In March this year, 60 delegates from 15 countries gathered in Warsaw to consider full performance capture and short-form video content from different angles. The challenge of this two-day gathering was to find some shared answers to the following questions: Which shots to choose, filmed with which external partners, with the help of which in-house colleagues, using what technology and with what resources to fit within stretched budgets?
After a welcome by Mariusz Treliński, Artistic Director of Polish National Opera, the opening session focused on the challenges of filming opera and ballet. Myriam Hoyer shared her extensive experience filming opera, making a persuasive case (backed up with extracts) of the multi-camera director’s role as story-teller, serving the stage director’s narrative. Our host, Ewa Krasucka (Head of Creative, TW-ON Broadcast Studio) focused on ‘How to (not) film a ballet’ and, in particular, shot angles, diagonals, dynamic framing, close-ups, and the pitfalls of over-switching, (ugly!) floors, bad cropping and cutting shots mid-choreographic phrase.
For the rest of the first afternoon, the forum split into three, firstly, for freer, small-group discussion of different production models (in-house, with a-v production companies and with national broadcasters) and, secondly, for manageably-sized parties to visit TW-ON’s Broadcast Studio. Having said that, overcrowding is rarely a problem, at least behind the curtain of Europe’s largest stage; the stage lift alone was virtually big enough to hold all 60 of us.
Day two in Warsaw had a technical, practical and creative focus. For the technophiles, there were sessions about scripting software, data storage in the 4k era, microphone positions (including in wigs), the challenges of YouTube compression and how Artificial Intelligence is enhancing the work of video editors. We also balanced the arguments for and against investing in in-house broadcast suites with the help of Theatreplan. Although artistic choices underlined all these discussions, the session dedicated to making short-form content had the most explicit creative agenda and we enjoyed different takes on promotional videos from Barcelona, Parma and Stockholm. The forum closed with a performance of Polish National Opera’s new Così fan tutte on that monumental stage.
From the feedback received since, the delegates at this Warsaw forum seemed to have most appreciated the Polish welcome – every session was lovingly prepared, and we were gloriously fed, watered, and graciously guided in-between each. Above all for the OperaVision team present, we were struck by the commitment of each speaker - and this group as a whole - to excellence in audio-visual production at the service of opera and ballet. Dziękuję, Warszawa!
Luke O’Shaughnessy
