The Gravity Media team welcomed students from Haileybury, one of Australia’s leading independent schools, to our Production Centre in Melbourne at Docklands Studios Melbourne.

Students were taken on a tour of our facilities including studios and control rooms and took part in talks with television industry professionals from the Gravity Media team.

The Haileybury Unit 3&4 Media students had the opportunity to experience the real-world inner workings of an international media broadcaster, Gravity Media.

Students were taken through the production process and got to speak with industry professionals like producers, directors, audio engineers and on-screen talent. This also allowed the students to gain insights into how Gravity Media produced and broadcasted sporting events like the Tokyo Olympics and the Australian Open Tennis for Channel 7, as well as tour the Docklands Studio, one of the largest studio spaces in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Haileybury students also had the opportunity to produce their own ‘live’ performance, taking turns to operate cameras and switch on vision mixers to get a feel for live TV, taking on the roles of director, audio engineers and on-screen talent themselves. This hands-on experience helps students visualise how their studies of Media can take them in a myriad of directions in a career in the Visual Arts.

Gravity continues to invest in the next generation of talent and our team members with ongoing training on state-of-the-art equipment and updates within the industry, it’s who we bring together that sets us apart. Our teams come from all walks of life but have one thing in common: a passion for the industry and a true understanding of client service.

The Gravity Media team has crossed the finish line in first place – well done to everyone involved! All involved have been amazing and put their personal lives on hold to stay on the tour for over 10 weeks away from home during the global pandemic. 

After a successful ten rounds, the Gravity Media team completed the final round of the Supercars season on site at Bathurst where they had four outside broadcast trucks on site. 

Gravity Media’s trucks onsite included HD5 for the world feed production, HD9 for the Fox Sports production, HD10 for the Network 10 production and HD7 for the big screen and overflow production.  

Our Australia–based outside broadcast trucks work on major sporting events, concerts, current affairs programmes, entertainment shows, studio productions and reality TV shows. Each truck has been designed with Australian broadcasting requirements in mind, setting new standards for ergonomics, comfort, and processing power. Find out more about the outside broadcast trucks we have to offer here.  

Newly crowned 2020 Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin picked up his third Barry Sheene Medal for best and fairest as part of a post-race awards ceremony at Bathurst. 

You can now watch the highlights from Bathurst here and for more information on how Gravity Media can help you with your next production, please email enquiries@gravitymedia.com.

Last week saw the penultimate round of the BP Supercars Eseries take place where drivers took on the iconic Road Atlanta and Road America. You can now also go behind the scenes in the recent video case study of the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries broadcast. We delve into the effort of bringing remote racing to virtual life!

With the final round to go, Supercars data analytical partner Futures says the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries has reached half a million viewers who had never been exposed to the sport before. Find out more in the Supercars article here.

Throughout the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries Gravity Media has provided unique methods of integrating up to 30 drivers from all over the world, commentators in Melbourne and Supercars judiciary in Gold Coast, as well as the control room and studio elements at The Production Centre in Sydney for the action to be streamed live across multiple platforms.

You can watch the highlights from Round 9 in the Supercars video here and make sure you tune in on Wednesday evening for the final round where drivers will take on the Oran Park and Mount Panorama circuits.

You can watch the event live from 7pm – 9pm AEST on:

Each live event can also be viewed online via:

*Kayo and 10 Play will also have the full races available on demand via their streaming services after each event. 

The Virgin Australia Supercars Championship (formally Australian Touring Car Championship) is the premier motorsport category in Australasia and one of Australia’s biggest sports. From 1960 to 1968 the Australian Touring Car Championship was decided by a single race, but since 1969 it has been determined by a series, consisting of 16 events across the country – and included a visit to New Zealand in 2018.

Its title changed from the traditional ‘Australia Touring Car Championship’ to the ‘Shell Championship Series’ in 1999, then the ‘V8 Supercars Championship Series’ in 2003. A simplified ‘V8 Supercars Championship’ adopted in 2011 was followed by the ‘Virgin Australia Supercars Championship’ with 2016’s naming-rights partnership with Virgin Australia.

From 1995 to 2012 it was solely the domain of the legendary Holden vs Ford battle. A milestone 2013 was the first year of the Car of the Future (COTF) platform. These cars are lighter, more economical, have increased agility and are more competitive than their predecessors, and create better racing.

In March 2020 Supercars announced that it had decided to postpone its next three events in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, filling the gap with a new Eseries competition, featuring real-life Supercars drivers. Using the iRacing platform featured in last year’s Supercars Eseries, teams will race their own virtual Supercars in their team colours, online from home, on a weekly basis. Supercars aims to run the Tasmania, Auckland and Perth rounds later in the season, as well as a replacement event for the Melbourne 400.

On 31 March 2020, Supercars announced that official fuel supplier BP had signed on as the title sponsor of the All Stars Eseries, with the 10-round championship renamed the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries. All 25 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship drivers agreed to take part via the iRacing platform, driving virtual Ford Mustangs and Holden ZB Commodores with their own individual livery and race number.  There have also been a number of guest driver appearances including Max Verstappen from Formula 1 in Round 2, Will Power from IndyCar in Round 3 and Joey Logano from NASCAR in Round 4. The Supercars drivers have also been guests in other series, including Scott McLaughlin from Team Penske in the Indycar iRacing Challenge.

The BP Supercars All Stars Eseries features a wide range of internationally renowned circuits. A total of 18 different tracks are planned to be used across the season’s 10 rounds, with Bathurst’s Mount Panorama the only destination set for two visits.

The BP Supercars All Stars Eseries is broadcast on Fox Sports, Kayo, TEN Play and Sky Sports New Zealand, as well as streamed on Supercars’ Facebook and Twitch channels. Other streams Gravity Media is feeding include Fox Asia, motorsport.com and Red Bull TV in territories as far flung as Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and Africa.

The first round on 8 April featured iconic race tracks Phillip Island in southern Victoria and Monza in northern Italy. Over 158,000 people tuned in to watch some or all of the live broadcast on Fox Sports 506. An average audience of 70,000 people watched the newly launched series, peaking at 103,000 people over the course of the two hour live show, making it the fifth-most watched show on Subscription TV and the only Fox Sports product in the top-20 shows. The live broadcast numbers were bolstered by online platforms, where 210,736 viewers tuned in to the live free online broadcast from around the world. From there, the Eseries headed the UK’s historic Silverstone and Spain’s Barcelona F1 circuits for round two on 15 April.

Round three of the Eseries on 22 April was on more familiar ground at Bathurst’s Mount Panorama circuit. An average of 76,000 viewers tuned in to the live coverage on Fox Sports 506, peaking at 108,000 over the course of the two-hour event. This was bolstered by online platforms, with Supercars teams and drivers hosting their own streams to fans around the world, and around 100,000 people watching the live stream through the Supercars Facebook page. The 10 Bold replay each Saturday has attracted around 130,000 viewers after Rounds 1 and 2.

Overall, the 10-round virtual championship will head to four continents and nine countries and will include venues used by Formula 1, IndyCar, NASCAR and more in what shapes as an intriguing challenge for drivers. Also included will be American speedway circuits at Daytona and Alabama, with historic Formula 1 layouts Imola and Interlagos joining the likes of Silverstone, Montreal, Spa and the Nürburgring from earlier on the calendar. Legendary Australian circuits are not forgotten about, with Oran Park and Mount Panorama to form a spectacular finale. Oran Park will bring back memories for fans who adored the NSW circuit until its final Supercars event in 2008, when it made way for residential development.

All this has been made possible through a close working partnership between Supercars and Gravity Media’s Australian operation. These have been very successful and technically challenging events, which Supercars and their TV production team lead by Nathan Prendergast have thrown all their effort at since the COVID-19 outbreak.

Gravity Media is the Outside Broadcast Technology partner to Supercars, swapping out the production trucks for its broadcast studio facility at The Production Centre in Sydney with host set as well as a full control room for the production. Commentary is shared between Gravity Media’s Production Centres in both Sydney and Melbourne, with race control and adjudication on the Gold Coast. All 25-driver webcams around Australia were available via Zoom conference, and two scan converted outputs with driver audio available on Discord channels. A great remote production and technical turn-key solution.

Gravity Media provides unique methods to integrate up to 30 drivers from all over the world, commentators in Melbourne and Supercars judiciary in Gold Coast, as well as the control room and studio elements at The Production Centre in Sydney for the action to be streamed live across multiple platforms.

This Eseries, featuring Championship drivers, is a great opportunity for Supercars fans to still connect with drivers and teams, whilst still following the social distancing measures that have been put in place to keep us all safe.

The Eseries is broadcast across a two-hour weekly window from 19:00hrs Sydney time on Wednesday nights.

In support of the Eseries, Gravity Media’s Production Centre in Sydney utilizes on site studio hosting, cameras, EVS replay, multiple iRacing observer PC’s, commentary, as well as all talent green rooms and control room. The Production Centre in Sydney also integrates cameras and communications with each of the 30 drivers in locations as far-flung as The Netherlands and the USA.

Additional commentary, including camera and on-air audio is hosted from Gravity Media’s Production Centre in Melbourne, with broadcast facilities connected into its Production Centre in Sydney.  Return vision and separate talkback circuits are delivered from Sydney to Melbourne for commentators. The Supercars eSeries Driving Standards Advisor is hosted from the Gold Coast with camera, on-air audio and separate communications link integrated at The Production Centre in Sydney.

NB: The Gravity Media’s Production Centre in Sydney and other sites practices the appropriate COVID-19 safe work precautions with hand sanitiser and glove stations, temperature testing as well as safe-distancing in all work spaces including control rooms and studios.

Fans will also have the chance to test themselves against Supercars’ elite brigade of drivers as a bonus element to the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries. Fixed set-ups will be implemented throughout the online championship, with Dunlop Super2 Series leader and simulator racing expert Brodie Kostecki tasked with locking in settings for all cars to run at each designated track. The idea behind that is to ensure close racing, preventing drivers with more simulator experience to get a jumpstart on their less familiar rivals.

The spin-off effect is that Supercars will make the set-ups – catered to each circuit – available to all fans to try. While trying to outpace drivers in real-life is stunted by factors including time and cost, fans can have unlimited attempts with the exact same car set-up to see if they can match the stars of the sport in the online sphere.

Fans are encouraged to record their attempts and upload them to the relevant posts on Supercars’ Facebook page.

On Thursday 12 March, the 89th Committee of Associated Schools (C.A.S) Swimming Championships were held live from Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre. CAS is a group of six independent schools located in Sydney Australia, which share common interests, ethics, educational philosophy and contest sporting events between themselves.

A project came in from the New South Wales associated schools who requested a live stream of their Swimming Championships. The live stream was due to crowds being told to stay away due to COVID-19.

The Gravity Media team sent three cameras back to The Production Centre in Sydney via LiveU and the team cut the swimming remotely and added downstream GFX and commentary.

Gravity Media in Australia is proud to be the facility and production partner for EventCast™ powered by Fourth Wall.

EventCast™ is an immersive and interactive event delivered directly to your online audience. The necessity for remote events and production is paramount to stay connected in these challenging isolated times.

Worldwide, Gravity Media offers remote facility and production solutions suppling our Production Centre studios and encoders in Sydney as well as Outside Broadcast facilities. Watch a little sneak peek of how the day looked during IdeaStorm – Digitile Demonstration here.

If you’d like to create your own EventCast™ please get in touch with our friends at Fourth Wall: eventcast@fourthwall.com.au

Part of the team from The Production Centre, Sydney travelled to central Queensland to produce the latest film in a series for Telstra, which shines a light on their staff who go above and beyond for their customers.
 
The Gravity Media crew went the extra mile – travelling 2,500 kms on two flights followed by a three hour drive – to film at a cattle station in 45 degree heat. It was an interesting view into life for families in the remote Australian outback.

Telstra was extremely proud of the results and you can watch the beautiful images here.