Wirecast at Wayfarers Chapel

WayfarersSteve Smith, the Chapel Video Director at Wayfarers Chapel, is using Wirecast to bring a new experience to the lucky couples getting married at the iconic “Glass Church.”

Wayfarers Chapel Background

Overlooking the Pacific Ocean on the Southern California coast, Wayfarers Chapel has been hosting weddings and Sunday services for over 60 years in its intimate 100 seat venue. Sponsored by the Swedenborgian Church and designed by Lloyd Wright, son of the renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright, it is commonly referred to as “The Glass Church”. Hosting many hundreds of weddings a year, Wayfarers historic architecture and picturesque location make it a destination wedding location attracting couples from the world over. To satisfy demand Wayfarers can provide services for up to 6 weddings a day, 300+ days a year.

Challenge

When Steve Smith and his business partner presented their proposal for a multi-camera, remote control, live streaming solution to the Chapel, they had made the decision to use Wirecast as the tool to build around. They set out to put together a system that could handle multiple input switching, titling, audio, ISO recording, local program recording and streaming. With the incredible volume of weddings at the Chapel, there needed to be a way to get the final product to the married couple as soon as possible, while allowing those who could not attend to be a part of the proceedings from remote locations. Wirecast allows them to do all of this and more.

Solution

By taking advantage of both the live streaming and local recording capabilities of Wirecast, Steve and the Wayfarers Chapel are now able accomplish all of their goals.

WayfarersThe setup at Wayfarers Chapel includes three Sony HDV Camcorders, a single Z5 and two FX-1000’s. All cameras are mounted on Camera Turret Technologies Pan and Tilts with wireless P&T control and wireless LANC control of the cameras. (Wireless LANC camera control is limited to Start/Stop, record, manual focus and one touch auto focus.)  An HDMI cable is run out of each camera into an Atomos Ninja 2 digital recorder, which is in turn connected to a BlackMagic HDMI to SDI/HD converter for the 50’, 75’, and 100’ runs of SDI cable to the Wirecast workstation. The audio feed of the house lavalier mics on the groom and minister are directly fed into the Wirecast based workstation.  The Wirecast workstation was built by DV StreamLine in Colorado, an includes a Matrox VS4 card to ingest into the system, with room and capability to add another quad card in the future.

“We stream our wedding ceremonies and Sunday services to Sunday Streams. Sunday Streams has been extremely accommodating and helpful in developing a solution for our needs and the volume we anticipate. Couples who choose the streaming option can enjoy their wedding as Video On Demand for two weeks after the wedding. We record an HDV signal on DV tape at the camera for backup and archival, Apple Pro Res files are recorded on the Atomos Ninja 2’s for possible post production editing for Blu-Ray encoding and burning. Simultaneously, Wirecast allows us to record an .mp4 file of the live mixed ceremony/program locally. At the conclusion of the ceremony we drag and drop to a DVD Data Disc or thumb drive and present to the couple as they leave the grounds, approximately 40 minutes after the ceremony is over. The DVD is pre-printed with the couples names and date, and the optional thumb drives are imprinted with a Wayfarers logo.” Steve Smith

Results

Wayfarers

With a team of just two, Steve and his partner are able to live stream ceremonies to family and friends who cannot attend and are currently reaching out to local venues about the possibility of streaming the ceremony live to the reception.  Along with the live broadcast of the ceremony, Steve is able to record the live stream to produce a professional quality wedding video, edited and formatted for DVD or uploaded to the internet all by the time the bride and groom arrive at the reception.

“The original multi-camera system was 20th century technology and a 20th century delivery time of up to two weeks. The current system, with Wirecast at the heart, allows us to provide the couple choosing a video at Wayfarers Chapel many options that include a quality finished product upon departure from the grounds.” Steve Smith

The Future

“At some point I see a fourth camera with 1080p wireless transmission capability fed into our fourth input on the Matrox VS4. We could then develop a “Live” Arrival to Departure package documenting the entire two hours the couple are on the grounds. We might have to get a third person for that one. Learning Wirecast’s capabilities has given us answers to questions we hadn’t asked and we’re going to capitalize on that.

We are working with James Morgan, Director of Operations at Wayfarers, on developing his “Speakers Series” at the chapel. We will do our first one in August. Utilizing Wirecast’s titling, capture and streaming capability along with the ability to introduce powerpoint presentations and other media during a speakers talk, we anticipate producing professional quality, dynamic presentations, live. Documenting Memorial Services and Baptisms is just around the corner.” Steve Smith

 

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