NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES—The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) is introducing a new category for the 75th Technology & Engineering Awards taking place Oct. 9 at the Prince George Ballroom in New York.
The category is “Excellence in Production Technology,” and the three nominees are “Christmas at Graceland,” “The Coronation of H.M. King Charles III” and “The Santa Clauses, Season 2.”
NATAS President and CEO Adam Sharp said: “This new category honors innovations that significantly enhanced the experience of broadcast viewers during the competition year. These nominees revolutionized the way television is produced, delivered, or broadcast. Together, they help set the standard for this exciting new track of recognition in the Tech Emmys.”
NATAS released these descriptions of the nominees:
‘Christmas at Graceland’
For the first time in its history, Elvis Presley’s Graceland estate presents a televised concert celebrating the holiday season. With this hallowed ground ready to open its gates for a special concert event, all this project needed was a production company with the right pedigree to bring the festivities and Done+Dusted was just the team for the job. Working with our partners at Authentic Brands, we produced a star-studded seasonal celebration with The King’s own granddaughter, Riley Keough, and featuring performances from top artists like John Legend, Alanis Morrisette, Kacey Musgraves and more, all broadcast from iconic locations around the estate, intercut with archival footage and testimonials from Elvis’s friends and family. Done+Dusted installed over 40 camera locations on the Graceland property, which spanned over a square mile with a 4-lane highway down the middle. They also utilized tools for cinematic acquisition with Sony F-5500 cameras capturing the show in 24p UHD while delivering a broadcast 1080i/59.94 signal to the network over both fiber and satellite-based uplink.
The Coronation of H.M. King Charles III, BBC / Neutral Wireless / University of Strathclyde / LiveU
After experiencing significant difficulties during the State funeral for H.M. Queen Elizabeth II, BBC News identified a requirement to provide connectivity for news teams for the Coronation of H.M. King Charles III. Wireless cameras were essential for their planned coverage, but the expected crowds would present a problem for bonded-cellular contributions—not just for themselves, but all broadcasters. BBC News and BBC R&D approached Neutral Wireless to deploy a large-scale private 5G standalone network to provide seamless coverage along part of the procession route, from outside Buckingham Palace along The Mall to Admiralty Arch, guaranteeing uplink connectivity for existing bonded-cellular devices without changing the day-to-day operations for the news teams. Initial viability testing was conducted in collaboration with LiveU at the University of Strathclyde's rural test site on the banks of Loch Lomond (Scotland), before on-site testing in London. The 7-cell network deployed provided over 1Gbps of uncontested uplink capacity using only 80 MHz spectrum. As the public networks became congested, bonded-cellular devices relied entirely on the private 5G network to go live-to-air. On Coronation Day itself, over 60 devices from 20 domestic and international media outlets used the private network to deliver live news contributions (video and radio) that could not have otherwise been broadcast. This is considered an innovative and efficient use of radio spectrum. Feedback from the broadcasters was overwhelmingly positive.”
‘The Santa Clauses, Season Two}
In the second season, the Calvin family is back in the North Pole as Scott Calvin continues his role as Santa Claus after retirement plans were thwarted when he failed to find a worthy successor in season one. Now that Scott and his family have successfully saved Christmas, Scott turns his focus towards training his son Cal to eventually take over the “family business” as Santa Claus. However, a bit of North Pole magic brings an unexpected challenge to Scott’s plan. ILM contributed successfully to the first season with StageCraft LED work. For Season 2, ILM StageCraft was used once again and ILM contributed post visual effects as well. The visual effects work on the project was overseen by Trevor Hazel, with a seamless partnership between ILM’s San Francisco office and SDFX. Together, the team ultimately delivered 333 shots of Christmas cheer for the series.
