Sgorio Cymru - S4C / Rondo Media / Barcud Derwen

Whilst Welsh Premiere League football may not be at the very top of world football, the way they produce their weekly programme, Sgorio Cymru, is very much at the cutting edge. Every programme features highlights of a game each Saturday which is filmed and edited on site; in fact a complete 'part 1' of the programme is created and sent via satellite for broadcast that evening. This requires all the technology to work every time without fail and also requires an editor that understands the intricacies of an Outside Broadcast provision.

In order to archive this, Rondo Media, the production company behind the Welsh football coverage for S4C, both International and Domestic, approached Cloudbass MD, Steve Knee, to provide a solution. Knowing from previous experience that edit systems in an OB setting often fail due to a lack of expertise, Cloudbass invested in specific key technologies that allow Steve to provide a complete and reliable solution.

Facilities companies understand cameras, sound and VT extremely well and draw upon experienced freelancers and staff to implement each area successfully. However, edit systems have normally been confined to edit suites due to the specialist and time hungry nature of their operation. With new technologies emerging, the ability to do near real time editing is now a reality and this has meant that edit systems have been more in demand in live environments.

With EVS developing new solutions for supporting edit systems, new ways of implementing an edit system have become possible. With Cloudbass' expertise with EVS and its experience of editing in the production of its own programmes, it was an easy step to join the two. Initially this was by using EVS' own CleanEdit software, but now Steve and Cloudbass use Apple's Final Cut Pro which via an EVS X-File is able to stream any angle from an EVS network into the edit system. This means that the recording process has the reliability of EVS as the initial record is down on an XT2, but is then immediately copied onto the Mac via the X-File. Within seconds of the content being generated by the OB it already exists in two separate places.

Once the material has started to copy to the Mac, or 'stream' into it, it is ready for editing. Not only this, but multiple angles can be streamed in, so a TX and several iso could be available immediately. Also, any clip that is generated by an EVS op is also available on the edit system. Edits can then be turnaround and copied straight back onto the EVS network. With version 9 or above on the XT2 machines, the edit can even start being played before it has finished copying.

This integration on an OB EVS network is right at the forefront of modern OB workflows. Further to this, Cloudbass is now using this integration to develop new archiving solutions in conjunction with Rondo which will allow it to take a very real step to becoming a tapeless production company with realtime access to all OB generated assets.

Once perfected, Cloudbass will then make this technology and solution available to other production companies and broadcasters in a proven and completely supported package, something which the company, with its special mix of personnel, experience and knowledge, is uniquely able to do.

Christmas Lectures - Channel 5 / Windfall Films / CTV

Cloudbass has provided the editor and edit facilities in various guises for the Christmas Lectures via CTV for the past 3 years. The Christmas Lectures themselves started in 1825 with Michael Faraday a regular lecturer at the Royal Institution event. From 1966 the events have been televised with a surprising number of people citing them as a major influence when they watched them when they were young.

With such a long tradition of science and technology it was only right that the way the programmes are produced should be at the cutting edge of TV production. With the programmes pre-recorded but filmed in front of a live audience at the Ri, the shows have to flow and yet still be within strict time limits for TV slot they are aimed at.

Rather than taking all of the tapes back into an edit suite to cut down the recordings to time, Cloudbass' Steve Knee provided a Final Cut System which sat across an EVS network via an X-File. This allowed Steve to ingest a main TX angle with 3 iso angles, all of which were available for immediate editing. This meant that the final edit was being constructed as the show was recorded, with final timings being advised to the PA after recording each section. Not only did this save on expensive post production time, but it also meant that anything that needed to be picked up could be done on the night, rather than finding that footage was missing at a later date.

The edits themselves had to adhere to strict Channel 5 guidelines and had to pass they Quality Review process in the same way as any pre-produced programme, a process which they passed with ease.

CBOB 1/2

Cloudbass runs and operates 2 Standard Definition (SD) Outside Broadcast units for and on behalf of its clients and for training purposes. Combined, the van based OBs can offer a total of 8 cameras (4 each), with SDI routing totaling 48 x 48 ways.

Designed for flexibility and the unknown world of OB’s, the compact units have been spotted around the UK at Premiership and Championship football grounds, cricket clubs and even the occasional summer festival, working solely on behalf of existing facilities providers, as these units are not sold direct to production companies in their OB format. The units can also be used in Edit/VT configuration, supporting Cloudbass' unique provision of OB editing in a way that can integrate quickly and easily with a larger OB provision by one of the major facilities companies.

New for 2009 is OB2 which is based around Leitch Routing, Sony camera channels, a For-A multiviewer (2 screens) for production monitoring and Riedel communication, as used by the majority of recent OB vehicles.

Both vehicles offer compact digital Yamaha audio mixers with a full complement of sound equipment including commentary boxes and effects mics, plus multitrack recording options. An ISDN Codec or TBU is easily added for communication to the outside world.