Gravity Media, a world leading global provider of complex live creative production and media services, today detailed Gravity Media’s collaboration with the New South Wales Department of Education’s Arts Unit in a broadcast technology and television production undertaking to create and deliver this year’s Schools Spectacular – REMARKABLE!, one of the biggest live events in Australia, and the event’s national broadcast on the Seven Network, Friday December 19 from 7pm AEDT.
The New South Wales School Spectacular is the world’s largest annual amateur variety show and is produced by the New South Wales Department of Education’s Arts Unit. This year’s event REMARKABLE! celebrates the 42nd annual staging of the event.
Gravity Media has been the driving force behind the NSW Schools Spectacular national television broadcast since 2016, and in collaboration with the NSW Department of Education’s Arts Unit, Gravity Media proudly serves as the Event Partner for the 2025 event: Schools Spectacular – REMARKABLE!
In a significant broadcast undertaking for the 2025 event, Gravity Media will be accessing advanced formats for a captivating television production with higher resolution, more accurate colours, and smoother motion than ever before.
Schools Spectacular – REMARKABLE! encompasses four live arena shows at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney Olympic Park with a national broadcast across Australia on the Seven Network.
Each of the four live arena performances over two days features over 5,500 students from NSW public schools including 2,300 dancers, a combined choir of 2,500, an 80-piece symphony orchestra, a stage band, the D’Arts Ensemble for students with disability, the Aboriginal Dance Ensemble, boy’s hip-hop ensemble, and circus arts ensemble.
From producing dazzling performer and teacher backstory content, crafting the event and broadcast promos, providing comprehensive graphic design services, to a cine film unit travelling 3,000 kilometres throughout regional and rural New South Wales capturing the talents of the state’s public-school students for the show’s opener, Gravity Media is delivering a comprehensive turnkey production outcome for the event.
The Gravity Media undertaking involves a total television production and technical staff of 75, deploying a state-of-the-art high definition outside broadcast truck and accessing 15 broadcast and specialist cameras, including Steadicams, Jib Cranes, Dolly Shot, and Spidercam, to deliver the complete television production for the New South Wales Department of Education and the Seven Network.
Richard Spiewak, Executive Producer at NSW Department of Education – Arts Unit said:
“This year’s show is titled “Remarkable” and is a fitting tribute to the extraordinary achievements of students across NSW public schools. Now in its 42nd year, the Schools Spectacular continues to be a vibrant celebration of the arts, showcasing the incredible talent, dedication, and creativity nurtured in our public education system.”
“The broadcast is an important component to the live production and allows us to reach right across Australia to highlight our remarkable students.”
Mike Purcell, Head of Production at Gravity Media in Australia, said:
“NSW Schools Spectacular showcases the incredible depth of talent in NSW public schools, and we’re proud to bear that to screen.”
“It’s been a pleasure to partner and collaborate with The Arts Unit for almost a decade allowing us to innovate and provide fresh creative ideas each year, something our entire team is proud of.”
“A truly ‘REMARKABLE!’ world-class event and broadcast.”
PRESS COVERAGE
Gravity Media’s Production Centre in Sydney was approached by the UK based production company Yeti TV to provide studio and recording facilities for a pre-recorded cross with actress Miriam Margolyes.
The pre-recorded interviews featured in two documentaries that aired on Channel 5 in the UK during the month of July titled, The Marvellous Maggie Smith and Judi Dench: Our National Treasure. Gravity Media provided a studio facility including the LED wall, cameras, lighting and audio and a live link to the Yeti TV director in the UK who conducted the interview with Miriam.
While at Gravity’s Production Centre in Sydney Miriam also stepped into our architecturally designed and acoustically engineered audio post studio, to record a voice over recording for her new 3-part series Miriam Margolyes: Australia Unmasked. A Southern Pictures Production which premiered on ABC TV and ABC iview.
For more information on our Production Centre in Sydney, click here.
Blending both traditional and trailblazing technology, Gearhouse Broadcast does a great line in designing and building full-service studios and production workflows. It’s a collaborative process though which we assess our customers’ specific requirements so we can be sure each setup will meet all their production needs and more.
To create quality content you need quality kit. So we’ll spend time getting to know you and what your aspirations are before we create your personalised solution.
A good example is Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design & Technology in Dublin. Home to 2,500 students, IADT offers excellent technical facilities, including TV and radio studios, and digital video editing. The facility has to cater for a number of different users, from residential students to international TV producers and broadcasters looking for additional facilities during high-volume periods. When it was time for an upgrade, the Institute asked Gearhouse Broadcast to supply, install and support a new state-of-the-art, two-studio HDTV facility.
Our Systems Integration team provided a full turnkey solution, handling everything from planning and project management to design, installation, commissioning, technical support and training.
We prefabricated a lot of the infrastructure at our Watford HQ, and then travelled to Dublin to complete the installation. We equipped the main film/TV studio with five Hitachi multi-format HDTV production cameras with Fujinon lenses, hot-swappable between the two studios as needed.
The second studio features a FOR-A Virtual Studio System, paired with the HVS-390HS video switcher, which offers a great range of standard functions including mixed HD/SD input, frame synchroniser, 3D wipe effects, DVEs, chroma keys, DSKs, still stores, picture-in-picture, multi-viewers and more. We also supplied an ARRI ALEXA camera with ARRI Alura 35mm zoom lenses, as well as three Sony CineAlta 4K Prime lenses. To complete the technical setup, we fitted out a comprehensive Production Gallery, with vison and audio mixers, replay systems and an Avid Nitris DX edit station.
Both studios are fully soundproofed and have resin-based, anti-static screed floors that provide optimum camera tracking performance. Two external wall boxes provide capacity for OB connection and/or for external filming and relays.
The main studio is about 200m2, with a clear shooting height of six metres and a motorised lighting grid. It is fully connected to the Production Gallery via eight wall boxes, and is also equipped with black, white and green cyclorama curtains.
The green screen studio is approx 45m2, with a shooting height of four metres. It’s connected to the Gallery via two wall boxes, or can be operated separately using a mobile production unit. It has 75% surround chromakey walls and a black cyclorama curtain.
All in all it’s a setup that will easily satisfy all of IADT’s educational and facility-hire requirements for years to come. So when it comes to designing, configuring and building a full-service, permanent TV studio, you know where to come. And don’t forget we can also help with post-production and delivery once you’ve got your content safely in the can.
The broadcast industry is in the midst of a revolution sparked by the steady introduction of ever more sophisticated and affordable High Definition, or HD, technology.
Although Standard Definition (SD) broadcasting is still alive and kicking, the onus is increasingly on broadcast professionals to produce high quality HD tapeless workflows for studios and Outside Broadcast facilities. In short if you are not already part of the HD revolution, you probably should be.
The good news is that with help from Gearhouse Broadcast’s Broadcast Systems Integration Services it does not have to be a case of ripping it all up and starting again. Our specialist Broadcast Systems Integration team can help and advise anyone who wants or needs to upgrade and convert their existing SD Outside Broadcast facilities, OB trucks or studios to HD.
As authorised dealers for many of the major players in the HD broadcasting market, Gearhouse can supply its customers with all their HD needs, whether for sale, rental or as part of an overall HD upgrade project.
As a multi-tiered broadcast company, Gearhouse Broadcast has a wealth of experience in the sales, rental installation and integration of HD products and equipment across all its divisions.
“Manufacturers are simply not producing SD equipment now and there is a significant rise in demand for our integration services around the world,” says Gearhouse Broadcast’s senior Systems Engineer Dave Gill.
We can maximise the potential of existing HD capable equipment, install new HD equipment and then help in managing the transition between the two formats.”
When South African broadcaster M-NET needed an HD integrated outside broadcast truck they turned to Gearhouse Broadcast as proven integration specialists.
In the past, Gearhouse Broadcast supplied M-NET with multi-camera flyaway solutions and, based on the service they received on that occasion, they looked to Gearhouse Broadcast again to provide this large, custom-built multi-format trailer.
India’s state broadcaster Doordarshan chose Gearhouse Broadcast’s proven HD integration expertise when it came to commissioning their first custom-built HD outside broadcast truck.
The newly built vehicle is part of a major investment programme in HD technology by Doordarshan, and much of the actual system building and integration work was carried out at Gearhouse Broadcast’s Watford headquarters.
A TATA chassis was shipped to the UK to be adapted before Gearhouse Broadcast’s team of specialist technicians and engineers got to work fitting the outside broadcast van with specialist HD broadcasting equipment.
PINEWOOD Studios, home to some of Britain’s most iconic films and television series continues to be an integral part of the nation’s broadcast industry.
As one of Europe’s leading providers of broadcast equipment sales, rentals, project solutions and systems integration, Gearhouse Broadcast is proud of the excellent working relationship it has built up with Pinewood in recent years, and to have supplied the cutting edge technology used to realise some of the most popular shows currently appearing on British television screens.
And Gearhouse recently helped Pinewood break new ground by providing tapeless HD format and broadcasting solutions for the production of CBeebies’ latest hit for early years children, ZingZillas, the first time this technology has been employed at the studios.
HD Format Broadcast
The HD format is an important part of the show’s appeal, which is both strongly visual and musical as it follows primate friends Zak, Tang, Panzee and Drum through their colourful jungle home in their quest put together a daily performance, The Big Zing, inspired by a range of visiting musicians and singers.
Over the past few years Gearhouse has delivered an exhaustive range of audio and video equipment, including cameras and camcorders, both standard and high definition upgrade (SD and HD), MCR hubs, VTRs and infrastructure solutions to Pinewood.
The kit supplied is all specifically tailored to the needs of Pinewood-produced hit series such as the BBC’s ‘Would I Lie to You’, Channel 4’s ‘The IT Crowd’ and Sky 1’s flagship HD sports panel quiz ‘A League of Their Own’, presented by multi-award winning comic actor and writer James Corden of Gavin and Stacey fame.
HD Kit technical support
Gearhouse’s engineers and technicians have established a close working relationship with their colleagues at the studios over the years, ensuring their technical support is available on demand and any additional equipment requirements can be quickly and seamlessly met.
Simon Honey, Head of TV Studio Operations at The Pinewood Studios Group says: “Gearhouse Broadcast always provide a professional all round package with exceptional customer service, through a dedicated knowledgeable rental team, dependable hands on technical support, and reliable state of the art equipment – at a competitive price.
“With a proven track record in delivering project solutions, we collaboratively provided a seamless HD tapeless workflow for the CBeebies production ‘Zingzillas’, and the results speak for themselves on screen.”
