Lighting, visuals, show and production design practice Painting with Light (PWL) has opened (in partnership with NEP Belgium) a Virtual Event Studio at its C-MINE HQ in Genk, Belgium, offering a streaming production/broadcast facility, including full virtual audience interactivity, to deliver digital events.
Based on a model created by Univate in The Netherlands, the new PWL Studio space offers a creative approach for staging virtual events of all types.
The project is a response to the increase in demand for streamed, ‘delivered-live’ and recorded events and content to expand reach and visibility in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and new social distancing rules and guidelines.
The 10x19-metre recording area is fully equipped with the pro-audio & broadcast technologies empowered by NEP Belgium and the latest LED lighting technologies from Luxibel, together with moving lights from Chauvet and Robe.
Stages/spaces can be individually branded to make every event eye-catching and distinctive. Additionally, 3D assets and the design of any physical event, studio, trade show booth, etc., can be imported from a CAD file and replicated, integrating the client’s own environment and product design files into the space.
The Virtual Event Studio dynamics are enhanced with a high resolution 3x3-metre LED wall made up from 3.9mm Unilumin Utile product. This removes the need to chroma-key the presenter and put them in front of a virtual background.
While the other screens in the event are all virtual, several smaller physical screens in the studio allow presenters to see and review the content on both real and virtual surfaces. A complete video floor below the presenter stage adds further visual dynamics.
The standard five-channel camera system comprises a GV LDX 86 4K unit fitted with a 14mm zoom lens and four Panasonic HE130 PTZs fitted with standard lenses, all mixed via a Grass Valley Korona switcher.
Through the Virtual Event Studio’s live interaction functionality, the online audience can be streamed individually on to the virtual backscreen so the presenter can answer questions and engage in conversations ‘face-to-face’.
Audiences can be invited and join in via an assortment of different video conferencing platforms. They are gathered in front of the stage as live video thumbnails on the live steam and shown on a large projection screen in the studio so the presenter can feel their presence, and attendees can see the complete audience, just like a physical event.
The audio set up includes a Yamaha QL1 audio mixer, DPA and Shure mics – sanitised after each use and supplied to each person in individually sealed plastic wraps – with four L-Acoustics 108P speakers in the studio.
The control room – a separate area where all crew can work at least 1.5 metres apart and meet all the social distancing guidelines – features a Barco E2 image processor and two disguise d3 media server for creating motion graphics and sending video content and live camera feeds to the remote and virtual screens. A selection of laptops is available for PowerPoints and KeyNotes.
The control room has its own supplies for sanitising hands and surfaces, and the entire space has been developed with the foresight of providing a safe working environment and Covid-19 regulation compliance in mind.
The virtual studio live recording output is an industry-standard 16:9 HD video feed which can be streamed to popular video platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Twitch and Twitter, each of which has their own native interaction capabilities.
On request, clients can order a custom landing page with all advanced networking features assembled in a virtual lobby room.
For events with smaller or private audiences, feeds can be streamed to video conferencing tools like Zoom or Skype.