International. The broadcast of the 2024 pink carpet delivery of RuPaul's DragCon LA was conducted with a team-based workflow from Blackmagic Design.
The equipment included an ATEM Television Studio 4K8 switcher and a Blackmagic Web Presenter 4K webcasting device. The convention became the most-watched original show on WOW Presents Plus, a global webcasting platform for the RuPaul's Drag Race franchise.
This year's pink carpet was broadcast by Wonder Productions, which produces television shows such as "Million Dollar Listing," "Backyard Envy" and "RuPaul's Drag Race," and included an opening ribbon-cutting ceremony and the famous Queen's Parade. Drag queens from all "RuPaul's Drag Race" franchises walked the 60m pink carpet, flaunting this year's aesthetics and stopping to give interviews in front of the cameras.
At the end of the pink carpet was the World of Wonder Productions production center, equipped with Blackmagic Design products, including an ATEM Television Studio 4K8 switcher, which was used as the main unit for live streaming, along with a Blackmagic Web Presenter 4K device. In turn, five Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 digital cinema cameras were placed around the pink carpet to transmit the signals to the mixer via SMPTE cables, and Blackmagic Studio Fiber Converter and Blackmagic Camera Fiber Converter units were used to control and power the equipment.
The production site also used several Micro Converter BiDirectional SDI/HDMI 3G devices, which allowed monitors to be connected throughout the venue, so that producers could monitor the images captured. In addition, a HyperDeck Studio 4K recorder provided preloaded graphics for webcasting. Producers also needed to have the ability to switch between multiple sources immediately and send them to the reference monitor for the presenter, Michelle Visage, so an ATEM Television Studio 4K8 switcher was connected to an ATEM Television Studio HD unit. This provided the ability to use one output to access all camera angles and graphics, as well as the specific language Visage might need when hosting the live show.
According to Blake Jacobs, director of equipment at World of Wonder Productions, production was previously handled by third-party vendors, but the World of Wonder team wanted to find a cost-effective way to stream live events over the Internet from the location while also taking advantage of the money savings to make such productions more frequently.
Jacobs noted that investing in Blackmagic Design equipment allowed World of Wonder Productions to cover this year's pink carpet safely. "The toolset and reliability they offer helped us have the confidence to deliver and run a live program from DragCon," he said. "Assembling and testing the equipment during pre-production was seamless, and we turned to Blackmagic's product manuals as needed to achieve the dynamics we were looking for. Blackmagic Design products are easy to use and this is one of the main reasons why we like them. In addition, they are compact, which makes them easy to transport to events and their reasonable price is a considerable advantage."
Jacobs also praised the versatility of Blackmagic Design's equipment, noting that staff employed them in order to be able to cover additional sections of DragCon LA, as well as to live stream from the pink carpet during the 2024 DragCon UK award, which was the first broadcast of its kind by World of Wonder Productions on its on-demand subscription channel. The task force also plans to expand live coverage of the upcoming edition of DragCon UK to broadcast the performances on the main stage.
"Blackmagic Design's products are not only affordable and easy to use, giving us the ability to cover events from studios, but also the flexibility they offer allows us to adapt to the needs of each project. We've started to cover events of different sizes and configurations, and the portable design of the ATEM Television Studio 4K8, for example, allows us to set up and take down events quickly, and its capacity is amazing. We're excited to see what we can achieve with a workflow based on Blackmagic Design products as we continue to expand our coverage of events and, ultimately, our services as a producer."
