WhatCulture to create content from five studios powered by Blackmagic

A selection of Blackmagic 设计 solutions are the backbone of the five new production studios of the international WhatCulture portal.

WhatCulture, a portal for Hollywood news and updates, was created in 2006 as a simple hobby for two film and television enthusiasts. Their good work and their transmedia strategy led them to become a professional producer of all kinds of content. Today, the company has 30 employees who produce content for twelve YouTube channels, which cover diverse topics such as television, video games, music, history, science, technology, comics, sports and literature, as well as the world’s most important unofficial wrestling channel.

In 2021, WhatCulture decided to move to a larger facility where it opened five production studios tailored to its needs. Phil Chambers, part of the WhatCulture team, elaborates: “Each space is specifically designed to produce a different type of video or content for one of our channels, including live streaming and podcasts. We were immediately drawn to Blackmagic Design because every step of the workflow from pre to post is covered, integrating seamlessly.”

Five studios for YouTube, podcasts…

The WhatCulture new production center has three studios equipped with three Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Pro units each, an ATEM Mini Extreme ISO mixer and an Infinity green backdrop. In addition, it was decided to integrate two additional studios with green backdrops and configured to use Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro models.

Chambers highlights the flexibility of this production setup, which “allows someone to walk in, sit down, and press record on the mixer. Even if someone isn’t live mixing the video, every feed is recorded to one hard drive with automatically named files. In terms of content management, that is perfect.” On the other hand, the WhatCulture member highlights the use of the ATEM Mini mixer: “It has allowed us to decrease edit time while a multicam setup gives us greater scope to make our content more engaging for an audience. We’re even able to react to breaking news by producing a live streamed news video or podcast instantly”.

WhatCulture continues to expand its production to be able to offer all types of content. Chambers is delighted to be going down this path with Blackmagic 设计: “Where we were using a DSLR on a little tripod, we’ve now created a workflow designed for live content production with recording capability in mind. It’s a huge step up in terms of production values and output, which our audience has already picked up on and responded to.”