Sometimes I really miss being fussed over by people, I admit it!
Especially when they have skills that take me an age to try to copy.
Like many of us, I’ve moved my work almost completely online - learning along the way how to make glittering events look smart on your laptop. Learning about live platforms, upload speeds, efficient clip sharing, microphone placing and lighting. All those things that used to be done for me by clever people who knew their jobs inside-out.
It’s been a chance to buy some toys - now that I don’t have to carry them all the way around the world with me. Snug where I am for the foreseeable, I now have lights, mic stands, wireless keyboards and the rest. Even a collapsible green screen…
| | You can put up a virtual background for Zoom, MS Teams, Skype etc. Clients love their logo behind you. A green backdrop helps the technology superimpose that virtual background, and remove whatever’s actually behind you in real life. There’s less blurring if you move around. The magazine Good Housekeeping even offers a selection of fake backgrounds available for you to download : roaring fire, cat and dog, anyone? |
Any piece of green cloth will do - smoothing out the wrinkles will help. I chose a collapsible screen which takes seconds to assemble and then take down after presenting. You have to sit far enough away in front of it so the green of the screen isn’t reflecting onto your skin, and therefore the screen needs to be wide enough to allow that to happen without your hands or head disappearing off the edges of the screen.
My green screen was perfect for sitting-down work : standard video conferences, interviews, media training and webinars. But what about awards ceremonies, where normally the idea is to be on stage surrounded by a spectacular set, a couple of podiums, a large display showing the nominees and winners - a sense of scale, grandeur, celebration?
My green screen was perfect for sitting-down work : standard video conferences, interviews, media training and webinars. But what about awards ceremonies, where normally the idea is to be on stage surrounded by a spectacular set, a couple of podiums, a large display showing the nominees and winners - a sense of scale, grandeur, celebration?
| Well, the smart folks back at base can handle that. Clients can take your contribution against a green screen, and mix it onto a virtual set, including all those bells and whistles - even fake audiences applauding and fireworks… You may have seen them. It’s worth making an effort. |  |
It’s taken a lot of tinkering on my part though…
Standing-up meant my camera needed to be further away. So the lights needed to be far away not to be in shot. Which meant they weren’t strong enough to reach me. More lights then. But with every light, you make a shadow. More lights to defeat the shadows. Then the weather closes in and you lose daylight. Bah!
Standing-up meant my camera needed to be further away. So the lights needed to be far away not to be in shot. Which meant they weren’t strong enough to reach me. More lights then. But with every light, you make a shadow. More lights to defeat the shadows. Then the weather closes in and you lose daylight. Bah!
 | A big recent event of mine was for Eurekahedge - their Asian Hedge Fund Awards - where all the magnificent participants appeared online - from Shanghai to Singapore, Mumbai, New York and London. |
The graphics looked great and it was a pleasure to help reward people who have worked so hard all year. Love or loathe hedgies, they are helping create wealth in a global economy which badly needs it.
 In real life... |  ...on the laptop |
Another innovation for me, was my home-made autocue / teleprompter!
| I mirrored a Tablet onto a TV, and as my producer and sweetheart scrolled through the script for the hour long show, I was able to read the words from the screen. Phew! There were nearly a hundred company names to get right - I couldn’t have remembered them. I have an app which will automatically scroll through a script for you - listening as you speak. But it doesn’t cope so well with repetition : “the nominees are, the winner is…” |  |
I’ll be honest. I enjoyed solving that particular problem...
It felt like I was playing with a construction set again. And building a den with the tables!
Now, with a tie mic for those distant shots, I feel I’m ready for anything.
And sadly, I might have to be - as we wait for enough of us to be vaccinated to make our governments comfortable with again allowing unfettered travel.
Stay safe. And try to have fun doing things differently.
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