Lamplight in London: Rakuten Symphony Event Multimedia - A Case Study.
“Lamplight Media exceeded our expectations with their exceptional work on our Telecoms Re-Invented event. Their team demonstrated outstanding professionalism, seamless interactions with guests, and innovative flexible approach, delivering a polished and high-quality experience from start to finish.”
The Brief:
When Rakuten Symphony reached out to us to provide video & photography coverage, lighting and AV for their ‘Telecoms Re-invented’ event in the City of London, we knew we had an interesting but challenging job ahead of us. The Rakuten Symphony team knew our abilities in creating high quality multimedia, thus asked us to create a landscape event highlights video & vertical reel, as well as photography, for YouTube & Linkedin. This would be distributed to clients & stakeholders who were not able to attend the fireside chat & panel session event on 12 June 2024.
The Solution:
The room itself was as breath-taking as it was challenging to work in: the back wall consisted of floor to ceiling windows which overlooked the Thames, Shakespere’s Globe, and the Shard. Fantastic if our subjects were positioned to the side of the window, but due to the placement of fixed video presentation displays along an internal back wall, the audience faced into the room; backlit by the windows. We knew this would be challenging for lighting, cameras do not like backlit subjects. Plus, due to the number of guests attending, the host and six panel speakers required wireless lavalier microphones and a handheld roaming microphone to be heard in the room, and captured on video. So we devised a plan. Creative Director Callum Swan travelled up a week before the event to location scout the building: establish parking for a van, loading access for equipment trollies, understand the house lighting state in the room, and check location of power outlets. We used this information to create a detailed Call Sheet, plus AV and lighting plot, which fit the lynchpin of the client brief: be discreet. We shared this with our friend and AV supplier Aaron Cilia at Spriggan Productions, and got to work getting everything in order for the big day.
The Execution:
At the crack of dawn, the Lamplight Team fought through the rush-hour traffic for a 07:00 load-in at Vintner’s Place, City of London. We got to work installing the PA system, wireless audio receivers, and film lighting. Tim checked with the client that the equipment in the room did meet the ‘discreet’ brief before continuing to ready the 2 camera video setup and stills photography. Thanks to the detailed plan made during pre-production, we were ready with time to spare. Guests arrived at 09:00 and the event went off without a hitch. We captured the keynote speeches, fireside chats, and panel sessions, before grabbing A-Roll interviews with key Rakuten Symphony team members and heading outside for B-Roll of the surrounding landmarks.
The Product:
Once complete, the Lamplight Team loaded out and headed back to the ranch to ingest & edit the multimedia deliverables. We crafted a 2-minute landscape event highlights video, structured around vox pops from Rakuten team members, which linked into key parts of presentation speeches. Additionally, a 45-second algorithm optimised vertical reel designed to point audiences to the 2-minute landscape video, and a photoset; which the client all approved shortly after delivery.
A statement from our client:
“Lamplight Media exceeded our expectations with their exceptional work on our Telecoms Re-Invented event. Their team demonstrated outstanding professionalism, seamless interactions with guests, and innovative flexible approach, delivering a polished and high-quality experience from start to finish."
Nastasi Karaiskos, Managing Director: Rakuten Symphony.
We thank Rakuten Symphony for reaching out to us to be part of this fantastic event and look forward to future collaborations with the team.
Key Challenges and Solutions:
Central London vehicle access & parking for large van: Location scout the building loading bay and agree parking with security.
Lighting conditions in the room: Design film lighting package with enough output to fight the windows but not distract the audience.
‘Discreet’ brief: Ensure power cable runs are behind existing furniture and use wireless equipment were possible.
