Recently, I was part of a crew shooting interviews for a TV show, though the interview was being directed and conducted by remote producers. We had just four to five crew on set: A camera operator, a sound mixer, a production manager, and myself, serving as DIT and streaming tech. Depending on what cast was present, we sometimes also had a hair and makeup artist on set as well.

This particular setup used two Sony FX9s; one locked off with a Sony 50mm GM f/1.2, and the other with an 85mm GM f/1.4 that would be locked off if we had a single subject, or would pan between two subjects. Our sound mixer sent a mix out from their recorder to one of the XLR inputs on one or both of the cameras, which then records that mix to an internal channel and passes it through via the SDI out.

The top shelf of my cart here isn’t that interesting. It’s just the computer, the card readers, one of the destination drives, and a Stream Deck. It’s the bottom shelf that’s much more interesting here.

Now first off, excuse the horrifying cable mess here. This was just a quick setup for a couple of days, after all. What’s really of interest here is the row of Blackmagic devices.

On the left is Blackmagic’s MultiView 4. Each camera is running its own long SDI line (hence the cable reels you see on the left side of the cart) into separate inputs, then the multiview processor combines those into a single output on a 2x2 grid. Since I’m only using two of the four inputs in this case, the two video feeds cover the left half of the display, while the right half is blank. The MultiView 4 can output up to a 2160p30 or 1080p60 signal over SDI or HDMI (I’m using the SDI output in this case). Since in this case our shooting frame rate is 23.976, and Zoom caps out at 1080p, the output option doesn’t really matter here.

In the middle is a Teranex Mini 12G-SDI to HDMI. In this case, I’m not even converting to HDMI; I’m merely taking advantage of the fact that this box can apply a display LUT to the SDI loop out, effectively turning this into a makeshift LUT box. I’m using this because the FX9, according to my friend who’s operating both cameras here and owns one of them, doesn’t properly apply a monitoring LUT to the SDI outputs when shooting in HD rather than 4K. So this box is taking the signal from the MultiView, applying Sony’s own in-camera default S.Log3 to Rec.709 LUT (as this show doesn’t have its own on-set LUTs), then passing on that processed signal via the SDI loop out. If any FX9 owner/operators out there have any insight on the whole LUT output in HD thing, let me know.

That feed then goes out to the box on the right, the Ultrastudio 4K Mini. This is the I/O interface that gives my computer an SDI input, connecting via Thunderbolt 3 via the hub placed on top of it. Zoom then uses this as the video and audio input device.

Sitting on top of this video processing chain, you’ll also see a UniFi travel router and an Ethernet switch. As the MultiView and Teranex Mini use ethernet for remote control, this creates a network that those devices and my computer can connect to, while staying connected to the internet as the travel router uses the building’s provided WiFi network as the WAN connection. I already had the Rec. 709 LUT preloaded on the Teranex before the shoot, but having the network connection to the MultiView lets me select which input is used for audio, as well as to solo either one of the cameras for fullscreen view, should our remote director ask to see it.

Over on the camera side, I set up an iPad Mini in a cage and separately joined the Zoom call on it. In the picture above, you can currently see the multiview feed that goes out to the Zoom via the processing pipeline described earlier, though it’s actually pinned on the webcam of the interviewer while rolling. It also therefore acts as an eyeline target for our cast (don’t worry, the positioning shown isn’t how it was actually used). In this case, it’s mounted on a stand, but if you have mounting points available on the camera, you can mount it to that as well. If you’re doing a setup like this, you’ll likely want to keep the iPad plugged into a power source, especially on a longer shooting day.

Because Zoom annoyingly doesn’t let you mute other participants on your end, the iPad has to be disconnected from the audio of the call. Since my cart in this case was thankfully within Bluetooth range of the set, I could simply put a cheap Bluetooth speaker on the ground by the cameras as set that as the audio output on Zoom on my computer. I would then join the call on my phone to monitor the audio and use as a talkback mic if needed.

Now of course, if you’re doing this sort of remote interview setup for yourself, there’s much simpler and cheaper ways to set it up than I have. For one, Blackmagic has an HD version of the MultiView 4 for about a third of the price, and their Micro Converters can apply a 17-point LUT to a 3G-SDI feed for as little as $75. There’s also the UltraStudio Express Recorder 3G for far cheaper than the 4K Mini that I have.

Or, if you have an I/O card with multiple SDI inputs (or just multiple Ultrastudio Expresses), you can do the multiview processing and LUT application entirely in software, using something like OBS. I’m not sure that I would necessarily trust the color accuracy that much, but for this sort of remote streaming setup, that’s unlikely to be a priority anyways.

There’s plenty of ways to run these sorts of remotely-directed multicam interview shoots, and there’s a good chance that you’ll already have a lot of the hardware needed to make it work. You can even use the sort of HDMI capture devices often used with game consoles if you’re on an HDMI pipeline. And if your streaming setup is too far away from the set to run a Bluetooth speaker, you may need to route the audio through a software mixer to a separate call that can reach the set. It all just depends on the circumstances of your shoot, but knowing the details of your camera setup and your location in advance can go a long way. But no matter how you do it, this practice that came out of the COVID-era can often be a great way to save on travel costs.