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BUILDING REMOTE SOLUTIONS FOR THE EMMYS: LIVE EVENT PRODUCTION HACKS WITH C MOUNT

Photo of multiple cameras in a row of our remote live event production kits. Each kit has a ring light, monitor, and Blackmagic Pocket Cinema 6k Camera attached while one of our team members rigs a light fixture.

THE NEED FOR REMOTE LIVE EVENT PRODUCTION: THE VIRTUAL 72ND EMMYS

On September 20, 2020, the Television Academy celebrated the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards at The Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA. Host Jimmy Kimmel stood in front of Zoom with the virtual nominees and presenters livestreaming into the event. Reimagined as a high-tech, remote live event production, the show included more than 100 virtual attendees. Each attendee telecast live before and after each award presentation. In order to produce and execute this technically ambitious show, the nominees received an arrangement of high-end web cameras and custom-built remote production kits. Three vendors across the United States and Europe assembled these remote kits.  C Mount handled the nominees in the greater Los Angeles area, which included Zendaya, RuPaul, Jennifer Anniston, Sandra Oh, and the Duffer Brothers.  

Photo of Blackmagic 6k Emmys kits in the warehouse on a stanPhoto of the Blackmagic 6k Emmys kits. On top of a stand is a monitor with a Blackmagic 6k attached to it. Attached to the Blackmagic 6k is the ring light and on-camera Rode microphone.

WHAT EQUIPMENT TO USE DURING A LIVE EVENT PRODUCTION? A BREAKDOWN OF OUR REMOTE PRODUCTION KITS

Award shows producers, Done+Dusted tasked out C Mount, a full-service video equipment rental house that is a leader in custom broadcast gear builds and specialty technical services, to build the remote kits for the Los Angeles based nominees. The remote live event production kits were compact, and included a large image sensor camera with user-friendly full remote-control operation. As a result, these kits required as little effort as possible to set up for the nominees.  Once assembled, the units arrived at the nominees’ homes ready to operate. C Mount handled the rest of the live event production at their Glendale, CA location. Los Angeles nominees were sent a kit that included: C Mount technicians remotely logged into each nominee’s computer using C Mount’s multi-channel TeamViewer account.    

Photo of C Mount technician monitoring multiple Zoom feeds online in the warehouse for the Emmy live event production.

HOW TO MONITOR A REMOTE LIVE EVENT PRODUCTION? OUR EMMYS PROCESS

Firstly, C Mount’s technicians logged each of the 26 nominees into their respective Zoom meetings, adjusted all Zoom meeting settings and tweaked the Pocket 6K camera and audio using Blackmagic’s ATEM software control program on our local computers.  Then, the producing teams and the technicians were able to communicate in real time via the Unity Intercom App. The high level of control that C Mount was able to provide through their remote systems left the nominees to focus on their part of the show.  Feeds from the kits were sent to Done+Dusted’s main control room at Staples Center and to C Mount’s facility for monitoring. 

Photo of overhead view on the Emmys set up. Each remote kit features a Blackmagic 6k, monitor and ring light.

CHECK OUT C MOUNT’S OTHER LIVE PRODUCTION EVENTS

C Mount has also helped build a number of high profile and technically innovative remotely controlled kits during the pandemic for other live event productions. Check out the following projects that we’ve worked on :