Committed to keeping the spirit of the documentary community alive in the midst of a pandemic, we’ve expanded our remit to include bespoke livestream production, providing an online environment that recreates the magic of live documentary events while still creating impact.
In addition, we also produce livestreams of regular panel discussions hosted by non-profit organisations.
We're going live
Wherever you are in the world — from our studio in Scotland we can produce high-quality online broadcasts to match your film’s production value and its look and feel. We can either just provide the technical side of production, or we can also organise the whole event, such as with After THE OIL MACHINE. For North American clients, we collaborate with the impact specialists at Third Stage to do this organising.
To us, as believers in truly bespoke services, this involves a lot more than getting some folk together on Zoom and then streaming that. Likewise, we believe in the collective experience of watching and discussing a film together in real time as an integral part of a single broadcast, rather than being sent a video-on-demand link for the film which they are supposed to watch in advance – as many did earlier in the pandemic.
Keep audiences engaged when they're moved the most – when the credits roll
Our online events are professionally produced with
- bespoke graphic design
- advance tech checks with panellists to optimise their local setup
- direct connections to each speaker, enabling best quality and individual audio and video enhancements
- TV-style vision mixing between panellists
- fully customisable lower thirds
and lots of optional features including
- live audience chat
- seamless integration of any additional media such as videos or slides
- on-camera audience questions to the panel
- featuring curated social media comments on screen
- automated closed captions
- sign language interpreters.
Instead of a consumer-grade internet connection, our premises use a so-called ‘leased line’ with guaranteed bandwidth that easily allows us to run many incoming and outgoing HD streams in parallel. We use professional-grade vision mixing software on a dedicated workstation. Our livestreams can be output to any destination of your choice, from social media to dedicated event platforms gated by ticketing or geo-restrictions.
Finding the best platform for you
We first ventured into livestreaming in the spring of 2020 when Doc Society asked Ben Kempas to research and implement solutions for impact screenings online. At the time, we couldn’t find an event platform that would really tick all the boxes, so we combined our NationBuilder expertise with third-party tools to design a prototype website called Doc Sessions, successfully hosting many screenings over the following two years.
In the meantime, new platforms arrived, such as Eventive Virtual with its DRM protection and invisible watermarking. From now on, if you want us to host your event on the same platform the Sundance Film Festival uses, you won’t need to pay for Eventive’s substantial subscription fees. As our livestream client, we’ve got you covered: we’re happy to host your event on Film & Campaign’s own Eventive site, using a standard or bespoke design.
Online and hybrid events are here to stay
Viewing behaviour of audiences has changed significantly. Even now, at a time without Covid restrictions, we keep seeing a much stronger attendance at online events compared to theatrical settings.
We are here to help you preserve that live community experience for your online audience.
"I was recommended Film & Campaign by Doc Society and have been working with them ever since. Ben is incredibly funny, patient, organized and extremely talented. Thanks to Ben, we look good! All of our productions have been technically seamless. Their platform is especially robust and is able to manage event back-end processes (RSVP, reminders, etc.) extremely well." – Erin Sorensen, Third Stage, USA