TriCaster’s small footprint and rapid setup were crucial for the United States Presidential Award Ceremony
3-camera TriCaster production proceeds flawlessly despite last-minute changes
Doug Green is a veteran video producer with Holley, New York-based MultiMagic, Inc., and he needed portability in his live production. He’d been hired by one of his key clients to capture its 3-day national conference on video. More than 2,000 state legislators, business leaders, and public policy experts gathered in Grapevine, Texas to discuss public policy. “No problem,” thinks Green, “I’ve done a dozen of these.”
His situation changed, however, when he was informed that President George Bush would be attending one of those days to receive an award from his client, the American Legislative Exchange Council (www.alec.org)
Green had already used TriCaster for an historic video stream for another client, the New York State court of appeals, and was confident this was the best tool for this 3-camera weekend.
24 hours prior to the opening day, when President Bush was scheduled to arrive, changes were ordered to the entire room, including more lighting and press platform setups. “The actual event went amazingly smooth. We had a midnight setup with a noon event. We were dealing with the changes which have to be approved by both the Secret Service and the White House advance team.” Said Green. “This affects riggers, audio techs, camera operators and most of the crew. AND you’re doing this without sleep.”
It took a sleepless night, but the work paid off. Green arranged the event as a 3-camera shoot, setting camera 1 in center position on the press riser with a 35x sports lens for extreme close-ups at the podium. A cut-away camera angle to “Blue Goose” (the presidential podium) was on TriCaster camera 2, and the third camera was off 45 degrees stage left. That allowed Green to pick up everything from the podium as well as cross-overs on stage. “We had great coverage.” Program out was recorded as an avi to TriCaster’s internal hard drive, and sent to tape for back-up.
How did TriCaster perform? “Flawlessly” beams Green. He was especially thankful for its small footprint. “We were back behind everything, and with this setup, we were sharing space with an 8-person S.W.A.T. team all around me. I could only have 3 technicians with me, so I had to limit it to my TD, my computer operator and the teleprompter operator.”
Green used a variety of live gear in the past, from heavy iron to simple routers, but he thinks the best solution available for portable live production is TriCaster and its rapid setup. “My technical director Edd Altevela and I, can walk into a room, and have a 3-camera broadcast-quality show, with shaded cameras and Internet streaming and we’re ready to go in half an hour. That’s just unheard of before TriCaster!”
President Bush received his Thomas Jefferson Freedom Award, made a policy speech, attended to the rope line and then flew out. Green and his team knew the remaining two days would be quite simple compared to this adrenaline-filled afternoon. He says the rest of the weekend was more relaxed and without any problems.
Additionally, Green points to the output quality of TriCaster. “For such a tiny box, it creates a mighty stable signal, the camera shading is quite easy to do. We were all happy with its low-noise output for archiving and streaming.”
Green points out that TriCaster’s easy setup means an equally easy teardown. “Clients are used to seeing racks and racks of gear, and it’s mind-boggling if you’ve been in the business for a while. We show up in one small van. It’s only 30 minutes to break down and get out of there.”
The reaction that mattered most was the Council director who hired Green, and he looks forward to the next event with them. “Our client was ecstatic!”
Doug Green is with MultiMagic, Inc.
mmi@rochester.rr.com
585-704-4634
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