Redefining Live TV with Cinema-Grade Cameras
The deployment of 24 ARRI ALEXA 35 Live cameras for the Eurovision Song Contest describes a large-scale multi-camera broadcast production that applies cinema-grade imaging tools, workflows, and sensor technology to a high-stakes live entertainment event traditionally handled by standard broadcast cameras. For decades, live television and cinema existed in parallel: one prioritized speed and reliability, the other image latitude and texture. With this show, ARRI set out to answer a direct question: what if live TV could look like cinema while still meeting uncompromising broadcast workflow demands? Every camera position on the contest used ALEXA 35 Live, feeding a conventional outside broadcast (OB) infrastructure but delivering dynamic range, color response, and shallow depth of field associated with motion pictures. The result was a hybrid environment where live cinema cameras had to perform under unforgiving timing, intercom, and shading pressures without losing their visual advantages.
From Munich Build-Out to a Fully Cinematic OB Truck
The live camera workflow began weeks before rehearsals, with ALEXA 35 Live bodies hand-built in Munich from milled aluminum and titanium blocks and then paired with ARRI’s LPS-1 Live Production System adapters. These fiber units gave the cameras the same control surfaces and return paths OB engineers expect from classic broadcast chains. In parallel, NEP’s OB van, originally built for Grass Valley systems, was adapted to host eight ARRI camera control units. A small interface module handled intercom and tally, while Riedel’s MediorNet network carried signals from cranes, cable cams, and wireless rigs. According to NEP Engineer-in-Charge Erhard Thüringer, shading the ALEXA 35 Live felt “completely identical to standard broadcast cameras,” which kept the truck crew comfortable even as they managed around six to eight cameras per shader. This integration phase proved ARRI could fit cinema tools inside an established broadcast workflow without disrupting the operators’ muscle memory.
Managing 24 Live Cinema Cameras in Perfect Sync
Running 24 ALEXA 35 Live cameras simultaneously introduced coordination challenges rarely seen in traditional cinema. Each unit required precise timecode, return feeds, tally, intercom, and consistent looks, all while moving across jibs, dollies, handheld rigs, and specialty positions. Inside the OB environment, camera shaders worked in what ARRI called “coordinated chaos,” matching exposure, color, and contrast across more than two dozen feeds on multiview monitors. NEP’s team shaded the ALEXA 35 Live as if they were conventional broadcast chains, adjusting black levels, highlights, and matrix settings in real time while directors cut between cameras at live pace. A dedicated ARRI container monitored 27 total streams, including additional sources, to ensure every path remained stable. This level of synchronization turned a cinema-focused camera into a reliable live system, proving that complex multi-camera broadcast production can adopt cinema hardware without compromising timing or on-air continuity.
Why a Larger Cinema Sensor Changes Live Broadcast Images
The real benefit of using live cinema cameras in this contest lay in the Super 35 sensor and image pipeline of the ALEXA 35 Live. The larger sensor area compared with typical broadcast cameras delivered higher dynamic range and helped avoid highlight clipping under aggressive stage lighting. It also reduced moiré on massive LED walls, since sensor size and pixel pitch influence how fine patterns render. Skin tones stayed natural even as color-rich lighting cues shifted rapidly between songs, and fire or pyrotechnic effects held structure and color instead of collapsing into featureless white or orange. ARRI’s color specialists created predefined looks that were linked to the LiveEdit rundown system, so triggering a song in the production rundown could also call up the corresponding camera look. This allowed directors and shaders to maintain a consistent, cinematic aesthetic while still hitting the tight cues of a broadcast rundown.
Broadcast Workflow vs. Cinema: Lessons from the Control Room
This production underlined how broadcast workflow demands differ from traditional cinema workflows even when the same camera family is used. In a feature film, crews can relight, reshoot, and grade in post; here, every decision had to be made live, with no second chances and a global audience watching. Shaders became as important as cinematographers, constantly trimming exposure to keep highlights and shadows within legal broadcast limits while preserving the cinematic look. Directors depended on precise intercom, tally, and tele-return to coordinate complex camera choreography across 24 positions. At the same time, ARRI’s team learned to support OB engineers with familiar control surfaces, fast fault diagnosis, and redundant signal paths. The project showed that cinema-grade cameras can satisfy broadcast specifications only when their image advantages are paired with the discipline, timing, and standardization expected in live television control rooms.
