This Australian television network is taking use for the selfie stick to a whole new level.
Sky News Australia will soon be filming its live television broadcasts using LiveU SmartGRIPs, the latest addition to the selfie stick family.
The device gives journalists the ability to each operate as a one-man team—capable of reporting, interviewing, and filming on scene, all without the help of a professional cameraman or crew.
Mashable reports,
“Sky News—a sister station to Sky News UK—will be rolling out 12 units to video journalists across Australia, Greg Byrnes, channel manager of Sky News Live, told Mashable Australia in an email. He said a number of their journalists are already using the device in the field.
“In a concerning development for cameramen everywhere, the SmartGrip lets reporters attach their smartphone and external microphone to the handheld device and, using LiveU’s LU-Smart mobile app, quickly transmit high-quality footage back to the newsroom.”
Sky News Live channel manager Greg Byrnes told Mashable that the new and advanced selfie sticks will be used primarily for the network's breaking news broadcasts, allowing his team to report "from the thick of the action."
“It means VJ’s will be able to broadcast live from the thick of the action,” he said.
“Previously it’s taken a few minutes to set a camera up and get pictures up to broadcast live,” Sky News video journalist Cameron Price told The Australian. “This starts in a matter of seconds.”
“At the moment our reporters arrive at jobs, they’re one-man operations," Byrnes added.
"They take off their backpack, pull their camera the size of a laptop out, connect to a broadband signal and we’re on air.”
This diagram illustrates how LiveU SmartGRIP works:
Wondering how it looks in the field? Here’s a photo of Sky News UK reporter Joe Tidy interviewing British politician Ed Miliband with a LiveU SmartGRIP.
Talk about multi-tasking.
Look at how the footage came out below.
Do you think using SmartGRIPs will catch on among major TV news outlets? Let us know in the comments section below.
H/T Mashable