The Project

SkyHigh Skydiving came to us after our work on the British Nationals in Indoor Skydiving. They were looking for a company to live stream the outdoor competition over two days, something that had previously not been done before! The audience would be members of the skydiving community from across the world wanting to get the latest scores from the competition, and streaming would take place through Facebook.

The Challenges

A few challenges were key in shaping the solution we put together. Firstly, presenters were abroad (not at the competition) due to availability, this meant that a reliable solution needed to be put in place to bring the presenters into the show, and the internet at the drop zone was not good! Further more the format of the show needed to be designed to allow for remote presenters to integrate naturally into the presentation. In addition to this, outdoor competitions carry inherent scheduling challenges because of changeable weather, so a program format needed to be developed that would be engaging to the audience, whether 5 rounds had been jumped, or just 1!

The Solution

Using our remote production control room we dialled remote presenters in over our dedicated lease line to ensure the best possible connection, and to reduce the demand on the drop zones internet connection, this also meant significantly reduced onsite logistics such as parking, crew accommodation and set up space was required. But of course the drop zone itself needed to stay the heart of the broadcast, and to ensure this we did two things. Firstly we hosted an interview booth on site where competitors and staff could come and sit down to be interviewed live on the show. This meant that the live stream retained interaction from everyone at the competition. On top of this we had a videographer on site shooting interviews and highlights videos out and about on the drop zone to make sure that we got plenty of the jumping and the event itself in! To ensure that the remote presenters integrated naturally into the program we made it so that both hosts presented remotely, and they also hosted the live interviews with the interview booth on site. The second challenge of the schedule was combated by creating three separate ‘shows’ throughout the day. Each show was approximately 30- 60 minutes, and the flexibility on time meant there wasn’t a requirement to fill air space. As such the broadcast remained engaging, despite weather holds, which did indeed occur!

Check out a few of the live shows below!

Sunday’s Finale