Space Debris Webinar Intro
Live-Stream Architecture & Film Production
The Zimmerwald Observatory near Bern hosted a webinar focused on space debris tracking, presented by Tanya König. I served as the technical director for the entire broadcast, taking full ownership of the end-to-end A/V infrastructure. My responsibilities included location scouting for optimal broadcast conditions, sourcing equipment, configuring the live-streaming pipeline, and directing the multi-camera broadcast during the live event.
Visual Storytelling & Intro Film
In addition to managing the live broadcast, I produced an opening teaser film designed to showcase the observatory’s beautiful location and sophisticated instruments. My creative goal was to frame the telescopes not just as equipment, but as the heroic, cinematic “stars” of the presentation.
Intro Film: Multi-Camera Workflow
To capture the essence of the observatory, I utilized a varied camera package tailored to a solo production workflow:
- A-Cam: A Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K captured the master shots.
- B-Cam & POVs: Compact GoPros were rigged in unusual spaces to capture unique angles and POVs of the moving telescopes.
- Aerials: A DJI Mavic drone provided sweeping aerial shots to establish the observatory’s location within the landscape.
Webinar Technical Infrastructure
While the intro film established the creative tone, the live broadcast required a robust, studio-grade technical setup. Because the event featured high-profile hosting by Tanya König, I engineered a reliable multi-camera, live-switching pipeline:
- Lighting & Environment: To combat backlighting from a massive glass wall in the conference room, I deployed two high-output Nanlite FS-500B fixtures to balance the interior exposure.
- Camera Package: The live switching matrix consisted of two Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K units for tight close-ups on the presenters, and one BMPCC 4K for the master wide angle.
- Audio Engineering: Captured pristine audio for the four live speakers using Sennheiser Lavalier microphones, routed into a Tascam Model 16 Mixer for real-time audio leveling.
- Wireless Mobility: Configured a wireless video transmitter with wireless Sennheiser handheld mic setup so we could seamlessly broadcast Tanya König hosting and announcing segments live from outside, right next to the physical telescopes.
- Switching & Broadcast: Handled all real-time multi-source directing on a Blackmagic ATEM Mini Pro acting as the live switching board and primary hardware streaming encoder, monitored via a 45-inch LCD display.
Cisco Systems provided the streaming service and switching of other speakers from around the world who joined the webinar by web cam. Sadly, due to a failure on the streaming side, no capture of the webinar is available.
