Remote production successfully implemented
The 116. The 4th episode of Düsseldorfer Wirtschaft was also produced as a video podcast at the start of the 4th season. Novelty: All the protagonists were connected in sound and vision from different locations.
The simplest form would have been to record a Teams, Webex or ZOOM meeting. However, this does not correspond to our idea of individual and corporate design-compliant implementation. From season to season of the podcast, which is now almost two years young, we, the presenter team Lisa Marie Schelig and Christoph Sochart and producer Frank Wiedemeier, have constantly tweaked, changed and optimized: conceptually, editorially and technically. The key question is and remains: What form of implementation will take us further? What is the best way to reach our listeners — and now, with episode 116, our viewers too?
Above all, a production like this has to be fun for the protagonists, easy to handle and run as smoothly as possible for everyone involved. This is the only way to concentrate on content, questions and authentic discussion. Sudden interruptions and multiple repetitions, on the other hand, sap energy, build up tension and, in the worst case, lead to termination. Therefore, all possible pitfalls must be eliminated in advance so that everyone involved can come together in the digital space in a relaxed manner.
Our motto: Good preparation is half the battle
As with each of the 115 episodes to date, the 116th episode was also produced in the same way. episode is scripted in detail in advance by the moderation team. This clarified who comes into the conversation when and how, and which microphones must be open or closed. After all, in this episode, the participants were each in a different location — connected solely by the WANs (Wide Area Network), LANs (Local Area Network) and servers of the Internet. At the same time, suitable screen layouts were developed in the corporate design of Unternehmerschaft Düsseldorf und Umgebung, the schematics were prepared, the cloud was set up and tests were carried out.
Special feature: Individual layouts
To prevent the recording from taking on the look of a classic Teams meeting, we combined MS Teams with a cloud-based application, enabling us to extract all video and audio signals individually. On the one hand, we have ensured that the software used by the participants is well-known. On the other hand, we were able to solve the requirement for visual individuality. All video streams were captured individually and displayed live in different image layouts, together with visual elements — all in line with the corporate design.
