BBC Outside Broadcasts goes Electric

October 2007: BBC Outside Broadcasts, part of BBC Resources Ltd, is capturing the BBC Electric Proms, the five-day rock and popular music festival, which takes place in Camden, north London, this week.

A daily programme featuring highlights of performances – Mark Ronson and guests with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Sir Paul McCartney, Kaiser Chiefs via David Arnold, Bloc Party and Ray Davies and special guests – will broadcast on BBC TWO, as well as a festival highlights programme on Monday 29 October. Digital television viewers can also watch more performances via the Red button.

Now in its second year and following the hugely successful launch of the event in 2006, the BBC has expanded its coverage of the Electric Proms, and BBC Outside Broadcasts is capturing more concerts from more venues this year.

In 2006, BBC Outside Broadcasts provided two production vehicles to record concerts at the Roundhouse throughout the festival and at the Jazz Café on one night. This year, four production vehicles are covering four venues on the first night – the Roundhouse, KOKO, Dingwalls and Cecil Sharp House. The Roundhouse performances will be captured throughout the entire festival and concerts at Cecil Sharp House will also be recorded on Thursday. 30 cameras are being deployed in total across all four venues - 13 cameras at the Roundhouse, 7 cameras at KoKo, 5 cameras at Cecil Sharp House and 5 at Dingwalls. All concerts at the Roundhouse will be recorded in high definition, for future proofing purposes and may be aired on the BBC’s HD Channel.

BBC Outside Broadcasts Lead Engineering Manager, Donald Begg, says, “It is an extremely fast turn-around operation for production. Mark Ronson, for example, comes off stage at 10.15pm on Wednesday and the programme will be on air, just 1 hour and 5 minutes later. We are supporting three different directors across the whole series and like The Proms, on some occasions several concerts are being covered in one night.”

BBC Outside Broadcasts is utilising a whole range of special cameras to provide exciting angles on the performances and enhance the viewers experience. These include:

• Furio Track and Dolly camera, with a remote controlled camera head. It travels on a track horizontally and vertically, covering the full width of stage and is non-obstructive, as its low rise, rising from 3ft to 6ft. We first used it at BBC Radio One’s Big Weekend in Preston earlier this year and we will be using it again at the Roundhouse.

• Tower Camera - a hot-head camera on top of a telescopic camera, which travels from 6ft to 18ft and provides and amazing whooshing shot. This will be used to cover the Paul McCartney concert, as well as the Saturday and Sunday concerts and will provide a dead centre shot, where it’s not possible for put a person and a camera. This will also be used to cover performances at Cecil Sharp House.

• Magnum Camera Dolly – this is a solid sturdy dolly camera which is pushed on a track and can rise 60cm. The camera operator sits on it to ensure a really smooth shot.

• Techno Jib – a mini techno-crane camera with a telescopic reach on its arm of 15-24 ft, plus Jimmy Jib cameras.

• BBC Outside Broadcasts’ Special Cameras’ Department is providing a camera which will be mounted behind the drummer to give a unique shot facing out into the crowd.

• Radio cams and HD radio cams will also be used.

In addition to supplying a vision and sound team at each venue, BBC Outside Broadcasts is also supporting the Visualisation Radio One For Internet team, providing feeds and final cut pro edit suites, so they can prepare content themselves for online.

-ENDS-

About BBC Outside Broadcasts
BBC Outside Broadcasts, a division of BBC Resources Ltd, is the leading outside broadcast facilities provider in Europe, offering a complete range of solutions from scanners and VT units to the design of bespoke OB production units and special cameras. Combining creativity and flair with technical expertise, project management and customer service skills, BBC Outside Broadcasts caters for both small and large scale events across all genres - from the FIFA World Cup, Wimbledon and the Golf Open, to Glastonbury, the Proms and the royal wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall. Key clients include BBC Sport and independents such as North One, TWI and Sunset & Vine, as well as  international Broadcasters such as Canal +, RAI ( Italy) and CTV (Canadian Television).

Further information can be found at: www.bbcresources.com/ob

For further information, please contact:
Georgie Hollett , PR and Communications Manager, BBC Resources
Tel: +44 (0)20 8576 2250
Mobile : +44 (0) 783484 5612
Email : georgie.hollett@bbc.co.uk