Dream Street Productions Switches Live Corporate Events with ATEM Television Studio HD8 ISO
Blackmagic Design today announced that Dream Street Productions’ Founder Scott Braun has successfully grown his company from corporate A/V and video production to virtual live streaming events supported by a Blackmagic Design workflow, including ATEM Television Studio HD8 ISO live production switcher and Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 cameras.
Dream Street Productions is a Connecticut based video production and post production studio with corporate clients ranging from telecommunications to pharmaceuticals to one of the big five American tech companies. With a background in television production and newsroom broadcasting in the New York City market, Braun founded Dream Street Productions 20 years ago and has consistently adapted to the ever changing production landscape.
Braun attributes two decades in the industry and steady business growth to maintaining flexibility both in his mindset and his toolset. “Flexibility allows me to meet the demands of any project. If I don’t know how to do something, I learn it, and then if a client asks for something, I deliver it,” he said. “On the tech side, my workflow is backed by Blackmagic Design products, and their tools support virtually anything thrown my way.
“For example, at a recent town hall event, the client wanted the camera ISOs recorded so they could cut down the event on their own from the camera masters versus the program master. I love the ATEM Television Studio HD8 ISO for its recording options and that feature, rather than having to stick cards in cameras, feed timecodes so they’re all synced, etc.”
“I don’t even have to record in camera unless the client is asking for that specifically,” Braun continued. “For most clients, recording to HyperDecks is more than adequate. From that standpoint, the ATEM Television Studio HD8 ISO’s media management is super easy. Anything that goes into the ATEM is recorded and gets put into a folder, which we just hand off to the client at the end of the show.”
Braun also noted that he uses the ATEM Television Studio HD8 ISO’s counter overlay feature as a speaker timer. “It eliminates the need for another piece of expensive gear. And with the panel, you can even change the background color on the fly from black to red or from green to red when time expires. It’s really a great feature.”
Incorporating the URSA Broadcast G2 further maximized the efficiency of Braun’s workflow. “We get all the features you’d need with high end fiber systems, like camera control, talkback, tally, and more, with just two SDI cables to and from the camera,” he said. “Color control, painting and matching cameras is fast and easy. Plus, with the B4 lens mount, you can use virtually any broadcast lens on you want, including big box lenses. The URSA Broadcast G2 is our camera of choice, not only due to the affordable cost to own, but with continued firmware support and upgrade paths that provide more functionally with the camera. The fact that everything ties into together for one complete ecosystem is why Dream Street is heavily invested in Blackmagic gear.”
Braun has long relied on Blackmagic Design’s products, having learned the basics with the ATEM Mini live production switcher. He found it easy to upgrade within the ATEM family of live production switchers as the needs of his clients’ events were getting more and more advanced.
“When virtual events took over, clients began requesting more bells and whistles, and my productions began to get busier,” he said. “They wanted them to look more and more like what they were seeing on TV at that time, which was a customized SuperSource background with multiple windows flying in and out. I discovered that the ATEM Mini did all of that and more, and that was when I got my first real taste of what Blackmagic power could do. It was unbelievable.”
“As our shows got more complicated, I found I needed to have more features or M/Es because I was feeding more screens or a separate stream or I had two technical directors, one cutting an IMAG feed and one cutting a stream,” Braun added. “Coming out of COVID, everything has completely changed. You have to provide for multiple options: live in person events, streaming, hybrid events, etc., and Blackmagic Design’s ATEMs have supported me every step of the way.”
Though he had previously worked in news production, Braun had to learn the ins and outs of live virtual event production. “I was able to start poking around and understanding broadcast production from a technical director standpoint. Coming from a producer or a director point of view, I was always great at telling people what I wanted to do, but actually creating those looks was a different story. I took it upon myself to spend the time in my studio learning and practicing, and I absolutely fell in love with the architecture of the ATEM software design for the control surfaces. I thought it was easy to use and very intuitive. I was able to jump right in and nothing really stopped me from then on,” he said.
Braun noted that corporate shows are a bit different from the traditional broadcast environment, but that Blackmagic Design’s offerings have still been a great fit for his needs. For example, he works closely with clients in pre production to learn exactly what each wants for its speakers and will then build macros as needed so that when he arrives on site, he is ready for rehearsal and there are no surprises.
“We are ready for it, it’s all pre planned and the macros are pre built,” he said. “If I have to go in and make some quick and minor adjustments, it’s just a matter of recording that one macro again and not rebuilding the entire show. Having the ability to save and restore those sessions for each event has been a lifesaver. I can build a master profile for that client depending on what type of show it is, and then if we’re redoing the show next year, I’ve just saved myself three days’ worth of pre production because I can reload or restore that show and just tweak it based on the needs for the current event. It is a huge time saver.”
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