Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Altered Images provides 12-camera fixed rig for Knickerbockerglory sea challenge

03/12/2018

Altered Images was commissioned to design, install and support a lightweight, energy-efficient 12-camera fixed rig for the new series Britain by Boat, created by independent production company Knickerbockerglory. The programmes reunite former newsreader, Michael Buerk, and political journalist, John Sergeant, after 30 years, as they take to the high seas exploring Britain's coastline by yacht. The series is currently airing on Channel 5.

The challenge for these two amateur sailors is to explore Britain's glorious coastline whilst taming the magnificent Bonaventure, a 50-foot traditional yacht. It's not a voyage for the faint-hearted, as John and Michael navigate labyrinthine sandbanks, treacherous tides and Europe's busiest shipping lanes. To buoy their spirits, they'll encounter the best of the British coast from crab-fishing in Falmouth, to racing dingies near Portsmouth, to joining the RNLI off the picturesque Cornish coast.

Altered Images faced many challenges and responsibilities with this project; the least of which was how to install cameras to be both stable and completely harmless to the £1m hand-built craft's structure and finish. The production team also tasked them with making the installed cameras very discreet so that the on-screen talent would forget they were being filmed. This resulted in a more natural engagement on screen for the production.

Altered Images specified eight IP67-rated cameras up on deck, with four Panasonic PTZ cameras below deck, all controlled and recorded in one of the aft cabins. Helping the cameras blend in below deck safely and without any screws, nails or sticky tape was an extra challenge, comments Tony Gill, Altered Images' managing director and unit manager at the time of filming. In the end, we decided to manufacture temporary replica upholstery that blended into the surroundings in order that we could fix the cameras to those, then we were able to swap back to the original furniture after the shoot.

Isolated audio was captured from eight sources, including radio mics, with a live stereo feed also recorded during the shoot. The cameras and audio were synchronised via time-of-day timecode, as were any shoulder-mounted cameras that were used on the boat or shore, removing the need for cables to make boarding and disembarking safe for both the talent and crew.

The whole rig used just 400 Watts in energy equivalent to just four tungsten light bulbs which meant that Altered Images could use an intelligent Lithium Ion battery rig and achieve up to 40 hours' recording time between charges. The rig's health was monitored from shore by the following safety boat, with a road-based support crew to enable the production to keep the onboard headcount within maritime allowances.

The task that we gave Altered Images was a complex one, since we needed them to rig a 50ft yacht with hot-head and waterproof static cameras, as well as a gallery suitable for small compact spaces and rocky seas, explains Fi Maclay, Knickerbockerglory's Production Manager on Britain By Boat. As always, Tony and the team from Altered were wonderful to work with no task was too small and we could rely on them even in the most difficult of circumstances.

This was a fantastic project to be involved in, which perfectly highlights how adaptable Altered Images is to its clients' creative challenges, adds Tony.

To watch the programme and find out about future episodes, please visit the Channel 5 website at www.channel5.com/show/britain-by-boat/.
LINK: https://www.kitplus.com/news/Altered_Images_provides_12-camera_fixed_r...
See more stories from tvbay

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

24/04/2026

Dalet Takes Home The Best in Show Award for Dalia at 2026 NAB

Dalet Takes Home The Best in Show Award for Dalia at 2026 NAB Brie Clayton April 23, 2026 0 Comments Media-aware agentic AI wins big for real-world ef...

24/04/2026

Calrec and Grass Valley Unlock Exceptional Choice and Flexibility for Broadcasters with ImPulseV and AMPP Integration

Calrec and Grass Valley Unlock Exceptional Choice and Flexibility for Broadcaste...

24/04/2026

Bitfocus Buttons wins NAB Show Product of the Year Award

Bitfocus Buttons wins NAB Show Product of the Year Award Brie Clayton April 24, 2026 0 Comments Recognition for incredible advances in broadcast and e...

24/04/2026

NAB Show Reports More Than 58,000 Registered Attendees for 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

24/04/2026

Dalet Takes Home The Best in Show Award for Dalia at 2026...

Media-aware agentic AI wins big for real-world efficiencies and time to value Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, to...

24/04/2026

Mediagenix Sweeps 2026 NAB Awards With Wins for Product o...

Mediagenix wins for its Scheduling Optimization capabilities that help broadcasters and FAST operators move beyond traditional scheduling automation toward cont...

24/04/2026

Setplex Secures Top Honors with NAB Show Project of the Y...

Setplex today announced that it has taken home the NAB Show Project of the Year Award in the Distribution category for its innovative deployment with UVOtv. Dur...

24/04/2026

farmerswife and Cirkus are Exhibiting MPTS 2026

Media and post-production teams are invited to experience next-level resource planning, project management, and connected media workflows at Stand K59 in The Gr...

24/04/2026

Dolby Elevates In-Car Entertainment to New Heights at Auto China 2026

April 24 2026, 00:00 (PDT) Dolby Elevates In-Car Entertainment to New Heights at Auto China 2026 More Automakers, More Models: Dolby-enabled Vehicles Drive...

24/04/2026

Dolby Cinema Arrives in Tamil Nadu: Dolby Laboratories and LA Cinema Launch the State's First Dolby Cinema in Trichy

April 24 2026, 06:48 (PDT) Dolby Cinema Arrives in Tamil Nadu: Dolby Laboratori...

23/04/2026

NAB Honors Rob Lowe and John Tesh With Hall of Fame Induction

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/04/2026

Roku, Samsung Dominate CTV Platform Market in U.S.

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/04/2026

G&D and VuWall Strengthen International Sales Team

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/04/2026

The 2026 NAB Show Reports More than 58,000 Attendees

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/04/2026

SmallHD Monitor Overlay License for Hi-5 and Hi-5 SX deli...

Partnership between ARRI and SmallHD brings new Hi-5 license Configurable monitor overlays adapt to individual working styles Supported by SmallHD monitors ru...

23/04/2026

Jeff Cronenweth ASC Sheds Light on Tron Ares with Astera

Lighting Master Cronenweth ASC brings a unique look to each grid world with the help of Astera Jeff Cronenweth on the set of Disney's TRON: ARES. Photo by...

23/04/2026

ZEISS Supreme Primes Shine in Star-Driven Short Dr Sam

DP Chloe Smolkin ( The Late Show, Kidz Bop ) joins director Danielle Beckmann and writer/actor Raji Ahsan behind the camera for the heartfelt short comedy Dr...

23/04/2026

Apply now to join the 2026 Producer Delegation to TIFF: The Market

Apply now to join the 2026 Producer Delegation to TIFF: The Market 23 April 2026 Screen Australia, in partnership with Ontario Creates, has opened application...

23/04/2026

New RT series Masters: Keepers of Tradition delves into the remarkable world of rare skills and crafts

Six crafts. Six lives. Six reasons to believe that making things by hand still...

23/04/2026

AMATEUR DRAMA TAKES CENTRE STAGE AS THE 2026 RT ALL IRELAND DRAMA FESTIVAL LAUNCHES IN THE ABBEY THEATRE

The festival programme promises a feast of drama, a bumper packed fringe festiva...

23/04/2026

OpenAI's New GPT-5.5 Powers Codex on NVIDIA Infrastructure - and NVIDIA Is Already Putting It to Work

AI agents have revolutionized developer workflows, and their next frontier is kn...

23/04/2026

Tag, You're It: GeForce NOW Levels Up Game Discovery With Xbox Game Pass and Ubisoft+ Labels

GeForce NOW is doubling down on what matters most: gamers. This week's upgra...

22/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: Solid State Logics Berny Carpenter on Expanding System T With Virtual DSP, Cloud Workflows

Solid State Logic is advancing its System T platform with a stronger focus on IP...

22/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: Dolbys Giles Baker on the Growth of Dolby OptiView, Immersive Vision and Audio for Live Sports

From immersive audio to live streaming, Dolby Laboratories is focused on the fut...

22/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: Blackmagic Design's Bob Caniglia on Implementing Cinematic Looks in Live Broadcasts

Shallow depth-of-field cameras have taken the industry by storm. Its debut a han...

22/04/2026

NAB 2026: Eastern Kentucky University deploys campus-wide ST 2110 network with Riedel and Bridge Digital

Riedel Communications (Booth C4908) announced that Eastern Kentucky University (...

22/04/2026

SportsTechBuzz at NAB 2026, Day 4: Live Reports From the Show Floor in Vegas

The NAB Show is in full swing, and the SVG and SVG Europe editorial teams are chasing down the hottest stories from all over the Las Vegas Convention Center. He...

22/04/2026

NAB 2026: Blackmagic Design Announces URSA Cine 12K LF 100G

Blackmagic Design has announced the URSA Cine 12K LF 100G, a new model in the URSA Cine family adding 100G Ethernet for SMPTE 2110 live production output up to ...

22/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: NEPs Martin Stewart Talks 40 Years, the NEP Platform, and Scaling for FIFA World Cup

Celebrating its 40th anniversary, NEP is leaning into hybrid production with the...

22/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: NEPs Dan Murphy on NEP Platform, TFC, and the Shift to Software-Defined Workflows

NEP VP, Platform Dan Murphy sits down at the 2026 NAB Show to unpack what NEP P...

22/04/2026

Spotify and WNBA's New York Liberty Bring Basketball and Music Together With New Partnership

Spotify and the New York Liberty are teaming up to give music and basketball fan...

22/04/2026

The story of the Focusrite ISA preamp

New 20-minute documentary explores iconic design The Focusrite Room in Mesa, Arizona, where John Aquilino hosts the Studio Console 005. In 2025, Focusrite co...

22/04/2026

EverSync SP-10 wireless from Cloudvocal

Offers compact wireless solution for pedalboards Taiwanese audio brand Cloudvocal have announced the availability of a new pedalboard-friendly wireless syst...

22/04/2026

Arturia release Augmented Persia

Latest hybrid sampling/synthesis instrument arrives Arturia's Augmented series offerings rely on a mixture of sampling and synthesis, allowing users to ...

22/04/2026

Acustica Audio launch Salt 2

Combines three distinct analogue EQ emulations The latest addition to Acustica Audio's ever-expanding collection of analogue-emulation plug-ins combines...

22/04/2026

Analog Empire: Bass & Lead from Melda Production

Final instalment in vintage-inspired instrument series Analog Empire: Bass & Lead marks the final instalment in Melda Production's vintage hardware-insp...

22/04/2026

Strymon reveal the Canoga

Fuzz pedal joins all-analogue Series A line Given that Strymons reputation was built on unapologetically digital pedals, it was a little surprising to see t...

22/04/2026

SBS names shortlisted brands for 2026 SBS Media Sustainability Challenge

SBS names shortlisted brands for 2026 SBS Media Sustainability Challenge 22 April, 2026 Media releases National broadcaster also releases its second annual...

22/04/2026

The Frequency That Decides the Fight

Why Low Band Electronic Warfare Matters...

22/04/2026

Polish national football team play-off games top monthly programme list

The nation unites around football team's World Cup dream Warsaw, Poland, 20.04.26: Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data, and media intell...

22/04/2026

Nielsen and the Polish Organisation of Advertisers announce strategic partnership to elevate marketing standards in Poland

Warsaw, Poland, 22.04.26: Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data...

22/04/2026

Nielsen helps New Zealand brands expand internationally with greater clarity and confidence

New market intelligence offering gives businesses a clearer view of local consum...

22/04/2026

Glookast Unveils New UX, YouTube and Social Media Connectors, Premiere Panel, Cinnafilm Tachyon Plugin and More at NAB

Glookast Unveils New UX, YouTube and Social Media Connectors, Premiere Panel, Ci...