Live streaming can be a great way for events and brands to reach people, but for many, the costs of producing a professional live stream make them too prohibitive. You need to find a crew, camera gear, broadcast gear, and a reliable Internet source. Sure, live streaming has bridged the gap between individuals and broadcasting and made live content much more affordable, but creating a full-on live production with multiple cameras, live switching and other features can really add up.
So instead, Port Side Productions opted for another solution. Live:Air Action is a free switching app available for iPads that makes multi-camera live streaming free and easy for anyone to do. Using WiFi, it connects up to 6 iOS/Android phones (with the Live:Air Remote app) together so you can switch between any of the phone cameras and live stream directly from your iPad. It also allows for custom graphics and video files to be imported directly from the iPad’s camera roll for later playback.
Port Side Productions is a film production house based in Bellingham, WA. They share with us the kinds of projects they work on, and how they utilized Live:Air Action to produce a flawless multi-camera live stream for a band all from the convenience of their iOS devices.
Adventure Film Company
“We do a whole smattering of different productions, but we specialize in working with outdoor and adventure brands. When a lot of people think of adventure, they think of epic travels in the wilderness with big landscapes, hikes and rock climbing. That’s exactly what we do. We take that type of imagery and craft films that evoke emotions and create the desire to live life as an adventurer.” - Ryan Hamilton, Creative Director at Port Side.
“The company is really just a 2-man show between me and the founder, Cole Heilborn. We work with clients like Cascadia Vehicle Tents, ENO Hammocks, and recently with Marquette Castings for a series of educational videos on their cast-iron skillets. We came up with the casting, scriptwriting, production, and post-production too. We both grew up in the outdoors, and we’ve combined our love for that with our passion for film and turned it into something we love doing every day.”
The Setup
“The city of Seattle has a very vibrant music scene, and my brother Andrew Hamilton performs in a band called Simple Gravity. We wanted to try something that could help the band expand their audience and reach people in a setting that was different than performing in a club or bar. A lot of people aren’t able to attend these types concerts in person, whether they have kids, are under 21 and can’t get into bars, or any reason. So we decided to live stream to get their music to their fans.”
- 4x iPhones
- 2x on tripods
- 1x on friction arm on C stand
- 1x on DJI Osmo Mobile
- 1x iPad Pro 13”
- 1x iPhone for 4G LTE hotspot
Each iPhone had the Live:Air Remote app loaded, which allowed for video feeds from the phones to populate on the Live:Air Action control surface. From the iPad, Ryan streamed over a 4G LTE hotspot directly to the band’s Facebook Page, and live switched between cameras over the course of the broadcast. The band brought a separate audio tech, who ported all the audio into a soundboard and fed a single audio source into Live:Air Action, ensuring the music didn’t sound different with every camera angle.
“Using iPhones was very convenient for this kind of setup. Smartphones are so small that we could move them anywhere in the tiny space that we had, and the DJI Osmo gimbal doesn’t take up nearly as much space as a Ronin would. It makes for an ideal live streaming setup in any small environment.”
“It was pretty intimidating trying a live switching setup at first, but as I sat down and learned the tools, it was actually super intuitive and easy to pick up. I think in just a few minutes, we were able to figure out all of the controls. It’s a tool we’ll always have for any future live events.”