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Go Live produced and executed the AFTRS (Australian Film Television and Radio School) Graduation Ceremony, a ceremony for 2020 graduates, which was a formal and traditional graduation ceremony that took place at the Seymour Centre, Sydney on 21 May. 

AFTRS is the nation’s premier screen arts and broadcast school – the only Australian education institution to consistently make The Hollywood Reporter‘s prestigious annual list of the top film schools in the world. 

AFTRS graduation ceremonies are a celebration of the student’s achievements and the completion of their academic course requirements. The 2020 live streamed graduation ceremony kicked off with an introductory address by David Balfour, Director of Teaching and Learning. The live streamed event featured fourteen keynote speakers, thirteen of which were live at the venue with one remote speaker coming in from Darwin. The live stream production included a presentation of academic documents to support the special awards being announced, as well as video sizzle reels from the academic leaders.

For this Hybrid live streamed event to be so successful, Go Live used four top-end cameras to capture the proceedings of the event. Two of the four cameras were operated by our professional crew and the remaining two cameras were fixed on tripods to a wide and tight angle. Having so many cameras capturing the vision made for an exciting event for those watching virtually. 

Go Live was able to receive an audio feed from the venue that managed all the audio of the live streamed event. A single lapel microphone was pinned to the venues lectern, we then connected the receiver station directly to our encoder. Extra lighting was also needed for the stage area, they used coloured uplights to set the mood, as well as LED Light panels to really showcase what was occurring on the stage. When it comes to visuals, lighting may be the single most important element. Even more important than the type of camera that is being used. 

Go Live streamed this whole event to a custom-designed landing page hosted on the Go Live platform, which allowed over five hundred virtual audiences to watch the live streamed Hybrid event. Go Live streamed to the media player on the custom landing page as a 1080p stream and we took an ISO recording in all four cameras. 

Post-event it was a requirement of AFTRS to have captioning edited into the final recording, which Go Live managed and turned around within 24hours. 

Test, test and then test again, is always the motto at Go Live, so to ensure the success of this live streamed hybrid event, we not only conducted virtual testing with the remote speaker in Darwin, a week out from the event, we also set up all of the live streaming gear the day before going live and did a full test and rehearsal. By doing thorough tests you get the opportunity to iron out any creases before going live because when you are live you only get one shot at getting this right! 

Go Live’s production and events team worked in close collaboration with AFTRS to ensure the event was executed meticulously and to the high standards of the AFTRS brand. They were extremely happy with the outcome of their live streamed event and we look forward to working with the AFTRS team again! 

“Go Live Australia offered extraordinary professional and technical support to the live streaming of our event. Jamin and the team’s knowledge and expertise made it easy for us to initiate and execute a solid working relationship. The production and the end product were seamless and the team are a joy to work with – proactive, encouraging, trustworthy and kind – we wouldn’t hesitate to secure them for future events and live streaming services.” – Australian Film Television and Radio School.

Alicia Emery – Program and Events Manager