Producing in the pandemic: /‘aut/ studio delivers over 500 events using Sony’s Cloud Based live Production service

Basingstoke, March 2nd – Digital events specialist /‘aut/ studio has successfully produced more than 500 online events and webinars using Sony’s Cloud native Live Production service: Virtual Production.

The Virtual Production Cloud Service has allowed /‘aut/ studio to deliver high quality online events to an international audience from any location, minimising the need for on-site staff and production equipment at clients’ venues. During the Covid pandemic staff have been able to produce events from home, needing only a web browser to mix camera sources, pre-recorded video clips, audio, titling and graphics remotely via Virtual Production’s user-friendly interface.

Based in Milan, the fast-growing events production specialist boasts a rapidly expanding client base that relies on /‘aut/ studio to deliver polished, professional webinars, presentations and online coverage of live events. Productions are typically streamed live and on demand via clients’ websites, or via social platforms including Facebook and YouTube.

“Virtual Production is a central part of what we do – it’s changed the way we work” confirms /‘aut/ studio CTO Fabio Semino. “2020 was a challenging year for many reasons. Despite this we managed to successfully deliver more than 500 customer events with the help of Virtual Production, and 2021 is already shaping up to be another very busy year with many more high-profile projects.”

“We found Virtual Production extremely easy to pick up with practically no training” notes Fabio. “We’re now delivering a very large number of online events for our clients, and it’s been working really well for us.”

International events with remote multilingual translation

Virtual Production has also allowed /‘aut/ studio to offer clients real-time multilingual translation of online events as a valuable extra service, as Fabio explains:

“In autumn 2020 we used Virtual Production to help us create socially distanced online events remotely for Vinitaly, a major wine and spirits fair hosted in Verona. For international events of this kind you’d normally have real-time multilingual translation provided on site. With Virtual Production we were able to include live commentary from translators working from their homes”. Using Virtual Production’s commentary function, interpreters working from home were able to add translations of the audio feed to the live stream in real time.

About Virtual Production

Virtual Production is Sony’s cloud native service that allows content creators to produce polished, professional quality online events from anywhere – without the need to transport production hardware and large crews to another location.  Offered as a Pay-As-You-Go service, Sony Virtual Production is uniquely cost effective, flexible and easy to set up.  Images and sound captured with cameras on site can be switched and mixed in the cloud by an operator at any remote location via their Internet-connected device. With many venues and production facilities across Europe currently in lockdown, Virtual Production offers a uniquely agile way to create quality content and engage with audiences worldwide.

“During Covid many organisations are looking for effective new ways to engage with customers and viewing audience” comments Norbert Paquet, Head of Media Solutions. “With continued restrictions on international travel and face-to-face meetings, Virtual Production lowers the barriers to delivers professional-quality online events from anywhere, with more agile use of resources. As /‘aut/ studio have already proved with hundreds of successful client projects, creating great-looking content doesn’t have to mean transporting production crews and costly equipment around the world.”