'Crew in a Box' Provides Remote Solution for Capturing Your Talent While in Lockdown

Since the pandemic, Hollywood has taken to thinking outside the box for interviewing guests on TV shows, having roundtable discussions, and witnessing those reality TV confessionals. This can be a challenge when your talent is sheltering in place and has to serve as their own crew.

But now there’s an innovative turnkey product that provides a "Crew in a Box" for setting up and getting that perfect interview remotely.

Winner of the 2020 IABM Create Award for best technological innovation, the Wavemaker Creative Crew in a Box is designed for capturing direct-to-camera interviews, interstitials, roundtable discussions, press junkets, and other productions remotely recorded without access to an on-location crew.

It is the brainchild of Clio Award-winning director Ira Rosensweig, cinematographer Dallas Sterling, and visual fx supervisor Jeremy Fernsler.

Inside a military-grade Pelican-style case, there is a three-panel cinema light, teleprompter, a pair of mini shotgun and lavalier microphones, and a Blackmagic 6K Pocket Cinema Camera. The unit also comes with a second removable flatscreen monitor, useful for talking directly to the director via video conference, a reference monitor for the talent to see themselves, or even as a second teleprompter.

The sanitized case is delivered to your talent, and all they need to do is set it up on a table at a pre-agreed location in their home. This includes unfolding the three-panel cinema light, attaching the microphone, and plugging it in.

Once activated, the unit is controlled remotely via an independent bonded cellular connection by a director and his production team. The director and talent can also talk directly through a secondary channel or cellphone.

Crew in a Box is available for purchase or rental from Wavemaker Creative. There is no price listed on their website, but I did find some rough numbers in a discussion which hints at a daily rental fee of between $5,000/day, plus shipping. If using their full service, it drops down to $4,000/day with additional saving for multi-day rentals. 

That can be a bit pricey to some. Still, considering that the times we find ourselves in are greatly impacting much of a film and video makers' means to produce quality content, Crew in a Box represents an innovative and simple-to-use solution to ensure the show goes on.

You can find out more by jumping over to the Crew in a Box website.