Blackmagic Design’s ATEM Mini Extreme, centerpiece of Twitch’s “Singapore by Stream” campaign

The “Singapore by Stream” campaign, promoted by the Singapore Chamber of Tourism, was produced on Twitch using Blackmagic Design’s ATEM Mini Extreme mixer.

These webcasts allowed viewers to choose destinations and observe Singapore from the eyes of a local cab driver, thanks to the distribution of the signals coming from the cameras from the back of the vehicle. Designed to be a personalized adventure rather than just a virtual cab ride, viewers could interact live with the presenters and cab drivers by asking questions and even suggesting places to go.

Each broadcast featured four cameras in and around the cab, plus interactive maps and other graphics displayed on screen. The production was handled by Breed, a Singapore-based production and advertising agency, together with The Flying Kick Asia, which designed and provided technical support for the live webcast.

Ryan Leu of The Flying Kick Asia, assisted by Benjamin Yam, was responsible for switching camera feeds from the back seats of the car using the ATEM Mini Extreme with ATEM Software Control.

Broadcasting on Twitch

By streaming the signal directly to Twitch using the ATEM Mini Extreme mixer, The Flying Kick Asia was able to add two overlay images to the signal, as well as five other signals to the live stream. The broadcast included cameras for the driver, windshield and passenger seat, an additional camera for the Skype platform, and an iPhone to follow the presenter and driver as they exited the vehicle.

According to Nicholas Chee, technical director of live webcasting at The Flying Kick Asia, ATEM’s software played a key role: “ATEM Software Control is one of the most essential parts of the ATEM Mini series and it allowed us to achieve much more beyond what we could with just physical buttons. This included the programming of the macros and access to the Fairlight Mixer and Media Gallery. In particular, ATEM’s macro buttons were a lifesaver since we could preprogram the scenes based on the different angles. So switching was a breeze, especially considering we could only have one operator and one assistant in the backseat.”

Audio mixing

For sound, Fairlight tools integrated into the ATEM Mini Extreme device were used. This allowed The Flying Kick Asia to independently adjust the levels and balance of all audio sources, up to a maximum of 12 channels, via the four HDMI and two microphone inputs provided by the ATEM unit. For “Singapore By Stream,” Chee and his team used RODE Wireless Go II transmitters hidden in car visors with the microphone pointed inward, as well as an iPhone connected to a shotgun microphone.

The production company also used the new ATEM Mini Extreme feature that allows the iPhone to be connected to the mixer via the USB port and use mobile data while live streaming, added in version 8.6 of the ATEM Mini Extreme. They also employed automatic format conversion and resynchronization of any signal coming from the phone.