Posts made in December 2023

High School Basketball’s Best

Over six years, The Fortegra High School 9:12 Basketball Invitational has established itself as a premier exhibit of the top teams in the greater Jacksonville area.  The event showcases the sport to those who would not watch or notice it otherwise.  Additionally, it gives the students an opportunity to play in a tournament-style competition in-season, and with professional video ever-present, also serves as a platform for recruitment.

Through Airstream Ventures’ partnerships with Gemstone Media, Florida State College at Jacksonville, News4Jax, and 1010XL, not only do the players compete on a grand stage, people near and far can catch every bucket.

Gemstone Media produced live video of all games, streaming through News4Jax–and added REMI to this year’s tournament.  REMI reduced production costs while helping us discover additional ways to continue improving the overall product.  Read more about REMI here.

“This event is a slam dunk every year.  We are proud to continue to work with Airstream Ventures, spotlighting these young athletes,” says George Birnbaum, Gemstone Media Inc. CEO and Founder.  “When people call on Gemstone to produce their events, once it’s time for the next one, over 99% want to bring us back into the game.”

AAC REMI Touchdown in New Orleans

For its college football championship pre-game coverage, The American Athletic Conference handed the ball to Gemstone Media Inc. to employ our REMI proficiency.

REMI is short for Remote Integration:  a revolutionary workflow that allows us to produce video on-location without bringing all the necessary equipment and people to the actual site.

For this program, only the videographers and an engineer joined the talent at Yulman Stadium in New Orleans.  Each camera’s view was transmitted individually and securely.

Everything else a producer would normally transport—switcher, monitors, graphics system, and all the cables—remained at our headquarters in Jacksonville, along with the director and rest of the crew.

The result is identical to what would have been achieved with a production truck and entire staff on-site, but with a significant savings in time, travel expenses, and fuel.

“It’s great how we can put on a professional pre-game show all the way from Jacksonville, while the event is taking place in New Orleans,” notes Tristan Morhous, director and Gemstone Media Inc. Production Supervisor.  “REMI has been a game-changer in our industry.”

And with the velocity of a running back receiving a handoff from a quarterback, the entire process from the press box in Louisiana to our headquarters in Florida, through Tristan’s cues and switches, and on its way to AAC fans, took fewer than two seconds.

“Bottom line, every REMI production Gemstone Media has undertaken, we find even more ways to utilize technology and add value,” says George Birnbaum, CEO and Founder.  “And that speaks to the people behind it, and the expertise we all bring.”