Clear-Com on board for Old Navy ad shoot
- Details
The project required a mix of pre-recorded segments with employee interviews and a celebrity guest appearance. The talent was staged on separate floors when off-camera, allowing the onsite technical crews to maintain proper distancing while still experiencing high-quality communications among each other and talent, as well as the remote producers and directors who were in Los Angeles.
Gotham Sound & Communications was the lead production company for the shoot, with VP Peter Schneider managing operations remotely and independent sound engineer Ken Goodwin on-site. The pair chose Clear-Com’s FreeSpeak II 1.9 GHz Digital Wireless Intercom System and the Agent-IC Mobile App as the production roamed freely between each floor and even onto the busy Manhattan streets with no drops in coverage.
“The beauty of these systems is that I can remotely log in and verify everything is working as it should, and also troubleshoot to understand where things might not be connecting properly,” said Schneider, who has extensive experience deploying Clear-Com systems in a wide range of configurations.
The team conducted a trial run the day before shooting began, establishing a connection between Gotham’s headquarters in New York City, the line producer’s office and the director’s home in Los Angeles, with everyone on Agent-IC.
“Our setup facilitated full duplex communication, both on-site and with remote directors - quickly, easily and efficiently,” commented Schneider.
On-site at the store, the FreeSpeak system linked to Clear-Com’s LQ Series of IP Interfaces and integrated with a Peplink Speed Fusion Engine Cam for cellular connection.
Goodwin allocated 13 FreeSpeak II beltpacks among the crew, placing nine transceivers throughout the four floors. He also created separate channels, one main communications channel for crew to talk with grips and electric teams who were also on walkie-talkies, and other channels for more targeted conversations.
“The job was near flawless for intercom,” said Goodwin, noting the wireless partyline systems allowed for full duplex and high-quality natural conversations plus the flexibility to assign channels as needed to support the production.
