PTZ ComposerTech week, then opening night.
Build the show's camera moves in tech week, prove them on your own cameras, and hand them to whoever is in the booth on the night. A flight is an authored camera move, with a planned route, framing and pace from departure through landing.
One house. Two to four PTZ cameras sit on the balcony rail and the side positions, with a staff technical director or a board volunteer at the desk. The run of performances has to look the same on the closing night as it did on the opening.
Three moments
A reveal from the wide house to a soloist.
The show opens on the whole stage and the shot travels in to the one person the scene belongs to. You decide where it departs, what it passes through and where it lands, and it lands there every night.
A follow across the stage at the scene's pace.
One continuous move carries the shot along the diagonal the blocking uses, at the tempo the scene plays. The framing changes through the move because you composed it that way, not because someone is chasing the actor.
A transition into the curtain call.
As the music turns, the camera leaves the scene and arrives on the company for the bows. The sweep is the same on the closing night as on the opening, and your board operator (the person who runs the lighting or sound board) cues it with one press.
Who runs it in the booth
The staff technical director composes the show's camerawork in the design week and tech week. On the night, a board operator or a volunteer cues it, called by cue number beside the lights and the sound. The switcher keeps cutting as before. With a Blackmagic ATEM, the software reads which camera is on program, and that camera does not move under the cut. The other switcher paths (vMix, OBS, TriCaster, Ross, NDI tally) are planned, and each row on the integrations page states its status. Without an ATEM, the board operator cues moves on cameras that are off air.
Compose against the blocking
Work from the blocking you already have. Shape the route, framing and pace of each flight the show asks for, an afternoon on the empty stage rather than a rehearsal spent nudging a joystick.
Rehearse in tech week
Run the flights against the real cues and the real tempos, and refine the pace until the camerawork belongs to the production. Each move is proven on your cameras before opening night, so nothing is discovered during the run.
Arrange the running order
Put the prepared shots in a rundown in the order the show runs, act by act and scene by scene, and keep each flight one press away. The cue sheet in the booth then reads the way the stage manager already calls the show.
Perform every night
The board operator cues each flight when the call comes, or rides its timing from the joystick or the wheel on the controller they already use when a scene plays long. Every frame on the way is one the technical director composed, so a new operator cannot lose the shot.
Fits your room
Each row carries the state it is actually in today. Choose one to read what it does and what it does not do yet.
Cameras in this segment
- Avonic
- BirdDog
- Bolin
- Canon
- JVC
- Lumens
- Marshall
- Panasonic
- PTZOptics
- Ross (PIVOTCam)
- Sony
Manufacturer and product names belong to their owners. A name here describes what the software talks to, and states no endorsement or partnership.
Two answers, and we always say which one applies to you. Tested means a named model, firmware and control path we have flown; supported protocol means the camera speaks a control path we read, and the software measures it and tells you honestly whether it can fly it.
Proof
Film of real flights appears here when a Tested model has one on tape. Until then, here is what the software is doing for the shot.
Shape the whole moving shot.
Perform the move with the moment.
Motion planned around your camera.
Questions
Can a board volunteer run this on the night?
Yes, and that is the point of composing in tech week. The creative decisions are made by the technical director in advance; the person in the booth calls them up by cue, the way they already call a light cue. The move cannot wander off the route it was given. In a union house the cue is called and pressed by the crew you already have on the desk.
Will the same move run every night of the run?
Yes. A flight is authored once and repeated, so the curtain-call sweep on the closing night is the move the director approved in tech week. When a performance runs at a different tempo, the operator can ride the timing along the same route instead of composing a new move.
We buy against a production calendar. How does that work?
Venues usually buy in the window before a season rather than the week of a show, on a purchase order against a fiscal year. Ask us for a quote your business office can process, and buy through your integrator or distributor. The pricing page carries the three ways to pay.
Can we use the cameras already in the house?
Tell us the make, the model and how they are controlled, and we say which of the two compatibility answers applies before anything starts. Tested means a model and control path we have flown ourselves. Supported protocol means we measure your camera and tell you plainly what it can do.
Does the stream or the archive recording pass through the software?
No. Your program video keeps its existing path to the switcher, the recording and the stream. The software moves the cameras and leaves the video chain alone, which is why an archive recording for the rights holder is unaffected.
What about a house with more than four cameras?
Licensing is sold as a block of up to four cameras, and a second block covers the next four at the same rate. Blocks span rooms and sites, so a main house and a studio theatre sit under the same purchase. See the pricing page.
When should we schedule an evaluation?
Against tech week and opening. The evaluation runs fourteen days from the day we confirm your setup, and no card is needed to start. Choose two weeks that include a tech rehearsal and the first two performances, and you will see what you need to see.
Buying
Each plan covers a block of up to four cameras. A fifth camera needs a second block on the same plan. Blocks can span rooms and sites.
Put it through a real rehearsal and a real production first. Your evaluation runs fourteen days from the day your setup is confirmed. No card is needed to start.
Buy through a partner
Integrators, distributors and rental houses can sell and install this in your segment. Tell us your segment and region and we introduce one who works in your kind of room.
Take this to your technical director
- The three moves: a reveal from the wide house to a soloist, a follow across the stage at the scene's pace, and a transition into the curtain call.
- Who operates: the technical director composes in tech week; a board operator or a volunteer cues the flights by number on the night.
- Your cameras: tell us the make, the model and how they are controlled, and we say which of the two compatibility answers applies before anything starts.
- Your video path does not change. The software moves the cameras; the switcher, the archive recording and the stream stay where they are.
- Runs on macOS and Windows. One license covers either.
- Licensing: a block of up to four cameras, and a block spans rooms and sites, so a main house and a studio theatre sit under one purchase.
- Evaluation: fourteen days, no card, scheduled against tech week and opening.
- Buy through your integrator or distributor, on a purchase order your business office can process inside the fiscal year.