You can direct a video shoot in Barcelona without leaving your office in London or Boston. On every remote-enabled shoot, you watch the cameras live, hear clean studio sound, talk to the speaker and to me, and ask for a retake the moment something isn't right. You stay in control. Your team stays home.
Why remote control matters for clients abroad
Most of my clients want to be on set. They know the subject, they know what the speaker must say, and they want to see the result before the crew packs up. But flying two or three people to Barcelona for a day of filming costs money and time that a lot of projects simply don't have.
So the usual compromise is to send a brief, hope for the best and fix the gaps afterwards. That's where reshoots come from.
Remote client monitoring removes that compromise. You hire a local crew in Barcelona and keep the same level of control you'd have standing next to the camera.
How it works
1. You join from your browser
We connect you through vMix Call or Google Meet. I'm not attached to any particular tool, so we use whatever suits you and your company's IT. Usually all you need is a link.
2. We agree on what you see
Before the shoot we decide on your view. You can watch the full multicam interface from the RØDECaster Video, with every camera and the live cut, or I send you a clean vMix output with just the programme picture. Sound from the speaker's mics is mixed into your feed, so you hear what the final video will sound like, not room echo from a laptop.
3. You talk to the speaker and to me
The speaker wears an in-ear monitor, so you can speak to them directly without anyone else hearing it on camera. You can also talk to me as the director. If a take didn't land, or the speaker skipped a point that matters, you say so and we record it again while the lights are still on.
4. You can watch the work behind the camera, too
On request I set up a DJI Osmo Pocket 3 as a webcam in the corner of the room. It doesn't record anything for the final video. It's there so your team sees how we set up the light, place the microphones and run the interview, and can give feedback before we roll.
5. The connection doesn't depend on the venue's Wi-Fi
Hotel and office networks are often weak or locked down. When there's no reliable wired network or Wi-Fi on site, I bring my own Teltonika RUTX12 router with two SIM cards. It keeps a stable LTE connection as a backup, so your feed doesn't drop in the middle of a take.
A real example: a University of North Carolina course recorded from two continents
We recorded a managerial accounting course for the University of North Carolina. The professor lives in Barcelona and teaches UNC students online, so the course was filmed here over about five studio sessions.
Only the professor was in the studio. For every lecture, two of her colleagues joined remotely from the United States. They checked that each lesson was recorded correctly, that the content met the university's requirements and that the quality stayed consistent from the first session to the last.
Nobody had to fly to Barcelona. The university got a finished course and full oversight of every session it paid for.
Where remote control makes sense
Online courses and lecture series, where content accuracy matters lesson by lesson.
Expert interviews, when the marketing or comms team wants to steer the questions.
Video podcasts, with a producer or co-host joining from another city.
Corporate video for headquarters abroad, when the brand team needs to approve messaging on the spot.
My take
I'm strongly in favour of having the client on set, even if "on set" means a laptop in London. It's the easiest way to make sure the final video matches what they expected from it.
No brief covers everything. On almost every shoot something comes up that nobody thought to write down: a term the speaker should avoid, a slide that needs to be on screen, a point that has to be said in a certain way. When the client is online, I ask and get an answer in ten seconds. Without them, I either guess or we wait for an email, and that's where small doubts turn into reshoots.
For me that's the real value of remote control: we agree on the details while there's still time to change them.
FAQ
Do I need special software to join a remote video shoot?
Usually not. vMix Call and Google Meet both run in a browser. We test the link with you before the shoot day.
Can I ask for a retake from abroad?
Yes. You speak to the director and to the speaker in real time, and we re-record while everyone is still set up.
What if the venue has no good internet?
I bring a dual-SIM LTE router as a backup connection, so the feed stays up.
Is remote monitoring included in every shoot?
It's available on any shoot as a separate option. The setup depends on the project, so the price is quoted on request.
Planning a shoot in Barcelona you can't attend?
Tell me what you're recording and who needs to watch. I'll suggest a setup and send you a quote. Get in touch.
Related: Expert interviews and video podcasts · Brand and company films