12/2/2010
Tribute to General De Gaulle
On 9 November 1970, General De Gaulle passed away in his home village of Colombey-les-Deux-Églises. On Tuesday 9 November 2010, the French President wished to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of his passing with dignity. France Télévisions, in collaboration with the AMP Visual TV group, deployed impressive means to follow the event live. The operation was set up and organised in three days; a genuine logistical and technical feat.
That Tuesday in November, the small village of Colombey-les-Deux-Églises woke under high surveillance. Several hundred policemen were mobilised and only allowed people accredited by the Elysée to enter the village. Everyone had to show their passes to reach the town of Colombey, where AMP's Car 11 was stationed, serving as the lead OB production unit for the operation.
The equipment
3 OB Vans were needed to cover the President's movements. All the same, a single director was at the controls in the lead production unit (car 11), where all of the signals (24 sources in total) passed before being sent to the France 2 TV channel. It was linked up to the cameras (6 including 2 RF, plus a crane) which were filming in the cemetery (where the tomb of the General is) just a few dozen metres away and near the church where a commemorative mass took place. 600m further away, optical fibre was laid out so as to broadcast images of the historic home of De Gaulle. An 800-metre single mode optical fibre also linked Car 11 and Car 6, which sent images of the French President's tribute at the Memorial dedicated to the General in Colombey les Deux Eglises. On site, 6 cameras (including a crane and a junior) filmed the slightest detail and movements of the presidential delegation. The commemorative ceremony concluded with a speech from Nicolas Sarkozy in a tent several hundred metres from the production van. Because of this, Car G, which was near the tent, transmitted its signals to Car 11 via 5 satellite signals picked up by our partner Globecast. Inside the tent, 5 cameras, including a towercam, filmed the speech.
The same fibre technology and proprietary equipment as used for car races were deployed by our teams for this operation.
Reactivity
The operation was completely organised in three days. This performance was possible due to the size of our group's integrated equipment pool and especially due to the efficiency of the production department, which is used to this type of exercise.
A few figures
- 2 hours of live broadcast
- 3 OB Vans
- 24 sources
- 2 cranes (one at the cemetery and the other at the memorial)
- 1 junior (= motorised rail)
- 1 towercam
- 2 000 metres of optical fibre
- Over 80 people for the project
The team
Director : Yves Barbara
France Télévisions production director : Patrick Pons
AMP Visual TV Group sales managers : Jean-Marc Ponthieu and Christophe Arrivé
AMP Visual TV Group production manager : David Fresquet
The operation in photos :
Car 11, the operation's lead production van, next to the Globecast car
Yves Barbara directing
The equipment set up before the commemorative mass
The tribute of the presidential delegation in front of the tomb of General De Gaulle
The tribute of the presidential delegation in front of the tomb of General De Gaulle
One of the cameras at the Boisserie, the historic residence of General De Gaulle (optical fibre link)
A little light in this November weather
Car 6 just 500 metres from the Memorial (wired link)
The Memorial of General De Gaulle with the crane in the foreground
Car G, at the bottom, broadcasting images of the presidential speech by satellite
The presidential speech with one of the two ENG cameras
2 heavy cameras and the towercam in the tent where the speech took place