The festival broadcast was recorded live and later aired as two 50 minute programs on Radio Televisión Canaria, with Ruima Video Art, a production company in Spain, managing all aspects of the event’s technical production.

Set against the scenic Playa de San Agustín in Gran Canaria, the festival’s eighth edition featured an eclectic lineup of international soul and R&B artists. “The 500 square meters beach transformed into a stunning stage for the festival, though it also posed significant technical and logistical challenges,” reveals Pedro Ruiz Mateos, founder of Ruima Video Art.

The challenge was maintaining signal integrity reliably in a location that lacked any existing infrastructure while contending with harsh environmental factors, including sand and high temperatures. “That necessitated a robust, low latency system to tackle the entire production process, from acquisition and monitoring to distribution and vision mixing for both IMAG projection and recording,” notes Ruiz Mateos.

The multicamera production relied on a mixed package of seven cameras from Blackmagic Design. Two Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 cameras, positioned front of house, captured the artists’ performances while an additional unit mounted on an eight and half meter hot head crane provided wide and dynamic shots. “Blackmagic’s SMPTE fiber chains provided video, program return and power, with camera control,” Ruiz Mateos notes.

Four additional Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Pro G2s provided extra coverage, with two fixed and remotely controlled, and two operated manually. Camera control and remote shading was done with the ATEM Camera Control Panel.

The live HD feeds for IMAG and a program for the subsequent broadcast were vision mixed using an ATEM 2 M/E Constellation HD live production switcher. Signal management and distribution relied on a Blackmagic Videohub 40x40 12G router while each camera ISO and the final program out were recorded using eight HyperDeck Studio HD Plus broadcast decks.

The program mix and camera ISOs were all captured in 1080p25 for subsequent editing and color correction. “Once we completed post production, we packaged everything up to comply with the broadcaster’s technical standards, delivering a 1080i50 program via FTP to the television network,” notes Ruiz Mateos.

“In demanding outdoor conditions, where heat and sand put equipment to the test, the technology didn’t skip a beat,” concludes Ruiz Mateos. “Knowing that we could trust Blackmagic allowed to focus on the creative aspects of the festival’s production.”