Bloomberg ESG House Conference, Cannes - Streaming

LiveU Streaming, 5 Days in Cannes.

The Côte d' Azure was bathed in glorious golden-hour light when I first saw my destination, Cannes, a town made world famous by its Film Festival. It looked lovely. However, this was not a holiday. I am here to work.

A few days ago I did not know I was coming to Cannes but here I am, about to start a 5 day streaming assignment.

Jonathan Young DoP connected me with this production as he had a prior booking in Scandinavia. Although I am a DoP with vast experience across numerous, mainly factual, genres Jonathan and I have collaborated many times over the years. He knows I offer a safe pair of hands and I am always happy to work in other capacities, such as a Camera Operator, Gaffer, or in this case as a Streaming Tech.

I would be streaming two cameras, the second to provide redundancy, so the show could go on if we had a technical issue. This was a first for me. I would be responsible only for the streaming and not involved with the camerawork at all.

Bloomberg was hosting a conference at a grand Villa a few minutes walk from the famous Boulevard de la Croisette with its marinas, yachts, and wonderful beach. They had commissioned a multi-camera shoot for a video film production, and I would be provided with feeds from two of the film crew's cameras.

Immediately I cleared immigration and customs at Nice airport, I grabbed a taxi to take me to the Villa, some 45 minutes away, une chance de pratiquer mon français avec le chauffeur très bavard. (A chance to practice my French with the chatty taxi driver)

Bienvenue dans mon bureau (Welcome to my office)

On arrival at the Villa, I met the film crew, and production people who were organising the conference and the video production. A group of delightful people who were very helpful. I would be stationed at a table, overlooking the stage, under a balcony, and next to a large room at the back of the Villa that served as a production office and kit store. All speakers and presenters would pass by my workstation on their way to the stage, giving me plenty of time to advise America to start recording my feeds before the speakers arrived on the stage, and on camera. Fantastique! (Fantastic!)

I set up my 2 LiveUs and ran SDI cables from the two wide-shot cameras, and a feed from the audio desk.

I was provided with 2 ethernet cables to connect my LiveUs to the router. They were too short for a live event, as they would present a trip hazard but they were fine for a pre-event test. I asked production to order two 10-meter ethernet cables from their local AV support company.

Tester, Tester, Un, Deux, Trois (Testing, Testing, One, Two, Three)

Then I contacted the two teams in California, who would deal with my feeds, and stream one of them to Bloomberg's audience. Comms were working perfectly amongst all 3 of us, and everyone was delightful to work with. Jusqu'ici, tout va bien. (So far, so good.)

With the installation completed and comms checked, time to check the feeds were working perfectly. Fortunately, the video and audio arrived in faraway California and test recordings were made exactly as expected. Succès, tous mes collègues américains étaient contents. (Success, all my American colleagues were happy.)

Bonjour Cannes (Good morning Cannes)

Premier jour, petit-déjeuner, style vacances à la française (Day one, breakfast, French holiday style)

I was up early, it was a fabulous day, and I was looking forward to visiting the nearby patisserie, to start the day as one should, in France. Un choix impossible. "Un de tout s'il vous plaît. MDR" (An impossible choice. One of everything please. LOL) Fueled for the day.

Mieux vaut prévenir que guérir (Prevention is better than cure)

I was informed that the AV company claimed, there were no long ethernet cables in town. So, I jumped in the courtesy Limo and popped into town, to a store full of tech. I bought four 10-meter cables, 2 x 2 different brands to avoid the risk of a faulty batch, and a pack of high-capacity AA batteries for the film crew's radio mics. I knew they were low on them and they might need them. That would make them happy, and secure my audio. Une situation gagnant-gagnant. (A win, win, situation.)

Retour au travail (Back to work)

I replaced the provided cables with the new longer products, so they would not be trip hazards, nor would the connectors be stressed. Time for re-testing and re-approving.

Job done, and I was ready to rock 'n' roll.

Son, Caméra... et Action (Sound, Camera... and Action)

Delegates started to drift in and cameras rolled. I was in contact with my American colleagues, they agreed my signal was arriving at their end. All systems were go.

And right on time the show started.

Over the next four days, we had entertaining guest speakers on-screen from far-off places, individual speakers on the stage, and panels of guests, all discussing interesting topics of the day.

Bonne soirée (Good evening)

After a busy and interesting 24 hours in Cannes, I had some time to take a promenade along Le Boulevard de la Croisette, enjoying the sights visions d'un autre monde (a glimpse of another world), and then some fabulous food. All was right in my world. A votere santé! (Cheers!)

Retour dans mon monde (Back to my world)

After a good night's sleep, another day but no early start today, everything was still set and ever-ready.

The conference format was to be more or less the same every day. So, barring any major catastrophes, we should be good to go for the rest of the conference.

Not exactly a major catastrophe but we did have a mini downpour. My station was under the balcony, so my equipment and I were not affected but the canopy did not fully protect all the cameras. Some had to be repositioned, so my SDI video cables needed re-running.

The event was a total success, with no technical issues. Result! Another delighted client and streaming team. They were so happy they asked me to stream an extra session on the morning of my early afternoon flight home. Of course, I obliged...

...and even though my Uber took forever to collect me, I still managed to catch my flight, just.

And on the plane, with my beloved Midi laid out below, I once again reflect on how I love this beautiful region of this fabulous country,