in broadcasting. The trick is to find, the right capture, team who, can help you, to ask the right questions. Because. Inevitably. Capturing. Your work will involve, a level of compromise, to your event or live show and, it's crucial that your artistic, director, and your creative team feel, comfortable, with the capture director, and their team and that, you feel that they're sharing your company's this, vision.
You. Have, to acknowledge screen. Grammar because, just pointing, a camera at the action, when, it's a big play means nothing the comm has got to have perspective and, shots make must make sense of the production, one, of the first things a capture, director, will typically, ask you for is a scratch, tape and that's just a basic recording. Of your production, and so, that they can see the setup in the stage direction. And from, here they would create a shooting, script to. Work out the choreography of the shocks with, their cameras that they have available and. The. Cameras, and the shots obviously, adds to, the storytelling, and then they can guide the online audience enhance. The stage direction, for screen. And. Fourthly, if you can build in a camera rehearsal. It. Gives to members from both sides, the creative, side and the camera side a chance, to watch the performance back, and, see whether any tweaks need to be made to lighting, to the set to the costume. If you, can. Record. This, rehearsal even, better so that if your master recording, goes down for. Whatever reason, you've got the safety copy. So. We've, kind of quickly run through top. Tips for editorial, and production, process, and now, we're going to ask some questions, sorry. Answer got some questions but also Magnus. Is going to expand, on some of the production and technical skills. Thanks. Helen just, before. I'm gonna invite people to ask questions. Via the, Q&A, function, but. While doing that you know your top tips are really brilliant and we've had lots of questions, in advance what people saying or how do we ensure a really. Good audience, experience, for an online audience who might be used to you, know coming into a theatre or going to a gallery what. If, you at the moment you don't have access. To crew, and all the resources you might have at other times, what. How would you translate your top tips to that's it, different, the different situation, of now I think. Filming. During lockdown, is obviously, very different, and I think it's about trying, things but not trying too many things what, typically, appeals.
To The existing, audience and how. Might you continue, that so are you going to plan. For example a short, series of events because just, releasing, content with kind of no context. It's, not worth it you've got to establish trust with your audience so that they understand. What to, expect and it's not just a one-off unless, of course you've. Deliberately, built it to be a one-off. Okay. Thank you um. And somebody's. Asking for, bit of clarity what do you mean by screen grammar ah, yes. Well thank you yes so, I suppose it's things like when. You watch a film you, you, in. You. Absolutely. Know what screen grama is whether you know that that's the terminology is. That if there's, a wide shot in a room and suddenly you go into a close-up of, somebody's, eyes you're. Being told it's, a storytelling. Device you're being told what's important, is that closer, whatever is happening in that image so, the eye is so, you're really kind of usually, you know it might be an emotion, that you're being asked to experience. So if you watch TV you already, experts, at screen gram of whether or not you know what the word is, okay. Thank you um and, I just like to go back a bit so we had some questions earlier about sort. Of going back to that idea of sound and microphones, or not come on Magnus. I guess this one just comes to you first which is. Somebody's. Saying when. Teaching dance classes, online we noticed, an issue, trying. To use computer, sounds simultaneously. With a microphone. As a, laptop can't. Seem to have both at the same time Helen's nodding have. You got any suggestions, on best setup for good quality sound. And they talking about speaking, I think while. Musics playing. Yeah. Specifically. About zoom but it might the much wider in case of other people, yeah, I know that my wife. Dances. So she's been doing some dance classes, and. I think what some people are doing is they're playing the music in the room out, of, speakers, like maybe the computer speakers, but they cut the sounds coming into their room they, have a mic which, is picking up their speaking the, teacher and also, the music now, microphones, are specifically, serration, tARGIT specifically, designed to. Basically. Block out any noise that isn't the dialogue, so. What you end up doing is is only barely. Record, here, in the music properly and it kind of comes and goes and then, if you're if it's, not really loud then you probably just don't hear anything the, key is to find a way to play the music through your system. So. For example on this zoom called right now I could. Play, a video, clip or play an audio clip and send. The audio directly. To the, the viewers and they. Would receive it like it's not coming out of a speaker, and then going into a microphone it's going to rekt and it should come out of your. Computer, wherever, you are exactly. The same as if you played on your computer and that that's a way to do it. So, with zoom I think it's fairly simple you, would just like. Share, share. That screen, or share that video or share that music file I think, they're still here you talk King but that. Then the only other problem is for the teacher they need to also hear it but. They can maybe have it coming out of their speaker, quite quietly, so they can hear it but not you. Know it doesn't come into the microphone, I think that's it's not always that, easy to, configure. That and some, some. Platforms. Are harder than others so Facebook, live I don't, quite know how you would do that without some some, serious kind of kit but. But. But yeah that's the general general, principle, I think okay. And. We've had another question, about a, guest - Helen really about somebody. Asking but. Its. Comp again is. Previously. What, sort of lengths, you know what, kind of length four pieces our audience, is engaged by, I haven't. Keep. My sustained, well, I don't think necessarily it's, the length of what they're sustained, by because I you, know if it's a play that's. A Shakespeare, play it's a certain length I think, what's crucial, is, to make the beginning really really interesting, like don't make them wait for something to be interesting don't, be giving like long. Intros. Or. Or. If you're doing a podcast you know a rambling, intro cut, straight to the action let, people know what's happening, and actually with captures, particularly, like lots of our, arts, organisations, have got archive shows that might have, captured an hour and a half performance. For. Example I think it's quite good to intro, it with the presenter, so that's like a two or three minute intro so the audience's know what's coming up or if you don't have that opportunity then put it in the beneath.
The Line on a social platform so. I mean. Short, form content is obviously good on social, you, know kind, of ten seconds, you've got I think to engage people I think 30, seconds. To a minute is obviously good but I don't think it's necessary, either or I think if you're going to do a capture, clearly. You need people to know where. It's going to be and I think one of the exciting things, about creating your own material. Is you can take stuff and actually edit it and make fantastic teasers. So that you're building this sense of anticipation in, advance and you're, kind of launching it out, well saying, come and join us come and share this water-cooler, moment which, I think you, know J Flynn's Pub Quiz is the perfect, illustration, of. How much we still want shared experience, into the current situation, absolutely. Okay. Thank you I'm. Gonna read the next question hon because it's quite long, and I think it's aimed back to use so, we can we consider how we persuade, an audience using. They, used to experiencing, live performance. In a theatre to. Subscribe, to an online streaming, season, of new productions, when, the theater is closed so this is quite a big question and, there. Seems to be a suggestion, that you don't, want to risk an online project without a guarantee, of an existing, audience. So. I guess it's about how do you what. What can you do to move your existing live audience, into, the online space. Well. I'm dreaming, that if you're a theater already will, already have following. If you haven't, then I'm going, to it briefly but I advise, logging. On to the webinar, about building. Online audiences. And I, absolutely. Think I think it's a great idea and I've seen many many theatre companies I saw headlong, in fact had long theater company said they were about to do some productions, and I, think they've been picked up by the BBC, but certainly, absolutely. Yes get people to subscribe I think, the message though is you, still have to go to where your audiences. Are online, I think, the difficulty, is if you're asking, them to go and register somewhere. Else that's. Very difficult but where is the audience, that you already have for your theater shows so, one one. Example is your theatre, social, channels and all. Your. Friends, of your company, another. Thing is is at. The moment, celebrities. Are free. And. When I say celebrities, I mean that at all different levels you know it might be that you have a kind.
Of Influencer. Or a supporter. Within your production. And I don't also get people in the production to help you spread the word so. That they're actually acting, as your ambassadors. And you. Know for example I did a project in Sunderland, for, hard-to-reach, communities, I got local celebrities, and you Joe McElderry he's. From Sunderland, Chris. Ramsey he's from something they both did stuff for free for me just, really to help ensure. That the audience, felt. Safe that these, were faces they knew they're not typically regard, don't typically regard themselves as an arts audience, so that was my way of thinking, how am I going to persuade them it's okay you're okay with me and, I suppose that's it ultimately, it's all about establishing, trust, with your audience and, making. Sure that you deliver what you're say you're going to deliver and it's, true to the voice that you have in real life you know if you're, a, very. Serious. Theatrical. Company. You. Don't want to suddenly start to. Broadcast. Something that's not relevant to the audience that, you've already got, okay. That is the question thank. You yeah and Claire's, just pointing out that we've got an audience toolkit, on. A. Link to and also we're, going to speak in the. Might have some other resources about platforms and what works for what audience we can point to um and, again so this is a question, to both of you that. We you. Know we're speaking about. Live. Streaming and, capture. And what. How does somebody make the decision, about which way to go whether to livestream or to capture and stream, later on well there's a pros and cons the advantages Helen do you want to kick off and then we'll go to Mel let's. See if we give the same answer we might not but I. Think, kind, of it comes back to my story audiences. Platforms, which is for, example if, you're going to do a masterclass and Q&A, then, the content, the story is. Absolutely. Perfect. To be live streams you want to create an interactive experience, for your audience it would be mad to do it and then not be able to involve, that, author live audience, however, if you were doing a.
You. Know say you had a cast of ten on a stage or you had a. Really. Complex, production. Being. Able to offer it on demand might just give you the opportunity. To. Plan. Your shots you know if you're doing on-demand it gives the opportunity to, film. It from various. Points, of view and then, go, away to the editing cut it so, for example you might be able to put you know a GoPro, on your head and film. It from the, main character's, perspective, and, then cut that in you can't really do that live so I think it very much depends, on the content and just. One quick thing is four, years ago when I first, started setting up the capture. Strand, for the space it, was very much the rule, that you always did it live if you could because, she wants to create a water-cooler, moment but, that was before Facebook, live and I think I definitely, think you need to create an event where. You launch it into the world so that it's a real water-cooler, moment but. That doesn't, actually require, it, them live anymore, because software. Has, changed, and the platforms have changed and therefore Facebook. Live, is. Still alive you're. Just that. Moment. Okay. Thank you and Magnus what do do you have anything to add or challenge. Or no. I was hoping that you would say something I'd disagree with and we could have a big meaty discussion, yeah I basically, completely. Agree with everything I think normally I've had so many conversations with, people about. This like somebody will say I want a live stream of show and you sit down and you talk through the specifics. Of that show and how and you just, get to the end and it's like obvious, that, it's best to pre-record. Or you talk it through any like it's obvious, that we should live stream this it, usually, decides, itself, based, on the, show, you know there are factors, that just make it so. Difficult to, live stream or is such a compromise, that it's just silly to and. Then sometimes, it's like the audience interaction, that online like real-time interaction. Is so brilliant that it would be silly not to live, stream yeah, okay. Um, and, just before, we kind of get, you to carry on Magnus we've, got lots of questions coming in about platforms. Some, one of them says is YouTube. The best platform, for doing it yourself and I. Wonder, if you have an opinion, well. I mean in two I'm not I'm not a social media expert in, that in the sense, of what's. Best to get the biggest audience or the right audience, you. Know to build an audience for example, I suspect.
YouTube, Isn't the best way to do it YouTube, is is the best platform, for pure. Tech. So if you want the best quality you. Can you can you. Can do 4k, streams, HD, really, high bitrate you can make stuff look, amazing. On YouTube, and it, has lots of functionality, in terms of like actually getting most, like, the biggest audience you choose probably the least good. One Facebook. And Twitter are usually, what people go to first, in order to get like pure, numbers, of viewers. So. Yeah, it depends what what what they mean really in in terms of best, I think. Helens got a comment as well and then we'll come back to you to carry on yeah what I would say is it doesn't have to be either/or you. Can just bring to them both at the same time I mean I would advise against, for example streaming. On YouTube, and feeding it to Facebook, I think natively, is, much better so you, literally stream, to. YouTube and to, Facebook because. Facebook algorithms. Don't really favor feeds, from other social, channels but. Ultimately you can do 3 4 5 although, saying that of course I wouldn't. Okay. And again that it, might be that people in our audience have got experience of using different platforms for their work and perhaps it's as if it's to share about you know and give other people some opinions, about what, either, those big 3 platforms or any of the other smaller, platforms. And. We've also had questions which I think we'll go to think, about later on about, sort of donations. And how you know where. Might you go to try and bring. In some revenue from your work. Vimeo. Like no one ever talks about it and it's extremely, expensive unless, it's changed recently, I've, done it once in your life and it's, I, would, say it's the best in terms of quality and. Functionality. And there's loads of ways that you can generate. Income from. There as well but, it's the least known. And. Possibly the least kind of audience but. Just to just add that in there Vimeo live. Okay. Okay, thank. You so, um. Magnus. Do you want to just. Do you want to kind of move on you've, talked, about the, pros and cons of whether you're live streaming or. Capturing, but, if let's, assume now that somebody has made a decision that they want to live stream what. You're. Going to start by thinking about some of the questions you asked you. Asked people who come want to work with you to do live streaming, yes. Absolutely. So yes so assuming that you've chosen to live stream we've had that conversation and, whatever it, is that you're doing. Is just perfectly, suited for live stream. My. Next question would be how. How, complex, how big, how fancy, do you want your live stream to be and so. I mean how, many cameras, do you want, how many microphones. And. That, possibly means how much money do, you do you want to put into it it's. You, know determined. Largely by that and the. Second thing I want to talk about is whether if, this is some an event or workshop, or show that you have done before, whether. It's, right to just roll it out again exactly. As you always have done or whether. Really we need to sit down and make some fundamental, changes. To how you deliver, that work so, that it works better for an online audience and, then, thirdly, what happens once, the, live event has happened finished. Is that, it is at the end or. Is there a further life that the work can have, okay. So let's get started now this kit I have, this kit this slide. Is super complex and I don't really. Have time you're going to go into it in detail you, can probably download, it if you want. To and. It has some suggestions. Basically. For different levels of kit. So in terms of how complex, you want to make your livestream at, the very top is the simplest, way you can do it as you, all know if you've got a laptop you, can just sit in your home, office and stream.
Yourself With, no kid at all just your laptop or a phone and. Then, going down this. Flowchart. It gets gradually more and more complex, as we add more kits, more. Capability. More. Complexity. And use, more cost. And. Then, at the bottom is, is. What, I do which, is an, external company will come in and kind. Of take care of everything for you bring all the kit and and do it and there's there's things that we can do which. Possibly you, wouldn't be able to do on. Your own in a company unless. You're you know you, have serious amounts of money or you, know that the kit the the the technicians, in there that can, do those things so we. Can if you're interested, in the specifics of this pop. Some questions and we'll talk more specifically. Later. Most. Of this is about audio, because as I said I am a bit obsessed with audio. But. But. Also multiple, cameras multiple, platforms. Streaming to multiple platforms things like that captioning, BSL, things like that are. Going to add when. You start adding complexity, like that it starts getting very difficult to do it yourself. And. On, the complexity. Cost. I've got this wonderful graphics. Apologies, from my super, simple slides I know they're awful and but. This, this. Graph, is a universal. Law, of diminishing returns you. Can achieve quite. A lot with. Very little money and. I'm a big believer in trying to do things as cheaply, as possible so, that it's sustainable and you can do it again and again and again rather, than trying. To raise huge amounts of money for one-hit-wonder, and then you can never do that again and so. You know buying, a bit of kit small amount of kit to make your home streaming. Setup work great, idea you can achieve brilliant, things what. I offer is this, the, space. Would call it low-cost capture, as opposed, to their high cost capture, kind, of strand, you. Might not consider it low cost so our streams are between, 5, and 15 grand and. So. You can call that mid-range, if, you like high, cost you, know 100 200 you. Know can be anything and and. Sometimes, you'll you, watch a stream that, I've done for 10 grand and a stream that's that's cost, to underground and on, the surface, you might not really, be able to tell that much difference they bow do the same job and Helen was making that point brilliantly, I don't if she meant to make quite that point but that. Ultimately. All these are different ways of doing the same thing and your. Show will be out there if you've, got ten grand or a hundred grand and but. There are things in the background there somebody might say well I really want live. Subtitling, in, Arabic. For example, and, that's the kind of thing just costs so much money if you need an OB truck because, you don't have the, space inside. For the kit or if you want, 15. Cameras, or. 15. Microphones, you've started to get into the realms of well I'm I'm, gonna struggle to do that with my kit. So I would be you know just possibly. Saying you know what I don't think the. Scale of your production is going to work at this budget level so there are times where you just have to go up but. These. Are some examples, of some of my shoots you can see that the kind of scale. Multiple. Cameras, think, there were three cameras this is an artist talk lights. Microphones. There's. At at tulley's so that the. The people talking. Can see which cameras live if they want to talk directly to the audience vision. Mixing, so. This is my, partner cat use vision mixing here, multiple. Cameras this, is a stream where we had to have. Satellite. Internet because there was no no. Internet on the island. Here. You can see briefly is a BSL. Interpreter. Box. That's. Added in the corner of the image these are kind of things that we, can do with the kit that we have. Now. I'm going to talk a bit about, platforms. I get asked about this a lot and, just. To define what I mean by aspect, ratio just in case anyone doesn't know if you. Have a phone you hold a portrait, or landscape. That's. Aspect, ratio so portrait. 9. By 16, landscape. 16, by 9 so right now we're streaming 16. By 9 landscape. Which is the usual kind of TV shape. And, Facebook. YouTube, Twitter. And Twitter streams, through Paris, just, essentially the same thing, you don't need to worry about that too much these. Three, platforms all stream, landscape. And, Instagram. Only. Streams portray. Which means that. They're, kind, of like different. Beasts entirely and to string to all three, all. Four at once would be extremely, difficult you'd, have to frame. Landscape. And take your portrait, crop or, the other way round for Instagram, it's almost, never going to work you, could have double the cameras, you.
Know Some cameras frame portraits, some laughs it's just it just the complexity, is going to be ridiculous so, I've never never, actually done that before, however. You can stream to facebook youtube and periscope all. At the same time because they will accept the same stream now. You know this. Assuming that you've got the kit in, order to stream to three platforms simultaneous, so we can talk them a bit more about how you. Can do that there are there are ways even if you're just sitting there with your laptop, it's possible, it. Just has a little bit of complexity, now, last I just want to talk about the, premiere function, YouTube and Facebook has. An, as alive function, which is absolutely, brilliant so as Helen was talking about the different ways that you could you could you know pre record something say a few days before it's, live, and then, upload, it to. YouTube. And Facebook schedule. Out to, start at a particular time and then you've got all of the buzz of like going, live. With. Some loads. Of advantages, for example, you can caption it in those few days proper. Exact. Captions, that you can check you can do it in other languages, you, could add a BSL, window if you wanted, you. Can make, it start exactly on the beginning of the program rather, than when you actually when it's actually lie you really need countdowns, and you, know this, loads of complexity, afterwards, because you're, stuck with the countdown timer and so, it's a brilliant function, but obviously it's not actually. Live so you don't have the audience interaction, and, people. Will know that's not actually life or. They probably should if. You pretend it you might get caught out but. All, brilliant. Options. Now. My third point was about adapting. Your work now let's, just say that you always do artist, talks or. Workshops, or you have a show, you. Know and we're gonna sit down and talk about how to livestream, it now this is a difficult one should you make changes, to your event. Workshop, show and whatever you're doing to make it work better for a live audience now a live audience is completely, different. From, a room audience just, consider firstly, just the the pace and the time you. Know that house snappy you expect, a broadcast. On TV to be you you wouldn't wait, for 60, seconds, while the newsreader, was fumbling trying to find, their, words it, just never ever happens, it's because you'd lose interest, and switch the channel so, you know you have to just work on a totally different timescale and there, are there were a bundle. Of great. Suggestions, I can, give you now but. It's a it's totally up to you and it's individual, to the type of event, or workshop or project, whatever it is you're doing but. This is a definitely. Step. That you should go through and sometimes, things. Do work as they, always have online but, usually. We have to make some changes now. This image here is. Essentially. An artist, talk that. We, the, space and myself streamed, this, is Sonia Boyce the artist Tim Marlow. The. Presenter. And it's in Manchester art gallery and you can find this on, the Manchester, and art. Gallery Facebook, page and possibly, the space and I'm sure we'll them share, it later so you can watch it in full I'm not going to. Play. It now because, if you don't have a great, connection. You're probably not gonna be able to see it properly but I will show you some stills from it. So. Straight away you can see that we have a. Presenter. Now, you might not necessarily think. To have a presenter, if you're doing an artist talk you could just get the artist on camera. Prepare. A speech deliver. It but, it's a brilliant thing for live it adds dynamism. It adds a pace and it. You you labels you to control, the, time and a. Great thing to can sort of have a check out later watch it see what you think. It. I would. Urge you to script your livestream if you wouldn't normally script, and what I mean by that is, it. Could just be a simpler script the opening. Links. You have a schedule. Of time that you're going to go through so, that it's not completely organic, and can just go massively, wrong i I'm. Gonna I'm talking about this point in just, really, superficially. These are huge things we could possibly discuss, more later. Helen. Mentioned about rehearsals. Again, if you don't normally rehearse, your talks. Definitely. If you can rehearse them because even the crew the congregate they, will benefit so hugely from having seen everything happen before and if you've got a script and you've got tight timings. It. Will help you hit those timings so, much easily if you've rehearsed. We've. Got an audience here now you probably, aren't. Gonna be able to have an audience in your live streams for for ages but you may well be able to have a. Talk, in a room with maybe a presenter, I'm. Imagining, it's going to be possible fairly soon if you follow the rules like this so those who are possibly, far enough apart but.
If You do have an audience we're. Talking super future here are they, a real ticketed, audience, that they're perhaps going to go to the toilet in the middle and arrive late or do you want to control those people invite them and. Basically and then they do what they're told and. Just. Accessibility. Just one thing I want to talk about and. It's. Very hard for. For. Doing live, captioning. Although it's been done now brilliantly, and I think the tech is changing, all the time the platforms, are. Adding. Functionality, all the time for this so there's there are ways to live capturing, your work, and. The, I showed you the BSL, live BSL, we did there are ways are very difficult, probably. Quite expensive and, I've, done live captioning before in it it's been a total, disaster because. They're, just not accurate enough I, be, I should be watching my own subtitles to see if she's keeping up with my super, quick, speech I imagine it's a nightmare. Whereas. If it's pre-recorded. Then you can caption it and and, that solves that problem. But anyway I'm going back to. Whether. You should or shouldn't livestream and these. Are essentially. The points I was just making, and, all. The slides would be available for download so if you didn't catch anything you can download that and, we can talk about it more in, the questions, if any of those particular things that are of interest and I would recommend just having checking, out that video. To. See whether you agree with you know how we did it Linda, you wanted to well just, so. We're, talking about live, streaming at an artist, talk and there's, been questions coming in about a couple of other scenarios, and, I wondered if you would have the same considerations. And one, of them was about in. A situation, where you might be wanting, to, incorporate. Some. Live. Action. And. Existing. Material. Or. Something yes, so we, do that we call it VT so actually. Even, this talk although, we've kind of hidden it I flipped. Through and I'll show you an example that. Is. Actually, a pre-recorded. Insert. And it's. A moving, you, know, shot. Of the of the painting, we've got various like really fine, details, so we had a bank of clips ready. And we, were listening to what was being said and if something was referenced. We, would cut it in and I believe there, were other. If. I just flick through more. Slowly my madness in case people got yeah, I just I'll, find a moment and then I'll stop because, we were cutting cutting. In. Sonya's, other work if, she mentioned, yeah. Here we go so so. She's mentioning, our work that she's done obviously that's not in the room we had that as a bank of possible. Cuttings. And I've done this recently and we did it better. Than this because it was moving, and animated, adds, another, level of complexity, but. Absolutely, it's all, about kit it's like what I was talking about complexity. And we. Can do that we might need to bring in another computer that basically, does the VTS, and you might even need another person. Listening. To what's been said selecting. The correct, image. Or clip, and playing. It at the right time or, if it's all scheduled, or planned then. Perhaps, it's, not. Such a big deal because you just you should build it into your script. Helen. Were you. You're. Meeting, me unmute. Sorry. About that all I was going to say is I totally agree and actually you can of course do it not just with stills but also video. Content, that you've shot in advance so, Linda you suggested, festival, and that worked a great effect with London, 1666. Artichoke. The company, that does lots of big outdoor. Events, did a live stream, from the. Thames, where they worked with David best the burn artist and there was lots and lots of pre-recorded. Material. That was placed, within the live context. So, it's, like a running order where you literally this is live this is not live this is and. And. For some live streams we've, had like a monitor. In the room and, and. That present has an earpiece and you actually have to you. Know the presenter needs to know that, you've cut to VT and then they watch the VT and they know that, you get a countdown you know back there, live again and and, it works brilliantly because then they've just watched it they can reference, it that can comment on it and they know exactly when it's finished and they're ready to carry on it.
Works Brilliantly but again a whole other level, of complexity, when you start going there but, definitely worth worth doing thank. You so. You you've spoken really about you. Know difference an example, of how this works some of the considerations, do you want to move on to your next point. Yes. But afterwards, what happens later, yes yes. So. Obviously that's not it you know once it's gone out live that's not the end most, of the streams that I've worked on seem to get the, same if not more views, after, the fact so they've gone out live and then actually they loads of people watch it once. It's finished it still kind of retains that buzz of like you were alive and and. So so it can stay on there for a week or forever, if you like and also. We always record, everything. We do and so. You, can edit it refine, it chain, improve, it fix things that maybe went wrong and then. Upload. That again so so what some people do is they maybe let let the live version. Be, on there for a certain amount of time. Then. They might take it down or they might leave it and they might upload. A more, polished kind, of refined version and. That you might get a whole other load of views then at, that point you can take short clips from. Your work and they will work as
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