The New China special designed for the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the PRC is an upgraded version of last year's Realtime China series. Realtime China had only one route with a total mileage of 4,000 kilometers while New China special has three routes with an estimated mileage of more than 10,000 km, staging 60 live shows. Such a behemoth program requires strong technical support and smooth coordination. Here are some details not seen on the screen.

About the mobile studio

We chose a 54-seater bus as the mobile studio and removed 32 seats from it. A semicircular sofa and round table are set up inside according to the width and height of the bus. Three buses are dispatched to three different routes to present a multi-dimensional new China.

What equipment is installed on the bus?

The bus is equipped with switching station, mixing console, lighting equipment, video return, wireless microwave, UPS power supply, encoder, mobile 4g transmission system and other equipment, which form an independent mobile live broadcast system.

How many camera set-ups are there on the bus?

There are six cameras inside the bus, including three in the interview area, one in front of the windshield, and the other ones on each flank of the bus.

A nanny car

If we regard the bus as a host, then we could call the nanny car a servant which serves the bus. It is an SUV which gives shots of the bus during the live show.

How many camera set-ups are there in the nanny car?

The nanny car is equipped with two cameras, one hand-held camera and an aerial drone. Both cameras are connected to the switching stations in the bus through wireless network.

Why aerial shots are not often seen during the show?

Firstly, most cities have no-fly zones. Secondly, we can't park the bus on the expressway during the mobile live show, that's why there may not be many aerial shots while the bus is moving, but technically, it is can be achieved.

How many cameras are used during the live show?

Our live show has two forms: Mobile live show on the bus and live show at fixed points on the ground. There are 10 cameras participating in the live show for each route, and totally 30 cameras are equipped for three routes.

What types of cameras are involved in the live show?

There are SONY X280, SONY Z90, SONY X3000R, panasonic 3100p2, GoPro, DJI drone, and DJI stabilizer.

What is the size of the live team?

Each route has 28 people involved, including 10 for technical support, two hosts, two guests and one guest-booking editor, seven content editors, two from new media team, two field producers and one team leader.

What are the biggest challenges of this special live program? How to cope with them?

One of the biggest challenges of this live program is frequent switch between the mobile studio and ground studio because there is only one set of system and technical stuff to support the system.

In order to ensure smooth operation, we have appointed one technical team leader who is in charge of mobilizing all technical support for the live show. The team has clear division of labor which ensures swift setup of the live system and testing before the live show starts. Generally speaking, the New China special is a technical upgrading and innovation which provides stable technical support for the special program demonstrating achievements and changes taking place over the past seven decades.