A virtual set for a solo creator — Antoine Joubert's studio

The context

Antoine Joubert is one of Quebec’s best-known automotive journalists. His podcasts — including La grosse brune and Histoires de vendeurs — are shot multi-camera, with guests, on a demanding production schedule.

The usual answer for this kind of content: rent a studio, with the costs, travel and scheduling constraints that come with it. Antoine wanted the opposite — to shoot at home, on his own schedule, in a visual environment that holds up against television.

The constraint

A virtual set that looks amateur gives itself away in three seconds: bleeding edges, green shadows, a key that falls apart as soon as someone moves. That’s exactly what separates a TV set from a webcam in front of a green screen.

And the whole thing had to stay operable by a very small team — no full-time keying technician on set.

What we did

We built the chain around one principle: keying quality is won at each camera, not in post. Three ZCAM E2N cameras, and behind each one, a Blackmagic Ultimatte keying processor — the same technology used in broadcasters’ virtual studios.

The lighting was designed for the key: an evenly lit green backdrop and subjects separated from it, because no Ultimatte can rescue a badly lit set. Fast lenses, clean cabling, documented configuration.

The result is a set that turns on and works — no daily tweaking.

The same chain as at the broadcasters — at a creator’s scale.

The result

Antoine shoots his shows multi-camera in a virtual set, at home, with his team. The output stands next to a television set, and production no longer depends on a studio’s availability.

It’s the same expertise we deploy in major broadcasters’ virtual studios — sized for a creator. The difference between the two isn’t rigour: it’s scale.