To record and edit a Pre performance talk and a panel discussion and use the videos for a webinar live stream for International Dance Festival week.
Because of the restrictions and residual reluctance to attend live events, the Birmingham Royal Ballet wanted webinars for the International Dance Festival week. Due to COVID-19 restrictions in place in 2020, the International Dance Festival was postponed until 2021, where there was a summer and autumn edition.
Since its beginnings in 2008, BIDF has played a vital role in putting dance centre stage in Birmingham and has become a powerful cultural asset for the city.
As part of their live stream for the BIDF, Birmingham Royal Ballet wanted to film a number of pre performance talks and panel discussions.
With Covid restrictions limiting this year’s festival to digital channels, the free-to-view webinar invited representatives from across the dance sector in the West Midlands to participate in an ongoing conversation about diversity in the industry with the aim of addressing issues, overcoming challenges and working out solutions to bring positive change in the region.
The impact of Covid on the performing arts sector in general was a heavy one, so continuing with events such as BIDF was vital to keeping the Birmingham Royal Ballet active and in the spotlight.
There is a potential lost opportunity in reaching those who require inspiration to become involved in ballet. As the festival is biennial (we got a new dictionary), if the festival wasn’t held online in 2021, then by 2022 it would have been 4 years since the last one.
Not only could this have had a negative impact on the Birmingham Royal Ballet by keeping them out of the public eye, but it could have a wider effect on the morale and feeling of dance in and around Birmingham.
We prepared a three camera setup for the webinar, which allowed us to move focus between the panelists and a wider angle to show the whole room.
Another element that needed to be included were on screen graphics that denoted (dictionary again) who each of the panelists were. This meant that we had to prepare the on screen graphics and visuals. We also included branding to show during Zoom calls on the webinar.
Zoom calls? You haven’t mentioned Zoom calls yet? Thanks for noticing! As part of the webinar there was a combination of pre recorded videos and calls from guests on Zoom.
The pre-recorded videos were filmed at Birmingham Hippodrome, with world renowned dancer and Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet Carlos Acosta as part of them.
British Sign Language was also required for the pre recorded videos. Birmingham Royal Ballet provided a signer and we then integrated the BSL into the stream, making it further accessible.
The stream served its purpose of keeping the ballet in the spotlight as well as allowing the BIDF to continue.
Tom said on the project
“We worked with the Birmingham Royal Ballet to produce a number of panel chat recordings. It was a fantastic opportunity to be able to facilitate the recordings of the contributors and to hear the stories behind some of the Dance companies based in the West Midlands. We used our state of the art live streaming equipment to be able to record the talks as live, including using our vision mixer to cut between angles, our sound desk to mix the sound and a number of remote control cameras to be able to cover every angle necessary.”
Do you have an upcoming event that you would like to live stream? Maybe it’s live but you want to reach a bigger audience with a webinar? Get in touch today through our contact page and we’re happy to help with any questions you’ve got!