Blackmagic Design announced that Crew in a Box uses the BMPCC 6K and ATEM Mini Pro switchers at the heart of their new, award-winning plug and play remote production solution.
Over the past several months, Crew in a Box has been utilized by many major brands, as well as 12 networks including NBC, FOX, ViacomCBS, ABC, FX, and MTV, who recently used Crew in a Box to shoot a promotional campaign featuring Vanessa Hudgens for the MTV Movie & TV Awards: Greatest of All Time show.
Other celebrities who have used the product include NFL stars Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson, and actors Keke Palmer, William Shatner, Kaitlin Olson, Aisha Tyler, and Eric Stonestreet.
Using multiple units, clients are able to execute logistically complex projects such as Disney’s “Choose Kindness” anti-bullying campaign, in which three Crew in a Box systems were used to film 14 actors, each in remote locations across multiple cities, over three days.
Built around Blackmagic Design’s Pocket Cinema Camera 6K to provide high-quality footage, each Crew in a Box comes equipped with the camera, a built in teleprompter and Interrotron that allows direct communications with talent, a three-foot wide three panel LED light, and professional microphones.
Image Credit: Blackmagic Design
On camera talent simply opens the box and plugs it in, automatically connecting the system via the Internet to a remote team of filmmakers who control every aspect of the shoot.
During the shoot, the project’s director will appear on the integrated beamsplitter glass, which the camera is shooting through, to direct the talent. Camera control, switching between feeds and graphics insertions are all done remotely using ATEM Mini Pro.
Image Credit: Blackmagic Design
When the pandemic shut down most traditional video production, Crew in a box enabled crews and talent to continue to work and has also helped networks deliver on deadline in a time when the demand for content is off the chart.
In December, Crew in a Box won the 2020 IABM BaM Create Award, bestowed by The International Trade Association for the Broadcast & Media Industry, to honor the best technological innovation of the year in all of broadcast and media creation and acquisition. The judges said: “Crew in a Box is a product for our time and might change the way talking heads are shot in the future.”
Image Credit: Blackmagic Design
The story behind the innovation is incredible. When COVID-19 hit, Ira felt panicked when he heard rumblings of a lockdown wondering how he would continue to work. He quickly pulled together his friends Dallas Sterling, an innovative cinematographer who modeled and built the prototype in his garage, and Jeremy Fernsler, a computer programmer and VFX artist (Westworld), to write the software.
What resulted is a fully disinfected, self-contained, military-grade solution that is delivered to the house of the interviewees or featured guests and opens up into a remote-controlled device for producing high-quality video.
[source: Blackmagic Design]
Order Links:
- Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera 6K (B&H, Amazon)
- Blackmagic Design ATEM Mini Pro HDMI Live Stream Switcher (B&H)
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate partner and participant in B&H and Adorama Affiliate programmes, we earn a small comission from each purchase made through the affiliate links listed above at no additional cost to you.
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