[Debconf-video] Potential gotchas for the video coverage; lighting and camera positions.
Recently back from FOSDEM2008 (Brussels) and LAC2008 (Cologne),
I have a couple of points that ought to be checked out for the
DC2008 venue.
Camera positions
Do all the auditoriums have sloped floors? If so, no problem!
If the auditorium has a flat floor, the crowd camera must be elevated
quite a bit (more than eye height) to see all the faces in the audience.
The operator needs to be elevated, too!
Lighting
Both in Debian's room at FOSDEM and in the LAC auditorium there was
no way to dim only the lights in the front, near the screen. To get
a good contrast on the projected image, the room lights had to be
either turned off (FOSDEM) or dimmed drastically (LAC).
At FOSDEM the audience had to suffer washy, hard to read presentations
because of this. At LAC there were spotlights on the speaker that
provided ample light. When the time came for questions from the
audience, the lights were turned up again.
We'd rather not ruin the viewing experience for the local audience
or for those watching the streams, so it would be nice if this was
tested well in advance.
Helping the speakers prepare legible slides
There should be some kind of service for the speakers to let them see
how well their slides survive VGA to DV scan conversion, followed by
compression to 320x240 Theora.
--
Herman Robak
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