VIRTUAL VIRTUOSOS
AMV Brings the Met Gala Home!
All Mobile Video, one of the nation’s top providers of end-to-end audio/video and international distribution solutions, hit the high note as the Metropolitan Opera utilized AMV’s talent and technology for its production of a virtual “At-Home” gala concert. The remarkable four-hour live event took place April 25th and featured 40 performers, live streaming from 13 countries around the globe. It was an event which ordinarily would have required dozens of technicians. AMV did it with just a fraction of that, using a minimal control room. And the production came together in perfect harmony in only 17 days.
The entire production was performed remotely: the production staff, the producer, the audio director, the entire Met staff…all working from home. The opera company used the Skype platform, with all the signals processed through AMV’s multi-channel video interface. The transmission was then fed to a multiviewer, which displayed the multiple video sources, where shots were structured and arranged. AMV’s communications system allowed the crew, performers, and participants waiting to perform, to all remain in touch simultaneously. According to AMV president, Eric Duke, “All Mobile has been around for a long time and we’ve weathered many a storm. Thanks to the great team, our technology, ingenuity and our ability to be nimble, it was real achievement.”
Lenny Laxer, Vice President of All Mobile Video said, “The Met called us on April 8th and by the 25th we had built the whole thing out -concept to completion – that meant pretty much procuring and testing the technology as we worked.” According to Laxer, the greatest overall challenge was the learning curve. “Everyone had to learn to use the comms (communication systems) and they only had three days to do it. Everyone finally got it by late in rehearsal on the day before the show!”
All the hard work paid off. The Met At-Home Gala received tremendous acclaim, with over 850,000 views in 150 countries. According to The Guardian, “Technically, it was little short of remarkable as we glided almost seamlessly between continents, countries and time zones.” OperaWire wrote, “A major shout out to the editing team on these videos which showed tremendous delicacy not only toward the performers, but the music.” Bravo, AMV!