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Behind the Lens

The author’s AV setup for the worship band at NOW Church in Ocala, FL includes gear from Blackmagic Design.

Creating Broadcast Quality Worship Video

What do television and a Sunday church service have in common? While many people might think not much, the two actually have a lot in common. When it comes to AV, live production and broadcast, the worship market is a huge one. And professional broadcasts are no longer reserved for a handful mega churches. More and more of today’s churches are turning to television and live broadcasts to help spread their messages, keep their communities informed and reach new members. And thanks to advances in technology, it’s now more feasible than ever before.

Create Cinematic Experiences for Live Events with a New 4K Workflow

The live event industry is taking the first steps into the next generation of staging. 4K Ultra HD products are available for consumer use, and this new workflow for event production is positioned to change how producers think about set design and staging for meetings and events. LMG Show Technology, a video production company with offices in Orlando, Tampa, Dallas and Las Vegas, has been working to provide clients with more information on how to establish a 4K workflow in a staging environment and create a new industry standard. Toward that end, the company has also designed and built a new truck-in-a-box 4K Ultra HD system for live events.
4Wall provided lighting gear to saturate the set and performers in a world of color. Photo by Sarah Silver courtesy of Pantone.

Pantone: A Behind-the-Scenes Brand Gets Its Close-Up

When Karen Lantelme glimpsed the results of a photo shoot at Windmill Studios in Brooklyn, NY, for Pantone’s 2014 “Make It Brilliant” marketing campaign, she was stunned. Having been on location, Lantelme marveled at how the finished photos accurately reflected a set “painted” with light. “It blew me away,” says Lantelme, Pantone’s director of creative marketing. “The creative team on site had the ability to change the color of the environment in an instant. It was seamless. It was gorgeous.”

Image courtesy of Columbia Pictures ©2013 CTMG

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the first film in the Spider-Man franchise to shoot entirely in New York State, was filmed on locations in throughout New York City and Rochester, as well as on sound stages and backlots on Long Island and Brooklyn. It is also perhaps one of the last of the blockbusters to be shot on actual film. One of the pivotal sets, Oscorp’s power plant, was built on the production’s back lot at Gold Coast Studios in Bethpage, NY. To fully realize the aesthetic of the power plant scenic design, the film’s production designer Mark Friedberg collaborated with City Theatrical’s Gary Fails.

PRG’s Zach Alexander, the Media Operator on Oblivion, is shown controlling the Mbox media server using the V676 Control Console. Photo by David James/Universal 2013

Lighting ‘Oblivion’ with a Projected Sky

Universal Studio’s sci-fi feature film, Oblivion, starring Tom Cruise, presents a post-apocalyptic earth, which would seem to demand heavy visual effects (VFX), and while there are many in the film, there are some surprising sequences that are, in fact, not CG. For two of the primary, futuristic sets — the Sky Tower and the Cloud Tower — cinematographer Claudio Miranda, ASC, and director Joseph Kosinski filmed most of the visual effects live in-camera rather than using green screens. It’s an old-school style that immerses the actors in the actual environment, but not the first instinct of filmmakers when the environment is supposed to be a cloud-surrounded glass-walled apartment 3,000 feet in the air.