Televising Swan Lake in live 3D from St Petersburg

Tim Highmoor

Author: Tim Highmoor

Published 1st August 2013

by Tim Highmoor
Issue 79 - July 2013
Stereoscopic television may still be in its infancy as a home entertainment medium but it is thriving in the cinema world. Freed from domestic distractions, cinema audiences are ideally placed to give their full attention to the images on the big screen.
On Thursday 6 June 2013, the Mariinsky Ballet company in Russia performed Tchaikovskys Swan Lake live to 1,200 cinema screens located in 55 countries. The performance was conducted by Valery Gergiev with Yekaterina Kondaurova, Timur Askerov and Andrei Yermakov in the lead roles.
The Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg is where this version of Swan Lake had its premiere in 1895, with choreography by Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa. This venue was also the first Russian theatre to experiment with live stereoscopic production, transmitting an experimental closed-circuit live relay to a cinema audience in Paris.
The June 2013 project was managed by London-based Glass Slipper Live Events. We were asked by Glass Slipper to supply five Skquattro pedestals and a wide range of additional support equipment as part of a total system to be used for the 3D relay. TCS was chosen as an equipment provider by the projects camera supervisor, David Gopsill. Having worked on large-scale television productions over many years, David knows from personal experience that Vinten pedestals deliver precise pan and tilt movement together with smooth on-air control of camera height. The Skquattro adds to this the freedom to move the camera equally smoothly along a track.

Innovating beyond the catalog

Established in 1996 and based in West London, The Camera Store (a Vitec Group company), draws on many years of experience as television cameramen to guide clients in their choice of equipment. We hold a large stock of standard equipment, including pedestals, tripods, heads, crane arms, lighting, fibre-optic cable and camera-support accessories. Our service includes rapid-response delivery and collection of large or small items.
Unlike many other equipment hire companies, we are always ready to think outside the box, or beyond the catalog, by improving existing kit or developing new production tools that will meet unusual challenges. This ability to provide bespoke solutions has won TCS a lot of friends in the television production community where the need to deliver innovative programmes sometimes generate demand for new technical resources.
The Skquattro pedestal is proof of this ability to innovate. Developed by TCS from the Vinten Quattro pedestal and therefore unique to us, the Skquattro gives camera operators the creative freedom to deliver low and high angle shots, plus the ability to shift the camera laterally as a separate or simultaneous action. The set Opened in 1860, the Mariinsky Theatre became the pre-eminent music theatre of late 19th century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces of Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov were first performed. Through most of the Soviet era, it was known as the Kirov Theatre. Today, the theatre is home to the Mariinsky Ballet, Mariinsky Opera and Mariinsky Orchestra. Since Yuri Temirkanovs retirement in 1988, Valery Gergiev has served as the theatres general director. The new building, opened in May, is located opposite the 19th century original.
Production configuration
Many seats in the theatre were moved to make room for eight large 3D camera rigs. Two of the Skquattro pedestals were mounted on tracks at the far left and right and three more were positioned in the body of the stalls. These were augmented by a MovieBird crane to capture movement of the Mariinsky dancers from very high angles.
We used three static and two tracking TCS Skquattro pedestals for the live relay, David Gopsall details. They enabled us to achieve the stable imaging essential for 3D cinema audiences while retaining the freedom to vary camera height and lateral position throughout the live performance. Each pedestal was fitted with stereo-paired Sony HDC-P1 cameras operating in 1920 x 1080 high definition. We were initially asked to source the grip equipment locally but nothing was available that could match the versatility of the Skquattro. We also brought in from TCS a Vinten OB Quattro, eight Vinten Vector 750 pan and tilt heads, plus a Vector 430. These supported cameras delivering video from various angles. Photo 1 is a close-up of the Skquattro pedestal itself which supports a camera and viewfinder combination weighing up to 100 kilogrammes and allows up to 99 centimetres of on-shot elevation adjustment. Originated in 2010 for operation in the restricted area of a theatre, the Skquattro is now used on some of the largest productions in British television.
Photo 2 shows the left-hand side of the auditorium (from a production perspective) including the MovieBird crane just right of centre. With its telescopic capabilities, this gave the director the option of capturing shots from a very wide range of distances and angles.
Photo 3 is a close-up illustrating one of the track-mounted Skquattro pedestals at the front of the auditorium, perfectly positioned for operation across the entire width of the stage. Combined with the inherently smooth height adjustment made possible by the pressurised-gas central column, the Skquattro is about as near perfection as any camera mounting system in the television production armoury.
A floor-mounted Quattro in mid-aisle can be seen in Photo 4. Another camera rig was located in the orchestra pit, trained on the conductor and artistic director Valery Gergiev. Breathtaking performance
Only a minority of the cinemas which participated in the live link are currently equipped for 3D but even in 2D the performance was breathtaking. The relay was also screened in the newly opened Mariinsky 2 auditorium adjacent to the companys home theatre in St Petersburg.
One of the projects organisers was Ross MacGibbon, a former Royal Ballet dancer who has danced in Swan Lake himself. MacGibbon described the 3D version of the ballet as an exciting adventure:
The shapes made in classical ballet can only be fully appreciated on screen in three dimensions as dance is all about movement through space. 3D transforms the cinema experience. The entire 6 June live performance was recorded for subsequent processing by Nevafilm Studios (also based in St Petersburg) before going on general release throughout Russia from 18 June.

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