The recent winter graduation ceremonies saw teams from across the University pool resources and skillsets to uplift the quality of our live-streaming production.

While winter graduation was set to go live at the end of August, work towards achieving a complete live stream overall began well in advance. Back in early July, teams from across the University met in the foyer of the TDS building along with every single video camera and lens at each team’s disposal. The purpose of this meeting was to compare the quality of every available camera configuration, exposing their strengths and shortcomings in a live outdoor environment. The results were fascinating, to say the least. Cameras with high expectations were outperformed by classics such as the Panasonic GH5 and ENG news-gathering cameras. It would be safe to say that every individual in attendance learnt a lot about camera performance that day. I would also like to mention that we like our tech toys, so high levels of enjoyment were easily achieved.

In the weeks leading up to graduation, many teams spent much time on the lawns of Booloominbah running simulations to achieve the best possible coverage of our biggest event. Remember, we are trying to capture a moving procession, multiple podiums, musicians, the landscape and most importantly our graduates. It immediately became evident that the camera position was critical to the overall production value and quite a challenging task to get right. The end result saw multiple wireless roaming cameras in the field, stationary cameras on the balcony of Booloominbah, coupled with wireless comms allowing our director to communicate with our camera operators. All footage was edited in real-time and outputted to multiple streaming platforms in full HD.

What did the end result look like? Here is a short video comparing our previous graduation live streams against our latest production.

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This large amount of work speaks volumes to the importance of continuous improvement and is an outstanding example of success achieved through an integrated approach of teams working together. This couldn’t have been achieved by one team alone and we greatly value the efforts of all the teams working together; marketing and branding, corporate communications and events team, UNE Life, social media team, and of course, the audio-visual team. We would like to extend a huge shout-out and thank you to all the teams involved.