KitPlus | Articles

Gearing up for The Americas with Simon Reeve

For several years, it has been my honour to collaborate as director of photography with Simon Reeve, the well-known British author, adventurer, and TV presenter. Our latest partnership, the popular BBC Two program “The Americas With Simon Reeve,” is our most ambitious project yet, tracing Simon’s journey from the top to the toe of two continents. S...

Submitted by Jonathan Joung

Published 27 January 2020

Eye Contact in Documentaries

Eye contact filming (where the interview subject speaks directly into the lens) is now more common in documentaries. But it hasn’t always been possible or acceptable for filmmakers to do. When I studied Screen Documentary in 1998, I was taught that the subject should look to the left or right of the screen. As an interviewer, I sat close to the cam...

Submitted by Sybil Ah-Mane

Published 27 January 2020

New Year, New Decade, New Rig

Some time ago I was fortunate enough to take part in a track day at Oulton Park, driving a souped up BMW M4. It was completely insane. Literally the most powerful car I’ve ever driven. From 0-60 in 4 seconds or something like that. I’m not Jeremy Clarkson so I can’t remember the exact figure. Anyway it was a really great experience, and something I...

Submitted by Alex Macleod

Published 27 January 2020

How Holokid broke barriers for Holographic Technology ove...

Project overview. Picture this: You’re at a rock concert, watching four guitarists, a drummer, and a keyboardist on stage perform in perfect sync. The sounds, the visuals, the experience—it’s flawless. You might have been fooled though because only three of the four guitarists are actually standing there in front of you. Come again?You might have s...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 27 January 2020

Taking a Stand at IBC - The Future of Exhibiting Clouds

If you’re reading KitPlus you probably don’t need us to tell you that, each year, the IBC Show attracts 1,700 exhibitors, each parting with a significant sum of money for the privilege of touting their wares from the darkened halls for five whole days. For the last eight years Blue Lucy has been one of these exhibitors and the show has always more...

Submitted by Julian Wright

Published 14 November 2019

Class: Pragmatism In Engineering

A couple of years ago, Hermann Popp from ARRI came to me and talked about putting MXF in ST 2110. My initial take away was that his proposal felt like exactly the right way to solve the problem he presented, but was completely counter-intuitive to the IP Engineering purists who would push back on the concept of double wrapping the content. It took...

Submitted by Bruce Devlin - new

Published 03 November 2019

IBC 2019 A Whistle Stop Rundown

I’ve been to IBC once before, taking to the floor with Simon, Matt, Jon and the rest of the KitPlus team to assist with the filming of interviews. This was a lot of fun, but it was hard to find the time to look at the kit I wanted to see. This year with the demise of BVE and unable to make it to the Media Production Show I decided to fork out for a...

Submitted by Ben Sherriff

Published 03 November 2019

Creating A Signature Look With Lighting

As an LA-based DP, I view my role as a narrative storyteller. For me, cinematography is not just about getting some nice images – it’s about telling truths. I love being able to weave a story with imagery and capture something that’s real, whether through performance or visual symbolism. Lighting is one of my most important mechanisms for capturing...

Submitted by William Hellmuth

Published 03 November 2019

On Stage At Festival Beauregard

Set in the majestic grounds of the Chateau de Beauregard, and in its eleventh year, the festival is an eclectic mix of homegrown French talent and international artists spanning pop, rock, punk and dance. We made the hop across the channel to find out more. With a diverse lineup - where else can you find Tears for Fears, Disclosure, Snow Patrol, Fa...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 03 November 2019

Live Streaming Workflows Examined

In today’s hyperconnected world, audiences expect accessible, high quality content across the displays they see every day, whether at home or on the go, at a concert or church service, or even in the board room. There are a number of approaches professionals can take to deliver live content, but each workflow ultimately varies depending upon the de...

Submitted by Bryce Button

Published 03 November 2019

State of the Nation - Getting Connected

We are all familiar with statistics about the growth of the internet. Cisco’s latest report, for instance, says that global IP traffic is increasing at 26% a year, and will reach 4.8 zetabytes a year by 2022. The number of connected devices will be three times the world’s population by the same date. There is a nice chart in the Cisco report: in 19...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs - new

Published 10 September 2019

The University of the Third Age

Here's a cliché - "We all get to be old one day - if we're lucky". There comes a point when things like ".... mastered in Dolby Vision Domestic and SDR Rec 709.....\" become just a touch unimportant (and actually I never really understood that stuff in the first place). I retired for the third time last year - BBC producer, and before that camerama...

Submitted by Bernard Newnham

Published 10 September 2019

Increasing Diversity in the UK Indie Market

London director Sam Addo tells us more about how he aims to change the status quo when it comes to onscreen diversity with his new feature, Cards on the Table. “Over the past thirty years, filmmakers have made movies telling a wide range of stories, however, in my humble opinion, those with disabilities, from the LGBTQ+ community and or those from...

Submitted by Sam Addo

Published 10 September 2019

The LED Lighting Revolution

Back in April 2019, the National Association of Broadcasters hosted the annual NAB show in Las Vegas where over 90,000 people from more than 160 countries came to see the latest broadcast technology from around the world. Honouring the highlights of the show were NAB’s 2019 Product of the Year awards, where the newly launched Chroma-Q Space Force o...

Submitted by Neil Vann

Published 10 September 2019

IP Technology for Broadcast Audio Routing Systems

As the AoIP debate continues to confuse and delight in equal measure, what is clear is different scenarios require specific solutions. So is there a solution that encompasses open standards and existing proven AoIP technologies to the benefit of all?IntroductionBy definition, network infrastructure (switches, routers and cables) is protocol and tec...

Submitted by Tom Knowles

Published 10 September 2019