Centrepoint at Kensington Palace - Case Study

The second annual Centrepoint Awards, held in the stunning grounds of Kensington Palace, celebrated the achievements of young people who have successfully overcome their difficulties with the charity's help and raised funds for the charity’s work.

The gala event was attended by Prince William, Patron of Centrepoint since 2005, who was joined by a star-studded line-up of guests, including Nile Rodgers, Ellie Goulding, Craig David and Liz Hurley to help raise £1.5 million for Centrepoint.

Coverage of the event was entrusted to Steve Graham, Producer/Director at Realise Films and Jason Kosbab, Producer/Camera Technician at DV Camera Hire.

They needed to film highlights of the event and to make a series of short films on each of the nominees using a 9 Camera set-up fed into a live vision mixed output ready to be released and shared via social media, YouTube, Press & Promotion outlets the following morning.

The film crew and production team were kept busy at multiple locations throughout the event where they filmed and edited interviews with nominees, members of The Royal Family and celebrities and live performance sequences.

On establishing the nature of the event, the requirements and restrictions, the team at JVCKENWOOD UK were delighted to help and not only arranged for temporary licensing from Ofcom but also specified, programmed and supplied all the KENWOOD NEXEDGE digital two-way radio equipment and accessories that would be needed – and instructions on how to use them.

Steve Graham takes up the story:

“There was a lot that could go wrong, and with a live event, there’s no second chances”. “Before the live event, we had multiple cameras around the site picking up interviews with guests and VIPs arriving at the event, where I needed to be able to coordinate all the camera operators over a very large area.

During the main event, which consisted of speeches, awards ceremonies, a charity auction and live performances from four major artists, we directed the crew on the manned cameras whose live feeds, along with those from the fixed cameras, were fed into a vision mixer output to two live recorders.

It was vital that I had the means to instruct, guide, and lead each cameraman on the type of shots, angles, and feed we needed as we were cutting the show in real time. Throughout all this, my directions and cutting instructions also needed to be heard by the Vision Mixer, who was performing the cuts from camera to camera on my instructions.

The radios allowed me to send my directions on an open feed to all the cameras and the Vision Mixer, so every cameraman knew when his camera was online, and just as importantly, when he was off-line and clear, allowing him to reframe and move to the next shot as directed. Similarly, the Vision Mixer could hear my directions and selections of which shot/camera to go to next. “Without effective communications, the coverage we achieved of the event would have been impossible.”

The Director, Vision Mixer and each of the five cameramen were equipped with NEXEDGE hand-portable radios. The radios provided for use by the cameramen were fitted with KHS-9BL covert kits, while the Director and Vision Mixer used KHS-7A headsets.

Steve continues: “I have to admit I was surprised with the performance of the radios, not because I doubted the reliability of KENWOOD radios, but due to the potential for interference from the sheer quantity of other communications equipment in use on site.

We experienced no issues with cross-talk, interference or reception problems, just an instantly available, clear signal and great reception.”

There were other unexpected benefits the radios brought, including an occasion during the arrival of the guests when one of Steve’s crew spotted Liz Hurley in a chauffeured car pulling into the site and tipped him off so that he could station a camera in the perfect position to capture her emerging from her car onto the red carpet.

As he was also expected to film all the guest arrivals from the red carpet into the venue, the group communications capability made sure that there was a camera ready and trained on the door as each arrived.

Steve and Jason conclude:

"We cannot stress enough that this event was a huge undertaking on a complicated site with many layers of security and red tape; so just getting the camera crews and equipment on and off was a huge task in itself. Having an open flow of communication allowed us to move all our resources, equipment and personnel easily around the site and know where, at any time, where personnel or equipment were needed.”

“The radios worked flawlessly, providing perfect cover, communication and reception. We couldn’t be happier!”

Together we can end youth homelessness

To find out more about the great work carried out by Centrepoint in helping the homeless, click the link below.

► https://centrepoint.org.uk