Case Study – University of Leicester
Background and Brief
For many years Cande Group has been delivering livestream coverage of graduation ceremonies for several universities, an event which is a milestone for any person and a proud moment for all involved.
The University of Leicester is always one of the first projects each year and the graduation location certainly fills the role of adding prestige and gravitas to a significant life event. Taking place in De Montfort Hall, this iconic venue in Leicester has hosted a plethora of stars in the music industry, such The Beatles and The Glenn Miller Orchestra.
Our important role is to capture this pinnacle of the graduands’ (only becoming graduates once the ceremony has completed) 3+ years of studies, sharing this momentous occasion with family and friends across the globe for years to come.
Approach
Graduation ceremonies are held over a number of days and working alongside the university team, we use our custom in-house equipment to build the infrastructure from the ground up. This is a multicamera set up, with the cameras strategically positioned to capture various angles to display the grandeur of the event and ensure each student gets their hero angle.
We positioned one of our cameras on the side of the stage to capture the students as they walked across it, some of the graduates posing for the camera as they passed it, and it was our role to create an impactful social edit from these clips.
To really elevate the quality of the final edit and add to the on-stage footage, we were tasked with filming some additional footage, known as B-roll, to capture the ceremony from the perspective of the students.
During our pre-production the client asked us to capture a couple of shots that would really benefit the edit that we wouldn’t be able to capture on the day of the ceremonies. We made sure to capture these on our set up and test day ahead of the main events.
Execution
We wanted to look for interesting ways to create the point of view from a student. So as the students filtered up to collect their degrees, we set up a shot where they were sitting, so we could frame the shot from the perspective of a student within the crowd. From this angle there were specific shots we had in mind that I thought would look great in the edit. One of these was the students shaking hands with the chancellor and then posing for the camera as they walked off stage. Therefore we could use the shot of them shaking hands with the chancellor and then cut to the stage camera perspective of their pose for a final, impactful edit.
We planned to move around the crowd prior to the start of the graduation ceremony, to capture spontaneous, candid style shots of the students talking and chatting with their friends, looking nervous but excited for the momentous day ahead. It was all about timing and pre-empting the movements of the students, and in some cases, students really responded well to the camera and we managed to film some really effective interactions.
After capturing enough B-roll of the students, we were based in the pit, alongside the producer and vision mixer, watching through the livestreams and noting down the different timestamps of exciting activity that would look great in the final edit. In the breaks in between the livestreams I would then scrub through the timeline of the previous stream and cut out the timestamped poses in the edit.
Key takeaways
We are experts in livestreaming, from large scale live events to entertainment and conferences and therefore have the expertise to know how to capture the opportune moments that will make the memory of a lifetime.
We build the entire infrastructure from the ground up, from cables to cameras, switchers and crew, it usually takes at least a full day to build, and weeks of pre-production to ensure we plan the main activation points to elicit really meaningful footage.
Client testimonial
“Cande did a fantastic job live streaming our graduation ceremonies and really felt like an extension of our team. They handled everything smoothly, from setup to streaming, and as our requirements changed, they were flexible in adapting and supporting us. The video quality was excellent, we received great feedback from colleagues and viewers and the team were a pleasure to work with.”
Alex, Video Producer for the University of Leicester Video Team
