Producing My First Webcast

Next time I zoomed the camera out, I learned the bad news: The data rate spiked again and the video stopped again on the Grayson Landcare site. I should say that this wasn't a total calamity-the video simply started playing again a few moments later with no content lost, but the stoppage was frustratingly avoidable. I maintained a stable medium shot till the first speaker finished, then stopped the broadcast, unchecked and checked the Limit peak bit rate checkbox, restarted the broadcast, zoomed around to see if the problem persisted, and found it solved.

Again, learn from my mistakes: Check outgoing bandwidth onsite, make sure your outgoing stream is comfortably less than the outgoing bandwidth, and make sure you're producing a constant-bitrate stream.

A Few More Words to the Wise

What else would I do differently? Well, when the last speaker stood up in a madras shirt, I saw the data rate start to strain against the upper limit and quality drop noticeably, and remembered that I should have advised the speakers to wear conservative, solid colors. I also realized that I had gotten lucky with the background, which was a solid beige that contrasted well with the clothing worn by all the speakers. Had the background been wallpaper with a herringbone pattern or other fine detail, the quality of the entire webcast could have been compromised.

As part of your live event prep, determine what the background is going to be, make sure that it's compressible. If you'd like a guide to choosing a compressible background and clothing, download the PDF from my Streaming Media East presentation Video Production for Streaming, which covers both topics in detail. I just forgot to apply those lessons to my own first webcast.

Finally, if you haven't used a program like Wirecast before, create a short checklist for stopping and starting each segment, particularly if you have multiple speakers rather than one long show. This is especially true if you're running multiple pieces of gear, like recording tape in the XH A1 and driving the webcast, as well as working sound and lighting. I made several small omissions early on, like forgetting to press Record on the camera, and these mistakes stopped once I created and observed the checklist.

So that's my first live webcast. Though all I remember are the mistakes, the ratings apparently were high from L.A. to Austrialia to Sri Lanka-no doubt, in part, because of the big outgoing pipes of Multicast Media. In fact, my buddy has asked if I want to go to Sri Lanka next year to observe Landcare in action overseas. I've already suggested that we produce a documentary of the event, which of course I'll write about in an article entitled "My First Documentary." I'll be sure to read all of my own training manuals before I start shooting that one, though, I promise.