AFRICA NEWS

CATS LTD. COVERS GREAT MIGRATION LIVESTREAM WITH CLEAR-COM

A DX210 DIGITAL WIRELESS SYSTEM PROVIDES COMMUNICATIONS FOR FILMING TEAMS IN TANZANIA AND KENYA.

Kenya-based CATS Limited was recently enlisted by renowned wildlife photographer, Jeffrey Wu, to assist with a first-of-its-kind livestream production of The Great Migration in Africa. Commissioned by video sharing social networking platforms TikTok and Douyin, the livestream aimed to showcase the stunning natural beauty of millions of wildebeest, zebras, gazelles, and more migrating from Tanzania’s Serengeti to the fertile grasslands of Kenya’s Maasai Mara.

CATS Limited Founder, Ayaz Rajput joined Wu’s longstanding local production partner, Irfan Kassam, to provide the technical expertise for this five-day event, where app users could tune in from 25 to 29 August.

The project required seamless communications between two tour vehicles, each outfitted with three cameras, a vision mix, audio mix and streaming equipment, powered by onboard inverters and solar generators during the many hours of operation in the field.

CATS Limited’s Clear-Com DX210 Digital Wireless Intercom was deployed for the project, with its main station in one vehicle, with the antennas oriented outside the vehicle and a BP210 two-channel 2.4 GHz wireless beltpack in the second vehicle.

With Rajput in one vehicle, and Kassam in the other, this configuration provided the channel to coordinate vehicle movements, technical troubleshooting and any other intervehicle communications. In the open plains, the production team was able to achieve up to 150m of wireless intercom range, which allowed enough distance between vehicles for the two hosts who were narrating the content – one speaking Mandarin and the other speaking English – to not interfere with one another, while still allowing Ayaz and Irfan to communicate over the comms.

TikTok and Douyin partnered with the Kenya Tourism Board, the International Fund for Animal Welfare and Conservation International in this event aimed to promote the importance of biodiversity and to inspire wildlife protection around the world.

“I am honored to be a part of such a noble cause,” commented Rajput. “It’s crazy to think that such a small team, with the help of a single DX210 system, could bring this message onto a global platform. After nine years of service in the industry here in Nairobi, clients and crew have become accustomed to our Clear-Com system, which is synonymous with the high quality of service that CATS Limited is known to provide.” Photos: Jeffrey Wu www.clearcom.com

BAD WEATHER UPGRADES TO STREAMWORKS

STREAMWORKS TECHNOLOGY FACILITATES LIVE EVENT PRODUCTION IN A VIRTUAL WORLD.

Cape Town-based creative production house, Bad Weather has enhanced its streaming portfolio with StreamWorks by Stage Audio Works (SAW) – a platform comprising hardware and software as well as support and expertise.

“When the live events sector effectively ceased to exist overnight, the transition to virtual solutions offered us a means to continue to service our clients with the same high production standards,” said Bad Weather Creative Director, Jonathan Bandli. “We were clear on what we wanted to achieve, but needed help on how we were going to deliver the service.”

At this point, Bad Weather turned to its long-standing supplier Stage Audio Works for advice. “We’ve worked with Nathan [Ihlenfeldt] and his team for many years and have a great relationship built on mutual trust and respect,” continued Bandli. “We invested in a complete Blackmagic Design camera and switching chain, as well as Sennheiser microphones and in-ears for our studio, all supplied by SAW. When it came to streaming, Nathan recommended the StreamWorks platform, which is now at the heart of all our streaming offerings, giving us the possibility to provide end-to-end virtual solutions to old and new clients alike.”

SAW’s recommendations aside, Bad Weather was attracted to the StreamWorks platform as it utilises a Secure Reliable Transport (SRT) backbone, renowned for both its reliability and high-quality transmission. Indeed, Bad Weather is now a member of the SRT Alliance devoted to promoting industry-wide recognition and adoption of SRT as a common standard for all low-latency internet streaming.

“Even the most amazing show means nothing if it doesn’t reach the audience. StreamWorks has a solution for all of this,” observed Bandli. “When we delivered the first virtual event in Botswana, we had the confidence to go into a new country with new infrastructure and deliver the same level of quality and service as always. SAW helped us specify internet and network infrastructure on the ground locally, deploy pre-show testing, and even set up full onsite redundancy – all things we offer as standard in our Cape Town studio.”

Bad Weather delivered an end-to-end virtual solution on site in Gaborone, utilising its Unreal Engine virtual production workflow to deliver a 3D virtual environment in which to present both the live and remote talent. The company handled virtual green room support via its Cape Town studio and had a combination of tracked and untracked cameras on site for both dynamic presentations and panel discussion scenarios.

“As one of the leading companies in the virtual production space in South Africa, it is our mission to continue developing the offerings of virtual solutions to the entire African market and beyond, investing into the right partners along the way, who value our clients’ delivery as much as we do and value the vision of being masters of their craft,” Bandli concluded. “We look forward to many more years of partnership with SAW as we continue to push boundaries together.”

“The platform enables us to provide worldclass end-to-end streaming services beyond our borders – in this instance it was in Botswana, but our infrastructure is positioned globally, so it could be from anywhere to anywhere,” concluded SAW CTO, Nathan Ihlenfeldt. Photos: Bad Weather www.badweather.co.za www.stageaudioworks.com