The Event : Air France Live Foundation
On 4 October 2022, the Air France Foundation is celebrating 30 years of support for children in need. For the occasion a special event was organized and took place simultaneously in Marseille (France) and in Tananarive (Madagascar). Air France asked Capta Prod to be in charge or the video production.
Setups
Technical infos
Air France initially planed to use their own flypack kit. To be able to do so Capta Prod would have had to send a team from Paris to Marseille to deploy the kit with their OB van for the Haivision/Aviwest equipment which means more costs: transport and labor. As previously mentioned, the event included participants from two locations, Marseille in France and Antananarivo in Madagascar. The more logical decision was to create a full remote production workflow by using the Capta Center located in Paris as the main control room.
Using a REMI workflow allows live content to be captured from several remote locations and managed from a central control room. Choosing Cyanview for shading made a lot sense given that all the Cyanview eco-system is IP based, allowing camera shading from anywhere.
The camera setup included 4 RIOs for camera control (1 per Haivision/Aviwest) and 5 cameras :
– 2 Canon XF605 (Professional camcorders) in Madagascar
– 2 Canon CR-N500 (4K PTZ cameras) in Marseille
– 1 Canon EOS C70 (RF-mount Cinema EOS camera) in Marseille
The control room (Capta Center) in Paris was equipped with :
– 3 Cyanview RCPs for shading
– 1 Blackmagic ATEM Constellation HD as switcher and for tally integration
For the video transmission the following Haivision/Aviwest equipment were used :
– 3 Haivision Aviwest Pro 380 transmitters for the portable camera setups (2 XF605 in Madagascar and 1 C70 in Marseille)
– 1 Haivision Aviwest Pro 460 transmitters for the PTZ camera setup (2 CN-R500 in Marseille)
– 2 Haivision Rack 200 HD Encoders in the control room (the Capta Center in Paris)
Camera Plan
If the plan doesn’t display on your screen or to view it in full screen click HERE
Capta-Prod-FINAL.drawioAs the Canon C70 was running an older firmware it was connected to the RIO via the Remote A control via the CY-CBL-6P-LANC-01 cable. The Canon C70 supports now the Canon XC protocol and we highly recommend to use it. It is IP, faster and bidirectional.
Cyanview products & functions
For this production, in addition to the RCPs based in Paris in the control room, all the remote cameras were equipped with a Cyanview RIO and to fully describe it let’s start with our first module, the CI0. The CI0 is an IP interface for serial-based controlled cameras like most mini-cameras or Sony camcorders. It is a low level converter which can be used for more than camera protocols as it also controls ENG or PL lenses, motors, gimbals, etc. The control data is sent directly by the RCP, so a CI0 unit alone doesn’t communicate at all.
RCP & RIO
The RIO was introduced to embed in the interface all the higher level protocols and directly drive cameras allowing the communication between a RIO and RCP to be carried over latency networks such as cellular or simply the public internet. A RIO runs the same software as the RCP but provides a built-in CI0 for serial ports. It also controls cameras over USB, wired lan or WiFi. So a RIO is ideal for remote production or anything wireless.
We also found that we needed to use a RIO when controlling Sony camcorders or ENG or cine lenses as the digital control of these equipments can’t be interrupted otherwise settings would change or the lens would close. With an RCP and a CI0, disconnecting the switch between the two would immediately trigger the problem. A RIO next to the camera would be unaffected by a connection drop from the RCP and simply replaces the missing electronics that should normally be in the camera.
As the RIO runs the same software as the RCP, it can then talk directly to the camera and you can control it from one or multiple RCPs.
So to simplify a bit the RIO is a remote interface that has the ability to control any camera over any communication channel, bringing remote capabilities to the setup. Any communication channel means you can have the control over the public internet using our cloud relay, which also works using 4G/LTE dongles. It can also be used with a VPN or using a data tunnel like LiveU or Haivision/Aviwest in this case but the RIO drastically reduces delays, a crucial aspect for shading, providing a much better experience.
– RCP sends optimized commands to RIO;
– RIO controls the camera locally and send back info/status to the RCP;
– Low latency, reliable.
PTZ cameras control from RCP
The RIO also allows fast and reliable control of PTZ cameras. Pan & tilt movements of the two CR-N500 based in Marseille were controlled from Paris with a third party joystick panel directly connected to one RCP (as shown on the camera plan above). You can also record multiple positions on the RCP (and joystick panel) and recall them direcly by the press of a button.
Tally
The RCP can route your tally from various inputs to your camera. If your camera has tally we will trigger it alongside the shading control. If your camera doesn’t have one, the CI0/RIO has embedded LEDs, that are configured for tally by default (more details).
Conclusion
Remote production, REMI (Remote Integration Model) can have different interpretations and can gather many setups. To create an effective workflow you should ask yourself the following questions :
Why am I using a remote production workflow in the first place ? What does it allow me to do ?
Whether it’s for reducing costs or increasing productivity, creating a well-produced show with great image quality remains a requirement. Aside from being a more economic solution, streaming video over an IP network has shown to have lower latency than many satellite workflows, becoming an advantageous option for remote production for live broadcasts. IP technology enables high-speed and quality media transport with low latency over long distances.
On this production the Haivision Pro provided reliable video and audio transmission but having a reliable and effective tool for shading is vital. The Haivision bonded cellular technology is totally integrated with CyanView’s RCP but pairing each transmitter with a Cyanview RIO enables reliable, low-latency IP-based transmission of control signals from multiple camera types (and brands) to the control room for live production.
To conclude, here is what Sébastien Devaud, Director on this production, has to say :
“Passionate about images since my childhood, I like the diversity of productions and I work as filmmaker for 50% of my job with the use of a monocam large sensor camera and the remaining 50% is dedicated to multicam productions as part of professional broadcast workflows, but also corporate workflows with all multicam live events. There is indeed a boundary between broadcast and corporate productions which boils down to the constraints and requirements of live in terms of production and broadcasting.
In fact, with regard to the various challenges, the means employed in professional distribution allow for responsiveness and efficiency which are not necessarily required for corporate productions. However, thanks to current technological advances, the IP revolution, remote prod and the affordable cost given the limited budgets of corporate productions compared to those of broadcasting, it is now possible to use common hardware and Cyanview RCP’s is a perfect example of this !
In addition to having opened the door to the creativity of professional broadcast TV directors by making it possible to mix all the different ranges of cameras while guaranteeing colorimetric harmony, they also make it possible to remotely control all these cameras, regardless of their location on the planet. This tool is, for me, a real game changer in our industry, a revolution like the release of the Canon 5DMKII in 2008 which popularized the use of large sensors at affordable costs.
The universal Cyanview RCP democratizes the control of cameras on multicam workflows whatever the type of production and and thus allowed me to professionally manage this corporate multiplex between Paris Marseille and Madagascar described is this use case and it’s a real chance to be part of this current generation !”
Contact us
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Learn more about :
Air France Foundation
The Air France Foundation supports education, inclusion, social and professional integration, as well as cultural, sporting and artistic development for disadvantaged, sick or disabled young people. It is active in mainland France, in the French overseas departments and in all the countries served by the airline.
Capta Prod
Capta Prod is active in the audiovisual sector since its founding in 2009 by Antoine Tixier and Virgil Beljambe. Their areas of expertise are the development of audiovisual content, multi-camera live productions, streaming on the internet.
2020 saw the creation of the Capta Center. A broadcasting center hosting several television channels (Sport in France, Horse TV and several local channels) and allowing Capta Prod to manage and distribute numerous video feeds and to be interconnected with the different market players.
Capta Prod provides complete, aesthetic and efficient audiovisual services for a variety of customers : tv networks, program producers, sports federations and committees, shows and events organizers, private and public companies.