Baltimore’s Church of the Nativity used a live production workflow featuring 15 Blackmagic Design cameras and an ATEM Constellation 8K live production switcher to produce its annual Christmas Eve service. The event took over the Cow Palace building at the Maryland State Fairgrounds to accommodate 10,000 visitors in person and was live streamed to thousands of additional viewers on YouTube.
While Church of the Nativity houses a 1,400-seat sanctuary for regular weekend services, the Christmas Eve service has been held at the Maryland State Fairgrounds since 2005 to serve an increasing number of attendees. The Catholic services included a 25-minute prelude show, a 3pm mass and a 5:15pm mass. The Cow Palace is set up in three areas, each housing a different portion of the event. The north end features an approximately 72,000 square ft. sanctuary with the main stage and seating. The center area features the entrance and the prelude show. The kids’ worship area called “Jingle Jam,” and a suite for the 650 volunteers who helped run the event, are held in the south end.
According to Church of the Nativity’s Director of Production Pablo Sainz, this year’s event used a mix of Blackmagic Design cameras across the live event and for b-roll. Several Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 cameras captured the broadcast, with two Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Pro G2s as the pre-show cameras, two Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4Ks providing various wide shots, and multiple Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 digital film cameras and a Blackmagic URSA Broadcast camera serving the kids area. Six Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K G2 digital film cameras captured handheld footage from all areas of the event, including around the main altar, pre show and even one connected wirelessly on a gimbal.
Sainz noted the stunning image quality and versatility of the cameras, which allowed his team to capture every detail of the event. In particular, the low light capabilities came in handy in the main sanctuary where the cameras shot a variety of scenes and performances. “One of the biggest moments that happens every year is when we sing ‘Silent Night.’ The entire venue is slowly illuminated with candles that get lit one by one as each person lights the candle of the person next to them. The cameras worked tirelessly, as did our camera operators and shaders to make sure each shot was captured perfectly,” Sainz says.
At the heart of the control room was an ATEM Constellation 8K, with all 40 inputs and 24 outputs in use, and a Blackmagic Videohub 40x40 router, with almost everything connected via fiber and some direct SDI. One M/E of the ATEM was used for image magnification, paired with an ATEM 2 M/E Advanced Panel 40, and one M/E was used for the broadcast/live stream, in conjunction with an ATEM 2 M/E Advanced Panel 20.
Rounding out the workflow, three ATEM Camera Control Panels were used for remote camera control. Two ATEM Studio Converter 2s were in place to connect the cameras to the other equipment via fiber over long distances, and two ATEM Talkback Converter 4Ks were used for SDI talkback using embedded audio channels. Additionally, two ATEM SDI Extreme ISO live production switchers were used to ISO record all the cameras at the event, and HyperDeck Studio HD Plus and HyperDeck Mini broadcast decks were used for recording as well.
Sainz credits the Blackmagic Design gear for being portable and helping the church stay nimble while setting up such a large event with many moving parts. One of the challenges the team faced was that, for the past two years, the control room had to be set up in different locations to avoid various audio bleeding issues. This year it was built in the northwest corner of the Cow Palace, complete with more than 30,000 ft. of video cable connecting all areas back to the control room. “Blackmagic Design equipment allowed for the simplest of connections for all the cameras to reach back to the booth and to have tally and camera control instantly back to the cameras,” he says.
“Using the ATEM Studio Converter 2 and ATEM Talkback Converter 4K has been a game changer,” Sainz continues. “We had so many lines going back and forth from three locations more than a thousand feet apart and needed to convert video signals from SDI to fiber and back again to SDI at each location. These devices eliminated the need to set up tons of individual converters. We also used many Blackmagic Mini Converter Optical Fiber 12Gs that helped limit the number of single converters as well, as they are bi directional. This made the setup much simpler.”
“We’ve added different Blackmagic Design products piece by piece over the years to help make the event run more smoothly,” says Sainz. “The ATEM 2 M/E Advanced Panel 40 gives us the ability to expand as needed and group cameras, graphics and video playback sources into different banks, which allows for fewer errors during production. Another feature I love is the ease of changing which M/E the director is switching. We just started using a third M/E for our pre show segment, and the operator can easily change to that M/E on the fly with one simple button. It’s great to easily get to macros or use the dip function on occasion. Finally, for pre production, being able to adjust our SuperSource settings and DVE with the joystick, allowing precise control right on the panel, is outstanding.”
