28 Mar Ray-Ban Party at SXSW Streamed via iPhone
South By South West, the annual festival and Mecca for entrepreneurial creative minds across the globe, recently provided a perfect opportunity for 3xScreen Media to add a healthy dollop of their special sauce to the Boiler Room production and live stream of the Ray-Ban party.
While Boiler Room’s standard two locked camera productions have proven successful formula, an event like SXSW called for something a little special to treat Boiler Room’s loyal followers.
The live stream and production solution conceived by 3xScreen was a multifaceted and innovative success.
The first objective was to provide a greater range of options for the viewers. With so much action at the Ray-Ban party, a single live stream seemed insufficient. The solution was the creation of two live streams that could be viewed in different tabs both on the Boiler Room website as well as the Boiler Room YouTube page.
But how to know what to watch and when?
This question was answered with a simple yet efficient alert system that communicated to the viewer when there was something of interest to watch on the alternate live stream. A “button” was created in the back-end of the Boiler Room website that could be switched to activate a flashing white and red message to the viewer, prompting them to go to either the ‘Director’s Cut’ live stream or to ‘Stream B’.
While the multi-camera set-up in the main room where the DJs were playing provided that trademark Boiler Room intimacy with the DJ and crowd during the set, the really special part of this live stream was in fact away from the music.
Stream B gave the viewer an Access All Areas pass, where they could get up close and personal with the DJs backstage after their set. The host interviewing the artists was followed around by a cameraman wielding an iPhone with LiveU’s LUSmart App, which was sending the live feed direct to the 3xScreen MCR in London from where the stream was published. This solution allowed for an enormous increase in mobility and flexibility as it lacked the conspicuousness of a traditional broadcast camera as well as all that pesky cabling!
Also adding to the sensation of being “on the ground”, was the integration of Social Media into the live stream. A constant stream of comments from various social media platforms came from across the Boiler Room global community, allowing fans to communicate amongst themselves and strengthen the experience of practically being in the thick of the action.