Having started on 28th March 2014, Joss Stone has already begun her mission to play at least one gig in every country on the planet, and will be collaborating with local musicians to play a combination of indigenous music and her own songs. During the tour Joss will also be joined by high-profile artists and friends. As part of Sony's vision to provide products that help to capture the emotional intent of the artists, the company has partnered with Big Earth Productions to ensure Joss and her crew had everything required to convey the feeling of the tour in the highest quality.
As well as shooting a feature-length documentary of the tour, the team will also be producing short videos charting the progress through each country, all of which will be available on the official Joss Stone website.
The all-important audio element of each recording will be captured using a full suite of Sony audio products, including lightweight UWP-D wireless microphone kits, which use digital audio processing, and ECM shotgun microphones which will be used with the cameras. The PCM-D100 portable High Resolution Audio recorder will also be used to capture a separate track of the highest possible quality, providing audio with a close likeness to organic sound.
Footage shot on the road and at gigs will be captured in Full HD using Sony's popular PMW-150 XDCAM handheld camcorder. Developed with the flexibility documentary makers need in mind, the camcorder uses a three chip 1/3-inch Exmor CMOS sensor to deliver excellent footage under challenging and varied lighting conditions. Behind-the-scenes video and diary footage will be captured using the rugged HDR-AS100V and HDR-AS30V ActionCams and the all-in-one Sony HDR-MV1 Music Video Recorder.
Russ Malkin, director at Big Earth Productions and director of photography for the tour, had shot using Sony equipment before, and opted for portable technology he could count on to accompany him: "With only two of us capturing Joss's journey, we wanted to make sure we had durable, reliable kit to capture the highest possible quality audio and video. Having worked as the director of photography on the Long Way Round and the Long Way Down TV programmes, I knew exactly what I was looking for, and Sony's equipment delivers completely on these requirements".
Russ continues: "The importance of capturing high quality sound for the videos obviously cannot be overstated, as it's crucial to artists for bringing their materials to life. For Joss in particular, it's essential that the emotion of her music comes through in the footage as much as it does live, helping her to reach more people around the world."
James Leach, European marketing manager for professional audio, Sony Europe, comments: "We're committed to helping artists communicate the feeling behind their music as powerfully as possible to audiences, so we were delighted that Big Earth opted to use Sony equipment for this unique project. The high quality of the audio and video that will be captured will help Joss's fans to feel as if they are there with her, whether they're following her progress around the world online or enjoying the gigs captured in her documentary."
