Background

The Bolsover Festival of Brass  was launched in 2006 by Carole Crompton & Bolsover District Council. The largest entertainment brass band contest was formed, inviting bands from all 5 sections of brass banding to take part. In 2016 the contest received Arts Council funding to live stream the event and has been reaching a world wide audience ever since, now with a new sponsor, the Warwick Music Group. 

The Brief

We were commissioned by Warwick Music Group & Bolsover Festival of Brass to provide live streaming services for their 2023 Festival. As the event has been live streamed since 2016, there were various elements the sponsor (WMG) and organisers wanted to maintain. In addition to the multi-camera coverage of the band's performance, they required a studio setup to be presented by two host which would be used between performances and at the start and end of the competition.  Further, the sponsor was keen to increase viewer interactivity and engagement.

Our Approach

Given our history filming brass band events and competitions, we were in our element choosing camera positions and recording the 'sound of a brass band'. We opted for a 4 camera setup, including two operated cameras and a mini camera, providing a '2nd Horn View' of the conductor.  For the studio we opted for a single camera setup with LED lighting to provide a glossy studio element, with the sponsor making use of this element to showcase their branding and instruments! We operated as a small team of 5 across the 12+ hour streaming day. Given the small team, we opted to broadcast the 1st Section in the second venue with a single camera setup. To increase viewer interactivity and engagement we offered viewers the chance to send in photos of where they are watching for a chance to get featured, we also engaged in the online chat and continued the tradition of the Warwick Music Group Audience Prize, offering the online viewers the chance to vote for their favourite bands. 

The Result

The streams were broadcast on YouTube on a free to view basis. The streams received over 15,000 views while being broadcast and have received around 6,000 further views in the two weeks following the event, this was in part to the social media clips we created promoting the stream post event. To find out more about the festival, streams and social media clips, check out the Bolsover page on our website.