COP26.tv — Live Broadcast Production from Glasgow
During the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, I worked as Technical Director and Vision Mixer for COP26.tv, an independent online broadcast project providing live coverage throughout the two-week summit.
COP26.tv was designed to provide an alternative view of COP26, combining coverage from the streets of Glasgow with interviews, demonstrations, campaign activity and contributions from around the world, with a particular focus on grassroots and Global South voices.
Working through vMix, I brought together mobile camera feeds from crews around Glasgow, studio presenters, remote guests, pre-recorded material, graphics and other incoming content into the live programme. Much of the location coverage was deliberately lightweight, with reporters and camera operators able to contribute using smartphones while the central production operation handled switching and broadcast output.
The nature of COP26 meant the programme had to remain extremely flexible. Planned shows and interviews were mixed with breaking events on the streets, marches, speeches and demonstrations, with multiple teams communicating back to the production operation as events developed.
Coverage included the major Global Day of Action, Fridays for Future demonstrations, Scientist Rebellion, indigenous and Global South campaigners, environmental groups and numerous actions taking place around the conference. Alongside scheduled programmes, the workflow allowed additional live streams and remote contributors to be incorporated throughout the two weeks.
I was involved in the technical preparation ahead of the event as well as the broadcasts themselves, helping develop the livestream workflow and supporting the digital infrastructure used by the project.
The result was an ambitious rolling online broadcast created by a relatively small production team. In the project’s subsequent debrief, livestreaming was identified as one of the strongest and most distinctive elements of COP26.tv.
