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ing of acts and elements, how many commercial breaks are coming up, and how many sponsors’ lower thirds need to get into the broadcasts. We do have a format that we go by, but it always changes as we go along... And then there’s the unsung people who produce the show. They’re also monitoring the uplink satellite to make sure that nothing happens.” Haiman describes an editor’s nightmare with extensive footage being shot and very short cutting turn arounds; this pre-recorded material is mixed into the live broadcast feed in between acts and other lulls in between performances. “Not only are we shooting performances over two weekends and broadcasting, but we’re also doing features about different artists or about cultural aspects of Jazz Fest over the two weekends,” explained Haiman. “We shoot over the first weekend and create pieces to include when we
Capturing Jazz Fest in 4K with Red Epics.
Arcade Fire performs at Jazz Fest.
going to Denver which is where we’re broadcasting from, and we have an excellent crew there with our master control. Sometimes we have audio levels that might be a little off, but we’re on headsets throughout the entire show so we can adjust accordingly based on feedback.” “Almost all the production guys, all the camera guys are local people,” continued Haiman. “New Orleans has a large amount of production people, and there’s also a large amount of music going on so the quality of people is really good. It’s not like you’re going to a city that’s not music oriented. Especially with production managers and tech managers—they know the production area, they know how to get around; it only helps the production by having local people.” “I think we’re so lucky to have Evan with his experience and his passion for music; it really comes across to the viewers. His whole team is like that,” added Ronzoni. Haiman has extensive experience shooting live performances of both comedy and music. He has a core crew filling key positions that he does travel with who always work on his productions. “We have the most incredible AD, Allyson Vecchione. She makes the calls. She works on all of our festivals. She’s the nucleus, the technical director. Every single element that has to go into the programming, she handles,” exclaimed Haiman. “She keeps track of everything: time shift-
The local flavor of Jazz Fest.
broadcast live over the second weekend, but we are also creating cultural pieces about Jazz Fest because it’s completely different than any other festival; there’s a unique identity to it. There’s the cultural part, there’s the musical part and obviously there’s the food part. It’s not just the content but it’s the feel of New Orleans… Obviously we’re going to show whoever’s playing that evening, but we’re also showing material from weekend one. For example, we went from Phish who played that night to Eric Clapton who played the weekend before, so that’s why we need a host to string it through as well. We want to get the biggest and best artists.” “Last year was a mudfest, but we’ve never had a problem with our feed, knock wood. If we had a problem it would be about the satellite going up. We have an EBS system and it’s all digital. So things are coming into the truck, it’s being recorded into the EBS, and then we’re formatting it for the show. It’s all there; the only problem we could ever have is getting the show out through the satellite,” continued Haiman. “If there was lightning strikes it could potentially knock us offline, but we’ve never been there so far.” “One of the things that’s so frustrating about Jazz Fest is that there are so many great acts playing at the same time… It’s one of the things we try to feature in our pre-show countdown is the greats acts in the tents because Jazz Fest is so much more than just the main stage,” said Haiman. “I also love the fact that Trombone Shorty is a cultural icon and that he headlines and closes the show Sunday night. The eclectic type of music and the way they book (Jazz Fest) is amazing. It’s at a racetrack, and it’s amazing how smooth their operations are and how experienced everyone is who works at the festival.” “The state treated us really well as well as everyone over at the Fairgrounds,” added Ronzoni. AXS TV plans to return to New Orleans in 2015 to continue their coverage. “We love Jazz Fest,” proclaimed Haiman. LFV ISSUE THREE 2014
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