Broadcast Video Expo 2015

From 24th – 26th Feb 2015 broadcast technology manufacturers, engineers, operators, producers, directors, resellers, dealers, professionals, students, and general media boffins all descended on Excel via the DLR for the annual Broadcast Video Expo. As the UK’s flagship Broadcast, Film and Video technology show the space and visitors witnessed some fantastic products revealed for the first time, as well as exciting developments with existing devices – more on that in a minute.

Hop on the DLR and arrive at Excel London

I was very happy to be at the show working for Kit Plus magazine operating the filming side of the live stream of the shows many talks from the various lecture theatres: Broadcast Tech and Workflow, Cinematography and Lighting, The Connected Theatre, The Production Theatre, Post Production Theatre, Producers’ Theatre, and 4K Theatre. The live production was handled by students from Ravensbourne, supervised by the Kit Plus team operating a mixture of studio kit; NewTek TriCaster, PMW-300  cameras, a Polecam, and a roaming PMW300 with an Atomos Ninja and two EX1s using AJA Ki Pro mini recorders, with wireless RF link to the Tricaster using VideoSys camera integrated transmitters. It is excellent to see students being able to work with such technologies and gain such invaluable real world experience through the publication. I have to say an extremely talented and nice bunch to work with the team was, thanks for having me involved.

Sadly I didn’t managed to find the time to be blogging at the show as I had a pretty full schedule for camera operating, however each lunch I managed to get a very quick peek at some of the things I had wanted to see. So what were the standouts for this year? Well it was no surprise that 4K technology in acquisition is a big deal and it seems it is here to stay, but perhaps more interesting for me was that FCPX seems to be (I’m pleased to say) finding its feet, with some thorough demonstrations by Soho Editors showcasing the software integrating with DaVinci Resolve. I was struck with the proliferation of LED lighting technology which has advanced in pace with camera technology in the past five years, and maybe slightly faster. With the new range from Kinoflo, the ever evolving Dedo light equipment, or larger Fresnel type sources from Arri, a miriad of Bi-colour LED panel sources from Roto-light and many more – We can be in no doubt that the future of lighting is here and now, and more to the point it complements the arrival of new large sensor digital cameras which are increasingly able to stand up to the claim that they can use less light without sacrificing image quality.

When we think of the claim ‘less is more’ the headline lighting product was without a doubt the VHO Pro Literibbon, advertised as ‘the simplest color-corrected lighting product available’, a statement that holds upon a quick visual inspection. They come in hard, high-density 120 and a softer, low-density 60 in either 3200k Tungsten, 5600k Daylite, or tunable Kelvin temperature Hybrid White. The ribbon has adhesive backing so it can be tacked up quickly and located in places where traditional lighting would be much harder or impossible to locate, hidden easily the system is battery operated and controlled by a tiny dimmer. This product is so incredibly versatile, the only restraint is your imagination. The obvious uses are for car interiors or places where you need a hard light source in the shot but of course don’t want to see the source. Alternatively you could be making a prop light more attractive or use them to get around a problem with a location having a low ceiling height, it’s endless. In short they are extremely cool and unique.

‘Motion Impossible’s’ Car Drone – One RC car you don’t want to crash into a wall.

While I’m on the subject of cool things take a look at this pic above. Underneath the camera rig and the carbon fiber it’s the chassis off of a Team Losi 1/8th scale Nitro racing buggy. I started racing electric RC cars when I was ten years old and learnt basic RC electronics, things have most certainly changed since the mid to early nineties. This device built by Motion Impossible is certainly a very specialist tool but one that will be capable of generating some really unique angles and shots. Apparently they have used it for filming birds of prey, touring cars and one can only imagine what next? Of course drone technology was  a big part of the show last year (NAB will have a whole area dedicated to drones this year), and this is an extension of that service, and is being marketed as such.

Rycote’s Super-Softie

The kind chaps at Rycote gave me their new Super-Softie mount to go and test and I’ll write a separate post about later. Their products are always so well engineered and thought out. I’ve always used them so I suppose I have a slight bias but when it comes to sound, if you have to do it yourself you want a solution that will be simple and effective whether it is on camera, on a boom pole or simply in the hand of the interviewee. It worked very well as expected with the Rode NTG-3 microphone input directly to the camera in the loud ambient environment of the busy show. Rycote are a company who are always innovating and eager to improve existing products. The new ‘3D-Tex’ material results in improved wind noise reduction which works better at low frequencies than theirs and their competitors more traditional designs. Another key attraction is the new material will work better in situations where it rains – something that could only come from a British company! I am told that it can be squeezed out and dried quickly if and when it gets wet. A must for news gathering where reporters have to get the shot no matter what the conditions, rapid drying a crucial plus point if you have to then go and film another exterior later that morning or afternoon.

So onto the obvious star of the show which soon created a lot of buzz. Arri announced the latest addition to their camera range the Alexa Mini two days before BVE opened its doors and so it was with much excitement that I finally managed to get my hands on the thing ten minutes before doors opened on the final day of the exhibition! The Alexa mini complements their existing camera range and as everyone is saying it neatly completes their offering with a solution offering the Alexa sensor in a much more compact unit that can be used on Movi and Drone rigs with ease, meaning that larger productions will now be able to keep that Arri image quality for even the most specialist shots in their production. Upon lifting the unit one is immediately struck with the weight – it is incredibly light, a fact due largely to that slick carbon fiber chassis / frame. It has clearly taken a lot of development, testing and expertise to cram all the technology from the Alexa into such a small unit. Now of course adding a lens, lens control, matte box, viewfinder (they were showing it with one off of the Amira which I was told it will be available with), V-mount power, monitor, rigging and grip kit the weight will be increased massively but it will still come in under your average Amira weight. I can see other uses for the camera outside of commercials, features and dramas. For example wildlife or any type of single camera documentary production that requires equipment to be carried over distance can now benefit from the sensor of the Alexa in this new sleek carbon fiber form. I think it will be possible to create a versatile and higher end self-shooting setup based around this camera, as well as fly it and locate it in spaces the Alexa could never go.

Alexa Mini in all her glory.

Even this prototype is the quality you come to expect from Arri with all their expertise and position in the film and television industry. Who knows what they will be offering in another three to five years time – I’m looking forward to finding out. On a personal note, as an aspiring Cinematographer holding this camera took me back to being a small child when I remember at around the age of five I hung my Dad’s Hasselblad around my neck for the first time and grinned, and then later learning photography on one. That experience made me smile and it made me excited about the future – this camera took me back to that moment at BVE and I can’t wait to shoot with it. When a DoP next to me asked why Arri decided to launch the camera here and not at NAB the response was revealing and said a lot about the show and the UK industry. We were told ‘because the UK has the best technicians, the best engineers, a fantastic industry’ and as a product of that ‘why we we not launch it in such a place?’. Clearly I believe this to be true and I will leave the cynical side of sales patter out of it, I counter the cynics with the fact that they did chose to launch it at BVE. Arri are most certainly very proud to complete their ecostystem with this camera – it will be far far more popular and useful than the modular version and I suspect that by the time Spring comes around we’ll be seeing it being used on a lot of productions. Have a peek at Cinema 5D for the first footage from the camera and a review by Nino Leitner http://www.cinema5d.com/arri-alexa-mini-handson-footage-bve-2015/ There’s also a pretty funny shot / frame grab of me having a peek at a Canon EF lens on an Amira in there, I’ll add at the end of this article.

Might require a few assistants on this one.

The CVP stand is always great for getting to compare cameras side by side and play with some rigs that are often overkill solutions but for any camera fanatic a joy to behold. How about this RED Dragon setup for example?! I had a quick play one morning before the show opened and had a lot of fun zooming and pulling and reframing with the ice sculptures they had to track our lenses on. The Sony FS7 was as popular as expected, offering as it does such incredible value for money. A representative from CVP commented on how it has killed off sales of the AJA Cion which I also managed to have a quick test of. I like the Cion a lot from an operators perspective it is perhaps the better camera, though I think that the FS7 will be the camera that will finally knock the C300 off the pedestal of ‘most hired camera in the UK’. I also hear they have had some issues with lens interchange mounts on the Cion and I haven’t shot with it (unlike the FS7) nor seen the image in post. I would like to use the Cion and really learn what it is capable of and I wonder what AJA and Blackmagic will do next now that they have some market share in the camera department? Blackmagic will surely have more camera products in development – can we have 4K in a package like the FS7 with all proprietary codecs and more lens options for half the FS7 price please? I reckon it’s coming. Next year maybe we’ll be seeing new cameras from both those ‘post’ companies.

Finally in regards to workflow the Atomos devices are growing both in their product range and size, I have to say that I feel I need one in my life, an investment for any job no matter what the camera. These devices are great either as backup, main media, monitoring and SSD integration is a game changer. If you need to shoot ProRes or acquire Avid DnX in the field then it would seem that you need one of their devices – what’s not to love about a directors monitor and recorder all in one – and the best bit the fact that they make devices with HDMI 10-Bit, SDI, or both if you need it. Really handy as well for recording live shows or in fact anything you might need to capture in the field and have to hand as media ready to edit. Transcoding is rapidly becoming a thing of the past with both hardware and software advances.

G-Technology were demonstrating their latest Thunderbolt 2 drive devices and they have come up top trumps with some excellent kit. Their answer to the Lacie rugged drives – the G-Drive ev RaW is a head turner. The drives can withstand a 2m drop, though this is reduced if you put an SSD drive inside to 1.2m. They are priced to directly compete with the Lacie’s, they are water resistant and come with either Thunderbolt or USB 3. A definite purchase for transferring media in the field. Finally to complement the drive why not splash out the most money you have ever spent on a cable and get yourself an Optical Thunderbolt or USB 3 cable by Cornering? They are available in lengths between 5.5m and 60m for Thunderbolt and 10m and 50m for USB 3. Ideal for post houses where noisy drive arrays can be stored remotely in fire proof safes for example. The shorter distance of 5.5m Thunderbolt is around £150.00 but you can impress the crew with your optical cable prowess, or not – they might just think you have more money than sense or are very sad indeed. On a serious note, might this technology be the way cable technology is headed? I just wonder if optical will start to come down in price anytime soon.

All in all I really enjoyed the experience of working at the show and managed to see some interesting seminars; worth a concluding mention was Mike Thornton’s ‘How broadcasters should go about implementing loudness recommendation EBU R128 for programmes’. It was a window into the world of audio perception, loudness, metering and the dark art of audio mixing, complete with some very revealing examples and anecdotes about mixers and loudness techniques on some well known television programmes, I strongly recommend checking out the seminar when it appears online via the BVE website and digital channels. The show is here to stay, and if you haven’t checked it out before and are at all involved in the world of moving image production then I strongly suggest you book to attend next year – see you there.

Me shot by the Alexa Mini and Nino Leitner in a camera test; Having fun with the lovely Amira.