My name is Simeon Quarrie. I'm a Canon Ambassador. And today
we're going to look at how we can increase the standard of our
livestreams. I know a number of you may have followed my career
over a number of years, from being a wedding photographer, to
now working with video and also immersive technologies to
totally change the standard of education. And livestreaming is
becoming a fundamental part of what I get involved in for my
business, but also as an individual on a day to day
basis. Perhaps you're working alongside a place of worship, or
perhaps you are working with organisations and clients and
you see the opportunity of increasing the standard of your
webinars and your online meetings. So how do we set up a
high production livestream? Well, we need to think about our
camera choice, the settings for those cameras, and perhaps the
framing as well. And along with that comes our lighting, and a
number of tips and tricks and little hacks that could really
elevate the standard of your livestreaming production. The
likelihood is that you've already done your first
livestream production. Many of us working remotely or
communicating with friends and family from all over the world,
we're using web cameras connected to our computers to do
that. A web camera doesn't necessarily, well definitely
doesn't, provide us with the optimal look. So I'm going to
replace my webcam with a Canon camera. In this case, I've got
the Canon XF605. So I can, for example, crop out and frame the
shot, so I no longer have the distracting elements in the
frame. The attention is more focused on me, which is the
purpose of me maybe leading a webinar and increasing the
production value on a meeting. Another key tip is to look at
our lighting. If you are a video creator or a cinematographer,
one of the first things we like to do is we love to shape light
and control it. So let's turn off the house lights. And we
need to turn on a light. And already we are going to start to
look much, much better. With this light in this position
that's above me now, you can't see anything in the background,
right, the background now is free from clutter, and the focus
is totally on me, which is what I'm looking for. Now, if
anyone's watched any of my content online, I've got a
distinct Simeon look, which for me involves adding lighting
that's in the background of the shot. So I'm going to do that
now. Immediately by adding some lighting into my scene, I've
added that extra drama. Today you've seen us on set working
with the XF605. I love a camera that's really flexible. So for
audio, we've got the professional option of having
XLRs going directly into the camera. Not just one, but
multiple. I always have a minimum of two going in. But on
outputs, we will often livestream in HD. But the key
thing, as well, is we may want to record at the same time
internally, to give us that flexibility of editing in
post-production with a much higher quality. So we've just
looked at a basic livestreaming setup using one camera. But how
do we elevate our production standards to include multiple
cameras? What we have here is the Canon XF605, set up with a
much wider shot. This little tape, I'm just going to hide
slightly. I want to make sure I'm in the centre of the frame.
And this means that if I drift, as I tend to do, I can just
re-anchor myself back in the in the correct position no matter
where I go. So this is great as a one camera. But when people
watch TV, what are they used to doing? They are used to having
more than one camera. We've got the XF605. But I've got the PTZ
CR-N500. So Kornel, if you can just set that to preset two, and
then I'm nicely framed. Excellent. We're now taking
control and we're actually creating our own, almost a
TV-like production, that's giving us that extra level of
interest. But of course, in true Simeon style, what we want to do
is want to go even further. So let's see if we can now set up a
third setup. Now I've got a decent amount of space, it's not
humongous, but just by adding a seat in a different position,
I've now got some variation. And what I've got the option of
doing, is still using the same camera, the CR-N500, moved into
another camera position. When you've got multiple cameras,
typically you need different operators to control and move
those different cameras. But with the CR-N500, the great
thing is Kornel can be in the same position and he can control
the position of the camera, the framing, the exposure, right
from his seat.
If we now cut to camera three, we are in a great position to
provide yet more variation. I like to have a three act
structure, if you will. So I'll often say right, Kornel, let's
start off with position one. And then let's move to position two,
with camera angle two, and camera two. And then for the
closing remarks, let's move to camera three. And you can see
that we are actually turning a livestream into a creative
process. And if you're like me, you're thinking about, well how
can you use creative decision-making, creative
storytelling, in cinematography, in order to be able to elevate
the standard of your livestreams. The great thing
with the PTZ, or pan, tilt, zoom cameras is that we get even more
flexibility. It's a 4K Ultra HD camera. And what also really
excites me about this, what I could do is have Kornel and
other operators remain at home with a live switching device, or
even the app, so that we can pull off a livestreaming
production, just with a minimal crew here on site. The camera
also has 15x optical zoom. The other feature that these three
cameras have got is the Canon Dual Pixel CMOS AF, which just
keeps me in focus no matter where I move within my scene.
And I've got it set right now to face tracking, but even further
to eye tracking. So as I move around my scene, and we're
running live, the camera is keeping me in focus, and I can
just focus on what I'm saying. The key to any successful
livestream is preparation. A few key tips. Could you have more
than one camera angle, more than one camera? Batteries, well
actually better than batteries may be plugging the cameras
directly into the mains. The same for your lighting as well.
There is nothing like having an interruption, with the camera
running out of battery, lighting or even sound in the microphone.
So let's plug in cables wherever we can. On that subject, the
internet is absolutely key. It's a fundamental part of a
livestream. So can we test the livestream in advance. We do a
speed test. Can we wire the connection as well? And then
often when we're doing a livestream, we are connecting
directly into a social media platform that may allow
scheduling, for example. But sometimes social media has a
secondary piece of software that might need to be connected to
prep this in advance. Another key tip is, can you log in to
your social media feed or into the platform that your audience
is viewing the livestream in or on? Because we want to make sure
that they are seeing what we expect them to see and they are
hearing what we expect them to hear. Just thinking about these
few tips can really mean that it takes the stress out of your
livestreaming production. Hopefully you now feel more
confident to go out and broadcast your first livestream
or increase that production value. And you now understand
the tools that you have available to go live. My name is
Simeon Quarrie. Thank you so much for getting involved in
this livestream session.