Following the appointment of Matthieu Straub as the company’s technical and operational consultant to France and the Benelux countries in the summer of 2019, FilmLight is delighted to announce that it has now established a permanent presence in Paris. By sharing premises with ARRI France, FilmLight is developing a strong hub for creative and technical knowledge and events.

The hub will host the first of FilmLight’s Colour Day workshops in 2020, on 28 January. One of the advantages of sharing the centre with ARRI is that it underlines the seamless workflows from camera to finish, using the BLG format for render-free viewing and creativity. The BLG grading metadata is stored in the ARRIRAW and QuickTime headers, ensuring the content and its look are permanently linked.

The Paris Colour Day on 28 January, aimed at creatives and technicians in production and post production, will see FilmLight’s workflow specialists, Straub and Thomas Eberschveiler unveil new FilmLight tools. Attendees will also hear from guest colourist Stéphane Azouze about his collaboration with directors Anastasia Mikova and Yann Arthus-Bertrand on the recent award-winning documentary ‘Woman’. Finally, colour scientist Florine Bel will share her image expertise and discuss her work developing film aesthetics, colour spaces and conversions.

The shared space has already hosted successful events, including a workshop day for DITs. Led by Straub, with guest speakers from Netflix and from post house Mikros, the group discussed the latest developments in colour space management and workflows. ARRI’s presence allowed the discussion to include ARRI Looks and how they can be incorporated into FilmLight BLG post production. In the demonstration area, they featured an ARRI ALEXA camera feeding Prelight and Daylight software, allowing the delegates to experiment with look development and make comparisons between standard and high dynamic range colour spaces.

Explaining the importance of bringing together creative artists and technicians, FilmLight’s Matthieu Straub said “My background is as a digital image technician, and I know how directors and cinematographers are increasingly relying on DITs to find technical solutions to their demanding creative requirements. “Our intention is to use our demonstration and meeting space here on the Rue René Boulanger to be a place where we can encourage the sharing of knowledge and experiences, to help the French cinema industry achieve ever greater things.”

CVP, one of the UK’s leading production solutions providers, will be providing hands-on experience with some of the latest kit to reach the UK market at this year’s BSC Expo 2020 (Friday 31st January to Saturday 1st February, Battersea Evolution, London).

Featuring a set inspired as a homage to the BSC’s 70th anniversary, the showcase at BSC Expo will allow customers to compare like-for-like options and to get hands-on with the equipment they are interested in — along with all the necessary accessories — to find out how their creative desires can be best fulfilled.

Blackmagic Design today announced that live video for the European dates of Little Mix’s LM5 Tour was delivered by the LED Shed, who relied on acquisition and control hardware from Blackmagic Design. The solution featured URSA Mini Pro fiber chains and ATEM 4 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K.

LM5: The Tour is the sixth concert tour by British pop girl group, Little Mix. Opening at the WiZink Center in Madrid in September, the European tour has spanned 40 shows in total, concluding at London’s O2 Arena.

A multicamera fiber workflow was deployed for acquisition and IMAG relay, with two URSA Mini Pro cameras in the pit on a track and dolly system, two more front of house, and one in an elevated position at the back of the arena with a Canon 96x 4K long lens, to capture the band’s triangular platform that flew out across the venue.

The LED Shed’s Luke Levitt says: “We would usually have one camera in the pit, but with so much fast action on stage, having two meant that we could catch all of the choreography. It’s our job as video directors to make sure everyone in the room can see what’s going on, and it’s imperative to have as much movement in the cameras as possible to reflect that action.”

Gravity Media, a leading provider of outside broadcast trucks and flyaway production kits, is building further systems in preparation for premier sporting events in 2020, including a major football competition in Europe. Central to the new flyaway kits is the Platinum™ IP3 router from Imagine Communications.

The key to success in building flyaways is to create a system which provides all the resilience and reliability needed for live broadcasting, but in a compact footprint. As the name suggests, these often have to travel by air freight to meet deadlines, where additional space and weight can be prohibitively expensive.

“We picked the Platinum IP3 because we know it is reliable — we know what it does,” said Peter Newton, technical and operations director at Gravity Media. “Because of the established partnership with Imagine, we knew that we would get good support if we need it, and we will get ample utilization of the equipment. It is a good solid product that does what it says it will.”

Gravity Media has used equipment from Imagine Communications for over 15 years, which has established Imagine as a trusted partner. When it came to choosing routers for the new flyaways, Gravity Media compared all the popular models on the market, but was confident in selecting the field-proven Platinum IP3. The new flyaways will use both the 15RU and 28RU routers.

The key project for which these flyaways are designed requires support in 12 locations over a four-week period in June 2020. The kits will provide live production functionality. The Platinum IP3 routers incorporate integral multiviewer technology, reducing space in the racks and simplifying setup. The order also includes a number of modules from Imagine’s Selenio 6800+™ processing range, along with Magellan™ router control panels.

“While the headlines are about the transition to IP, it is important to remember that a lot of broadcasters and production companies need to extend and enhance existing, SDI-based systems,” said Mathias Eckert, SVP & GM EMEA/APAC, Playout & Networking, at Imagine Communications. “Because of our close partnerships with major operators like Gravity Media, we clearly understand the need for high-functionality, high-reliability SDI solutions, as well as IP technology, and we are committed to supporting our customers for as long as they need SDI, as part of our ‘your path, your pace’ approach to the IP transition.”

For more information about Imagine Communications’ products and solutions, please visit https://www.imaginecommunications.com.

ITV News invested in 180 Sony PXW-Z280 4K professional handheld camcorders and 180 URX-P03D UWP-D wireless audio kits and Sony is pleased to announce that it has completed its full product roll out across UK regional news teams.

The new product line-up provides news gathering teams with greater operational flexibility and 4K production capability. The products were integrated into the ITV News production workflow and the TV broadcaster is now seeing the benefits.

QYOU Media Inc. announced it has entered into a long term distribution agreement for its flagship networks “The Q India” and “Q Polska”, with Ethnic Channels Group, the world’s largest ethnic broadcaster that operates 80+ television channels from around the globe, serving the multicultural population in Canada, USA, MENA and Australia across 20+ language groups.

India and Poland are both among the largest diaspora populations globally. Recent estimates show over 15 million Indians living outside their native country with over 5 million in the US and Canada. Poland has been estimated to have over 20 million people of Polish ancestry living outside its homeland (almost half the size of the native population) with over 1 million in North America. Ethnic Channels Group was established in 2004 to deliver television and digital programming to these types of communities with many of the world’s largest broadcast partners.

Today NewTek introduced the next generation TriCaster® Mini, the newest addition to the TriCaster product line and the world’s most complete and compact video production system.

The plug-and-play setup of TriCaster Mini allows new video producers to get started quickly, and easily work their way up to creating more sophisticated programs, in resolutions up to 4K, for delivery to all of today’s screens. Its small size and light weight allows storytellers to take it anywhere, set up and get started in minutes. Also included are hundreds of entry-level and advanced production tools like built-in virtual sets, amazing animated transition effects, replay for sporting events, streaming, recording, projecting, one-touch social media publishing, and much more.

“Everyone has amazing stories to tell, and video is the most powerful way to deliver your message. That’s why we strive to make it fun and exciting to create,” said Dr. Andrew Cross, president of R&D for Vizrt Group, parent brand of NewTek and NDI®. “Whether you’re a student, a corporate communications manager, or a seasoned video professional, TriCaster Mini has everything to get you going and make broadcast quality shows you can stream to all your favorite social media outlets.”

Antti Laurila, Global Sales Director at Broadcast Solutions, on the move towards used equipment: “Over the years we see a growing need for used production vehicles in many countries. Some of our customers want to upgrade their production fleet and are looking for means to fund the purchase by selling their used OBs. Therefore, it was a logical step to use our know-how and sales network to help them find the right company to sell to.”

Within the new business unit, Broadcast Solutions acts as the agent mediating between the seller and prospective new customers of used OB vehicles. Part of the service is, of course, refurbishments of the used OBs, depending on the overall condition and the needs of the buyer. The company will also use its technical expertise to advise of potential changes that could be possible and technology choices which may provide additional benefits to the new owner. The company also offers an enhanced full support agreement, tailored to protect both equipment and vehicle. With these continuity schemes, buyers can be confident that their new investment will be protected round the clock by engineers they can trust. Identifying necessary technical upgrades for the vehicles to be future-proof investments is a huge benefit for both parties, causing a frictionless sales process and adding more options for the use of certain vehicles.

Broadcast Solutions offers this service worldwide and starts with already four OB trucks in stock, ready for purchase.

More information on the used OB truck service from Broadcast Solutions are available here: used.broadcast-solutions.de

When the original two mini-series of Top Boy ended on the UK’s Channel 4 in 2013, few people thought the critically-acclaimed drama about two London street gangs would ever come back.