Studios & Technology Blog - Entry #002
Studios & Technology Blog - Entry #002
From Demo to Broadcast: Full Virtual Studio Solution Built, Shot and Delivered in 30 days
A collaboration across Sky Sports very recently saw our first use of the trackless green screen studio, Voyager, for the Lions tour. In just 30 days, we went from demo to broadcast—thanks to incredible collaboration across multiple teams at Sky.
Jack Carter and Liam Titley, Technical Speacialists in the Studios & Technology Team share how this was delivered.
This project was super speedy, even to Sky standards - we delivered a full virtual studio solution in under thirty days! Having seen the product, Ross Video Voyager Trackless, at IBC last September, it became clear there were opportunities for Sky to harness the relatively inexpensive technology to achieve a high end look on screen.
Following a demonstration at Sky, production and operational teams made it clear this was something that could really work for Super Sunday - Extra Time (a new show to launch with the start of the Premier League season this month). Working in a team looking for innovative ideas to make TV, we host a lot of demos whilst trying to find the right solution, a lot of which don’t make the cut. To ensure we were doing the right thing we pulled together a Sky Sports pilot of the new Extra Time show to demonstrate how the technology could be used to bring in depth analysis and talking points about the days matches to life for our customers whilst maintaining the familiar Sky Sports polished studio look.
Following the success of this pilot we were challenged to get the studio, technology and crew ready to use on the final few days of the Lions Tour allowing for some essential maintenance ahead of the football season in their regular studio. This was quite the ask but we worked tirelessly to get the studio fitted out, floor painted, 3D model built and textured, cameras and lighting installed, training delivered and rehearsals scheduled. The challenges around this technology is the change of mindset… instead of moving cameras you move the model/graphics around the presenter to ultimately achieve the same effect on screen. See the VT below.
This was a real team effort across CT&I, Production, Studios and Creative to deliver this exciting project.
