To celebrate the release of his latest album Iceman, Canadian rapper Drake live-streamed a series of cinematic-style short films.
LiveU partnered with Groovy Gecko to deliver episodes 2 and 3 to the singer’s YouTube channel.
For Episode 2, LiveU units supported 12 cameras strategically positioned around the city of Manchester, as well as two Steadicams used to capture dynamic tracking shots. The feeds were transmitted wirelessly over 4G and 5G to Groovy Gecko’s production hub in London.
“In Manchester, everything was run using the LiveU units,” explained Patrick Hanlon, online video solutions specialist at Groovy Gecko. “We had the feed from the LU300 going into the LU800 in DataBridge mode, with the LU800 transmitting the feed back to our servers.”
Episode 3 was filmed in 12 locations in Milan. Groovy Gecko used a mix of 40 LiveU multi-cam LU800 and compact LU300 units, with the LU800s serving as the primary units and the LU300s operating as backups. The company also employed five return servers, 19 cameras and live drone feeds. Where needed, the signal was boosted using Peplink and Starlink units for LiveU, ensuring zero dropouts.
“LiveU were absolutely fabulous at helping us get everything together; they did a lot of groundwork before the Milan job, prepping and sending units from Amsterdam and Germany, which really helped set us up for success,” added Hanlon. “Our strong 14-year relationship with LiveU made the process easier, with years of trust built up from previous collaborations.”
