Operation Smokescreen — Remote Multi-Platform Livestream Production
Operation Smokescreen was a series of live broadcasts following fox hunts in the UK, presented by Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin, with Dr Amir Khan joining the second broadcast.
While the presenters and camera team followed the action on location, I operated remotely from Wales as the vMix Livestream Technical Director, receiving the mobile camera feed over SRT and producing the live programme in real time.
The broadcasts involved a particularly challenging live environment: the camera team was constantly moving, connectivity relied on mobile transmission and Starlink, and the programme had to continue through changing signal conditions. I managed the incoming feed, live switching, audio, graphics, pre-recorded material and connection interruptions while maintaining the programme output.
I also handled simultaneous distribution across multiple platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, X, TikTok and Instagram, with dedicated horizontal and vertical versions of the broadcast. Castr was used for multi-platform distribution, while separate workflows allowed platforms such as TikTok to receive their own correctly formatted live output.
The project demonstrated how a small mobile team in the field can produce a sophisticated multi-platform live broadcast without a traditional outside-broadcast crew, with the technical production, monitoring and platform management handled remotely.
