Case Study: Livestreaming He Whenua Taurikura, New Zealand’s Annual Hui on Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism

Tandem Studios has recently finished working with the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet on He Whenua Taurikura, New Zealand’s annual hui on countering terrorism and violent extremism. He Whenua Taurikura translates to ‘a country at peace’.

The DPMC contacted Tandem in early 2021 to discuss live streaming requirements of their upcoming event. Our team of experienced producers spent the following few months working with the DPMC team (as well as many others from Venues Otautahi, the NZ Police and Christchurch City Council) to set up the many different elements needed for this event being held at the Christchurch Town Hall on the 15-16 June.

HUI BACKGROUND

The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Terrorist Attack on Christchurch masjidain recommended that Government host an annual hui, to bring together relevant central and local government agencies, communities, civil society, the private sector and researchers to create opportunities to build relationships and share understanding of countering violent extremism and terrorism.

HE WHENUA TAURIKUA 2021

He Whenua Taurikura is designed to promote public conversation, understanding and research on radicalisation; how to challenge hate-motivated extremist ideologies; and will cover priorities to address New Zealand’s terrorism and violent extremism issues.

The two-day conference was made up of panel discussions of key government officials and experts (including Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and representatives from Facebook and Twitter in New Zealand/Australia) that was viewed by about 200 people in attendance at the Town Hall, as well as the few thousand viewers that joined in to watch online.

LIVE STREAMING SOLUTION

Tandem’s live streaming solution consisted of a four-person crew during the event, including one live streaming technician and three camera operators. Our live stream provided good coverage of the whole event, with a wide shot of the room and the other two cameras focussing on what was happening on stage (providing close ups of those speaking at the lectern and in panel discussions). The full live stream feed was also connected to screens placed throughout the room so the audience further away from the stage were able to watch everything up-close.

The live stream required the ability to delay the stream (from what was happening in the room to viewer at home) so the stream can be cut if needed. Due to the nature of this event, precautions such as these were planned well in advance in the event that issues arose with the audience in the room. The delay was needed to make sure that the viewer at home does not know about these issues, as we were ready to cut the stream/switch to music and a holding slide before they can see it. The aim was to minimise the reach of any problematic events to make sure that viewers were not affected considering the sensitivity of the subject.

A specialist piece of equipment was needed to provide this requirement which wasn’t readily available in New Zealand. The specific delay unit we recommended allows a delay of 20 seconds, which we were comfortable is enough time for our live stream technician to cut/switch the stream. Longer delays may be available with other units, but it would be higher cost. We ordered the delay unit from overseas and luckily it arrived a couple of weeks before the event, which was a concern considering the delays with shipping times worldwide following COVID-19.

Both events were streamed via YouTube, and our team designed name keys and titles to show during the event to introduce speakers and topics. A title was created to ask the online audience to send any questions to a specific email address, which the team at the DPMC filtered through to the event MC who asked the questions during the panel discussions.

POST-PRODUCTION AND PUBLISHING

Following both events and the conclusion of the Hui, Tandem’s editing team tidied up both full event videos and delivered these, along with individual videos of each topic/speaker/panel discussion. All videos will be archived and possibly posted online at a later stage by DPMC so the public can view them easily at any time.

You can watch both day’s events below: