Black 星期五 shopping is a unique cultural event. Recreating the excitement of that experience online is no small challenge, but Zest4.TV 为时尚和美容用品零售商， PrettyLittleThing. Zest4.电视由事件流媒体专家参与 Groovy盖柯 to stage and host an alternatively themed Black 星期五 2020 shopping day, they called 粉红色的 星期五, 包括现场比赛, flash sales and models showcasing the brand’s favorite styles. 就像今天的许多事件一样, public health guidelines limited the number of technical engineers allowed on-site, 所以Zest4.电视依赖于十大正规体育平台的系统 FreeSpeak二世® 数字无线对讲系统及 Eclipse® HX数字矩阵.
Pretty Little Thing wanted to create a live shopping channel experience, 模仿直播购物网络电视的风格. 它结合了引人入胜的图形叠加, 现场直播与预先录制的内容混合在一起, and high-quality production to showcase their stylist-picked looks that would be played out live on Black 星期五. The interactive live stream produced fantastic results, 超过14个,800 people tuning in and high interactivity with over 13,500 comments posted in the YouTube chat from the audience.
的Zest4.TV team split the technical and engineering duties: Managing Director Simon Roe serving as the on-site technical lead in Manchester, and Technical Project Manager Tom Herrington working remotely with a sound engineer in West London to push the final program feed to the Groovy Gecko team in North London (who then distributed it to various streaming platforms for online viewing).
“It was very much a decentralized production,罗伊说. This type of hybrid production combined with the live, “no-second-take-allowed” environment of a live event stream, required an intercom communications system with the right level of flexibility, 可靠性, 语音质量和定制. Zest4.TV chose FreeSpeak二世 for its 4-wire interface capabilities, 为“说”和“听”创造不同的路径.”
FreeSpeak二世系统可以在1中运行.9 GHz, 2.4 GHz，或者在同一系统上两者的混合. The base station offers 12 wireless partyline channels, with the base including four 2-wire analog partyline ports with call signal and four 4-wire audio ports with call signal. The system can be configured in several ways with varying numbers of beltpacks, allowing controlled and efficient communications among directors, 人员和人才.
的Zest4.TV team used Intinor video transport technology to deliver the camera feeds over 200 miles from the event site to its offices via the public internet. The Intinor solution also provided 4-wire audio circuits to connect the FreeSpeak二世 to an Eclipse Delta frame.
“The ease-of-use and quality of our comms were critical elements to making this event the success it was,赫灵顿说. By having the Eclipse Delta Frame interface with the video transport system over 4-wire, Herrington and Roe remained in 关闭 communication, 好像每个人都在现场.
“I was able to talk to Tom over that 4-wire channel on a wireless pack while I was walking around the studio,罗伊说. “有一次, I even had to run off into the event offices about 100 meters away, but I was still able to maintain solid communications. We could feed Tom’s voice into the FreeSpeak二世 base stations, 然后把它传到主持人的耳机上. Because we could create different channels with FreeSpeak二世, I was able to talk quietly into the talent’s earpiece with just the press of a button.”
The FreeSpeak二世 system also allowed the team to create separate channels for “side” conversations. The remote director was able to speak directly to the presenter on set, and separate lines were also created for the engineering, 摄影和音频团队. “There were several ways to create the different audio links over the internet into FreeSpeak二世 to anybody who was roaming around,罗伊说. “More than just the system’s brilliant clarity, there was never any latency in the chats. The system gave us the creative freedom to do our jobs efficiently without being tethered and cabled.”
The FreeSpeak二世 base station’s rear panel has two LAN connections, which the team found helpful during the event as well. “Simon was able to connect to one LAN, and I could connect on the other,赫灵顿说. “We could both control the GUI to see what was happening over comms. 如果有人有技术问题, I could just log in from my remote location and figure out why someone couldn’t hear. “哦，他把频道调小了.“就是这么简单.”
Roe added, “Other systems often need to re-establish contact when moving between antennae. That creates a break in transmission as you’re walking around, which is obviously a bit of a nightmare on a live event.”
FreeSpeak二世现在是Zest4.电视团队的通讯系统的选择, 主要是因为它即插即用的简单性, solid coverage and ability to scale up or down for any event. The team has replicated the FreeSpeak二世 system model used for PrettyLittleThing for many of its other events.
“Now, our priority for any event is always to get comms established first,罗伊说. “然后我们知道其他一切都会顺利进行. FreeSpeak二世 has become a standard piece of our event kit. We know it will get you out of jail on every job.”