MRMC Partner With Gravity Media for ‘Thursday Sessions’ Event
As a follow on from the launch Thursday Sessions event which took place in December, Gravity Media the world leading global provider of complex live creative production and media services hosted the second networking night to bring the industry’s broadcast, film and TV community together at their Manchester home in the centre of town at the ABC Buildings, Enterprise City.
This first Gravity Media Thursday Session of 2023, in collaboration with Women In Film & TV, VERSA Studios. Side Street Studio and MRMC Broadcast took place on Thursday 2nd February from 6.30-10pm.
The evening kicked off with a special WFTV In-Conversation Interview with Sally Lindsay who played Shelley Unwin in Coronation Street. Hosted exclusively in ABC Buildings new bar, Side Street Studio, on the ground floor of the mid-century modernism inspired buildings, with welcome drinks from the VERSA Studios team.
In this special event actor, writer and Creative Director of the award-winning Manchester based production company Saffron Cherry Productions, Sally Lindsay discussed her career in the industry so far and what she has learnt along the way.
This followed with burgers and beers and time to network until 10pm in the Fourth Floor Gravity Media Production Centre.
The newly launched Gravity Media base has been carefully designed to meet the high-grade technical specification needed by Gravity Media to service their broadcast clients, as well as a new base for their dedicated local equipment rental team. The Manchester site features three off-tube commentary booths, two Avid Media Composer edit suites connected to the edit core for a full suite of edit services, a dedicated audio control room and two multi-suite, three-tier production galleries designed with the flexibility to integrate next-generation cloud-based, GPU-powered workflows including the likes of MAVIS and GVAMPP. There is also a large production office and meeting area. The ABC Buildings also offers a flexible workspace, café / bar, outdoor terrace, cinema, and other communal areas.
Recent work highlights include the team helping to relocate and set up the five-camera studio for BBC Studios working in collaboration with VERSA Studios which enabled the broadcast of the popular daytime show, BBC Morning Live. As well as, the Barclays WSL pre-season media content day and the FA Community Shield Preview Show and most recent FA Cup Rounds.
To support Gravity and Women in Film and TV, MRMC set up a QRS-1 Quiet Rail System to film the session and talk, using Polymotion Chat to track the speakers and keep them in frame automatically. The wider setup at the event showcased a multi-head remote platform demo of MRMC Broadcast kit, featuring the high-payload PTA-2b, moving a large 80x box lens using a remote operation pan bar system over an IP connection. This allows cameras to take up a smaller footprint, be mounted in unobtrusive locations whilst not compromising on zoom or image quality.
We also set up a remote acquisition demo using an AFC head and Polymotion Chat set up in Chiswic, controlled by a Broadcast panel located 200 miles away at the event in Manchester. This allowed us to demonstrate how remote acquisition/operation is a practical and viable option for remote studio ops, offering greater flexibility in event crewing and saving on environmental factors and emissions.
Remote acquisition and motion technologies such as robotic camera heads, subject tracking automation and rail systems allow production teams to easily increase the number of camera angles captured to make the production more dynamic, whether that be with exceptional speed, precise and repeatable moves, or remote control and operation. MRMC has partnered with Gravity Media on many projects in the live production space and appreciate the opportunity to be able to work with them for this session.
MRMC Broadcast