Global Television delivers YouTube Symphony Orchestra to the world

In March 2011, Global Television helped bring the historic YouTube Symphony Orchestra live from the Sydney Opera House to audiences around the world via the planet’s largest stage: YouTube.com.

The event producers, Whatever Entertainment Group, engaged Global to provide facilities and crew for four days of internet broadcasts that culminated in the orchestra’s live performance on 20th March.

While Global has facilitated numerous events at the Opera House over the years, including the Australian Idol finale and the ARIA Music Awards, this was a particularly challenging event and became much more than a typical outside broadcast.

To meet the client brief, Global integrated two separate production hubs: one that captured activity inside the Opera House and a second at the Overseas Passenger Terminal, nearly 1 km away on the other side of Circular Quay.

Footage came from 19 High Definition (HD) cameras that Global positioned around the Opera House and at several Harbourside locations. 

Bringing the “inside out and the outside in” was the overall theme, so footage captured by outdoor cameras was projected inside to give the seated audience a taste of the outdoor experience.

Global also coordinated live coverage from within the venue with a series of video ‘tiles’( comprising a mixture of live and graphical images) that were projected – simultaneously and in sync with the music – onto the western façade of the Opera House.

To achieve that effect, Global worked closely with Electric Canvas, who provided the 16 external and eight internal projectors needed to ensure that over the course of the four-hour live internet telecast images were seamlessly transmitted to plan.

Two views were available to the online audience, allowing viewers to watch the performance from inside or outside the Opera House.

The primary broadcast feed was also displayed on giant video screens positioned outside the Opera House and at a live city site nearby.

To enable near immediate turnaround of highlights editing, Global deployed the latest tapeless workflow technology, allowing every camera angle to be recorded and moved to final cut for edit.

Although the weather on the day was very wet and windy, it did not affect the broadcast: at the time, it was YouTube’s highest-rating live event ever. To date, it has had more than 40 million views.

This successful event shows how seamlessly internet protocol (IPTV) based television can be delivered and underscores how quickly this format is being embraced internationally.

For more information visit the YouTube Symphony Orchestra website.