The pandemic hit hard on eSports companies, organizations, and tournament operators. The compositions are dissolved, LAN-events are canceled, many remain without work. But RuHub did an incredible job: in a short time, it completely translated broadcasts online. Cybersport.ru talks about the specifics of online broadcasts and explains the difficulty in setting up a remote studio work.
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Photo: RuHub
At first glance it seems: what is difficult in broadcasting from home? I went into the lobby, turned on the stream, posted the banners of the sponsors – and sit down and comment on it. Yes, a few years ago they really did, but now everything is much more complicated.
Previously, only the caster (who was both an observer, and a director, and a commentator at the same time) was enough to cover the matches, but now it is a complex and multi-level process: there is a director, a sound engineer, an observer, a replay director, a graphic director, commentators, etc. And if it’s easy to establish working communication offline, synchronizing everything online and getting rid of delays is sometimes an overwhelming task, v1lat will not let you lie.
How does it work?
All studio employees switched to remote work, but at the same time they continue to use studio equipment. In the office there was only an engineer who monitors the operability of the equipment. But, as you know, the Internet is different for everyone, which means it is difficult to synchronize a large team of 5-10 people, because the broadcast for everyone should be displayed the same. We talked on this subject with RuHub general producer Anton Oleinik.
“It was difficult not to get the equipment to switch remotely, it was just the simplest task. The main problem was to synchronize everything and let everyone see the same picture. ”
As Oleinik told us, the hardest thing was to set up a remote repetition system and transfer the picture to commentators, and then back to the studio.
“We were looking for options on how to set up a remote observational system and transfer the picture to commentators and back to the studio without delay, as well as quickly collect all the signals, preserving the picture quality and synchronizing everything with the director’s commands. It was important that the viewer did not have to look at the frozen picture for five seconds. ”
The most interesting thing is that RuHub managed to solve all these problems without additional costs. The fact is that on television such tasks are solved by the purchase of expensive equipment of tens of millions of rubles. However, the question is not only in money, but also in terms: it takes a lot of time to launch such a system.
How RuHub adjusted workflow – know-how. But, as Oleinik told us, the team used the “improvised means” and software that is in the public domain: sleight of hand and no magic.
It was not easier to work with all the innovations, but, as Oleinik notes, difficulties unite the team.
“The process has become more complicated. Everyone is sitting at home, and the Internet in Russia is now not the most stable thing. Potentially, everything can turn off at the director, at the sound engineer, at the commentator: you need to be prepared for emergency situations. The ethereal team does not relax, keeps in good shape and gets a new experience. ”
What do commentators say?
Most commentators are not used to working from home. Almost all casters started their careers with coverage of small online leagues, so now they have no problems. We talked about this with Vladimir Maelstorm Kuzminov.
“In Storm Studio, I mainly commented from home, sometimes we went somewhere, but we didn’t even have a studio. This is convenient in its own way: I went to bed late at night, woke up in the morning to comment on Chinese matches and sometimes immediately afterwards caste Europe. If it was a studio caste, I would not have time for all this. It was easier then. ”
According to Kuzminov, with the complexity of the Broadcasting process, commentators had to devote more time to things that are not directly related to what is happening in the game: it was necessary to further customize the sound, pay attention to HUD (Head-Up Display – an interface element) and other little things. All this distracted. But now, with the transition to the remote work of the studio, everything has become much simpler:
“When we switched to the online studio, everything became noticeably better. I note that this is a unique moment: someone has commentators and analysts in the studio, someone has only commentators, and everything is done online. And from a technical point of view, achieving this is rather difficult. All this needs to be not only invented, but also perfected in practice, since unpleasant technical issues may arise. But when everything is set up, all that remains is to comment, you can only devote to the game. ”
In short, little has changed for commentators. In a sense, it has become even easier: you don’t have to make up, lose time getting to the studio, etc. Anton Oleynik is also pleased: Discord has almost no unnecessary “booth” that takes place in a normal working environment.
How do observers work?
Being an observer is not an easy task. It is necessary not only to be well versed in the game, to quickly and correctly move the in-game camera, but also to be ready for a hat from the audience: nobody likes missed frags. One of such fighters of the invisible front in RuHub is Artemy ForTheLastT1me Bessonov. He told us that in remote work almost everything suits him:
“On a remote workflow is not much different from what was in the studio. The essence is approximately the following: we connect to the studio equipment from home computers, and all the signals are subsequently received by the director. It’s more comfortable to work at home, but sometimes difficulties arise: two people are engaged in observational work, and communication is easier in the studio. ”
In general, for observers, little has changed with the transition to udalenka. Suppose with caster they have long understood each other perfectly. And if earlier the broadcasting director often acted as an intermediary between them, now this is almost not required:
“We adapt to commentators, and they adapt to us. Suppose a commenter says something about carry – we connect: we display statistics about his artifacts, average network, etc. Sometimes the opposite happens: suppose a commenter cannot make out an idea – we start to show some points so that he draws attention to this. “
Why is the RuHub case important?
It is important to understand that full coverage of tournaments is far from the same as their rekast. In the first case, the studio does everything from scratch, and in the second it receives a picture from another studio, and then it remains only to comment. RuHub was fully responsible for broadcasting the Epic Prime League on Dota.
Epic Prime League broadcast fragment
The RuHub case is important for several reasons. First, now you can connect casters from other countries to the broadcast without any problems: there is no need to bring their Moscow studio. Secondly, and this is the most important thing, now the studio has experience in conducting remote broadcasts, which means that it can be used after the pandemic ends. You won’t need to send the entire team to the LAN: someone can work from home, and the quality of the lighting will not suffer.
