Josh Moffat, CEO at The HELM, talks about the new ALEXA 35 Live Multicam system and how its cinematic looks help broadcast producers meet changing expectations of today’s audiences.
The HELM is a production company of event and broadcast experts in Sydney, specialising in turnkey systems and management support for nearly any type of broadcast production. The team relishes a challenge, especially when they are asked to ‘create spectacles that have never been seen before’, and are able to take projects from the concept stage to completion. Their work ranges from sourcing suppliers, liaising between venue and stakeholders and designing field-to-post workflows, to handling fast turnaround events with real-time editing and rapid delivery.
The company also takes on cloud and remote production set-ups, connecting venues and talent with production teams, either through physical broadcast-grade connections or over IP with minimal latency. For live broadcasts or hybrid events, The HELM maintains fast networks that support global communication across multiple channels, connecting and synchronising locations.
Launching ALEXA 35 Live
Recently, Digital Media World met Josh Moffat, Co-Founder and CEO of The HELM, who comes with long experience on major events and broadcast projects as a Technical Producer, Lighting Designer and Production Manager. We met Josh shortly after The HELM’s launch event in Sydney for ARRI’s new ALEXA 35 Live multi-camera system. The HELM has taken an interest in this system from its early stages and worked with ARRI on its development.
The ALEXA 35 Live combines the cinematic ARRI look, HDR support and creative control into a package for live productions. It includes the 4K ALEXA 35 Live camera, Live Production System LPS-1 – made up of a fibre camera adapter and fibre base station – the Skaarhoj remote control panel and a large number of custom-built multicam accessories. The camera has a Super 35-sized 4K sensor that records shallow depth of field, and captures 17 stops of dynamic range, important for working under extreme lighting situations in SDR and HDR.
Josh has noted the growing interest in more cinematic looks and quality for broadcast, and commented on a few changes that are leading this trend. "One is greater sophistication and diversity in reality TV production, moving away from game show and competition formats to the more involved character-driven stories," he commented. "Also, matching looks and colour across a channel’s content has gained importance for viewers now, who expect a more polished presentation across all screens."
From Cinema to Live
Josh’s career in live event broadcast includes seven years at NEP Group’s Big Picture, contributing to Australian TV networks as well as global projects for clients such as Keith Urban, Amazon and Google. Beyond those events, Josh has experience in singular, one-off kinds of projects such as new setups in undeveloped areas, marine environments and high-risk situations. Attracted to problem-solving, he can work through complex logistics and rigging, manage large production networks, and find innovative technical solutions to live production challenges.
With this background, he could quickly recognise the value of a camera system like the ALEXA 35 Live. “It has broadcast functionality as well as the looks – intercom facility, tally and professional broadcast connections. Because broadcast staff feel familiar using it, you don’t need a team of DPs running your cameras,” said Josh. It has the regular live production shading controls needed to incorporate camera painting into the live world, as well as a built-in ARRI Look Library with 87 cinematic looks that control colour.
Regarding component control, setup and configuration, ALEXA 35 Live has several purpose-built user interfaces. A jog wheel and display on the Fibre Camera Adapter and Fibre Base Station feature status display and allow on-the-spot adjustments. The ARRI Webremote UI contains a full set of camera controls, and a Multicam web interface configures the Camera Adapter and Base Station, including signal routing, diagnostics and software updates. The Skaarhoj RCP also has its own Reactor web UI for control, configuration and updates.
Increasing Potential
“The camera system increases the potential for premium live experiences, and creates opportunities for a new kind of broadcast production," Josh said. "That is, LIVE – but without the usual compromises in image quality. It has low light capabilities with an adjustable exposure index from 100 up to 6400, capturing emotion and attractive skin tones. In other words, the system can translate what we love about the cinematic world into broadcast terms.”
The HELM took part in ARRI’s development of the ALEXA 35 Live and became the first supplier in the world with rental stock of the camera. Furthermore their partnership with VA Hire, a local supplier well known for its cinematic experience and huge inventory of cameras, has made it possible to start supplying turnkey set-ups to productions with cinematic goals. For example, cinematographers have always had a huge array of cinema lenses to use to precisely define a look, instead of just the three or four essential broadcast lenses.
Better Together
VA Hire can now make those cinema lenses, as well as many other pieces of cinema style gear, available to The HELM’s clients. So, the combined effect of the partnership, announced in September, and availability of the ALEXA 35 Live in November, has been to expand both The HELM’s customer base and the options for their new and existing clients. “Before, we maintained an inventory to equip event and broadcast personnel, but no cameras or cinema gear,” said Josh.
He is also familiar with ALEXA cameras and ARRI’s lighting expertise, which is evident in the ALEXA 35. HDR opens doors for improvements to live productions but it has to be incorporated into every aspect and feature of a production, not just present in one piece of equipment or step of the project, and not only an element to address at the end.
The HELM team of 11 regular staff plus over 70 contractors has a huge amount of experience of its own now. Josh remarked, “When it comes to acquiring new skills and approaches to our work, we see value in a partnership approach by working together with other businesses and teams that have already mastered those skills and have the knowledge, instead of starting from scratch on our own. We’ve discovered it’s better to work with experienced people, and help each other.” the-helm.co
