China Central Television broadcasts Spring Festival using Ross robotics

China Central Television (CCTV) began their Chinese New Year broadcasting of the 2017 Spring Festival Gala live on January 27 using Ross Video’s Furio RC. The CCTV Spring Festival Gala is an integral part of Chinese New Year celebrations, carrying a special meaning for many in China. The broadcast has a yearly viewership of over 700 million viewers, making it one of the premier television events of China.

Furio enabled CCTV to create shots that were previously impossible, combining responsiveness and flexibility with smoothness and stability. It also allowed them to maximise their efficiency by eliminating the cost of having multiple operators, while keeping the filming space to a premium.

Due to space constraints during the Spring Festival Gala for the Rooster year, CCTV had only 12 metres of straight and curved tracks to be placed throughout the audience. Under the remote control of the operators, Furio RC quickly panned from one end of the audience to the other with smoothness and stability, while simultaneously capturing panoramic views of the stage, long-range views of the audience, and close-up shots with the political leaders sitting among them.

The Spring Festival Gala has utilised a large number of alternating LED screens in recent years to coordinate the content and visual effects of its programs, which in turn has brought out important elements of the gala. The Furio RC, whether moving at a constant velocity or accelerating along the straight and curved rails, can allow the focusing, orientation and positioning of the camera to collaborate with the swivelling and changing displays on the LED video curtains, bringing an immersive experience of visual richness to the audiences at home.